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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone’s journey to retrieve an important object that’s been out of their possession for a long time.

Posted in Adventure on Aug 23, 2024

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✍️ 47 stories

“Where are you?” by Xinyi Annie Chen

Submitted to Contest #265

Hong Kong“I feel like I see you before graduation,” said Fred.“Really? What was that like?” Annie replied in between bites of the spicy Korean fried chicken."Just knowing so sure about whatever you are about to do. And spontaneous. I mean only you would go to the cornfield in the Midwest just for a bowl of matcha."“She used to do all kinds of fun and unusual stuff,” Austin explained to his girlfriend who looked so confused about the situation. It had been a year since the group got together due to the then-seemed-forever pandemic control. Th...

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“The glimmering desert” by Federico Sandoval

Submitted to Contest #265

At the base of the cliffs, past the darkness of the storm and the glimmering desert, lies a doorway to a treasure of creation. What is known throughout the world as the last wonder and lost many years ago to the greed of old people, stolen from the world in a desperate attempt to control the eye. In a plea to return what was lost, he concluded that he had to go to the desert, leave the city, and return the treasure to his city. To save it from falling into a cycle of mundaneness and self-destruction. He left alone, warmed by a single coat an...

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“Reunion at the Theatre” by David Dean

Submitted to Contest #265

Part I: The Pyramid’s Arrival Beatriz Chanoyu stood on the bridge overlooking the stream that meandered through the urban landscape of Nazca. The water below reflected the late afternoon sunlight in shimmering, golden patterns. The river, with its mix of clear currents and patches of discoloration from upstream debris, flowed lazily under her gaze. Nearby, a great kiskadee with its bright yellow underparts and rusty brown wings swooped down to snatch an insect near the water’s edge. The surrounding greenery, a mix of lush vegetation and patc...

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“Her Burden To Carry” by Dana Orr

Submitted to Contest #265

“No, God, please!” Leilani screamed. The glorious vocal chords God himself had created for her thrumming beneath her cries. “Please, I didn’t mean it! Please! God?!” But God didn’t listen to her cries, and cast her down to Earth in a towering rage. ~~~ Leilani stirred on the plush ground and pulled a pearly feathered wing over her face. The sun in her eyes was forceful, though, gleaming through the dainty feathers as she tried to sleep. She yawned softly and rose from where she lay on the ground under a peaceful willow tree. Her long, s...

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“Chicago. Amsterdam. Naples. Cairo. Edinburgh.” by Izzy Ehrnsberger

Submitted to Contest #265

Chicago, Amsterdam, Naples, Cairo, and now Edinburgh. What did all these cities have in common? They were all the cities that Lawrence’s wife had sent him to as a cruel cat-and-mouse game that she decided to concoct instead of divorce papers. They were only twenty-six, but it seemed that Lydia was having a full-blown quarter life crisis. Out of the blue, after a year at her dream job, Lydia had quit with no explanation and took off around the world, leaving only subtle clues for Lawrence to follow. With the fifth city coming into view of the...

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“A Family Connection” by Nick Lavender

Submitted to Contest #265

Marie sat on a plane. It wasn’t the first time she’d been on the long journey across the country. She traveled from Washington State to North Carolina four times a year to go to school. This time was different. She had a mission in mind.  A friend traveling through Chicago had stopped at the art museum and taken pictures to show her. Well, to Marie’s great surprise in the historical handcrafts section of the museum, there lay a blanket that she had buried her grandmother in. Shock took her.  She didn’t want to believe it at first, ...

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“The Old Man and The Key” by Muhammad Hamza

Submitted to Contest #265

‘And so it was said that ‘’the Lord caused a deep slumber to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord took from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man’’. My good sir, I will see her soon, and get it back. After all, I gave it to her in the first place. Shall I tell you my name? I am Harmez. I served in the navy for many years, and had a great many patrols around the world onboard frigates and tall ships. I am on my way to see an old friend. How...

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“Hope Deferred” by Kara Smith

Submitted to Contest #265

I miss the days of rolling rubber bands off the newspaper, circling classifieds and dotting my map in red ink. Even so, I am old and bored at times, and I know my librarian’s yard sale starts tomorrow, so I open the online marketplace to locate her address. I never find it. I’m detoured by someone cleaning out a storage unit in California. A stack of framed art, tied with twine sucks me into the ad. I refuse to hope. I’ve looked through hundreds of framed pieces over the last twenty-two years with nothing but dead ends and despair. But ...

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“Nathan’s Conundrum” by Nyla Alimohammadi

Submitted to Contest #265

Nathan had a conundrum. The glass globe that mapped the entire planet - which he had dropped and shattered - was missing! The last place he recalled having it was while infiltrating the militancy hall in Droon. He'd been in the back alley trying to piece the broken - well pieces - together. What had happened after that? He had no memory of the moments after, which deeply disturbed him. To distract himself he stomped a rock into the soil of his personal floating island.  Displaced dirt was pushed out of the edge in influence from his run...

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“The Will to Live” by Clay Sisler

Submitted to Contest #265

The time in the upper right hand corner of the dully lit computer screen read: 4:50 p.m.He mindlessly clicked back to his email feigning to appear busy for the next ten minutes of this familiar end to the week. Another glance: 4:51 p.m.He scrolls through his email, the rolling black ball of the red mouse ever so quietly screeching with each finger stroke. Click.A sinking feeling of dread filled his chest as he reads: Get prepared for your trip! Countdown to vacation time: 18 hours, 12 minutes, 15 seconds, 14, 13…He checked the time agai...

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“THE THIRST” by Carlos Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #265

Even 8 years later, I would inadvertently touch my wrist expecting to feel it there. Yes, there was the feeling that threw me off every time. In a single treacherous thought, my every achievement, satisfaction and glory would vanish to leave me staring at my basic self; that kid incapable of showing true manhood. That kid who just stared as the guy posing as his best friend told him “It just happened on its own” as he and my girl, the love of my life, walked away into the nocturnal county fair leaving me alone and behind. I can’t say for sur...

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“The Missing Watch” by Tom Roselle

Submitted to Contest #265

Eleanor sighed as she heaved another full box into the boot of her car, nestling it between the others. The dust from her mum’s old house had spent the last few hours working its way everywhere - into her itchy, red eyes, up her nose making her sneeze, into her hair and becoming ingrained into her flower patterned blouse. She’d spent all day sorting, clearing and searching, but was still nowhere near finding it. Her back ached and she was struggling to keep her eyes open, but still managing to resist the temptation of the pack of battered ci...

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“Going Home” by Brian Webb

Submitted to Contest #265

It’s just before sunrise on a Tuesday morning, and traffic is light on the New York State Thruway. Heading out to western New York, the perpetual slipstream of the road ahead stretches to a vanishing point in the far distance.  I glance over at the empty pet restraints clipped into the passenger side seat belt and smile to myself. It’s a hard-earned smile. As I surrender to the hypnotic motion of the car moving through space and time, my mind and memory turn backward to how this chapter of my life began. Meredith and a fe...

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“Heart of Pearl” by Ryvr Rok

Submitted to Contest #265

Call me sensitive, I don’t care. The ache still hurts a decade later. An ache that accompanies pain that drives the wedge between me and my family. I don’t think forgiveness is in my future, even if I do find it, it won’t be theirs. But at least maybe after today, I’ll have closure.  I-5 is a nightmare at noon. Traffic rarely stood still unless there was a cop doing road splits, but I got lucky today because an accident had me stopped at the Presidio exit. It had been months since the last time I drove this far north. I no longer went ...

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“Memories” by Jessica Goss

Submitted to Contest #265

It's almost as if I have a memory of my own, of the daffodils that prosper and bloom in the spring, the apricot jam drenched in over-ripeness in the dark back corner of the fridge, the incessant, proud oaks that seems to only grow taller even after they had been trimmed, the whispers of the wind carried by the saltiness of the river just down past the wild pansies that occupied the forgotten gardens. It is odd because I had never stepped foot here, at least not a set of my own. It was my mother who had, though. She had even lived here for qu...

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Contest #265

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Title: Eleven Years of Hope

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