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Write a story about someone looking for a sign in a dark sky.

Posted in Angst on Jan 5, 2024

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✍️ 55 stories

Next Time

Submitted to Contest #232

Harry McMunn, Supreme Reverend, shook hands with Andrea List, clapped Ray Blackburn on the shoulder, and patted little Jimmy Nairn on the head. He traded a smile with all his congregation, finished his cup of punch, and started a familiar chorus of “Next time.” Then, when they began singing their favourite hymn, he excused himself and went outside the temple, before his heart completely broke. The cool night air shattered his composure, and he clutched his vestments to keep an unexpected sob from escaping. Walking the well maintained paths o...

46 likes 39 comments 39
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Too-Cute Magic

Submitted to Contest #232

Too-Cute MagicChrissy Merriman stepped out onto the small balcony off her upstairs bedroom in the stately Victorian home she shared with her grandmother. She hugged her warm, cozy bathrobe around herself as she gazed into the dark winter sky searching for the peace eluding her this starless, cloudy night that held promise for more snow to grant a white Christmas. Chrissy felt lighter than air unsure if she would ever come down to earth again after the unexpected embrace and out of this world kiss from Mr. Kool himself.A brief time before she...

32 likes 34 comments 34
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Smiling Skies, Storming Skies

Submitted to Contest #232

Chloe scowled at the pile of wilted broccoli on her plate. She sighed, picked up her fork, and stabbed at one of the limp florets. The prongs pierced the rubbery stem, and she shuddered. With her free hand, Chloe pinched her nostrils shut. She closed her eyes, opened her mouth and brought the fork to her lips. She bit into the broccoli, refusing to taste as her teeth ground the bitter vegetable into soggy mush. She choked it down as fast as she could, then took a big gulp of water. “Can I be excused now?” Chloe asked. “Yes, clear your pl...

30 likes 13 comments 13
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Souls in the Sky

Shortlisted for Contest #232 ⭐️

Zack Kaudjak was crossing the open snow laced fields of the Yukon River with his fourteen dog Iditarod sled team as the sun began to set below the birch tree line at three in the afternoon.  The days were short during the first week of March which meant the temperature would be dropping nearly forty degrees below zero.  He was prodding the team hoping to make it to the Galena rest stop by dinner time. Wrapped in a thermal body wrap, seal skin gloves, mukluks, his extremities still felt the impact of the cruel wind as his sled dippe...

30 likes 16 comments 16
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Signs From Above

Submitted to Contest #232

“Who’s up next?”“We have someone new at station three.”“Stats?”“Fifty-nine year old female. Stress level 8, depression rising quickly threatening 10, suicide risk 2.”“You want to give this one a shot?”“Me?”“Why not you?”“I’m still in training.”“You’re ready. Start with observation.”***“I just can’t do this anymore, I really cannot do this anymore,” Ruth thought for the millionth time. She still heard her boss’s commands in her head. “Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.” Like a woodpecker tapping at her brain. It had taken ...

27 likes 16 comments 16
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Everything In Heaven Is Already Here on Earth

Submitted to Contest #232

Nora walked home through the snow with the ingredients she had bought to make her daughter a thick brown stew, as she always did around this time of year. She passed the frozen statue of a famous explorer in the town square, up to its shins in snow, with his rusting copper features illuminated by the glare of lighting from the stores. Her daughter, Astrid had been born on the official start of winter, the 27th November, although the wintery darkness was always present for more than two weeks in the lead up to the da...

27 likes 5 comments 5
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Nighttime Heartbroken Souls

Shortlisted for Contest #232 ⭐️

I looked out the living room window of our twelfth-storey apartment. The roads were no longer busy, only a handful of cars coming in from the direction of the highway. I wondered where they were headed at this hour; were they going home to an empty apartment, or were they going home to their families? And if so, would they have to tiptoe into the house? Would they be afraid of waking their spouses, for fear of inviting unwanted questions? It was, afterall, one in the morning. I checked my phone again, the fiftieth time in the last fifteen mi...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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All the Stars Went Out

Submitted to Contest #232

You never told me what to do if all the stars disappeared from the sky. You were the one who first took me camping, promising I’d love it as long as we were together. “We can’t see the stars clearly from the city, Paloma – remember I said that the night we met?” So we went, and despite the mosquitos and the damp mud and the loud campers drinking beer nearby, it was beautiful. “If we’re ever apart, just come back out here and look at the stars. We’ll be looking at the same sky no matter where we are.” It wasn’t the most original sentiment...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Uneaten

Submitted to Contest #232

It’s difficult to forget what human flesh tastes like once you’ve had a bite. It’s not the uniqueness of the flavor or the texture that made the meal remarkable but the forbidden act of chewing and swallowing a chunk of someone’s forearm. The smell, the similarity to beef, the way it felt when it traveled down his stomach would be seared into Mr. Chen’s mind for eternity.  Ever since he lost his vision, Mr. Chen’s memories had become even more vivid than before. In his hospital room, he’d spend every waking hour mumbling to himself, l...

15 likes 10 comments 10
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Shooting stars

Submitted to Contest #232

Blackness surrounded me as if even the sky understood what I was going through.  I could barely make out the foam that formed on the edge of the sand as the tide rolled in, bringing with it an array of shells that early morning beachcombers would delight in picking up. By midmorning this area would be filled with noise and bodies of every shape and color. But tonight, it was just me, a few crabs and a starless sky. "Why?" My body shook as an icy wind surrounded me. I pulled my jacket tighter and lifted my hoody over my head. January...

15 likes 4 comments 4
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Growing Dark

A T

Submitted to Contest #232

The back of the old man’s neck was going numb from the snow as he watched another star go out. Another loss of the war raging in the celestial sky as unyielding darkness continued to spread towards the snow covered hills.It won’t be too bad, he decided, witnessing the end of the world here in the Arctic. The snow banks surrounding him kept out most of the polar winds and he had only just stopped shivering. Here he would lie until the end of times.“What are you doing over here, little frog?”A warm hand took his own gloved fingers an...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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Elegy for the Lost Soldier

Submitted to Contest #232

*** Tell me... what can be more beautiful than watching the flight of a bird on a late spring day, or even better, how it feels to experience the first snow as it settles on your pale skin.  But the feeling of happiness disappears when you see the snowflakes melting, and you are left only with a sensation of coldness... Time seems to stop, and the coldness becomes so deep that you feel it penetrating your soul and turning into ice. But now it's not just cold anymore, it gradually becomes a burning sensation. And this feeling becomes st...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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The Tigers That Came For Tea

Submitted to Contest #232

[Contains mystery meat, groping, and violence.]I often think of the beasts that came to our window.The day I saw the first beast, I had had been standing at the sink washing dishes. My mind wandered, as was often the case. My main illumination was the bulb over our kitchen window. It flickered with each gust of wind that rattled the glass.I’d lost count of the days since I last saw the sun—flecked with spots, like roasted chestnuts, sinking behind the mountains. The darkness had settled heavy as damp wool across the valley.Back then, we stil...

12 likes 4 comments 4
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Flesh A-Flappin’: An A.I. Chatt Paranormal Mystery With Bonus Passion as Anita Brake AKA J.D. Robbed

Submitted to Contest #232

Note: This is a companion to Ilaanni Nanoq Pivat.“My wife was murdered,” Arrell Stein insisted.“Yeah, I get it,” Alexis drawled, struggling to keep the edge from her voice. “I’m sorry, but could you please put that down? You’ll rub the fur off.”And likely find your rotting, crae-crae walking dead spouse waiting on your doorstep, she added silently.Stein started, and sheepishly returned the Monkey’s Paw to the wormwood desk. A.I. cursed the Maine horror writer who’d gifted the thing, the paranormal investigator suspected as a curse itself. De...

12 likes 4 comments 4
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Cosmic Joke (But I'm Not Laughing)

Submitted to Contest #232

Miles has never believed in miracles. He does not search for meaning in tea leaves or surround himself with crystals or polished rocks–he doesn’t believe that rose quartz will bring him love or in the healing energy of amber. He doesn’t believe that a hack in robes can read his fate, his future, or his past simply by tracing a clammy finger across the lines in his palm. He stopped believing, at the tender age of six, that a jolly fat man in a red suit made his way to every single one of the world’s countless children on Christmas night–that ...

12 likes 6 comments 6
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