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Start or finish your story with a speaker unable to finish their sentence, perhaps overcome by emotion.

Posted in Angst on Feb 16, 2024

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✍️ 88 stories

The Thief

Submitted to Contest #238

She gazes for a moment at her bedroom door and then says, not loudly, but enough for whoever she thinks is behind the door to hear: "Not again, you’ve already taken from me, so go to --." This wintry night, when neither a murmur nor hum is heard within the walls of the Thompson residence, Elzebeth anticipates a thief.  The probability was created six months ago while living alone in her apartment. Bandits harassed and forced her out of the very home she had lived in for twenty years, and she knew they would return. She was one of the f...

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What’s In The Box?

Submitted to Contest #238

I can count the number of times I’ve had a gun pointed to my head. This is my eighth occurrence since I started this trade five months ago. It’s not necessarily a fatal business, but people are desperate and you know that old saying about desperate times and desperate measures.  I remember the first time it happened, it was a sweaty, hot August night up in the Bronx. I just finished my first delivery. When I got back to my truck a cold piece of metal met my temple. My brother, being the man who got me the job, felt it his responsibili...

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Sometimes You Just Gotta Make Your Own Rules

Submitted to Contest #238

Language, plus implied violence, physical abuse and substance abuse“But wouldn’t this be very dangerous if . . .”“Yes, Chrissy, it could go bad, disastrously bad. But I have to do this.”“This is really scary, Alex. I’m going to be so worried about you.”“Well, we just have to hope the plan on paper holds true for the plan in action.”“Believe me, I’ll be hoping that with all my heart until your mission is over.”* * *Born and raised in this city, and yet in all my 43 years I’d never set foot in this part of town. Even law enforcement didn’t wan...

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Fuck You

Submitted to Contest #238

“Psssssttt. How many bad words do you know?” Izaak’s six-year-old voice whispers during reading time. “You don’t have to say it out loud. Just show, with your fingers,” he points to his left hand.Mom wouldn’t approve of this conversation. But, I set my book aside and form a fist anyway. I start to count. Our restrained giggles grow and the reactions on our faces become sillier with the more fingers I put up. “Twelve?!” Izaak gasps. His jaw sinks and he glares in amazement. “How many do you know?” he swivels his ...

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Jimmy and the Dogman

Submitted to Contest #238

WeeeeeooooooootThe sound came again, like the trill of a beached whale drying up amongst creosote and sagebrush.“What the hell is that?”“No doubt some kind of flying insect or other,” Jimmy tried to reassure his wife, Deborah, who was half-covered by a quilt, hair threaded through pink plastic curlers.“It’s driving me up the wall. Can you make it shut up?”Jimmy pivoted off the bed. He pulled his legs through a pair of Levi's, securing the buckle of the belt he’d left inside its loops. Given the nature of mountain lions and dope fiends – he o...

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Therapy Session

Submitted to Contest #238

“What’s troubling you?”“I…I had a panic attack earlier today. Because…of something really fucking stupid…” I bitterly laugh. “Of course, it’s fucking stupid. It’s me.”“What was it, if you don’t mind me asking?”“No. You should ask. It’s the only way I’ll force myself to spit it out. It…” I inhale deeply through my nose. “Lipstick. Someone was wearing dark red lipstick, and it reminded me of…my-” I have to force myself to finish the sentence. “…my mother…”I pause for a moment that seems to stretch forever. The pressure of further elaboration w...

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Sweet Girl

Submitted to Contest #238

(Warning: Story contains physical violence, abuse, gore and CSA. ) The golden twinkle of fairy lights glistens through the trees. The loud chatter and laughter of my family and friends rambles throughout the venue. A love song is being loudly played by the DJ’s speakers on stage. I can feel the vibrations in my chest. I start to feel the sweet familiar buzz sweep over my mind as I sip on my 5th or 6th champagne. David chats away with a distant aunt of mine when our gazes meet and he throws a charming smile and signals for me to waltz ove...

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100% (Part 2)

Submitted to Contest #238

The park was quiet, with only one or two people passing Lana on occasion as she sat on a small wooden bench and re-read her favourite book for the fifteenth time. Sometimes she looked up as something in the book made her want to stop and think, idly staring without seeing at the gravel path, dewy grass or sparsely-grown birch trees in front of her. The only sound came from the courting song thrushes singing their sweet tunes high up in the branches of the trees, and the soft thump of footsteps of people enjoying a leisurely walk in the thoug...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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Joint Guard Duty

Submitted to Contest #238

Two soldiers smoking pot while on guard duty in VietnamJoint Guard Dutyby R. A. BattinAuthor View The author has placed a warning on this post for violence. The author has placed a warning on this post for language. The author has placed a warning on this post for sexual content."Guess whut I's gots in my pocket, n' you can….."Crawhorn didn't give a rat's ass what the man had in his pocket. What mattered to him was the four hours of guard duty in a stinking, hot, 8' X 8' wooden tower, some thirty feet above the concertina...

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The Happening

Submitted to Contest #238

It happened again your too taken by surprize and shock to say anything at the time. About the rudeness of others. Well she walked right in front of me towards the checkout in the supermarket. Some would have said "This lady or gentle man was first." She look around slowly opening her purse checking her club cards, before handing the assistant a fifty pound note. Not enough change in the till. Hence having to wait for the till to be checked. All because rather than argue, or kick up a scene, I did the decent thing or so I thought. By letting ...

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Go Get Dressed

Submitted to Contest #238

      “It’s not only because he’s there, it’s just….” My chest tightened and the words just stopped. Tears poured down slowly onto my chin and then silently dropped into my lap. My hands were folded tightly and the back of my hand felt wet from it—the loss coming out in salty release. Marlene just stared at me sympathetically, her icy blue eyes examining mine.“Listen, remember how I told you what he did to me as child? The whole pond story? Ya know, almost drowning?”      She nodded...

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You are my sunshine

Submitted to Contest #238

The soft glow of the bedside lamp cast a warm light over the room, illuminating the delicate features of the elderly woman lying down on the hospital bed. Her breathing was shallow, a rhythmic reminder of the fragility of life. Her daughter sat beside her in a chair close enough to stroke her thumb along her mother's palm. Only a few days ago they had been laughing together, sharing memories of joy with each other. The hard truth slipped beneath the cracks as she savored the small amount of time she had left with her mother. The realization ...

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WHEN THEY LEARN TO SPEAK IN THE VOICES OF OUR DEAD

Submitted to Contest #238

1 The fingers that lay the tea tray onto the polished, dark wood of the table imitated humanity immaculately except in one particular: the skin was a stately navy blue.  Millicent Braddock avoided touching them as they handed her a bone-white cup of Earl Grey, sweetened and creamed just to her liking, plumes of steam curling off its dark surface like the ghost of a bergamot fruit.  Somehow, her favorite drink with her closest (living) friend did nothing to comfort her; instead, their presence in the flat seemed vulgar.  Spoile...

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Untied Shoelaces

Submitted to Contest #238

“Lockdown. Locks, lights, out of sight.”  That was the third one. By then, the class had stopped celebrating the interruption to class and was settling into our usual spot by the door. We had these drills every month, but my heart still picked up a bit every time. What if this time, it’s real? But of course it never was. Why would it be? We were a random school in a random town in a random state. I mean, what the fuck ever happens in North Dakota. But still, this was America, the land of the free and the home of lunatics who go on mass...

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A Girl Called Allison

Submitted to Contest #238

A Girl Called Allison You will know about castles. Hundreds of years ago many people in Britain lived in castles. The walls were thick and the gates strong so that enemies and thieves could not get in. Most of the time some people went out to work in the fields during the day or herd sheep and cattle when it was safe. At night and on some days the gates were shut and people went about their business inside. Men who were Knights and boys practiced with lance, sword, and archery. They practiced fighting because they needed to know how to prote...

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