This story was submitted as part of “Good People Good Deeds” English Writing Competition 2025-26, hosted by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. The theme is to write stories about universal moral values including dignity, kindness, respect, impartiality and the spirit of humanity.

“Ouch! You crashed into me!” An old voice shouted.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn’t in the throne room. I was on Earth! I wasn’t in any room or my house on Mount Olympus, but Earth? I have so many questions in my head now. Why am I here? Why did my mum call me to her throne room? Was she arguing with dad? Why was Hades in Mum’s room and why am I on Earth now?

Then, a voice pulled me back to reality. An old lady shouted, ”You crashed into me! Aren’t you supposed to apologize?”

I looked at her, apologized and ran away. When I was wandering through the city, and bumped into someone, again. It was Hades. He looked up slowly, “Hi, Persephone. Long time no see. Let’s have a competition! You encourage people to do good things, and I will encourage people to do some awful pranks. We will both count the things we did. The loser gets a punishment from the winner. Start now.”

“Wait! I didn’t even agree yet!” I shouted, but he just disappeared. However, I didn’t really feel bad because I was confident that I would win, and I foresaw it. Then, I started my hunt for kind people. I asked a young lady to help the poor old lady with a problem paying for her lunch, but the lady rudely said, “What's the problem? If she cannot pay for it, why would she order it? What a silly old lady.” It ended up to be a total mess and I had to pay for the old lady.

After that, I went to the bus station when Hades bragged that he had already succeeded in beckoning a kid to steal a bag of Doritos. “Omg, how can a kid steal things? Didn’t his parents teach him to never break the law?” I murmured.

As I arrived at the bus station, there were already so many people waiting in line. People were talking about the smelly man in the middle of the line. He looked poor. He had muddy hair, torn clothes and smelled really bad, like so bad that I even needed to cover my nose until the bus arrived.

I stepped on the bus and took a window seat in the front row. Suddenly, a passenger just now let out a loud scream, “My wallet is lost! Can anyone help me pay?”

I looked at her thinking, “This is the perfect chance to inspire someone to do a kind act!” I asked everyone on the bus to help her or pay for her. However, nobody helped.

As I was sitting down, the smelly man paid the bus fee for her.

I did it. I inspired a person to do a kind act. Not long after, I went back to Mount Olympus and accepted a punishment by Hades as he won by one.

And like that, I did the dishes for a month. I didn’t want to.

The Gods' Competiton