American Mensa Header

Where Brilliance Belongs

Write Tight{ly} Short Story Contest

  • Nov 1, 2013

The Write Tight{ly} Short Story Contest challenged Young Mensans to craft stories on any topic and in any genre. The trick was that they had to tell their tales in 500 words or fewer!

The winning entries will be published in the upcoming edition of YM2 Magazine. They are:

First Place, 12 & Up Division
Gina Marie G., age 14, Palm Beach County Mensa

This is Not a Love Story

It would start just as any cliché love story does – she would walk through the empty halls, her head bent low. A messy nest of curly black hair covers her face, hiding deep-set brown eyes, and rectangular-framed glasses. She doesn’t wear makeup; she doesn’t have the time.

Cradled in her arms are multiple books, heavy and thick; she was at the library, studying.

Across the deserted hallway, a boy stands proudly. His head is held high, and a cocky Cheshire grin spreads across his face. In his arm is a basketball; school is long over; he returned from practice.

They come closer, and the boy bumps his shoulder into the girl’s.

She tumbles and falls, and her books fly out of her arms and splay across the floor. She yelps. He watches her fall, and she looks up from the ground.

There is no sparkle in his eyes, no apology. Their first glance wasn’t magical or mystifying. Her heart didn’t speed within her chest at seeing his eyes, blue and bright.

He didn’t rethink his decision, and he didn’t see her as beautiful. He didn’t notice the miniscule golden flecks hidden underneath the layers of chocolate in her stare – he saw nothing.

He didn’t extend her his hand. He didn’t say, “I’m sorry about that. Here, let me help you.” He didn’t grab her books and pull her up.

She didn’t blush and take his large, surprisingly soft hand. Afterward, they didn’t talk as they walked to the bus.

She didn’t introduce herself and say that her name was shared with a famous composer, a male one at that. He didn’t reply in saying that his name was for both girls and guys, and they didn’t laugh together. She wouldn’t know his deep, hearty laugh; he wouldn’t know her soft, delicate one.

They wouldn’t share a seat on the bus and talk about funny stories, and he didn’t talk about his odd fascination with classical music, being random and all – he loved spontaneity.

She didn’t tell him about her favorite, Winter, by Vivaldi. He didn’t squeal like a fangirl and tell her about how it was one of his favorites – although, Spring was his preferred season of the four. They wouldn’t quit talking, never stopping.

After their first conversation, they wouldn’t meet many times later at secret rendezvous. She wouldn’t share more of her favorite songs and vice-versa.

They wouldn’t listen with open ears, and more importantly, open hearts.

He wouldn’t eventually share his number with her, and they wouldn’t call each other nightly. They wouldn’t do the one thing both of them wanted, even though they were too young to know – or so they thought:

Fall in love.

But none of that happened, because this is not a love story.

*

 “Watch where you’re going.” He barks sternly instead.

“Okay.” She replies and gathers her books as he leaves. They do not fall in love.

They never see each other again.

Because again, this is not a love story.

First Place 8 – 11 Division
Lucy R., age 11, Greater Los Angeles Area Mensa

The Story of Goldilocks, Retold

Help!

At the moment I, Goldilocks, am running for my life as far away as I can from a family of bears. I need help. Let me explain: My parents and I were in the middle of a move, but they accidentally left me at our old house. Guess what, though? They forgot to tell me where the new house was. I know it’s in our town of Storyville, so I was going to look at every house until I find my new one. First, I went to Pig Avenue. Only the three little pigs were there. Then I walked over to Fairy Road. There I found Tinkerbell and Thumbelina.

Finally I went down to Goldi-Bear Street. It was the last street that I had to check. There were only two houses on the street. One with the number 1314 that had the name ‘Goldilocks’ Family’ on the door, and the other house whose number was 281 that had a sign reading ‘Bears Here, Beware’. I chose house number 281. Thinking back on it, I didn’t have a very good sense of judgment at the time.

I went in and saw three bowls of porridge. There was one bowl for each of my parents and one bowl for me. The bowl that I thought was my mother’s was much too hot, and my father’s was much too cold, but mine was perfect. I then ate the whole bowl.  I was tired after eating a whole bowl of porridge, so I went into my brand new living room. There were three items in the room to sit on. My father’s stool was very hard, and my mother’s chair was too soft. My tiny couch was just right, except that when I sat in it, it collapsed.

Everything from finding my new house, to eating a whole bowl of porridge, and then to collapsing my tiny couch made me completely exhausted. I went upstairs, and was looking for my room. I went into the first room, and I saw two beds. I thought it was my mother and father’s room. One of the beds was too hard, and the other was very soft. Then I went upstairs into the other room. The bed was just right. I hopped into bed and fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes I saw three bears standing around me with foaming mouths. I thought, ‘they want to eat me, but why? This is my house.’ I then ask them, “Why are you in my house?” They answer, “ This is our house, didn’t you read the sign?” Then I told them the story that I just told you, but there was one difference: they didn’t believe me. Now we are back to where I’m running for my life from the three bears that turn out to vicious. The Papa bear was much too vicious, and the mama bear wasn’t that vicious. The baby bear oddly enough was just perfectly vicious.

First Place, 7 & Under Division
Brady L., GNYM, age 7

The Mystery of the Mysterious Ghost        

Once upon a time there were five detectives who searched for mysteries.  One day as they were hiking in the woods they saw a house. As they got closer they saw something that would look like a clue to a mystery. Jonathan, a detective, said, “I wonder what the mystery is?”

“Well it is a feather could it be a duck mystery?” said Buddy, the second detective.

“Impossible,” said the third detective Brody. 

“Nothing is impossible, remember?” replied Buddy. 

“You got me that time,” said Brody. 

“What are we waiting for; let’s look for more clues,” said the fourth detective, Snoopy.

“I see another clue!” said the fifth detective Snappy. 

“What is it?” asked the other four. 

“A remote control, I don’t get,” said Snappy.  Nor did the other four. 

“Well let’s look inside of the house,” said Buddy.  The others were way ahead. 

“I found a clue, guys,” said Snoopy. 

“What is it?” the others asked. 

“I think it looks like wires from a machine,” said Brody.  Meanwhile, Jonathan and Buddy found a clue as well. 

“We found another feather!  It must be the mysterious ghost of scariness,” said Brody.  The other four gasped! 

“The story of the mysterious ghost of scariness goes back a million years ago when there was a small ghost baby who was very spooky. As he grew older he grew feathers and built a machine but no one has figured out why he is so mysterious,” said Brody. 

“Wow,” said the others.  As they went inside the house to look for clues, first they looked in the bathroom, where the detectives found a clue. 

“It’s a wheel”, said Brody. 

“It must be part of the machine,” said Buddy.  The other four agreed.  Then they looked in the playroom and another clue was found.  Snoopy found more feathers all over the floor!  As they looked in the living room, the last clue was found: it was a picture of a ghost.  Suddenly the ghost came out of the picture, and thanked all the detectives for helping him find his feathers and machine parts. 

“He’s’ so mysterious because he hides in places and you think it’s a decoration,” said Snappy. 

“But he isn’t scary or mean, he’s just spooky because he pops out at you,” said Brody.  The mysterious ghost then asked the detectives to put all of his clues back around again, so he could hide and spook some new friends. 

The mysterious ghost told the detectives that he just loves spooking, and it is fun when people try to find him.

 The detectives did as the ghost said, and then they told everyone about the ghost.  The mysterious ghost was sure to get more visitors, those who liked to search for mysteries were happy, and the ghost was happy to spook people.