Dream Big Contest - 2nd Place, 3rd Place, & Honorable Mentions

2nd Place goes to December Dragon! Congrats!

​His winning story, Blood Dreamer, is very interesting and gory, but poetic at the same time. It definitely deserved to win!

I close my eyes and sleep.
I sleep for a little while while before I’m dragged,
By my feet,
Out of bed
And into the hall.
I fight,
But am kicked,
I fight more,
I get kicked even harder.
I grab the leg and twist it,
Screams pierce my ears
I know it’s broken.
They drop me and stand around,
Then all I see is fists and legs and flashes of stars,
And I feel the sharp pain with every fist, foot, and star.

After what seems like hours,
They drag me outside.
There’s a crowd,
I must be lucky.
I’m dragged to the middle and held still.
I can’t move at all,
I can only see through one eye,
My breath staggers,
I taste copper,
I feel terrible pain.

Soon, my best friend is also dragged in,
I barely recognize his face,
It’s red and swollen.
Blood pours like lava from a volcano
From infinite amount of cuts.
He is dragged in front of me,
His arms held behind his back,
He’s also breathing as badly or worse than me.

What is going on?
I ask to myself,
Too weak to talk.

I don’t have to wait long,
A big fellow with blonde hair
Steps into the circle and raises his hands in silence,
The crowd,
Like the dogs they are,
Fall instantly silent,
And he speaks:

‘This is what happens to betrayers’
He says more to the crowd than to us
‘This is what you get for leaving us,
This is what you get for backstabbing.
There must be blood to repay this debt to us’
At this,
The crowd starts saying ‘blood’
And stomping.
Slowly increasing the pace and volume.
He smiles and offers his hand,
Someone places a knife,
A knife I will always remember,
Gold handle,
Black cords wrapped around it,
Forked tongue tip of the blade,
Shiny as sliver in the night.

He kneels in front of my friend,
And says
‘Beg and I’ll make it quick’
My friend smirks and spits blood on to his face.
He leaps up and swipes at my friend’s face.
Instantly, a waterfall of blood gushes down his face.
He doesn’t move or seem to be bothered.
The leader
(I assume)
Becomes more angry.
He walks back up and starts carving into my friend's head.
I try to turn away,
But I’m petrified by the scene.
I can’t move,
Or shout,
Or cry,
Just watch,
As my heart tears open.
I watch as blood starts to flow like a river,’
From his head and down to the grey cobblestones.
There, it makes a pond,
Then a pool,
Than a lake,
And after hours,
An ocean.

‘Blood, blood, blood!’
The crowd shouts.

My friend doesn’t utter a sound.
His eyes closed with pain,
He’s probably biting his tongue.
After a while,
The leader starts on his face.
This time,
My friend manages to get an arm free.
He launches it between the leader’s legs,
And doesn’t let go.
I see his arm tense,
And know that he’s grabbing
And crushing something with all his strength.
The leader screams,
For a big guy
He screams like a little girl,
High pitched
And panicked.
I see the pain in his eyes,
In his screams.
He swipes at the arm with the knife,
Over and over.
Blood flies everywhere.
It hits me;
It lands in my mouth;
It intermingles with my own,
Yet my friend doesn’t let go.
The leader cuts and cuts,
With each cut more panicked than the other,
Until bone is revealed to the night.
He stops swiping, and breaks the arm.
He tears it off and tosses it to the side.

‘Blood! Blood! Blood!’

I see anger in his eyes;
I see the fury;
I see the fierceness;
I see the pain.
My friend is dead now…

‘BLOOD...BLOOD...BLOOD…’

He runs up to my friend and stabs him in the head,
Then runs the blade from the head to down the neck,
Without taking it out.
He swipes over
And over
And over
And over.
Blood flies like a fountain in a water park.

‘BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD’

My friend falls to the ground,
His head facing me.
I see his life leaving his eyes,
I see the blood pouring from millions of wounds.

‘BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!!’

I wake up,
With the copper in my mouth
And the chant,
That I will hear for all of eternity,
And the thumps,
That will forever beat into my soul.
And my pillow wet,
With my eyes stinging,
Unable to see for hours,
Unable to sleep for days.
This is my brand in my head.
This is the dream I will hold forever more.

Congrats! Keep on reading to see 3rd Place and Honorable Mentions!

3rd Place goes to Jaune Arc! Congratulations! 

​His amazing writing piece, The Lost Guardian, was 4 chapters long! How amazing is that? We hope that he will continue to write this story. Here is an excerpt from his story:

It was beautiful, the stone floors were surrounded by crystal blue water, the walls had tinges of green to add to the divine splendor. Tommy was in awe, its obvious he never seen anything quite like it. Rainbow fish are swimming happily in the water with what seems to be glow fish. We walked deeper into the cavern, using some stone bridges to explore more of these natural rock formations. Besides being attacked by a few bats and leeches, the journey wasn't exactly dangerous. 

Then the following occurred, we came across a room with purple amethysts and a silver mirror. I couldn't believe my eyes when it happened, she manifested herself into a reflection where she then pulled herself out of the mirror. "M...Mother?" Tommy stuttered, and I could see why. How did she get past the ectoplasmic barrier, and if she wasn't how could she know that information? I knew something wasn't right, but what?

That was a great use of sensory detail! Now, for Honorable Mentions:

• Sean Green, with his two poems "Her Intimacy" and "Dream Within a Dream." Although minor but vulgar language was used and suggestive topics were introduced, they were great poems overall.
• Devyn Hoshour's "The Midnight Dream" and "Stream and Man" were AMAZING! Good job!

Congratulations everyone!
​~Lexi Chan, Founder of BFP