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Write about a rivalry between two coworkers that has unforeseen consequences.

Posted in Adults on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 26 stories

Stiff Competition

Submitted to Contest #166

The eyes of two hundred passengers at Gate 27 stare at a monitor that now reads, “Flight 873 cancelled - Bad weather.” They look at the red letters of death and then at me behind the boarding gate counter. Something changes in the humanity of the crowd as they advance toward the counter, shuffling in one by one. It's a crowd now thirsting for airline employee blood.  A minute before, my esteemed coworker Kristin went for a bathroom break, leaving me here flying solo.Before the crowd reaches the thin defensive line of my plexig...

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The Halloween Desk

Submitted to Contest #166

I loved the first morning of October each year. I had my box of Halloween decorations ready to snazz up my office cubicle. Spiderwebs to line the partition walls, a cauldron filled with candy, orange lights to sparkle around my computer, little trick-or-treater figurines, plenty of pumpkins with long, twisting stems, and a cd of creepy music to play on repeat. Every other month, I felt as invisible as a ghost haunting my work space, but this month, people stopped by my desk and acknowledged my existence. Women would stop by to take a sm...

24 likes 18 comments 18
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Reset

Submitted to Contest #166

Barney snapped back to the present at the sound of a booming voice that travelled across the bullpen. He raised slightly from his cubicle to see his boss barking unintelligibly in the distance. Barney groaned and slouched back into his seat, the meeting he dreaded was about to begin. He swept the mess of papers on his desk towards him and hugged them as he got up. It was a clumsy manoeuvre that toppled the already precariously positioned cup of coffee on his desk to the ground. The startled colleagues nearby responded with a scowl.“Smooth mo...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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Fall Guy

Shortlisted for Contest #166 ⭐️

Is this what you wanted? Huh? Is this what you sought to accomplish? All that hard work, all that good shit, all that talking about it. Is this what you've been looking for? Well, you got it. Man, do you got it! I hope you're happy, you son of a bitch. At least one of us will be getting out of this shit alive. But, hey, it's what I signed up for, right? It's what we knew was going to happen. I mean, come on, let's not kid ourselves. We knew our fate when we decided to pull this off. I must be stupid. I thought we'd get out of this alive. Oh,...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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Lawyer

Submitted to Contest #166

Rayna Abril sat up in her cramped seat. Her heart was beating. Hard. She looked around, confused. Why was she on a plane? Slowly, she remembered. Yesterday was the court case. Her dark brown eyes watered, but not from the rancid smell of the person next to her. ...   Rayna had graduated from law school just a year ago, but she was already the most sought-after lawyer in the field. Every single case she got, she would win by a landslide. Today should be no different. Still, this case was tricky. About a month ago, her best...

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Attorney Alfred Dunchen

Submitted to Contest #166

Ring! Ring! Ring!The phone cried with a resonating intense that actively and intently showered the room. There was a silent pause before each new ring that sat and lodged itself only to amplify the next ring. A quiet soft gap in between like it was perfectly spaced to be not too short and not too long. It was made such that every new ring become more intense. It existed for the sole purpose to be interrupted by the ring. Alfred raised his short stocky hand, looking at the phone only to notice his ring finger had a callous that irritated...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Knockers

Submitted to Contest #166

KnockersTwo prospectors in 1893 thought they had discovered something extraordinary when they found a small patch of ground in outback Western Australia. Today, it remains one of the world's richest gold deposits.Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600 kilometres east of Perth, is famous for the Golden Mile that sparked Australia's greatest gold rush.Once considered the richest square mile on Earth, the Golden Mile has produced over 60 million ounces of gold.*The inland city, Kalgoorlie-Boulder (referred to as Kalgoorlie from here onwards), lies amongst stu...

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Enough is Enough

Submitted to Contest #166

It was all going so well. Better than I could ever have dreamed of, you know? I had found my unicorn at the end of the rainbow and my life was right on course. I knew it couldn’t last. Nothing lasts forever, I know that much, but just throw me a bone here. Give me more than that fleeting glimpse of how it should be! I deserved more. I certainly put the work in for it. From as far back as I can remember, I looked up into the sky and that’s where I wanted to be. That was where I belonged. I knew that from the very start. Even bet...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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If I'm Lucky

Submitted to Contest #166

TW: Implied/Discussed Sexual Assault (Mild), Car Accident, Amputation/Major Injury, Bullying/Blackmail, Abusive Power Dynamic (Work Environment)---January 10th.Jonathan told me we hired someone new today. We haven’t hired any new people in months, not since the last guy got caught stealing from the company. I asked what their name was and he told me: Azalea. I haven’t met anyone with that name before, and just by name association, they sound beautiful. I know the flowers are, and I like to believe that names are often a reflection of a ...

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The Chair

Submitted to Contest #166

Friday“Again!” Anne’s order resonated throughout the room. “Your jeté should be fluid, you are a ribbon catching the wind.”Anne ran her fingers along her cheek and glanced around her classroom. The girls began their routine, they reached the moment for the triple pirouette. As she spun, Anne gazed into the mirror, her long platinum hair pulled into a bun, her leotard stretched nicely along her frame, giving an air of modesty, but never restricted her movements.The lunch bell chimed, Anne threw on her blue dress over her leotard and left her ...

9 likes 11 comments 11
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We all make mistakes

Submitted to Contest #166

Warning: Murder, suicide, mental health issues.‘Hi Linda, please take a seat. Let me introduce you to Mike Vogel, he is our counsellor from Populus. Mike will be conducting this meeting.’‘Thank you, Paul. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Vogel.’‘Nice to meet you too, Linda. Please, call me Mike. May I call you Linda, or Ms. Johnson?’‘Linda, of course. So, what is the purpose of this meeting?’Paul closed his notebook, pushed himself away from the desk and said ‘Thank you, Linda. I will let Mike explain that, you don’t need me here for this.’As Paul w...

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Gods, Whores, and Cannibals

Submitted to Contest #166

The gods of Hollywood are often cunning and occasionally clever, but they are rarely wise. And the gods will love as long as you make them money. Geneva Sancere and Cable Stetson had been in the gods’ favor for almost a decade. Cable could play a hardened cowboy, a suave spy, or a powerful businessman with equal ease. Geneva Sancere was equally adept, and God had favored her with some sort of geometric magic that gave her the shape of the most alluring woman in the world without being overtly sexy. Both screen stars commanded $50 million pa...

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Working Ethics

Submitted to Contest #166

Mildred Smithson was never late for work. In fact, she was always early. It was her calling to organize, support and even rarely stand-in for her boss, Mr. Bradly. He was the manager of a small brokerage and Mildred knew without her help, he would not be as successful as he was.Making coffee, booting up the office computers and organizing Mr. Bradly’s desk were a few tasks Mildred completed before anyone else arrived. Although there was a janitor that came at night, Mildred was often not satisfied with his attention to detail. She kept a can...

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Promotion

Submitted to Contest #166

The city street was buzzing. Hot dog carts were smoking, pedestrians swarmed the crosswalks, and the downtown high-rises caught the morning hour in their dark windows. Paolo felt it all; everything had clarity. Today, Paolo was a winner. As he stepped smartly into his office building, he saw the only person that could bring down his mood.  Blaine bounced through the marble lobby in his tailored suit, with high-water pants proudly displaying fire-red socks that matched his suspenders. His smiles at everyone, from custodians to upper man...

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The Final Volley

Submitted to Contest #166

As Irina Ubetekov charged across the court at Wimbledon she returned each serve with more deliberate power than she had put behind any of the thousands she had made during her storied 10-year career as the now top-ranked woman player in the world. She believed this historic contest, unlike any of thousands that had come before, would cap off her climb up the summit of the tennis world, and this could be her final tournament. She wanted to go out with a flourish on her record, avoiding the dreaded “40-Love” at all costs. For the winner of ...

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