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Write a story about a character in search of something or someone.

Posted in Angst on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 93 stories

A Long Way

Shortlisted for Contest #124 ⭐️

“Let him through!” Zac’s new friend bellowed, standing up and bumping his head on the baggage locker above him. They’d just touched down and the passengers were desperate to get off the plane.“Come ON,” hissed Luke, shoving Zac into the aisle. “Move!” he added to the man who’d snored through the whole flight from Istanbul.Passengers in the front seats were stretching, glancing Zac’s way in annoyance. He looked away, embarrassed. He’d only started talking to Luke later in the flight when violent air turbulence over the Alps sent him sprawling...

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Hell House

Submitted to Contest #124

 I put on my hazmat suit before I left. Once I zipped up my suit, once I double checked the mask, once I smeared numbing cream in my nostrils, I drove to Mother’s house. She wouldn’t be there. No one lived there. No one could live there anymore. My brother Hank named the mansion Hell House when he was fourteen, and even Mother calls it that now.After an hours drive, the giant brown building waited for me at the end of the street. My thrice gloved hand pressed a button and the gate creaked open. The “Condemned Building: Do Not Enter Prem...

37 likes 15 comments 15
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Party Animal

Submitted to Contest #124

After yet another day of meetings, meetings meetings, Ronnie the Rhino was in search of a good time as he needed to let his wispy hair down and have some fun. He liked to think he worked harder than most but every now and then he wished he could go back to earlier in his career when he had more time for himself and his ever growing family with much less pressure. Knowing the frustration of his current work /life balance Ronnie’s friend Tommy Tiger had invited him to the “party to end all parties” and that was exactly what the doctor ordered....

28 likes 8 comments 8
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Killer Delight

Submitted to Contest #124

(Content Warning: Violence, Blood and Gore.) Legend has it that a monster emerges from the Mystic Forest once a generation to prey upon children. It does not feed on flesh but the innocence of youth. The creature has never been seen by a living soul, but the proof lies within the destruction it leaves behind and the agony of despair from grieving parents. Time is but a passage of lost memories that are quickly forgotten, and life goes on. To the east of the Mystic Forest lies a small village called Thornbrush and is home to many ...

26 likes 5 comments 5
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The Horror of Knossos

Submitted to Contest #124

When I was a child, I would peer across the sea to Knossos and tell myself I could see the Labyrinth. I thought of walls impossibly high, impossibly black. Of a great stone door that six hoplites strained to open. Of jaws, to swallow those who ventured within. Fate determined that I never saw these things, for they led me inside blindfolded. When the cloth fell away from my eyes, I was a blind, defenseless creature scrabbling in the dirt. I heard retreating footsteps, a thud in the distance. And then: nothing but the ragged whistle of s...

21 likes 11 comments 11
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Speed Dating at Liquid Pandemonium

Submitted to Contest #124

The underbelly of this city was frightening. I couldn’t shake the skin crawling itch of phantom insects as I stared out the passenger side window. It was as if the darkness was hungry, leaching away the streetlights feeble attempts at illumination, showing nothing but silhouettes in the shadows, and the glowing eyes of feral animals “Are you sure we are going to the right place, Lala?” I asked, reaching for her phone to check the GPS. It said we were on track and set to arrive at the abandoned building in less than ten minutes. Lala’s s...

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THE BIRDWATCHER

Submitted to Contest #124

The rustle of leaves and morning air greeted Dan while he slept in the tent. He had planned this for so many weeks. "I'm finally getting to enjoy some well deserved solitude" he thought to himself. The new insulated sleeping bag was cozy and he only wanted to continue feeling its warmth. However, he got up and began semi-packing some of his gear. He packed extremely light this time since the trip was only supposed to last for two days, Friday through Saturday. March was always a little crisp and brisk in Lake Landings. This particular campsi...

19 likes 1 comment 1
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Christmas at Midnight

Submitted to Contest #124

Working as an R.N. on Dementia Ward B makes it seem that a matutinal death is as commonplace as a pre-dawn birth. My dear sweet patient, Margaret Brown, joined Jesus on this early Christmas morning. I'm not sure if she extraordinarily left this world or not. I was there; I did see it, yet it all seemed like a dream. Maybe the old myth is true, Christmas at midnight is when heaven and earth meet.Margaret's story plays in my mind like the repetition of elevator-style Christmas tunes I have listened to all month; it’s most likely cemented into ...

19 likes 9 comments 9
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A Case of Arthuritis

Submitted to Contest #124

My name is Doctor Edgar B. Shallows, Jr. and I work in the ER at Cornwall Medical Center. We're down in what's called the Combat Zone, where hookers and drug dealers prowl the streets, suburban guys sneak into the peep shows and sex shops, and guns are as plentiful as cotton candy. You can practically set your watch by the police sirens. Our hospital specializes in major trauma cases. We're trained to spring into action with our lifesaving drugs, clamps and defibrillators, yards and yards of thread and bandages, and IV lines that can barre...

18 likes 21 comments 21
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Whirl Wind Romance

Submitted to Contest #124

TW: Tornado aftermath and loss. Lyle awoke in a gloom and in pain. Damp earth made him shiver. Pressure pinned him down. Ragged plywood. Had he been buried alive? Their house come down on them? “Amy…? Hello?” It came out more of a croak. No response. He ached. Every joint cried for relief. His skin burned. Splinters tore at him. He couldn’t move. Cool air flowed. He called out, and coughed. Something pressed him into the ground. He groped at the damp earth, trying to gain room to maneuver.  He dragged himself toward the brighter gloo...

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The Doorknob Rock

Submitted to Contest #124

“Why’re you crying?”            I tried to keep my voice level and free of annoyance as I watched Theo sift through the rocks in the stream, sniffling and wiping his nose on the hem of his jacket. You could line his pockets with Kleenex boxes and he’d still wipe his snot-riddled nose on his dirty green jacket sleeve.            “B-b-because they threw it in here!” His voice wobbled in his high-pitched squeak. He didn’t meet my eye, ...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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The Forbidden Search

Submitted to Contest #124

Armin stood proud on the deck of Widow’s Hope, letting the cool spray fall on his face, wondering if her old Captain would believe where she was headed now. The drunken old fool enjoyed cards too much, that was a dangerous thing when Armin came to sit at his table. It hadn’t even taken him a full evening to unburden the man of his gold, his ship, and his dignity, leaving him a poor lonely wretch slumped in the corner of his favourite inn. Now Armin set her course for an unknown island located somewhere in the clear sea. Legend said it cont...

16 likes 9 comments 9
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Racial Union

Submitted to Contest #124

Kandahar is relatively big province in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a nation everybody that is alive in this world knows. Yeah, I said if you are alive for if not for the pandemic, most of us don’t really know what is going on in our families let alone our neighborhood, nation and the world. I recall my days in service when they used to organize those Mr. and Mrs. camp like they call the competition. It is modelled after the miss world pageant where the organizers ask questions as braw and brain test to determine who is something outside mu...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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Hanging Chad

Submitted to Contest #124

Warning: violence with sexual themes.“Back in the day, a case like this would have been cut-and-dried, wrapped up in a day or two. We would have called it suicide by hanging — end of story. These days, however, everything’s more complicated. In my opinion, what we see here is not a suicide nor is it a murder. However, and because of who the victim is, there will be demands in the department to call it murder.”Cassie Mulroy was speaking to me, quietly but firmly. She was the lead detective in the police department. She had been serving for mo...

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Lansky's Project

Submitted to Contest #124

Cuba, December 1956: The look on Mr. Lansky’s face left me worried. “There’s some trouble brewing in Cobrero,” he told me.” A militant group is organizing out there and if given time, may become an obstacle for the local government. Fulgencio Batista’s hold over the people is already weak and we don’t want anything to upset it or our operations here. So, I want you to go down there and see if this is anything you can do to crush before it gets too big.” Of course, when he said operations, he meant the casinos he was overseeing in Havana....

14 likes 2 comments 2
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