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Write a story about someone trying to track down the source of a rumor.

Posted in Adults on May 26, 2023

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✍️ 35 stories

She owned a bottomless lake of lies

Submitted to Contest #200

I told her not to worry until I came back. I left the city hastily and was on my way to the town called Aliwood, which seemed to be the source of that insensitive rumor. Tiffany was trembling when the rumor threw her marriage off the course, Tiffany is a very sensitive girl and she did not take it well. She had already spiralled down to the worst cases that could have happened with her marriage when she came to me for help. I had always been her saviour ever since she got into trouble for sneaking in her boyfriend's vape refills to school in...

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Catching a Mythic

Submitted to Contest #200

Warning: Alcohol Usage Mentioned The slick, cold rain fell heavy on the New Dublin streets as Rayna accelerated through the allies and streets. The I.M.P finally had a lead for one of the worst nuisances from the Gateway Even. Satyr. These clever goats disguise themselves as humans, act like humans, and even try to live human lives. But they are not human. They are Mythics. And Mythics shouldn't exist. Rayna had never believed in magic. Growing up, she'd seen everyone in her small Irish hometown blindly follow superstitions and traditions,...

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Rumor Has It

Submitted to Contest #200

Rumor Has It “It surprised me that you left your phone number. Are you ok?” Gloria was a lady I met at a bar. We had been mugged on the beach after we met. I stopped the criminal with choreographed precision, not thinking about how my actions would affect my date. While I was at the police station going over the night’s events a dozen times, she left for work. “I thought about it for days. You did what you had to do. I had never seen violence before, not to mention ever being robbed at gunpoint,” she said. The nickel-plated gun he pu...

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The Hookup

Submitted to Contest #200

Monday morning couldn’t come fast enough. I was pissed the F off. I don’t know who started this rumor about me, but it’s gonna be dead by this afternoon, you best believe that! The first person to find: Lashawna. My girl was the know-it-all gossip girl of the school, so if anyone knew who knew the root of a rumor, it was her. Good thing she’s always where I knew she would be: at her table in the middle of the cafeteria holding her court with a crowd of eager students hanging on to her every word. “Hey, Ni-Ni!” she greeted cheerfully. Unf...

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A Long Time Coming

Submitted to Contest #200

 I put my Ford in park and looked at the trailer for a moment. The rain was just starting to drizzle on my windshield when I saw the first flash of lighting on my right side. The thunder rolled in as I lit up a cigarette. I’ll be honest if I had known how this night would end, I’d have probably smoked the whole pack. But at the time, I wasn’t even sure if I was gonna get out of the car.       It’s difficult to describe how it felt going back to that trailer park so many years later. I guess after some more ...

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Threads of a Rumor: The Treasure of Hallbrook

Submitted to Contest #200

More so than usual, a small town called Hallbrook was consumed with excitement and curiosity. A juicy rumor had swept through the community like a wildfire, leaving many residents eager to uncover its origins. It was a great place for those who loved some juicy gossip, or whispers of what was going on but this was different. There were rumblings of a secret treasure that was buried somewhere in town, and that had ignited many imaginations. Among the town's inhabitants was Josie Miller; a young lady known for her adventurous spirit, and this ...

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Nicki's Hair

Submitted to Contest #200

Nicki had always had long hair. Not always, of course. Not when she born. It’s not like that, not a mythical story of long hair. Nicki didn’t have an aversion to cutting her hair. In fact, she’d gotten it regularly trimmed. Every six months she’d go to the salon and go through the same charade.            “Just a trim?” her stylist would say.            “Actually…” Nicki would start twirling the ends of her hair, folding pieces in...

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Drawing The Lie

Submitted to Contest #200

“So they call it adawda I believe?” “I think pronounced ayahuasca.” “Whatever, the point is I heard he’s gone off the deep end,” mimicking a sip. Her husband gasps, “Drinking?” “Pills too!” “How are you so sure?” “Nicole, left work early. On her desk, she left her calendar open. Guess what it said.” “What?” “Pick up Jasper’s medication.” A stupid silence fell, “That’s it?” “Just last week Jasper hurt his back,” she tosses her hands, “Hurt back. Medication. You know that’s some type of opium.” “Like chocolate syrup to a ...

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A House Divided

Submitted to Contest #200

"How does this make me a suspect?" Old Sheriff Williams said nothing for a moment as he looked at the young man. "It doesn't, it might be relevant to the investigation. And I don't want to hear what you know through the grapevine, I want to hear it as you heard it and I want to know who said it." The young farm was visibly nervous and adjusted his bowler hat. "Well, I'm not the one for gossip, but when I was at the general store I asked Mr. Stamford if we knew anything new about the murder. He said people thought they knew the motive, th...

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Rumor Has it

Submitted to Contest #200

The southern heat clung to the red bricks of the Panacea Brewing Company, mingling with the scent of fried green tomatoes and fermented beverages. Tuffs of grass and dandelions sprouted around the entrance. People trickled in and out the doors in waves as the sun began to set. Angie fiddled with her purse strap while walking towards the glass doors.            “C’mon, Angie,” she muttered. “Nothin’ to be scared of.”            She s...

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Ask for Y

Submitted to Contest #200

I’m here to track down a rumor. I’d heard there’s a man who grants wishes out in Las Vegas, the city of sin. Not just any wishes, mind, but one’s based on reality. You could no more ask to fly—unless you wanted him to grant you an airplane—than ask for immortality. This is a long shot, I knew, but at this point, I’m all out of options. It started in a bar in Chicago, like most fairy tales. Alcohol. Conversation. Gossip. The liquor flows, lips loosen. I was just trying to drown my sorrows by trying to literally drown myself with whisky. On t...

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My Lips Are Sealed

Submitted to Contest #200

 I couldn’t believe what I had just heard! Of all the people for that to happen to - our close friends. I was a bit shocked to say the least. I had known John and Lily since we all met at anti natal classes, and my oldest child was now twenty nine, so nearly thirty years. My husband Tim and I had been laughing about something while I was puffing and panting on the carpet, pretending to give birth! The couple next to us started to laugh too and I heard him say to her “ease up on the puffing, or on the day you’ll have a heart attack befor...

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GRENNA – Where the Dead Doth Dally

Submitted to Contest #200

They called it Grenna. That small seaside town, populated only by the mews of starving seagulls and the whistling of the frigid winds, gave birth to hysteria that spread like wildfire. Every newspaper peddled the same story, the only differences being editorial expressions of skepticism or religious fearmongering. It all came under the same headline, which embedded itself into the conversational assembly line hours after the first publication: Grenna - Where the Dead Doth Dally. ‘Tis true that the catalyst was mere hearsay, but the sour...

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The Court of Rumors

Submitted to Contest #200

The rumors that spread throughout court are always fascinating. Unless they’re about you. This is what Sabine had to learn the hard way. It was bound to happen. She avoided any rumors being spread about her for nineteen years. Not a single person has passed through the Court of Aelharst and not had a rumor about them ignite. Still, she had hoped whatever they came up with about her was foolish. An unimportant piece of chit-chat that would die out in less than a day. Turns out, that was the last thing they were going to do. At first...

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Eyebrows

Submitted to Contest #200

“I mean I don’t think anyone really believes that it’s true,” Alyssa laughs, “I really wouldn’t worry about it”. I clear my throat. But the flash of disappointment stays on my face just a moment too long. Long enough for Alyssa.  “Oh….Oh!! You liked it! You wanted people to believe it! Hold on. Did you start this shit?”  That’s ridiculous. Of Course not. I’m not smart enough to be that calculating.  All I can do is scoff.  A scoff has saved me many times– interrogations about crushes, compliments I had to brush off...

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