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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character passing down their favorite childhood toy to a new generation.

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 122 stories

“Harlequin” by Deathof TheAuthor

Submitted to Contest #61

Most kids have teddies or some variation of that, but I had my plush little harlequin. Each night he would sit faithfully beside my head, and stare down the monsters with his frozen expression. And there were a lot of monsters. No names for any of them—they were too primeval for names. A werewolf in a story can be killed, vampire staked. Dragons and manticores can be slain, given enough time. Even Godzilla eventually retreats to the ocean. But these shadowed things weren’t fairytales. They didn’t inhabit neat little stories with rules that c...

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“Omamori” by Silvia Bartolini

Submitted to Contest #61

The old man grinned, eyes squinting as they drowned in a sea of wrinkles. He fished in the pocket of trousers so well worn the fabric was almost see-through and came up with a wooden object."This," he said, not bothering with tongues between teeth or half-way vowels, "is a strummolo."Nami bowed her head in polite acknowledgment and joined her hands under the man's to receive the offer. The clash of Italian enthusiasm and Japanese politeness had the old man laugh as he grabbed both of Nami's hands and shoved the object in one palm, closing it...

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“Twinkle Twinkle Shines My Legacy ” by S. F. Brooke

Submitted to Contest #61

Breana laughed as her six-year-old daughter unwrapped another Christmas gift and instantly wanted to open it. The sparkly and crinkly wrapping paper was thrown into the humongous pile of tissue paper and gift wrap as Breana’s husband, Derrick, opened his pocket knife and broke the toy free from is plastic prison.  “Here you go, Hollee. Do you like it?” Derrick asked the little girl, whose face lit up as she took the doll from her father. Hollee ran over to the couch to show her mother.  Breana smiled as her baby girl talked about...

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“Teddy” by Ricky Mae Sutphen

Submitted to Contest #61

Lira looked around the store and smiled widely. Her dream of having a business is now fulfilled. She was hands-on during the preparation and plans for the store. She was the one who talked to the suppliers. She also designed the store with a little help from her husband. Today is the grand opening of her store, and she felt giddy and nervous at the same time. Her stomach had been upset the night before. Now, she is sweating non-stop. She took a peek outside and saw a lot of people in front of the store. Mostly kids with their parents.&n...

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“We Were The Children ” by Rachel Ryan

Submitted to Contest #61

It arrived in a box on a cold Tuesday morning.  Amelia's sock-clad feet padded quickly down the stairs and she pulled her cardigan more tightly around her as she went to open the door. The frigid winter breeze tickled the base of her neck and she watched in dismay as the delivery driver made off in his van down the street. She had wanted to ask him about the mysterious sender of this parcel; not that she had expected any sort of clarity, of course. But it wouldn't have hurt. The whole thing was an enigma surrounded in a thick clo...

8 comments 8
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“Glass Eyes” by Julie Kendall Scott

Submitted to Contest #61

I know she is in here somewhere. I ravaged through the storage closet in the hall frantically looking for the wooden box that strangely resembled a small coffin and finally uncovered it in the back corner. Rising from the dead. I pulled the box from underneath the pile and held the boxes stacked up to keep them falling on me. When I turned around, my daughter’s expectant eyes met me. “What is it, Mommy?” “Well, little miss, this is my baby doll,” I said as I pulled off the lid. The doll laid inside her wooden coffi...

3 comments 3
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“Traveling Souls” by Cyndy Reads

Submitted to Contest #61

               The moment her father died, a dense fog settled into the hospice room. Distantly she heard the heart monitor flatline, a high-pitched drone that made its home in the back of her head. She held his hand. It was still warm. A nurse came in, moving in exaggerated slow-motion, checking her father’s pulse, calling a code in room 182A. Nova could barely see the other nurses or the doctor through the fog, even as they tried in vain to restart her father’s hear...

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“The Red Top” by RS Bhide

Submitted to Contest #61

Rohan looked at his watch for what seemed like the millionth time, a movement that was not lost on his wife Sonal.“Why do you keep doing that? It won’t make the flight land any faster!” Sonal said with some irritation. “And stop shaking your leg so vigorously!”He made a noncommittal sound and picked up a magazine. They were in the airport lounge, waiting for his father Shankar’s flight to land. It was his father’s first trip out of India, but that was not the only reason for Rohan’s nervousness. He had drifted emotionally apart from Shankar ...

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“The Teddy Bear” by Monica Chaddick

Submitted to Contest #61

The little girl had done an exceptional job cleaning up the room. Her siblings hadn’t helped in the least little bit, opting instead to sit and watch television rather than clean their room. However, the little girl had grown quite attached to the very nice man that her mother was dating, and wanted to make him proud.          The man prided himself on his neatness and his ability to clean. He was trying to be a father figure towards the children and help out the woman that he was...

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“Jonathan the Duck” by Daniela D.

Submitted to Contest #61

The door squeaks open, revealing the dark, stuffy attic we visit once in a blue moon. A treasure trove filled with history buried in every brown box resting in a forgotten corner. The floorboards creak beneath me when I shuffle to the window. Muddy pink curtains are lazily hanging on the nook, lint and dust bunnies decorate the old curtain, complimenting the holes the moths made. I pull the curtains open and allow the sunlight to pour in. The room is a little brighter now, light peeking through the windowpane. My husband slides beside me, of...

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“The Peregrine Way” by Sharika Mattoo

Submitted to Contest #61

I ran my fingers over the polished wood, smooth under the pads of my fingers the ebony case gleaming under the incandescent lights. “A stationary kit?” My mother said still fussing on the slap-dashed wrapping of the present. “I’ve seen one just like this at Tim’s pawn shop.” A snarky remark that earned my brother a chuckle from everyone except me. I wasn’t really a fan of journals, nor was I an avid reader or writer. Anything related to academia that couldn’t get me bonus credits never interested me, yet somehow I couldn’t stop fingering the...

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“An Understanding of Love and Hatred” by K Lewis

Submitted to Contest #61

Every day at 4pm, I see them, heading away from the primary school. The older one always nods, serious and sombre despite his teenage years; the younger one just waves. Once, you’d have said ‘start a conversation’, but you know that’s not me. Too many years alone, Al. Before and now.But maybe that’s why I don’t see it at first. I don’t know. I think it’s more that it starts slow. The older one, see, he walks tall and proud, but one day, he’s hunching. Just a little. Could be a bad day ('we all have those,' you used to say), but he does it th...

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“The Wooden Submarine” by David Menchin

Submitted to Contest #61

The gentle movement of air created as the broom held by Hue George swayed back and forth was echoed throughout the dusty attic. The pure yellow rays of a bright sun intruded like a flame through the singular window, only to be blocked by his body. The melody of the broom and the soothing heat of the sun had put Hue in a trance, as the broom barely touched the floor swaying back and forth, back and forth. It wasn't that he was necessarily thinking of anything important in this trance. In fact quite the opposite. His mind was empty at the mome...

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“Hannah's snake” by MARIA FERNANDEZ

Submitted to Contest #61

The bell rang and the playground that was filled with laughter suddenly became silent as the children ran back into their classrooms. The youngest group waited for Miss Hope to lead them inside. They formed a long chain of intertwined hands, so that nobody would be left behind. One by one, the children hung their coats, exchanging them for the content of their backpacks. Today was a special day, probably one of the most exciting days of the month for a Year 2 student: it was Show and Tell Day. The topic for this occasion was toys. Everyone w...

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“NOT FAR FROM THE TREE” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #61

NOT FAR FROM THE TREE Walt Kitchener scrambled down from the right-hand seat of the NOAA T-38 and shook hands with Shirley Lewis, pilot in command for the trip from Trinidad to Pax River. A limo was waiting to take the exhausted scientist to his Lexington Park home, an expanded cream, split-level ranch with all the trimmings: yards, pool, multi-sport court, all set comfortably well back from Great Mills Road. Walt saw the press in front of the house, had the driver circle back around and let him out at the Dembitzer’s house, immedi...

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