Welcome back to Muse on Monday!

The challenge is to write a story of your own based on the prompt below. If you’re 18 years old or younger, you can submit it using this link for a chance to have it published next Monday when the new prompt comes out. You just need to submit it before 12:00pm EST next Sunday.

If you have an idea for a prompt for a future week, please send it to me at greenwalledtreehouse@gmail.com! It can be in this form or anything else.

(click the headings of each prompt for a description of it.)

Story Prompt: April 26, 2021

SETTING: a cave

CHARACTERS: any

CONFLICT: running away from a monster

GENRE: any

TONE: any

OTHER ELEMENTS: a plastic shopping bag, quicksand, a cow

And now, a story based on last week’s prompt:

• Characters: a beautiful astronomer
• Genre: comedy
• Conflict: trying to open a door

Saad’s Planet

Saad’s mother was a beautiful astronomer. She probably could have had as many dates as she wanted, but except for Saad, there was nothing she loved more than sitting at the telescope and discovering the universe. And whenever she had to work late, she brought Saad with her.

One evening, Saad’s mother was working at the observatory, and Saad was with her. He was playing with some toys he had brought.

“Saad, I’m just going to run to the bathroom,” his mother said. “Will you be okay here?”

He nodded, not looking up from his play. He heard her leave and the door click shut.

A few minutes later, there was knocking on the door. He looked up.

“Saad!” It was mother, outside the door.

He got up. “What’s wrong?”

“The door locked behind me,” she said, “and I left my keycard inside. Can you open the door for me?”

Saad tried but the door was too heavy for him and the handle almost too high.

“Just wait there,” she said. “I’ll get the security guard. Don’t touch anything!”

That reminded Saad that he was alone in the observatory. Maybe he could be an astronomer, just like his mother. It didn’t look that hard. All she did was look through the telescope.

He climbed up on the chair and looked into the eyepiece of the huge telescope. His mother had helped him before. Right in the middle of the view was a huge sandy colored ball with darker bands around it. Around the middle was a thin line of white, like a ring. It was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen.

“Saad!” He looked up to see his mother and a security guard at the door. She hurried towards him.

“I did it, Mommy!” he shouted. “I discovered something, just like you. What is it?”

She picked him up and hugged him tightly. “It’s a planet,” she said. “What should we call it?”

“Let’s call it Saad’s Planet,” he said.

His mother laughed. “How about we call it Saadurn?” she replied.

Good luck and happy writing! Come back next Monday for another story prompt.