ScarlettFletcher

Every day at work, a young nurse with obsessive-compulsive disorder must stare her greatest fear in the eye: the loss of mental faculties that so often comes with old age. The strange, dark world of confusion and helplessness that her patients live in is terrifying. Without her compulsive behaviors, she is overwhelmed by the fear that she is destined for a similar fate. Nevertheless, she returns each day to do battle with Dementia, the awful condition that her elderly patients must live with for the rest of their lives.…

ScarlettFletcher

The day the human race is destroyed by nuclear warfare, she is a child, hiding beneath the earth in a vast mountain bunker. Struck with the realization that she may be the last living person on the planet, she tasks herself with keeping safe the thousands upon thousands of artifacts stored within the bunker's walls. As she ages, fear keeps her stuck in a routine of life that is the only thing keeping her from going insane. Is her life meaningless? Is the plight of humanity all for naught? What is the purpose of life when our time here, as a species, is but a blip in the history of the universe, so small as to be insignificant? These are the questions she grapples with as time runs down the clock on her life. Will she die without knowing, but with a peace of mind only ignorance can manufacture? Or will she brave the world she has long assumed to be a wasteland?…

ScarlettFletcher

This is my fourth short story for the National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic writing contest. My story follows Holly, a teen committed to an inpatient adolescent eating disorders unit. Trapped within those walls, she feels helpless over the plastics crisis, watching the outside world from her chair by the window. Despite her every attempt to encourage the hospital staff to recycle, she finds herself overwhelmed by the bureaucracy of the mental health system. Yet, Holly does not give up in her efforts to do her part for the Earth. Like Holly, no matter what stands in your way, be it money, the government, or even your daily life, you truly can contribute to this cause. I hope my short story inspires you!…

ScarlettFletcher

My third short story for the National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic writing contest takes place in Michigan in the early 1980s, where a teenage boy is devastated by the death of his younger brother at the hands of polyurethane, a type of plastic commonly used for insulation at the time.What seems like a totally normal Valentine's Day turns into one he'll never forget, and never take for granted, especially when it comes to protecting those at home, in the sea, and the entire world.…

ScarlettFletcher

This is my second short story for the National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic writing contest. I trimmed over one hundred words to keep it below the 500 word limit, but all in the name of environmental awareness! My story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, where the ocean has retaliated against humans by flooding the planet, leaving few survivors. A young girl named Willa has spent her entire life inside a historic castle in Germany, where her great-grandfather worked as curator before the flooding began. But an otherworldly experience is about to change her life forever.…

ScarlettFletcher

I wrote this short story for the National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic writing contest. My story is written in the format of a epistolary - a series of letters. It follows five people's correspondence to friends and relatives throughout the history of modern plastics use, from the 1946 National Plastics Expo to a time in the near future when plastic and other types of pollution and debris threaten to destroy the Earth's oceans and throw awry the balance of gases in the atmosphere, temperature and weather patterns, and varied marine species' food chains, to a point where there is no chance to turn back. I hope you enjoy my story and that it inspires you to rethink your role in protecting our Earth and its indispensable marine habitats!…

ScarlettFletcher

Althea Frayn lost herself the day her sister died, the day she acquired the ability to heal with the touch of her hands. As the power inside her grows stronger, she must fight to piece together the broken pieces of her past. But reconnecting with her family is difficult, and coping with her guilt seems impossible. The more she withdraws into her imagination, the harder it becomes to return to the real world. When her only source of comfort is destroyed, a split second decision may mean the chance to find herself. However, doing so may take more than she ever imagined.…