Write about someone whose job is to help people leave their old lives behind.

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 246 stories

“The Ferryman” by J M

Submitted to Contest #75

`My name is Charon. You may know me from tales of long ago, in which I am the mythical ferryman of the dead. Newly departed souls step onto my boat, and I guide it across the river Styx, leading them into the kingdom of Hades, god and supreme ruler of the Underworld. `When I was first created, long, long ago, at the convergence of Erebus and Nyx, I was mindless and blank. My thoughts - if they could be called that - had a singular focus. Take their coins and guide the boat across the river. Guide the boat across the river. Boat. River. ...

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“Not in His Attic” by Jessica Burke

Submitted to Contest #75

"Alrighty, Miss....Smith?" the secretary stared over her gleaming, red glasses into the waiting room, wondering which woman would change their life forever today."Yes! That's me, that's me," a short, mud-haired woman shoots up from of her dull, fading leather seat. She catches sight of the doctor who opens the mysterious door that leads to the path that will hold her future. His mold green eyes stared at her, almost insisting that she was making the right choice. Come. It was as if she could read his thoughts. Her black heels begin to clack ...

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“Life Changer” by Claudio Murgia

Submitted to Contest #75

It is on the first day of the year, every year, that my job comes into effect. For the rest of the year, I prepare. I am like that painter that spends days looking at her subject without touching a brush and then, when she is finally ready, finishes her painting with a few, rapid, master strokes. A person comes to me, they want to change their lives completely, and I do just that. On the first day of the new year they are someone different. My job is done, I disappear. Almost no one has regretted it and asked me to go back to their previo...

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“Opening Portals” by Samira Davis

Submitted to Contest #75

"Jackie, what do you think is happening to you?" Star Phoenix, expert child psychologist, gazed patiently at the squirming boy sitting in front of her. Star's office was all grey. A bleak, cold grey, which muffled the sunshine and made another monochromatic world which seemed to be drowning in silence. The cat clock's eyes ticked back and forth. Jackie Sloan was seeing portals everywhere since his parents went off the grid. He believed that one day, these doors would lead him to them. When asked why he couldn't open them yet, he always said ...

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“HR” by Chris Wagner

Submitted to Contest #75

My alarm clock screeched at me at 6:10 AM. When I reached up and stabbed the snooze button, a green hand fumbled for the off switch, and the clock fell from the headboard. "Good morning, Mr. Recruiter," purred my flat chested sleeping companion. "Think you can convince other humans to leave their home now?...Or do you need another reminder?" I groaned and sat up, pulled the clock out from behind the bed. "It's too early." "I can feel your body disagreeing with you." She shifted closer. I could feel her crotch t...

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“Just Listen” by Muskaan K

Submitted to Contest #75

There was something inherently awkward about the silence. At first, of course. By now it was a welcome companion to Dr. Jaime. She understood how to navigate the silence, how to let it sit just long enough before breaking it. It was a tool that every counselor, well, every good counselor, learned to wield deftly. And Dr. Jaime was the best. Deepi started to squirm in her armchair as she felt the silence taking over the room. It was only session 3, Dr. Jaime thought. The silence was still new to Deepi. It would take time for its purpo...

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“Reincarnation” by Sara Blanch

Submitted to Contest #75

The geniune unknown and mystery of the events that occur after Death was such a momentous question in a human's soul that often the first thing that they asked me was ' Am I in heaven or hell?' I never know how to respond to this, I mean should I be insulted that they think my smiling face greeting them belonged in hell?...or should I be grateful that they believed I could be heaven's representative? How did I articulate to them that heaven and hell are simply social and religious constructs that are left behind on the mortal plane? ...

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“THE HEALER” by Chioma Opara

Submitted to Contest #75

That morning, I sat under the gradually lightening sky watching the rolling waves kiss the shoreline.I had always felt drawn to the water. It reminded me of myself. It was a cleanser, dissolving the dirt of hundreds of baths and washes. People feared it but came to it because they needed it. For the fault of being itself, it had been banished to isolation- away from the land; away from the sky and birds and trees; away from the people until they needed it.Unlike me however, it never gave up. As days turned into weeks and weeks into years and...

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“Time for a Change” by Jordan T

Submitted to Contest #75

Fiske sauntered into the room. Every time they met the room was different, but this one was barely a room. Two of the walls had buckled, plaster cracked and crumbled at their base. The room hadn’t kept rain out in years. “How do you find these places?” A short man stood next to a rotten table with a tiny lantern flickering back against the dark. “You are just one of the people in my employ. You have your talents, others have theirs.” The hood the man wore muffled his voice. Fiske had never seen his face. Probably safer for ...

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“Going Under ” by Marianna Mills

Submitted to Contest #75

The rain pummelled down, cold and dark that night, Eilleen held her breath as she waited for her husband to leave to go to work. Patrick Escoban went to the post office to work the night shift as a desk security, he grundged while he grabbed his bag lunch and coat, going to the old Buick outside in front of their small bungalow. Eilleen watched him from the window, her eye still sore and bruised from his beating the night before. She winced in pain - not afraid anymore. "I am never going to let you do this to me again." She said to the windo...

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“The Fixer With A Broken Past ” by Mystical Fro

Submitted to Contest #75

Madelyn Badeaux was a name that was renowned and admired by all. She was a woman of great distinction that carried herself with great pose and she treasured the fact that she could turn the most wretched of people into upstanding citizens. She was the best therapist in all of England and she could certainly get anyone’s life back on track. This mere fact was evident from the lives of her patients. She had a way around people and knew exactly how to fix a multitude of problems, nothing was too big for Madelyn. Except maybe one man could disma...

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“Bear” by Rebecca Marie

Submitted to Contest #75

As I sat at my office, going through the manila folders stacked so high I could barely see the scared little boy sitting there across from me. Shaking in his seat, dried, dirty tears had been running down his face for who knows how long. Holding on to his teddy bear tightly, peeking up from time to time to look at me, then he would look back down. I gently slid the golden bowl of tootsie roll pops across the table at him, and he reached up and quickly grabbed one, I said "Take one for your bear too!" He smiled up at me then and thats w...

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“Transformation” by Bernadette Jackson

Submitted to Contest #75

“Now you know what to expect, Ms Duncan. The transformant serum may feel a little warm when it infuses into your hand, but that sensation will soon pass. And once you wake, you’ll be on the ship and a long way into your journey.” James smiled reassuringly as he delivered his customary speech. For many years he’d been sending people on the Long Voyage, and there had been remarkably few problems. In fact, he’d become a little too accustomed to the familiar words and the slight squeeze of the Voyager’s hand that normal...

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“Mirror Shards” by J.B. Dixon

Submitted to Contest #75

“Alright. It looks like everything’s in order.” Selene’s elegant fingers typed on the keyboard. “Now, before I send everything off, are you absolutely sure you want to do this? If so, there’s no going back. Everything will be erased.” Seated on the other side of the dark brown desk, the dark-haired woman crossed her legs and straightened up. “I’ve never been so certain of anything in my life. This has to be done. I need a clean break.” ‘Right. Like I haven’t heard that line before.’ Selene thought. “Okay.” She clicked the mouse, and the ...

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“J'ba Fofi” by Deeptreasures Kabamba

Submitted to Contest #75

“Where am I?” the king stammered, as his bloodshot eyes adjusted to the light of the strange environment. The king was seated in front of a pitch-black chasm which lay across the diameter of a massive circular clearing. The clearing was surrounded by thousands of ancient, thick-trunked rainforest trees. Their gigantic canopy rose so high that it almost completely obscured the darkening sky above. Upon realisation of the unfamiliarity of his surroundings, the king attempted to get up and flee, but his bed...

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Write about someone whose job is to help people leave their old lives behind.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 246 stories

“The Ferryman” by J M

“Not in His Attic” by Jessica Burke

“Life Changer” by Claudio Murgia

“Opening Portals” by Samira Davis

“HR” by Chris Wagner

“Just Listen” by Muskaan K

“Reincarnation” by Sara Blanch

“THE HEALER” by Chioma Opara

“Time for a Change” by Jordan T

“Going Under ” by Marianna Mills

“The Fixer With A Broken Past ” by Mystical Fro

“Bear” by Rebecca Marie

“Transformation” by Bernadette Jackson

“Mirror Shards” by J.B. Dixon

“J'ba Fofi” by Deeptreasures Kabamba

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone who has finally managed to succeed at a long-standing New Year’s resolution.

Start your story with one character making a vow that they never would have made the year before.

Write about someone who doesn’t remember their past — and doesn’t want to.

Write about two characters who each want to change the same thing, but resolve to go about it in very different ways.

Contest #75

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

735

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: