What are your answer choices
If you are going to write a short story, you don't need to make things up entirely.
You should always use as much creativity as you can, but you can also take elements from real life and incorporate it in your story.
Poe creates contrast in his portrayal of the bird in "The Raven" by placing the black bird on the marble statue. The contrast between the darkness of the bird and the whiteness of the statue is quite striking, exactly the thing he wanted to achieve.
