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Place your characters in a tough situation, where nobody wants to acknowledge the reality of what's happening.

Posted in Angst on Jul 12, 2024

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✍️ 82 stories

Getting Better

Winner of Contest #259 🏆

The feeling was like sinking. Gert and the counselor drifted outside her field of vision; her breath halted. Sophie knew even if she could speak, her words would go unheard. She wanted to run out of the room, but thought better of it, so she sat, head in hand as if she were concentrating.  “Are you ok?” The counselor’s voice was even, warm. The clock ticking, the sound of Gert breathing next to her on the couch, the stare of the counselor, all irritated her. She took a deep breath, looked up.  Gert said, “We all want you to be ok.”...

73 likes 62 comments 62
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Destined / Chance

Submitted to Contest #259

“Holy shit!” That’s what you say right before the big black out, not something prophetic or memorable, but a base utterance steeped in a casual strain of blasphemy. In the fleeting seconds that the words take form and flight, your brain cycles through a million images, memories plastered on a spinning reel. You brace for the impact of all the accumulated choices, stunned by the inevitability. The blur of your life becomes a recognizable whole. you shouldn’t have read that extra chapter last night of Trudy Jas' latest novel / if only you hadn...

49 likes 29 comments 29
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Was He Okay?

Submitted to Contest #259

(TW …  depression and suicide) He was sullen. Again. He was sleeping all day. Again. “What’s with that kid?”  “Leave him alone. He’s fine,” I hissed, not wanting to be overheard. “He should be helping. It’s not fair. Why do I have to do this shit by myself?” My older son was right. It wasn’t fair. I stood outside my younger son’s closed bedroom door contemplating my choices. “Hun, you ok?” I could ask tentatively, only for him to reply, “What do you want? Leave me alone.” “Get up.&n...

27 likes 18 comments 18
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The Red Rocking Horse

Submitted to Contest #259

Nobody thought to clean it up. If we did, it would mean it was broken. It was. It was broken. But there’s no explaining logic to a terrified child. Not even one who’s thirty-seven years old. I was thirty-one at the time. Muddle was thirty-three. I envied her. Thirty-three is the best age in the white room. You get extra food everyday. Nobody knows why. You also get to sleep on the cot with the softest pillows. After thirty-three, nothing good ever happened. Nothing we knew about anyway. Murmur was the thirty-seven year old. The one who could...

24 likes 16 comments 16
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T, D & H

Submitted to Contest #259

It would have been an ordinary day, one that would have passed like every other if she hadn’t seen him. If she hadn’t heard the roar from the motorcycle as he pulled into the slot in front of the pharmacy. If she hadn’t stood at the window, mesmerized watching him swing his leg over the bike, tuck his aviators in the chest pocket of his leather jacket. If she hadn’t watched him finger comb his brown hair while he did a slow 360, taking in Main Street.To say he was tall dark and handsome would be too easy.Later they would say that they had kn...

22 likes 29 comments 29
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Two Warriors

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

In the late hours of a hot summer day, two enemy warriors lay on a bloodied battlefield. Each has mortally wounded the other, and has lost their strength to land the fatal blow. Exhausted, sweating, and quickly losing blood, they sit up against opposite trees and face each other. One bears a red sigil across his chest and rests in the shade of his mighty oak. The other displays a blue crest across his shoulder and grows weak below the arms of a willow.The warrior wearing a red sigil slowly removes a pen and paper from his satchel, wipes...

21 likes 10 comments 10
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Confronting The Elephant

Submitted to Contest #259

For too many years, Johnny had been the elephant in Scott and Ellie’s marriage. The lurking shadow preventing honest conversation, always the one who came before. Yet somehow, they papered him over, the man between the cracks.“Johnny.” One day, out of the blue, Ellie tentatively raised his name as if testing where it might land. For Scott, hearing it was like being thrown in the wake of a tsunami. By then, Ellie was in the last months of her life and reshaping boundaries.“What are you going to do about Johnny.”Scott didn’t know what to say t...

21 likes 17 comments 17
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Blindsided

Submitted to Contest #259

This story contains sexual inferences.“I’m sorry Lyssa, your proposal was adorable just like you, but we’re looking for something with a little more, well, intrigue. We just think you’ve been playing it a tad too safe. Hey, good luck with everything, though. If you ever need a good reference, give me a ring, I’ll be happy to oblige.” “Wait! I hear what you’re saying Mr. Grayson. If you’d be willing to give me another shot, I’d love to work something up for you with more, what were you looking for; intrigue?” “Darlin’, I’m not certa...

19 likes 8 comments 8
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How Are You?

Submitted to Contest #259

Andre asked his three-year-old brother, Tony, “What game should we teach her first?”“Uhm… Old Maid?”The boys were talking about Melody, their soon to be born little sister. “That might work. She’ll be little though. Maybe can’t hold cards for a while…”Being five, Andre had more perspective.Mrs. Daugherty, the boy’s sitter met their parents, Bud and Desiree, at the door. She looked concerned. “How are you?”Desiree looked down. “Not good…”The boys yelled and ran to hug their parents. “Mommy! We missed you!”Bud said, “Hey guys… Your mom’s tired...

19 likes 18 comments 18
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07-18-04

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

A burnt child loves the fire, I reminded myself as I crept closer to the writhing blue flames. I felt the heat on my chilled pale skin and exhaled.  I never wanted to leave the city this weekend, but when Clarke called me, I knew I had to oblige. I’ve always thought of myself as a good friend, but just like any other human, I have my intrinsic selfish nature. I would’ve much preferred sleeping inside my apartment with the TV lulling me to sleep and a Diet Coke on my bedside table rather than camping in the middle of nowhere. But it's b...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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Blink and You’ll Miss It

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

Keith Mitchell awakes to the sound of a ringing bell. As it has been since the accident, there is a second of confusion at waking up somewhere that is not his mother’s house. It doesn’t take long for him to remember where he is - the Haxton Regional Rehabilitation Centre. He repeats the words to himself and that helps to clear the fog of sleep. Then, he turns to sit at the side of the bed, winces at the pain in his head and lifts the leg that is still in a cast to join his other uninjured leg. He’s become used to the dull, itchy feeling belo...

13 likes 10 comments 10
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When The World Began To Wilt

Submitted to Contest #259

“It’s like…the world is slowly dying.” My friend's eyes stared into mine. I could feel--even see the fear that they shared--that we all shared. Something strange was happening to Earth. It was as if everyone at the same time began to give up on life. The fire that burns in us to prosper, thrive--to simply live…it would dwindle in all humans no matter their background.   My friends were just talking about how great it is that crime, especially violent, is at an all time low. What they didn’t know before I op...

11 likes 7 comments 7
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Faith Amidst the Storm

Submitted to Contest #259

Life had a knack for turning on a dime in the quaint, sleepy coastal town of Willow Creek. Sarah, a girl of deep faith and unwavering devotion to her Lord and Savior, found her world turned upside down the day she met Alex. A tall, brooding man with fiery, rebellious eyes, Alex was the antithesis of everything Sarah believed in. Yet, as fate would have it, the moment she first set eyes on him, her heart found something in his stormy gaze it simply couldn't resist. Sarah's faith had wavered before, but this time, it felt different. Her once-s...

11 likes 10 comments 10
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Sis

Submitted to Contest #259

Sis didn’t like attention. “Oh, Foo Ferrah!” were her favorite words, especially if everyone else was having fun. But the hill was way too icy, and that last bump was killer. Her airborne toboggan banged down so hard, you could squish your jelly with your backbone, though mine was safe at the side of the hill. Through my frozen breath, I watched her roll away like a pro. She managed a smile right there at my feet, grimacing only when she looked away from me. “It was nothing! What are you staring at, Jeff?” she moaned, holding her mits with o...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Hits Hard

Submitted to Contest #259

Sam sits on the bus and gazes out over the craven and piteous sea of humanity. The bus is filled almost to the brim, that will leave a tide mark, the thought of which nauseates him. People stand shoulder to shoulder bracing themselves against accidental contact. He imagines the bus hitting a wall or a lorry or another bus. The last option fits best. The two buses coming together in a clumsy caress, their contents redistributed by the passion of the two inept red lovers. Life is short and ever so fragile. Not that any of these people are livi...

10 likes 10 comments 10
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