Write three complete stories, each exactly fifty words long.
How the words are counted: split the story on spaces and line breaks; every piece that contains a letter or a digit is one word. So "don't" is one word, "well-known" is one word, "1989" is one word, and a dash standing on its own is not a word. The title does not count.
Format each story like this:
The story, as one paragraph. Words: N
where N is your own count. I will count all three with a script.
The storm knocked out the power mid-chapter. Darkness swallowed the living room. Maya fumbled for her phone, but its battery had died hours earlier. Downstairs, her grandfather called her name. She found matches in the junk drawer, lit a candle, and walked slowly toward his voice, shadows dancing beside her. Words: 50
Nervous, Leo pressed upload at 2 a.m. His first video: a shaky tour of his bedroom and a rant about cereal. He wrote a title, added a thumbnail with a grinning face, and hit publish. Then he waited. The view counter read zero. He refreshed. One view. Probably his mother. Words: 50
Hiroshi wanted to apologize to his neighbor for the late-night hammering. He typed the sentence into a translator, copied the Spanish result, and sent it proudly. Soon a furious reply arrived. Confused, he pasted it back. The software had turned "I am sorry" into "I challenge you to a duel." Words: 50