Write about a person who's been called to mentor someone in a special skill, but doesn't really want to.

Posted in Adventure on Sep 22, 2023

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✍️ 27 stories

“Sir Braxton’s Alchemy ” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #217

Savagely munching an apple purloined from the kitchen wench, Sir Braxton stormed his way through the outer courtyard, its stone walls ringing with the morning’s activities. Lord Hume had asked to see him in the great chamber and he could guess what that noble lord wanted.“Damn and thrice be buggered!” he hissed, startling a milkmaid as she went about her morning chores. He snarled at her impatiently and threw his apple core in her general direction. She squeaked as she dodged the projectile and scurried away, avoiding aggravating his temper ...

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“Advice- 5 cents/$5.00” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #217

Advice- 5₵ $5.00If you’ve ever wondered what happened to Lucy Van Pelt of “Peanuts” fame, you’ve come to the right place. If the topic never concerned you, well, maybe you’ll stumble across the subject in a late-night, free-wheeling Trivia game, and you can impress your friends.Young Lucy’s business model mirrored Lincoln’s reflection on the legal profession- her time and advice were her stock in trade. Children from all over the neighborhood sought her counsel on a wide variety of topics, from matters of the heart to fashion, and from...

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“Bad Data” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #217

“I’m so glad you’re here to help me,” he said, like he was the most grateful person in the world. “Where shall we start?” “Talk me through it from the beginning and tell me what you know,” I unenthusiastically replied. I didn’t want to be here. I knew what they were doing – those management nabobs on the top floor, sitting around talking about their golf handicaps and weekend getaways to Monaco. They were replacing me. After twenty loyal years of database management, they’re trading me in for a newer model with more memory retention. Heck, I...

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“Maximillian Braveheart the Brave” by D. Grimes

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #217

Agnes sits in her stone hut, entirely unaware that she is about to receive a visitor. One side of her hair is knotted into a cloud, and a raggedy dress drips ripped hemming around her bony knees. However, this is how she always looks. If she had known someone is coming, she may have teased a second knot into the opposite side of her head, and donned her classic cloak and pointy hat. A black cat, Mr. Nightmare Sr., purrs and rubs against Agnes’s ankles. A cauldron boils in thick bubbles over a fireplace that warms the room. . Ducking under th...

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“Natural Painter” by Tom Skye

Submitted to Contest #217

Craig closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and took a deep breath. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the paintbrush in his hand and then over to his younger brother, sitting across the room on the floor. "OK, Jonny. Do you see this big white square sheet with the tree stump on? This is your canvas."Jonny looked up momentarily, then down again. He was facing away from Craig and the canvas, building with his Lego. On a white plastic base in front of him was a Lego wall patterned with repeated red, blue, and yellow rows. Craig walked across th...

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“Jimmy the Giant ” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #217

I am godless, but I still pray just in case. Every time I walk into a courtroom, I am afraid I’ll be found out to be the fraud I really am. But I am the genuine article baby. The second I appear on the record, the man I am fades into the background and a much better man shows up. I don’t know much about him. But he is a force of nature. And he is the only reliable thing in my life.So, when John McArthur asked me to show him how it was done, I honestly didn’t have anything for him. I just said, “You want to ...

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“Magic in the Air” by Sue Schroeder

Submitted to Contest #217

“May I sit here?” The burble of voices and the clatter of cutlery made the words difficult to hear the first time. “Do you mind if I sit here?” the woman asked again.Beth looked around, noting that the café was full. People were chattering, enjoying the first refreshing day after a brutal summer. Beth inhaled the steam from her coffee cup, the warm scent reaching into her brain, sending soothing endorphins through her body. Beth nodded reluctantly. She had been enjoying this quiet time. She watched as the stranger sat opp...

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“Teacher of the Year (Understudy)” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #217

Here’s a little secret. I have no idea what I’m doing. How is it they don’t know? After all these years? I placed my travel mug of hot coffee (and only a little Bailey’s) on my desk and checked the time. It was 7:45am. I had fifteen minutes until my class of adoring students filed in, took their seats, and performed whatever tasks I found on the pages of the yellowed lesson plan from the closet. I took a sip of coffee and opened my school email. Trainings, new sign in procedure, nothing exciting. I noticed an email from my prin...

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“Kid Cube” by Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #217

Sensei Bob pays me 'nother visit in my dreams. He ain't dead or nothin' like that. I just ain't been answerin' my phone. "Billy-san, destiny call. Why you no pick up?" I act like I'm dozin' in my dream, hopin' that old bastard'll finally leave me be. But Sensei Bob's still floatin' above me when I crack open my right eye. He's wearin' that black gi and givin' me that blind soulbreaker stare. And when he pulls out that damn short sword and points it at his pot belly, I know he's fixin' to commit Seppuku, that fancy Japanese way of spill...

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“Libra Jones and the Entry Level Job” by Audrey Knox

Submitted to Contest #217

Libra Jones copied the list of times from email and pasted them into another. She flicked back and forth between the Outlook calendar, her inbox, and the Excel spreadsheet of product updates. Her eyes burned from staring at the small screen of the MacBook Air that her company provided to all assistants. She craned her neck to check the boss’s office to make sure Flannery was occupied with a call, then leaned back in her chair, pinched the air in front of her, and pulled a freshly, unlit Marlboro Light out of the ether and into her fingers. ...

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“Thoughtful” by Rudy Greene

Submitted to Contest #217

“I don’t what you’re talking about fella.” The truth was not only did I know what he was talking about, but I did hear his thoughts. “This guy is bullshitting me. His sister said he would deny it and I can see it in his eyes.” I’ve never heard that one before. My eyes? Yeah, they may be the window to my soul, but I always thought they were blank. Someone in my family must have told this jerk off about my curse or what they call ‘my special ability’. I don’t know if they realize the noise volume or cacophony of sound I endure. That’s why I al...

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“Malinda” by Leigh Johnson

Submitted to Contest #217

Magic was the way most folk described Malinda, but that was the least thing about her. She was cruel, spiteful, beautiful, kind, selfish, generous, capricious, brilliant, and the person I loved most in my life. I started working for her when I was five years old. She lived in a house outside of town that had big flower boxes spilling over with blooms, even in midwinter. She was the only healer for thirty miles- I call her healer because that’s what the local folk called her; she told me once her training had been as a sorcerer. My mother had...

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“Pick” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

Submitted to Contest #217

“We don’t have time for this. Get to work.” What is it about young people that makes them demand validation at the worst possible moment?Her stare could drill a hole through a strike plate. “Time, time, time. That is all you are ever think of. Every day you say, ‘Faster, Tetyana, faster. An idiot child with a bump key would be done by now. Do you have any idea how quickly Arthur Buhl picked the Lips 8362C at the third annual Dutch Open?’”“Listen–”“‘Twenty seconds. Six pins, some of them mushrooms, with a paracentric keyhole made specifically...

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“Miss Louisa” by Mary Richards

Submitted to Contest #217

Louisa Cantoni sat back on her heals and grunted. She had to roll onto her knees to push herself up these days. A sight to be seen… “I’ve become a yard butt,” she muttered, every time she got up, without fail. The kids in the neighborhood made fun of her, but she didn’t care. She was too old to care. That’s what she told herself, anyway. When she was younger, the little ones would flock around her. They were fascinated with her jet-black hair and her Italian accent. They loved her flowers and always hovered nearby when it was tomato sea...

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“Buried Burdens” by Kailani B.

Submitted to Contest #217

“Sir, you must choose someone soon.” The magician—aged, slightly arthritic and most definitely bald—stared balefully up at the king’s steward. Grabbing his cane and levering himself up out of the quite comfortable chair, the magician said, “No,” and trudged away to his overflowing table, grabbing a tattered book and opening it, swirls of dust issuing forth. The steward huffed out a breath and joined the magician by the table, staring out the window opposite at the rolling farmland and toiling serfs. He looked down at the bent figure th...

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Write about a person who's been called to mentor someone in a special skill, but doesn't really want to.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 27 stories

“Sir Braxton’s Alchemy ” by Michelle Oliver

“Advice- 5 cents/$5.00” by Murray Burns

“Bad Data” by Chris Campbell

“Maximillian Braveheart the Brave” by D. Grimes

“Natural Painter” by Tom Skye

“Jimmy the Giant ” by Jonathan Page

“Magic in the Air” by Sue Schroeder

“Teacher of the Year (Understudy)” by Nina H

“Kid Cube” by Robert Egan

“Libra Jones and the Entry Level Job” by Audrey Knox

“Thoughtful” by Rudy Greene

“Malinda” by Leigh Johnson

“Pick” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

“Miss Louisa” by Mary Richards

“Buried Burdens” by Kailani B.

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about two characters who like each other but don’t get a happily-ever-after.

Set your story in a creepy mansion — except nothing horrifying takes place in it.

Write about a sleuth who’s a little too keen, but not because they have a traumatic past they won’t talk about.

Write a story about a warrior who doesn’t want to kill the dragon.

Contest #217

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

284

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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