Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Posted in Adults on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 283 stories

“Strawberry Mustard” by Zoya Sabnani

Submitted to Contest #85

“... That’s the thing about this city,” Jessie droned on “the young people are the future. And if you take me as your teacher, I will show the young people everything I know.” Everyone in the gym stood up and clapped although most of them had just woken up from a nap and had no idea what Jessie had said. The new student teacher speeches were highly unnecessary, everyone thought so, but the principal enjoyed the ‘excitement’. Every year there would be around three hours of speeches from annoyingly perky people who were in their...

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“THE CITY WHERE THE TRAVELLERE DECEDIED TO SETTLE ” by Maryam Farooq

Submitted to Contest #85

28 November 1770 That's the thing about this city,it doesn't leave me.It stays with me ,no matter where I go and what I do .It will stay at the back of my mind .It never let's me go.It haunts me .I keep thinking about it even when I don't want to . I'm trying to have a good time ,relaxing talking to Anis and then all of a sudden I start getting flashbacks,I am reminded of the misery ,the pain ,the hurt .I remember how my heartbroke and I can feel it all over again ,the agony .The pain so unbearable that I can't take it anymore .It hurt...

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“Tragic magic” by Thasleema Nasreen

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, everyone living here is different. When I was a child I thought, people here are common. But when I grew up I came to know that there is nothing common in this city including me. The difference we have in our city is the tragic magic. People in this city can do magic. I am not telling about the tricks which were said as magic out of this city. We can do the real magic. No one out of this city knows about us. And it was in our rule book that we should not explore our magic out of the city. But that...

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“Noblesse Oblige” by Emmett Wrighter

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. Come on; I don’t really need to tell you, do I? Haven’t you seen it all yourself, even in these past few days? You may have tried to hide from their eyes with that useless silk curtain of yours, and I am sure your carriage muffled the sounds of the common rabble. The smell of shit in the street, the smear of blood or dirt on faces you tried to ignore it all. When that boy scrabbled at your door, begging for you to give him anything, you called out for him to be struck down and away. I daresay you’d have him...

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“Those Pesky Out-Of-towners” by Brianna Stilwell

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city…” Alice waited for the end of the sentence. The lecturer at the front of the room, however, had fallen silent. Alice lifted her gaze from the notebook in front of her, eyeing the older gentleman. He didn’t look to be in any hurry to finish his statement; in fact, he wasn’t even looking at the students at all. His head was turned to face the sturdy door of the small lecture hall, and he was standing as stiff as the whiteboard behind him. Alice didn’t need to follow his gaze to know what was going through hi...

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“This City” by Savy W

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. It used to be something better. Beyond gothic churches, concealed in thick ivy that crawled out of every crack and crevice. More than crumbling stone and cracked concrete ever so slowly succumbing to the hand of time. Camera at her side, Livy walked along Deception’s Path-the one so intensely laced with weeds and overgrowth. It certainly didn’t deserve to be called something quite so deceiving as a path. But deception’s touch fit like a glove, for the weeds attempted to lead you down misleadingly inviti...

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“What it takes to live here” by Lize-Faith Kruger

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, people come and people go. Where to they go... Well that we don't always know. The brightness of the lights attracts the young like a moth. Dreams of becoming successful starts boiling out of them. But just like the light bulb eventually burns the moth, the city kills the dreams. And that's what happened to young Rico when he came to this city. I remember him so well. That youth and life still sparking in his eyes. It was like the glow of the city had entered his body. Consuming him. Killing him from the i...

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“Cragston's Most Wanted” by Dustin Shuherk

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, it’s always able to keep shocking me. I never thought that anything would be able to top the dead mage behind the Dog's Head Tavern. Popped into the alley to take a leak and had his pecker ripped off by a sewer mutant he happened to be pissing on. I’m not sure I would have ever solved that one if the claw marks hadn’t been so distinct. After the first year or so, you start to think that you’ve seen it all. A troll in the gutter with his own liver in his mouth, becomes nothing more than the average pixie dust...

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“Neon Babylon” by The Creech

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city…it ensnares you like a fishhook through flesh. This town is a sly seaman; he baits his rod with strong drinks and glitter, with aces high and uncovered nipples, with unfathomable ceilings and cigar smoke, with the grinning ghosts of Frank and Sammy. We—the daffy little fishes that we are—take one look at that spangled lure, our pupils dilate like pancake batter on the griddle. Dangling there in the sunlight is our chance to kiss inhibitions goodbye, to lap up fame and fortune, to wrap our lips around a fat st...

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“Anything Different?” by Kyla Williams

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, everything is the same. But then again, nothing is. The only thing that crossed my mind as I walked through the city lights of Manhattan, Kentucky, was how dark and quiet it seemed. Of course, a reasonable explanation was that I was out in the middle of the night wandering the quiet streets. However, there were a couple people still walking on the sidewalk but no, not me. I was walking in the streets. Now, anybody would probably want to ask but seriously, it was a free world and everybody walked on the sidew...

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“Grime” by Eric Bell

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city…” he thought to himself. “There’s never any doubt whether you’re the hunted or the hunter, the taken or the taker.” Every night, Jerry walked this same street, and every night, he would see something that maintained his utter lack of faith in humanity. “It’s a good thing there’s no bridge on this route,” he would often think. He had actually changed his path home from work to specifically exclude one tall bridge already. Some days it was just too hard not to ...

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“The day we left the city” by Kortne Noe

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about about the city... You can put a body in a dark alley and no body will notice it being dead at least a couple days. I hope anyways so we can get where we are going by the time they find him. I help my mom hide the body of my step dad, he was abusive drunk that my mom couldn't take it anymore. Sadly this is the third step dad I had, but first one she killed once things got rough we would just leave in the middle of the night. Sadly nothing really bad happen in the last two marriages probably could of gotten worked out,bu...

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“Laying Out the Clothes” by Jody Serey

Submitted to Contest #85

Laying Out the Clothes That's the thing about this city. It's easy to leave. They had never missed the place where they began their lives. They often said, “It’s a great place to be from.” Now they were back, after a flurry of hurried phone calls, and two planes that carried them from different parts of the county. They shared a hotel room, and after doing what they could at the hospital, made their way back to the house where they had grown up. Now the two sisters sat together on the bed in their mother’s bedroom in front of a sma...

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“First Day as a Free Man” by Sankara Luna

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city, it’s like a test kitchen for the tech comps. When it works here, it works all across the country and region. You can imagine in this 15-million-citizen megapolitan everyone with money draws their claws and the next thing you know it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Sharing economy is a pipe dream, a future elitist utopia. It does work like that, sometimes, but the cutthroat battle is not for everyone. This is Jakarta, where the old meets the new, the rich get richer, and the middle is trapped even inside the two...

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“The Hungry Tower” by Conor Thackray

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city…” Detective Inspector Steph remarked, pulling her gloves off as she stepped away from the body. “It just gets more brutal by the day.” Detective Inspector Hanlon, trying not to look at the body for too long grimaced at what was left of the man on the floor. The man was dressed in a shirt and trousers, with curly black hair and a stump surrounded by crusted blood, where his right arm used to be. “What do you think did this?” He asked through gritted teeth, his gut churning. Steph shrugged as she threw her glo...

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Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Submissions are closed

✍️ 283 stories

“Strawberry Mustard” by Zoya Sabnani

“THE CITY WHERE THE TRAVELLERE DECEDIED TO SETTLE ” by Maryam Farooq

“Tragic magic” by Thasleema Nasreen

“Noblesse Oblige” by Emmett Wrighter

“Those Pesky Out-Of-towners” by Brianna Stilwell

“This City” by Savy W

“What it takes to live here” by Lize-Faith Kruger

“Cragston's Most Wanted” by Dustin Shuherk

“Neon Babylon” by The Creech

“Anything Different?” by Kyla Williams

“Grime” by Eric Bell

“The day we left the city” by Kortne Noe

“Laying Out the Clothes” by Jody Serey

“First Day as a Free Man” by Sankara Luna

“The Hungry Tower” by Conor Thackray

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a major city that your character has a love-hate relationship with.

Write a story that takes place in the same building but in two very different time periods.

Write about someone fighting to change their city neighborhood for the better.

Write about someone fighting to keep their city neighborhood the same.

Contest #85

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

671

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: