Midwest Archives | The Decameron Project

The
Decameron
Project

The
Decameron
Project

The
Decameron
Project

Region: Midwest

"The panic began to set in and my eyes drifted around the room. To the far left of me..."

"The familiar tingling started at my feet and electrified my whole body as I gasped awake. It was dark..."

Repetition

Trenitie

Marie

Sarcoxie

10th Grade

"I’m drawn to pain. Suffering and death attracts me like a fly to honey. I didn't..."

Michelle, you don’t love me. For sixteen years I believed you did. I thought you were all I had..."

Correction

Haley

Betters

Cleveland

10th Grade

"But Melody never understood her grandfather’s words or even the meaning of her own..."

"Waking up from the loud ringing of her alarm, Melody gets up, and without hesitation, leaves her house..."

A Passion of Light

Andrea

Mondragon

Schaumburg

9th Grade

"Alarms blare. A small piece embeds itself in my hand. I leap into the store. My group.."

"The video is horrifying. A young girl with curly black hair walks in a large group of people towards two..."

A Transformation

Lynn

Eaves

Palatine

9th Grade

"Another thing I saw is one highschool principal in California drove around his town..."

"Many people are unhappy because they are not able to graduate traditionally this year and they are..."

Graduation Ideas

Shreyas

Kumar

Palatine

9th Grade

My sole purpose is find a host and eat my fill...

I’m a global phenomenon, but not in the way you think...

GONE VIRAL

Arvind

Kakanavaram

Palatine

William Fremd High School

9th Grade

I Am That Book

"I always wished for brothers, companions, guides towards the rest of my life. Hope for the hopeful and..."

Dante Competition: Honorable Mention

Ben

Wilson

Plano

12th Grade

"Of course All Lives Matter But until Black ones do, All lives don’t matter..."

"I have never in my life been as ashamed of who I am right now. Ashamed of the privilege I was born with..."

My Privilege

Erin

M.

Joliet

10th Grade

"Tears and fears and feeling proud To say, "I love you" right out loud Dreams and..."

"Rows and flows of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons every where Looked at..."

mm

Lisa

Orlanzo

Des Moines

9th Grade

"In my dreams, I reached the break, and there lay a throne, the seat empty and open..."

"There is a forest. I’ve dreamt of a forest green and bright and rainy and warm. I knew where to go. There..."

I’ve dreamt of a forest.

Riley

Baldus

West Des Moines

11th Grade

"Books hold our futures and create how we see those futures. For the characters give..."

"Dear books, I read not for the story or for the satisfaction, but the people. I read for the people..."

Dear Books

Masson

Fink

Waterloo

9th Grade

"People shed tears and people share love, people share pain and people give hugs..."

Kansas City Window (My Side)

Justis

Johnson

Kansas City

J.C. Harmon High School

9th Grade

"Do you see that little wooden gazebo right there? That is where I like to just sit..."

"Hi there! You told me you wanted a tour of St. Louis? Okay good. Let’s start at the zoo. Before we..."

The Talking City

Danny

H.

St. Louis

North Kirkwood Middle School

Other Grade

"We constantly wonder if we are enough, but acceptance will be our greatest downfall..."

"I wish the people could see the beauty in imperfections. ‘Your too short ``''your to fat ``''your too..."

My Side Is Different

Justis

Johnson

Kansas City

J.C. Harmon High School

9th Grade

"The day we got taken away, my mom lost it that day, she was mad, sad, and..."

"My is life good sometimes. I'm in foster care and so is my little brother. This is my story. So, I was..."

De’Kayla Lloyd’s Life 🎥😇

De'Kayla

Lloyd

Kansas City

J.C. Harmon High School

9th Grade

"I'm not going to waste my energy on someone if they're just going to find some way..."

"During the past 15 years of my life, I can say I have been through some hard times. My parents are..."

Life is a Struggle

Mia

Jarvis

Kansas City

J.C. Harmon High School

9th Grade

"I was done being hurt by fake people..."

The Life of Jay

Sarah

Bailey

Kansas City

9th Grade

"In her eyes, it is the night sky, that brings her the utmost joy. A change of terrain..."

"The window that sits on the top floor, in a girl’s room filled with her things, grants her a minute..."

Head in the Stars

Brianna

Davis

St. Louis

Parkway West Highschool

12th Grade

"Diabetes has changed my life in more way than one; I am a lot more respectful when..."

"I've always been a bit different from other people. Not in a necessarily bad or good way, mainly just..."

A Life with Type 1 Diabetes

Ari

Stevens

Kansas City

J.C. Harmon High School

10th Grade

"You've cried tears until you couldn't cry anymore, and you think yourself broken, but it

"You think that you deceive me with every fake smile. You say that you're fine but..."

Invisible

Maddie

Mertz

Chesterfield

Parkway West

12th Grade

"I notice the gray brick underneath the blue-teal bicycles rolling through, human in tow.

"I used to look outside my window, and see a vast blue coastline, with small boats..."

The Past and The Present

Norah

M.

9th Grade

"The winter snow drizzles down from the evening sky it seems as if frost is the envy..."

"I have been locked away for about a week and my only source of food is delivered through the window..."

Palindrome

Andrea

Juarez Hernandez

Chicago

12th Grade

"My bones felt as though they were breaking and twisting and turning. It felt like.."

"It was getting dark as Jamez was walking home from school. He was a lil chilly, so he was wearing a..."

Gift or Curse

J'Maron

Hayes

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

11th Grade

"CRACK! The loud sound as tombstones crack open with people crawling out of them..."

"In a small town called yoorana, where only small misdemeanors take place.. On this one night this town..."

Discovery

Kaliyah

Vaughn

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

10th Grade

"He was talking not only of these final deaths, but of the deaths that had happened..."

"'No, no, no, no, no, no!' He rushed down his grand staircase and found the last of the bodies. 'Why!'..."

Because of the Whispers

Kaisa

M.

Cedar Springs

Other Grade

"The more I look, the more I lose hope. I keep looking in the same places. I search..."

"I am at my home alone right now. My parents left to see some of their friends. My sister is staying over..."

Deftones

Oliver

Ojendyk

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

Other Grade

"She was barely a few steps from it, when suddenly there were three, slow, evenly..."

"It was a warm, blustery day in the middle of October. All the houses were adorned with purple and orange..."

Who’s There?

Adysen

Straw

Valparaiso

10th Grade

"She began to cry the sound of footsteps grew closer and closer. I hear a loud scream..."

"I opened my eyes slowly., I could barely open my left eye because it was so swollen. The room was pitch..."

Escape

Lucien

Henson

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

11th Grade

"Then the shadowy figure came into the kitchen. I could see its black outlines in the..."

"It was ten p.m. and me, and my friends Noah, Alex, and Kris were leaving the skatepark. I went on my way..."

House Horror

Kyle

G.

Chicago

Other Grade

"As his eyes moved, the horrible being to his left came into view. The creature..."

"Alone. The trees of the forest around him were just barely visible in the darkness, the faint glowing..."

The Shade

Joey

Etnyre

Hoffman Estates

William Fremd High School

9th Grade

“'No, I will go to the forest. We all promise her and I keep my promises and don’t act..."

"A long time goes where technology did not even exist and everything was pulled by a horse and a cart on..."

The Lady in the Tree

Ramona

Patterson

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

12th Grade

"'Oh, Anne, so brave, yet so foolish,' the old witch sneered. I felt a sharp pain in..."

Mature Content

"'Be quiet, Anne!' Mother hissed. 'Yes, Mother,' I replied. We had spent the night sweeping the living..."

The Little Brown Broomstick

Lindey

Zifzal

Wintersville

10th Grade

"The shadowy figure comes closer to you and you get a good look at him. It is a tall ..."

"You wake up to find yourself laying on the ground in the woods and you have no recollection of how you ..."

6’3 Slave Master

Foluso

Adepoju

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

11th Grade

"All Maria’s energy has left her and all she can do is crawl back into bed..."

Mature Content

"In the dead of night there was a loud crash right out outside Maria’s bedroom window. Even though she ..."

Horrors Illuminated By The Moon

Kenya

Green

Chicago

12th Grade

"It had razor sharp teeth that dug into your neck with the force of a lion’s jaw and..."

Mature Content

"D’marques wakes up anxious before the day has a chance to even start, because he knows what his..."

Learning Death

Lavon

Adams

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

12th Grade

"Though I’m not sure if I ever loved her as much as she loved me. I know I loved her..."

My wife loved me, but not the normal type of love like a wife should. Her love was more like the love that..."

Violet Eyes

Brian

Phillips

Chicago Heights

12th Grade

“I’ve gone out since the break up, and I felt really optimistic“

I went to drop the kids off at school and saw a man that I had never seen before looking at me. He was an...

The Stranger

Kyira

H

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

10th Grade

"She plucked his cane from his hand, a hawk grabbing a defenceless mouse"

He gripped his cane tighter, arthritis stiff digits curled around the handle. Rhythmically, he swept it side..

Blind Man Walking (Horror Fiction Honorable Mention)

Savanna

Maki

Cedar Springs

10th Grade

The Pumpkin

It was a dark and stormy October night in the beautiful state of Wyoming. Farmer Tim was about to...

Horror Fiction: 3rd Place

Lamar

Mitchell

Chicago

Kenwood Academy High School

My Hands Have Seen the Earth

"We sit, kneading ourselves, In the amber clay of our being, Memorizing the feeling of wisps of clouds..."

My Hands Have Seen the Earth

Sarah

Chocron

Wichita

12th Grade

Kaylie watched Brandon stumble into the playground, grabbing for the ladder as he struggled not to cry...

Light in the Dark

Shaina

Maitino

Morton Grove

12th Grade

"Imagination was my escape from the dull reality of my life."

I looked out into the bleak, moonlit sky while stirring my coffee that had already gone lukewarm, a routine...

Letters From a Familiar Unknown

Joseph

C

Las Vegas

12th Grade

"Is this what healing is? She asked herself. Recognizing the problem and letting..."

The humidity pressed against the sleeves of her sweatshirt and onto her dark melanin skin as she stepped...

The Waltz of the Healing Rain

Genesis

Magpayo

Western Springs, Illinois

12th Grade

If you put your country in a broken microwave, / how do you expect it to prosper?

“And America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all” / -Colson Whitehead

The Middle

Shelby

Darnell

St. Louis, Missouri

11th Grade

"The “perfect” body does not exist and is all perspective."

I scroll through Instagram and Tik Tok every day and see girls with perfect bodies...

The “Perfect” Body

Rylie

S

Mountain Lakes, New Jersey

Mountain Lakes High School

12th Grade

"The panic began to set in and my eyes drifted around the room. To the far left of me..."

"The familiar tingling started at my feet and electrified my whole body as I gasped awake. It was dark..."

Repetition

Trenitie

Marie

Sarcoxie

10th Grade

"I’m drawn to pain. Suffering and death attracts me like a fly to honey. I didn't..."

Michelle, you don’t love me. For sixteen years I believed you did. I thought you were all I had..."

Correction

Haley

Betters

Cleveland

10th Grade

"But Melody never understood her grandfather’s words or even the meaning of her own..."

"Waking up from the loud ringing of her alarm, Melody gets up, and without hesitation, leaves her house..."

A Passion of Light

Andrea

Mondragon

Schaumburg

9th Grade

"Alarms blare. A small piece embeds itself in my hand. I leap into the store. My group.."

"The video is horrifying. A young girl with curly black hair walks in a large group of people towards two..."

A Transformation

Lynn

Eaves

Palatine

9th Grade

"Another thing I saw is one highschool principal in California drove around his town..."

"Many people are unhappy because they are not able to graduate traditionally this year and they are..."

Graduation Ideas

Shreyas

Kumar

Palatine

9th Grade

My sole purpose is find a host and eat my fill...

I’m a global phenomenon, but not in the way you think...

GONE VIRAL

Arvind

Kakanavaram

Palatine

William Fremd High School

9th Grade

"Of course All Lives Matter But until Black ones do, All lives don’t matter..."

"I have never in my life been as ashamed of who I am right now. Ashamed of the privilege I was born with..."

My Privilege

Erin

M.

Joliet

10th Grade

I Am That Book

"I always wished for brothers, companions, guides towards the rest of my life. Hope for the hopeful and..."

Dante Competition: Honorable Mention

Ben

Wilson

Plano

12th Grade

"Tears and fears and feeling proud To say, "I love you" right out loud Dreams and..."

"Rows and flows of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons every where Looked at..."

mm

Lisa

Orlanzo

Des Moines

9th Grade

"In my dreams, I reached the break, and there lay a throne, the seat empty and open..."

"There is a forest. I’ve dreamt of a forest green and bright and rainy and warm. I knew where to go. There..."

I’ve dreamt of a forest.

Riley

Baldus

West Des Moines

11th Grade