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Start your story with an unexpected betrayal.

Posted in Adventure on Mar 8, 2024

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✍️ 79 stories

Narced

Submitted to Contest #241

   I don't know what I was thinking, after breakfast with my friend. Although, to hear her tell of it, she was not so much.     I met my neighbor Judy on the porch, and sat down in my chair. "How was your breakfast?" Judy asked. I told her my friend wanted to go to a place in New Hampshire for breakfast, and I was to drive.     "Not good," I told her. "We were sitting down and had just ordered, and she looked me square in the face and told me we were not friends. I mean, who do...

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To Be A Pilgrim

Submitted to Contest #241

​Anthony rounded the headland, his breath snatched away by the gusty south westerly, ignoring Lol’s ghost looming on the path ahead. He trudged the coastal path, grateful for the tug of the mud at his boots and the salty slap of the gauzelike mist; a reminder to stay in the moment and not let the past drag him back.​He pushed determinedly through Lol’s spectre. Anthony’s impulsive decision to get away to walk and think had been met with scepticism by their friends; the sam...

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Bridge Ices Before Road

Submitted to Contest #241

Moving westward Selma, I needed to find that wooden bridge again. The one I crossed over the creek feeding the Alabama River. Though a bit unsure, I felt it was the back way that would head me in the right direction toward Birmingham. Wetumpka, a little speck on the map just outside of Montgomery, was not particularly familiar to me. I recall passing the exits for Wetumpka on I 65 on numerous occasions, never taking. My lack of familiarity with this town created an uneasy, borderline panic. A behavior I developed as a toddler when I was sep...

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"Someday We'll Walk Together in the Raysof the Beautiful Sun"

Submitted to Contest #241

“Someday We’ll Walk Together in the Rays of the Beautiful Sun” In the fading sunlight, I could hear birds calling to each other as if they were signaling that it was time for me to go home. But, I didn’t want to go home. I knew he would be there sitting on the couch acting as if he isn’t sitting there waiting for me to come in the door, daring me to come in after the clock struck 6:05pm. It takes me exactly 45 minutes at the most to get home from work and I bet not step in that door a minute after 6:05pm, 6:06pm and I was sure...

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Panoramic Deception

Submitted to Contest #241

Her -- Them -- He -- Conundrum ... Death?Sad truth in matters is he ultimately never knew such an ominous end was possible, and even still, never in his God given did he expect "she" would be the culprit to deliver such a sinister possibility. Life -- Death and all in between flash as he stares down three corrivals, a burgundy bodied King James version bible, three perfectly placed Bambu ready rolled J's of exotic weed, and 1 (Sig Sauer P226 MK25 9mm pistol, with one bullet). As off current, his hands bound, nylon and sisal piercing the skin...

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A Boy's Best Friend

Submitted to Contest #241

Three Days AgoI could never hate him. I truly couldn’t. But there was an ache in my brain thinking about what he had done to me, bringing such heavy guilt to set on my back during what I had coveted for years. Anything but that life. That life was as useless to me as a sword was to a librarian or a match to a blacksmith. How could he? I was devastated, alone, and left with a future of sharing meals with the vermin and making deals with the devil. I couldn’t still help but wonder if I was the coward. Current Day Twelve days. Twelve...

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A Walk Reveals the Unexpected

Submitted to Contest #241

A Walk Reveals the Unexpected Jamie loved the long walks with grandpa.  At ten years-of-age, he found the weekly walks with grandpa special.  They loved the stream that bordered the farm and usually the walk included an exploration of the creek bank.  The older man would point out the plants, birds, and animals to be found in the water as well as things to be avoided.  They also carried a bag to fill with garbage left by those with less regard for nature.  On this occasion, they had collected...

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The Vengeful Earth

Submitted to Contest #241

The hardest part about betrayal is that it’s like an earthquake in Bozeman. You know it’s possible; after all Yellowstone is an easy morning’s drive. And we all know that Old Faithful’s homestead is just a super-volcano waiting for the right moment to show off. But you don’t actually expect it. Those worries are for the people who live in Alaska or California. Not Montana.   I woke up that morning, wishing I didn’t have to. The betrayal I’d endured the day before was a 9.5 magnitude that I never saw coming. I’d given five years to ...

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Sword of Honor, Shield of Lies

Submitted to Contest #241

Alrick stared in horror as sounds faded and his vision tunneled. What did a soldier do when the one he pledged his loyalty to used it to incite a war?~*~Alrick, Paladin Commander, strode down the stone corridors of the palace, his metal-clad boots and armor clacking with each step. At the end of the corridor, he pushed a pair of double doors open on silent hinges. His position allowed him to enter the royal study without permission or proper introduction, a privilege granted to very few.Four men turned at Alrick’s arrival, two of whom wore C...

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The torment of a conscience

Submitted to Contest #241

TW// sexual violence, suicide, and mental healthThere is a day that I will never forget.The day I betrayed myself, my conscience.To this day, I did not know what came over me to act the way I did.But against all morals, against the boundaries I have put on myself, I watched him burn with satisfaction as I listened to his pleas while flames steadily approached him.“This is probably what they felt too, you know, the people you hurt.” I said softly.I could have saved him.I knew I could have, yet, I didn’t.He did not deserve to be saved, he dese...

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The Phoenix

Submitted to Contest #241

Everyone had scattered after the shootout. Everyone that is, except Cal. He couldn’t run. He had been shot. Nothing to do but just lay there on the cold, hard pavement. Waiting, bleeding. Gritting his teeth, biding his time. Off in the distance, he could hear the wail of sirens getting closer, ever closer. That wasn’t good. He really didn’t want to go to the hospital. Too many questions, too much paperwork. It wasn’t a good idea for him to be in the system. Not at all. For many reasons.He’d rather just have one of the guys in his posse fix h...

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Revenge

Submitted to Contest #241

REVENGE Et Tu, Brute?  By Camille Clarke  Dusty's face was bruised, his mouth was swollen, and he sported a black eye and wounds to his body. He trembled with fear, stammering as he softly and a bit hesitantly answered.  “Who did this to you?” Mark asked standing in front of his brother. What mess did he get into this time? “It was Gregg,” Dusty looked away, hanging his head in shame.  Mark did not need to hear anymore. He already hated Gregg. He waited years for any excuse to pound him. He fel...

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"Ouch, That Hurts"

Submitted to Contest #241

As I reached our daily lunch table with my tray full of unappealing Italian day lunch special, one of my best friends was saying catishly, "Marie thinks I'm going to nominate her for 'Best Personality', but I'm voting for Tracy instead." The eyes that had been eagerly focused on my friend, now known as 'the backstabbing bitch' by me, raised to see me standing behind her as she declared to whom her loyalties belonged. When Jamie saw their looks of warning, she turned around and her expression quickly turned sheepish and her pink cheeks drain...

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Woodland Avenue, Brookside

Submitted to Contest #241

It's taken me a long time to think seriously about this former friend and someone who passed away at eighteen years old. He's someone I've never forgotten about, and he haunts my dreams.Joe was a really sensitive, loving kid who was always taller and skinnier than me. When my family built a house in the township of Mendham I started going to the elementary and then the middle school. I was in Mrs Thomas' class and it's likely there I first met Joe.His parents lived in a stone covered ranch house on Woodland Road and Summit Road. The house se...

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A Fatherly Betrayal

Submitted to Contest #241

A fatherly betrayalThe angry skies cleared and the lightning stopped its angry whipping giving way to sunshine again. All but a few of the witnesses of the event stayed behind to handle the body. The rest cleared the scene and mundane life seemed to continue as if nothing of significance had just occurred. In the shadows he smiled and turned to his companion and boasted, “As I predicted for this long-term experiment, the test subject would not denounce what he believed was his purpose for being born. This credence would remain...

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