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Center your story on a character who's about to give up, or who realizes that success feels unexpectedly empty.

Posted in Angst on Sep 26, 2025

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✍️ 59 stories

Unrealistic Dreams

Submitted to Contest #322

Unrealistic dreams, everyone has them right? Like how I wish I could be in a band but every instrument I pick up I never stick to learning. Or how I wish to be an actress but never take any action to try and actually learn how to act. I used to dream of being an astronaut when I was a kid, but that slowly depleted after I thought how ridiculous it sounded. I have had this one dream for a while that's not as unrealistic though. I dream of becoming a famous writer but it feels too far to reach. I’ve been working on a novel for two years and I ...

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Escape

Submitted to Contest #322

“Heeeeeeeeeelp!” I cry out with the last of my strength. I weep at the helplessness I feel inside as I bang on the walls fruitlessly. The box holding me had run thin on air hours ago. I couldn’t muster enough strength to make it count. There was no banging for someone on the outside to hear. I could barely manage a light tapping. There was never really a point in the first place. I thought back to all the energy and precious time I spent screaming and banging on the walls. All the air lost that I should have been conserving. This is really ...

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Dead Mother's Love

Submitted to Contest #322

CW: Themes of emotional abuse and manipulation, references to grave robbing Shadows dance along the room to the movements of the swaying chandelier. There are no lightbulbs in the room, only candles. The warm lighting isn’t enough to make the funeral less cold. Some people in the room cry while others huddle together in hushed whispers. My stomach twists in knots. I know I should feel something. She was my mother after all. I knew her better than most in this room. That’s why I don’t cry or engage in conversation. If these people ever had to...

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Green Pastures

Submitted to Contest #322

“ID?”Ameira peered at the large, muscular man in a black T-shirt and black pants standing in front of her.She took a deep breath, bracing for what she knew was about to come next.“Ma’am? Your ID, please?”“Oh, yes, sorry,” she pulled the sliver of hard plastic from her purse and handed it over. “Here you go.”He focused several moments on the small print, and then, his eyes narrowed—first at the card and then back down at her.“You’re—”“Yeah,” she said, half-smiling as if she’d learned she just barely passed a major test with a “D,” when she’d ...

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My ultimate goal was to obtain a masters degree in mathematics

Submitted to Contest #322

CW: Themes of emotional, physical, sexual abuse and trauma Before I narrate my story, I would like to talk about mom. She was the worst mother on earth. She was so evil. She used to find her happiness in hurting me. Unlike other mothers, she never defended me. In fact, she was the exact opposite. She used to blame me when I was not at fault. She was a monster mother.My bad luck didn’t end there. My mom was obsessed with my academic performance. She tormented me each and every minute from my 11th grade. Every single day, she used to ask me wh...

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Unadopted orphan. Orphaned, ordained, as a form of Australian Justice

Submitted to Contest #322

Ambitions that force me, chasing my dreams of interconnected nuclei deep within the depths of Earth’s soul-cry, to bring together the coding of decoded, recoded, or failured coding system. System of systems. Not my needs or wants – I apologise, I am sorry to have asked... but instead, my desires and ideas, which can make an impact impacted upon the future together with your systems, I swear to you. An impact on families and even property! If you’d just listen. To the words; to the believers and the observed; by observers, I have heard, a rus...

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Nothing

Submitted to Contest #322

(Content warning: Refers to sexual violence and described physical violence/gore) Darkness is a curtain, one that can be drawn forth to hide the misdeeds of the evil and the misfortune of the innocent. This recurring thought almost annoyed me now with the number of times it had crossed my mind while I scaled a wooden palisade outside of a large farm, or vaulted across a moat brimming with rancid water to reach a castle wall. Tonight, much to my satisfaction, was not one of those more strenuous nights. Tonight, I simply walked down the cobble...

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“BUGGER”!

Submitted to Contest #322

“BUGGER”! I had ambitions in my life, but I never cared for fame, I was too shy to put myself ‘under the spotlight’, which was sometimes the negative side of being famous, and I never craved for that lifestyle, but if my ambitions, to gain the wealth that I desired, were to be achieved, then I would have to endure being,‘that man’, under the spotlight to be able to afford the independence that I desired. I was offered a promotion at work, which did not involve the creativity that my preference in a career had favoured, and my years of train...

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scraping for pearls

Submitted to Contest #322

Dear Ma, Is this how it started?With you not wantin’ to hold me?I wanted to not be you so bad. I wanted to be the kinda mama I used to see on the block, walkin’ their kids to school, holdin’ hands, talkin’ like friends.I swear I ain’t know you was hurt, Ma.I didn’t know you was just a kid until I held Gracie in my arms. I’m already twice the age you was when you first held me.Yesterday I didn’t wanna hold Gracie.No matter how long she cried.Gracie don’t got you in her. Not a lick. I caught myself thinkin’, Good. Serves you right.But now I wa...

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Luv Me For My Ambition

Submitted to Contest #322

Luv Me For My Ambition They tried, they tried so hard. I know life throws us melons, but at times we catch it like it’s apples. There’s a person at the moment who is looking for stability,& luck. Not quite knowing what it is exactly they need, but they want comfortability. Sometimes looking for what we want isn’t always the best route. Yes we know what we want for ourselves, sad to say the world isn’t wrapped up on us personally. How can they get stability? Living in uncomfortable situations is a start. There’s a person in a home reachi...

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Unhedged Futures

Submitted to Contest #322

F.I.R.E. It’s always at the back of my mind, even when absent-mindedly fiddling with the hole in my much-loved cardigan, and distractedly tapping my feet on the hardwood floor.“Can you please stop the tapping? It’s so irritating.” broke in Flo’s voice. "Isn't it amazing? I saw it and had to have it” she squealed, admiring herself in the mirror. “It’s perfect for my trip to the Alps. You know I hate to be cold.” That’s something we still have in common. I’m sure I spent more time hugging my hot-water bottle than I have hugging all people com...

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The Infinitely Empty Space

Submitted to Contest #322

CW: Gore, body horror, mental healthA man of a middling age knelt by a pond. He hadn’t seen a decent drink of water in two days, having spent a small but marked portion of that time lying prone in the muck and gravel and sucking up even the smallest of reservoirs there was an earthly basin to hold. He knelt horrifically in his desperation, as any man would, his body contorted and crooked and waned like the curl of a hardened spider. He drank with his hands, and after a flurry of motion, caught a glimpse of his reflection and shuddered. For a...

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A Measure of Success

Submitted to Contest #322

There was a soft ding overhead and the fasten seat belt sign came on as we began our descent into Ft. Myers airport. The flight from Cleveland had been mostly uneventful. Take off was a little rough as we left in the middle of a snowstorm. And there was some turbulence along the way as we passed over the mountains in Georgia. But the flight was “relatively crash free” as my father used to say. He thought he was funny. From my window seat the view outside was a stark contrast from the cold and snowy world we left 2 ½ hours ago. Cleveland ...

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Lonely at the Top

Submitted to Contest #322

As I entered through the front door, my work bag felt exceptionally heavy for a Friday evening. My bloated schedule would have its consequences that day. A certain amplified silence enveloped my ears shortly after I lost my loafers and sport coat at the door. “Honey?....Kids?....ummm….is anyone here?” I slowly crept through the front foyer searching for signs of life. Many of the lights I could rely on burning energy sat lifeless. The deafening hum of static filled my ears. My one decrepit ankle cracked with each step I took towards our kitc...

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