Your character is known as the town gossip. One day, it comes back to bite them.

Posted in Adults on May 26, 2023

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✍️ 22 stories

“A Little Birdie Told Me...” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #200

A Little Birdie Told Me...Two long time neighbors met over the backyard fence.“So how's things down at the mill?”“Oh, you know how we millers are. We keep grinding them down and spitting them out. What about at the winery? Any good news there?”“Heard some good ones through the grapevine just yesterday.”“I can't wait to hear but I'll let you tell all of us at once when we get together over at the park. We plan on meeting between the telephone poles. We'll have a bird's eye view of the lay of the land and won't get our wires crossed.”“Sure, ev...

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“A Grisly Thing ” by S N

Submitted to Contest #200

Sibyl drew the portrait above my deathbed. Called it "Centipede Sis'." Grisly thing. I sat for a number of artists before, but none captured the burgundy black of my curls like Sibyl - though, any resemblance frayed with the split ends of the subject. She wanted my chin pointed towards the ceiling. I held it aloft for four hours. Poised. Obedient. I still feel the crick in my neck whenever the AC works too well. There were phones back then. She could have taken a picture. She refused. Said it was different. Said she needed to get "it" r...

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“Clara Jean” by Shannon C.

Submitted to Contest #200

“Would you look at that one?” Clara said shaking her head as she sipped her coffee. “You know she stole all kinds of money from her momma and took off to a different state without saying a word? Had her fretting over her day and night. I heard she was with child and had to leave to get rid of the baby. Terrible thing she did to her family. Just a shame to put that kind a mark on your family’s name. And now she’s back like nothing even happened. Disgraceful.” She adjusted her glasses on her nose and looked at Gracie. Her friend sat next to he...

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“The Darkness of Gossip” by KG Green

Submitted to Contest #200

“The Darkness of Gossip” Chapter 1: Whispers in the Shadows “My lips are sealed”, that's what Clara told everyone in the town last week. They accused her of spreading false information, of being a gossip. But what they didn’t know is that sometimes, whispers hold more truth than anyone could imagine. In the small, tight-knit community of Brookside, lived Clara. She had a knack for collecting rumors and spinning them into stories that spread like wildfire. Clara revealed in the attention it brought her, the power to shape the perception...

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“Loose Lips Sink More Than Ships” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #200

After operating one of the most successful and popular taverns in Annapolis for 30 years Johnny Spertulla was happy to hang it up in a move to the quiet Eastern Shore resort town of Snow Hill, Maryland. Little did he know that a group of his new neighbors would attempt to dash his hopes for a new life filled with weekend mornings of fishing the Atlantic and whiling away his afternoons in minimal stakes poker games. On his first day in town, Johnny stopped by the local gr...

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“Rude Words Will Harm You” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #200

“Do you kiss your children goodnight with those foul lips of yours?” The way he said those words was confrontational and then some. There was a twinkle in his eye, but there was no humour to be found there, only something like malice. Like malice, only much, much worse. “What do you mean?” Shirley blurted. “You know full well what I mean…” he told her. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about,” she replied. “Like that is it?” he asked her. “Like what?” she countered. “Lies pass so easily from those lips of yours, but you don...

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“The Town Crier” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #200

“Hear ye, hear ye…!” He really went all out this week. I mean, no one expected Albert to wear the full outfit that early into the celebrations. It was six in the morning, and he was right in the dead center of Antonville, right underneath the bunting and the flags, standing by the statue of the town founder (not important right now, but you know the place is called Antonville, so…), and he did not even have a microphone or bullhorn. But I heard him. He was right by my café and I had just gotten up to make the coffee for the day. Not that I d...

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“Progie Paradise” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #200

I wasn’t just an only child; I was supposed to be progenated. Pasteurized, homogenized, progenated. New word for a new time. Humanity can be perfected. We came out of the slime and if we don’t plan to stay friends with what made us forever, then progenation is needed.Now don’t start saying that I’m in league with the antiprogs, just because I didn’t complete the treatment! I have a perfectly good reason for that. It’s true an antiprog came to me and got me to quit. She was my own mother! What would you do? Besides progenation wasn’t mandator...

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“Know-it-all” by Adrienne Miller

Submitted to Contest #200

The streets are exploding with joy. The world’s most beautiful woman on the arm of their beautiful, if slightly disappointing, prince. Helen and Paris. They glide over Troy’s stone-hewn streets, effervescent like a picture drawn by the gods. Even Hektor smiles. Hektor, who is usually far too serious to let himself be swayed by public spectacles. Hektor, who is commonly known as the less-disappointing prince. “Look, I’m just saying –”, I start, fruitlessly. For the fifth time. “I know what you’re saying, Kassandra”, Andromache admon...

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“Caroline Crawly” by Colleen Ireland

Submitted to Contest #200

They were too busy, the women of the town, to notice me when they gathered at the diner, Miss Lolly’s. Every Sunday, it was the church ladies, melty pink mints in their purses, lips pressed tight to hold back curses as their self-appointed leader, Ms. Amy Sprechen, a woman of no personal reflection, would share what no one else dares. Ms. Amy’s limited view of everything new allowed her to stay in the past, the power of her perfect hair and hourglass figure built to last. Ms. Amy’s husband, Mr. Ben, owned the bank, a dress shop, and a lunch ...

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“Beguiling Tales” by Faye S

Submitted to Contest #200

Maria heard her knees pop and snap as she straightened up from pulling weeds in the front garden. She sampled all the arthritis drugs, all with names she couldn’t pronounce. Some made her sick, or constipated, or gave her diarrhea. None slayed the pain. The warnings on the bottles told her to call 911 in the event she felt suicidal. She had to get the magnifying glass to read it, and by the time she found that and squinted at the little letters, well, she did feel a little preoccupied with killing someone, just not herself. “Duke’s gone, the...

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“Steamed Crab” by Benjamin Boxer

Submitted to Contest #200

Dr. Harry Lightfoot dressed like a man, but he gossiped like a deacon. He drove a decommissioned mail van that had been painted to look like an ice cream truck with pastel playful animals frolicking and fraternizing as painted decoration on the sides, back, and even on the top. An amplified bullhorn had been fastened to the top, and from it, Dr. Lightfoot poured out loops of three tunes that seemed to have been played on a Fisher Price xylophone: "Merrily We Roll Along," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and a generic little ditty that some...

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“Grey Day” by Nikki Lynn Patterson

Submitted to Contest #200

Hickory is a small town that sits by itself in the middle of nowhere that smells damp of the nearby freshwater lakes. Residents here in Hickory are quiet, kind and hardworking people who relish their privacy, usually keeping to themselves. Many who live in the small town were born here, grew up and raised their own families here for generations. The ones who had come here over the years had settled, finding solace in a place that reminded them of simpler times before the reach of social influence and technology. A place where everyone knew e...

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“What Goes Around, Comes Around” by Joan Wright

Submitted to Contest #200

"Just look at her! She is so pathetic. If I had teeth like that, my parents would have had braces put on me the moment I got teeth." Megan's three friends giggled at the remark. "It even effects the way she talks. Look at her over there eating alone again." Megan then imitates Becca's speech to the delight of her friends. "I hope she doesn't bite herself while eating her lunch." Gales of laughter erupt from the table and drift through the cafeteria. Becca doesn't need to look up to know she is the subject of the laughter.Becca is used to the...

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“Email Love” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #200

To: < Izak Brian, COO - Line Answers Communication> Hey, big guy, thanks for the drink yesterday. Sorry to hear about your wife. She’ll probably get better soon. She’s looks better in your wallet photo, than the one on your desk. Listen, I don’t know if you saw, or if you know, but I saw Jon Sweet there at that Carly’s Cafe. When we came in. He was putting on his coat. He was wobbling. I’m pretty sure he’s a drinker. I’ve heard that around, too. Betty Peak :) To: < Izak Brian, COO - Li...

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Your character is known as the town gossip. One day, it comes back to bite them.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 22 stories

“A Little Birdie Told Me...” by Mary Bendickson

“A Grisly Thing ” by S N

“Clara Jean” by Shannon C.

“The Darkness of Gossip” by KG Green

“Loose Lips Sink More Than Ships” by Bob Faszczewski

“Rude Words Will Harm You” by Jed Cope

“The Town Crier” by Kendall Defoe

“Progie Paradise” by Joe Smallwood

“Know-it-all” by Adrienne Miller

“Caroline Crawly” by Colleen Ireland

“Beguiling Tales” by Faye S

“Steamed Crab” by Benjamin Boxer

“Grey Day” by Nikki Lynn Patterson

“What Goes Around, Comes Around” by Joan Wright

“Email Love” by David B Fraser

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Write a story about a piece of gossip that becomes more and more distorted as it passes from person to person.

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

Your main character has a secret superpower; the gossip they spread always comes true.

Contest #200

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

210

Contest entries

116

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: