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Write a story that includes the line “my lips are sealed.”

Posted in Adults on May 26, 2023

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✍️ 96 stories

Three Questions

Winner of Contest #200 🏆

“Right, you stinking mutt, into your cell and keep quiet.” The gaoler manhandled Edmond Barker into a cold, damp room then clanged an iron-barred gate behind him and turned a key in the lock. His rancid beer breath rattled in Edmond’s nose. “Now both of you listen up! The man in the cell next to you could be your saviour or your downfall. The secret to your release is somewhere in the cell next to yours, so only your companion can find it. High tide is in one hour and will completely fill both your cells. Be out or be drowned.”“Hey! You next...

162 likes 141 comments 141
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A Labyrinth of Silence

Submitted to Contest #200

Marie groped her way along the tunnel walls longing for just a sliver of light to help her find her way to the exit. A labyrinth of passageways criss-crossed the old town of Lyon, France providing silk workers with a way to transport their bolts of fabric without getting them wet. The silk trade had long ago flamed out, but the locals continued to use the passageways to get from one part of town to another.It was in one of these tunnels that Marie found herself now. She understood the necessity for lights out and curfews, but most of the pas...

51 likes 67 comments 67
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Sweetness Is Easy but Cinnamon Is Tricky

Submitted to Contest #200

                                                               March, 1995Michael watched the old man for some minutes before approaching him. He had only seen photos of his uncle before today. Grainy black-and-white images of a leg...

34 likes 53 comments 53
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Dot, Dot, Little Dot

Submitted to Contest #200

Now Thomas hadn’t expected to be alive when the town’s time capsule was opened. Susanna turned on the TV in the sun room in time for the news segment to premiere for all of the guests at Sunset Brooke Care Home. “Mr. Wilkers, were you alive when they buried that thing?” she asked as she pulled her huge legs up so that her feet, clothed in pure white sneakers, were on the seat. It made Thomas grind his teeth together and mumble a curse. The TV screen showed a crowd of people gathered for the event. A makeshift stage had been built to the side...

30 likes 12 comments 12
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The Proposal

Submitted to Contest #200

“You must not tell a single soul!”Jane said nothing as her friend sat opposite her, grasping the fine bone-china teacup between her delicate fingers. Emily was animated, her eyes glittering with barely suppressed excitement. Jane found her friend’s enthusiasm for intrigue exhausting at the best of times, but since coming to suspect her own delicate condition, she found such exuberance almost unbearable.“Swear it! Say, I solemnly swear that I shall not breathe a word to a single soul!” Emily pressed, her words tumbling out in a breathy rush.J...

28 likes 30 comments 30
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Open Pit Mining

Submitted to Contest #200

A lot of people are opposed to open pit mining, tearing up huge chunks of the earth, so people can have more cars, more gadgets, more of everything, but trust me, when you've just lost your job, your girlfriend, and are receiving student debt bills, concerns about the world in 2200 are not the highest priority. Which is how I found myself a week ago travelling across the world, and starting work last week at Fimiston in WA.Seconds before I’m about to get my truck into gear, Robb jumps in. He's invited himself. Having a companion for the tent...

26 likes 27 comments 27
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The Parental Loop

Submitted to Contest #200

I've heard the story before, countless times, but I don't stop her. It must run on repeat through her mind. A story of her youth, when everything somehow seemed simpler, even though soldiers roamed the streets, families were caught in riots, friends maimed or worse in rebel attacks. The good old days she calls them with a weak smile. Whatever was so good about them I've never asked. No point asking now.Turning to the open window next to her bed, her pinprick pupils search for a recognisable feature amongst the fresh cut lawns and towering pi...

24 likes 23 comments 23
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Molestation Magnet

Submitted to Contest #200

**please note story begins in 1953. Molestation and rape mentioned.** When the first of the molestations begins, I am 7 years old. I attend St. Vincent’s Catholic School. The school is located a few miles from the now infamous Kings Cross, a part of downtown Sydney, Australia. My molester is a 13-year-old student in Grade 6…a girl. Because I’m new at the school and think my classmates might not like me, I hide in the shadows of the building. She spots me there. She smiles at me and comes over. “Why aren’t you playing with anyone?” She ...

23 likes 39 comments 39
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Caffeinated Secrets

Submitted to Contest #200

The young couple position their seasonal Joey Java cups high above their heads. “Have you ever seen a Christmas Tree print in herringbone? It’s sublime. Turn the label towards the camera, Quinn. We have to “tag” Joey. Perfect shot! You ready to get out of here?" The couple hastily abandon their Joey Java cups on the nearest table and stroll outside, eyes magnetized to their phone, enchanted by the memory they captured.     Coffee newbs? Tourists, maybe? People have the liberty to express themselves in any b...

23 likes 8 comments 8
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Don't Tell A Soul

Submitted to Contest #200

“How are you today?” he said into the rearview mirror. The woman in the backseat of the car didn’t seem to hear him as she stared into her phone, her thumb methodically scrolling social media. He rolled his eyes and looked back at the road. He was used to this by now. He was just a background decoration in this person’s life. A warm body who steered their life to another destination. It used to be easier to engage with people, as he took them on their journeys. Of course, people also used to be more aware of their surroundings, of the more s...

23 likes 25 comments 25
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The Slingshot

Shortlisted for Contest #200 ⭐️

“I tink I saw one in the attic, Da.” Bobby said.“Aye, go on up dare, and have a look will yer? One more should do it then.” Patrick instructed his eldest son. A chair pushed against the linoleum scratched black beneath the feet, freeing Bobby to the attic for a suitcase hidden under a hundred years of dust. They were packing for America.“Da, are we going to leave everyting else?” Mikey asked. His eyes wandered around the sitting room. The ratted carpet he and Bobby rolled around on, bare in the spot where some feet, shoved in shoes and other...

22 likes 39 comments 39
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Survey Says!

Submitted to Contest #200

Discussion of a war.“Hello? Is this the party to whom I should be speaking?”“It must be for you,” says my mom. On a landline? I’m thinking. Mom is baking chocolate chip cookies and I’m getting ready to go. To get a cookie and still get out the door is the objective. An unexpected phone call isn't going to be helpful.I fumble with the phone while slipping my jacket on, shoes sidling away from my feet, need my hands for those! No speakerphone, ancient contraption this thing, hideous yellow with festooned buttons. At least there was a long cord...

17 likes 16 comments 16
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Where We Bury Our Secrets

Submitted to Contest #200

With every step across the grassy courtyard, the book burned a hole in the crossbody bag Dorothea carried with her. She hoped Cecilia would only notice the missing book after Dorothea had made it to the Thelapus. She shuddered as she remembered how dark Cecilia’s eyes had become when she first showed Dorothea what Cecilia referred to as “the key to Divina Potentia.” This was the exact thing every girl at Saint Catherine’s School for the Artistically Inclined strived for. The only problem was that Dorothea could not read whatever language the...

17 likes 3 comments 3
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Sammy, Tammy, and Pearl

Shortlisted for Contest #200 ⭐️

“You sure you don’t want to meet for a drink?” The greasy man asks, his raspy voice muffled as he lays belly-down on the massage table. “I’m only here for one night. Let’s make it a fun one, yeah?”Aileen pulls her oily hands away from her massage client, wincing as her carpal tunnel flares up.“Well?” he demands. “I’m a bit older, but I’m still fun! Hell, you can even call me Daddy if you want.”“You’re all done!” Aileen says cheerfully. “Jasmin can take your payment outside.”“I’ll pay you for the night. How about that?”“Jasmin can take your p...

17 likes 11 comments 11
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The dark secret

Submitted to Contest #200

Taking a break from work, I was in a coffee shop, sipping my flat white and passively listening to the muffled sound of the news coming from the TV on the wall. The news was about the recent interest hike and its impact on ordinary people. “Homebuyers like me who have to downsize their life to meet their next mortgage payments. If the interest rate rises again, I may stop having coffee outside,” I thought with dread.The news moved on to a tropical storm in the southern part of India, the war in Ukraine, and so on until I lost my interest. Bu...

17 likes 5 comments 5
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