This is a submission for the Future Writing Challenge: How Technology Is Changing Things.
Context
Every night, I tell my daughter a bedtime story—but tonight is different. I’m far away for work, and she’s too young to read my letters. So instead, I send her something special: a holographic message, my face and voice filling the room as if I’m right there beside her. Technology may let me appear like magic, but what I truly want to give her is something even more powerful: a story about the one thing machines can never replace—her imagination.
—The air shimmers, and suddenly—there I am! My hologram flickers to life in front of Lola, my sweet daughter, glowing like a warm hug. She reaches out to touch me, but her fingers slip through the light.—
Hi, my love,
I know you can’t read my letters yet, so I sent a magic message instead!
I have to go to work now, but before I do… how about a bedtime story? A special one—just for you?
“Once upon a time, in a world of glowing cities and floating trains, there was a little girl named Leila. She lived where the sky changed colors when you sang, and tiny machines danced in the air, keeping everyone so healthy they could live to be 400 years old!
Leila’s mommy worked with ideas—big, wild, magical ones that made the world better. But one day, something strange happened. The city forgot how to dream. The machines were smart, yes, but they only followed rules. They didn’t imagine. They didn’t wonder. And without dreams, the world turned… gray.
But Leila had a secret. She still believed in stories—in make-believe tea parties with talking stars, in castles built from ideas. And guess what? That made her the most powerful person alive! Because in the future, the greatest magic isn’t robots or flying cars—it’s imagination.
She did what you do every day, my love—she played! She spun stories so wonderful even the machines paused to listen. Slowly, the world began to glow again. The sky swirled with colors, laughter floated through the air, and even the robots learned to dream.”
And you know what, my little dreamer?
That’s why I love you so much. Your imagination is the greatest superpower of all. Never stop dreaming. Never stop creating. The future needs you.
Now, close your eyes and dream up your own adventure. I’ll see you in the morning, my love.
With all my love,
Mom XOXOXO
—The hologram fades, leaving only the soft hum of magic in the air.—
Additional Prize Categories
Explain Like I'm Five
Ripple Effects
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