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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story including the phrase “Better late than never”.

Posted in Angst on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 67 stories

“A Day's Wage” by Nandini Kumar

Submitted to Contest #125

“Today is the day,” thinking,  Raju jumped over a puddle outside his house, making sure the sack in his hands didn’t fall. The whole street was choked with water from last night’s rain. Although monsoon was still a month away, the shower was an early reminder to get prepared for this small village in Northern India. Raju was a farmer who grew vegetables on his small ancestral land. Like most farmers, he was dependent on the rain for water. It was a relief that he had picked the vegetables a few days ago. But the downpour had restri...

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“Taking Time” by Rowan Bender

Submitted to Contest #125

“What was it like being her neighbor?” “Oh, um, yes… Well…” the widowed Mrs. Byrd stuttered out. The reporter blinked encouragingly with a warm smile. “She was a kind young woman” Mrs. Bryd said softly, pausing deeply before continuing. “Looking in from the outside, someone might say she was always running late. But from my point of view, she was just running on her own schedule.” The young reporter, about the same age as Sarah had been, scribbled something down on her notepad. She leaned in closer towards Mrs. Byrd and questioned… ...

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“Impatience” by Rich Hosek

Submitted to Contest #125

Jericho Maxwell Orelio, Ph.D., stood at his workbench conducting the final inspection of the array equipment that was carefully mounted, positioned and connected to myriad sensors. At first glance, it appeared to be something a child might assemble out of the odds and ends one might find in the dumpster behind an electronics repair shop. But a closer look would reveal a miniature version of a device that one would find among the experiments positioned in the targeting area of a particle accelerator.“Vivian, are we still a go on the temporal ...

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“Lesson Learned” by Naina P

Submitted to Contest #125

This story will not teach you the lesson you expect, nor the one I believe you’ve come here to learn. For that, I cannot say I apologize and I hope you’ll understand why once you’ve made your way through this mess. I will say this: I believe you are in the right place and should take the time to listen rather than rushing off to wherever you were headed prior to finding yourself here, with me, in this cold place we cannot name and perhaps does not exist. I can’t explain who I am, but it really isn’t important because I will tell you who I am...

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“Finding a Place” by Elias McEaneney

Submitted to Contest #125

Feeling his hair blowing wildly in the breeze, he kept his eyes set forward toward the light, just breaking through the trees. It was far too late for his comfort, but the boy kept moving anyway, too many nights having been spent against a tree or in a field for both his emotional and his physical comfort, young joints aching as though he were of an old man, hunger weighing his body down toward the earth below his feet. If his navigational skills were any good- the main part of that phrase being if- then it was likely he’d find himself in ci...

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“How time flies” by Alice Richardson

Submitted to Contest #125

HOW TIME FLIES! Alice ambled along the pathway through the scrub. As she walked, she was reading a biography of Lewis Carroll’s life. Consequently, she didn’t realise there was a hole in the path until she suddenly dropped through it. As she landed she stumbled, dropping her book. Looking around, she was in a sort of cave. It wasn’t a normal type of cave because it had plants and there was light coming from somewhere. She heard a murmuring sound and moved cautiously towards it. She found a garden with rather enormous plants; roses, cor...

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“Red Eye” by Maribeth Mundell

Submitted to Contest #125

I shoved my overlarge black purse under the seat in front of me, hoping that its level of stowage was enough to satisfy the air hosts on the New York to London flight. I had the aisle seat; there was a young woman in the window seat, with short blue hair and ear buds, and the seat between us remained empty. I checked my phone; they’d close boarding soon, regardless. Theoretically it was a full flight, but the early December weather was stormy, and heavy traffic on the roads might leave the center seat unoccupied. I took the in-flight magazin...

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“Better Late Than Never” by David Nesbit

Submitted to Contest #125

Meggie didn't know if she was going to make it - in more than one meaning of the term. The taxi driver was doing his best to weave in and out of the ever-thickening traffic, but Megs, as she preferred to be known, wasn't feeling hopeful. It wasn't just the prospect of reaching Singapore's Changi airport in time to catch her scheduled Garuda flight back to Surabaya, Indonesia, that she was worried about, but whether or not she was going to be able to make it out of the taxi before she vomited. Because vomit she would. She knew that. ...

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“Holiday Time” by Brenda Daniels

Submitted to Contest #125

It was dark as we made our way along the country lane. I mean, really dark. ‘Where are you?’ read the text message on Robyn’s mobile as I peered through the windscreen of the black Hyundai Elantra. ‘There it is,’ said Robyn, too late, despite her excellent navigation skills. I did a U-turn where the dry-stone wall curved outwards and crawled the car back to the one tiny light on the dark stretch. Our host was waiting, anxious and puffing vapour into the night air. ‘It’s just back the way,’ he said. ‘At least you’re here. Better late tha...

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“Re-writing History ” by Vera Oluwafemi

Submitted to Contest #125

I was born into a family where I was the only child who had survived. I was definitely the apple of everyone’s eyes in my whole community. Everyone looked after me and my well-being was paramount to everyone’s happiness. Many people liked me a lot because they said I looked like my mom who had passed on a few years ago while trying to bare another child. Sadly, she had passed away alongside my baby brother who had just been birthed to the world.  Due to my keen resemblance to my mother, my father ensured that I was well looked after a...

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“Milkshakes” by Douglas J. Veverka

Submitted to Contest #125

“You two are late.” Stan barked as two bright-eyed boys walked into the modest kitchen at the back of the house. “Better late than never grandpa,” Dominic said with a grin. He and his younger brother David, both winded, shoved each other before grabbing chairs surrounding a square table tucked in the corner of the tiny room. They spun them around and hopped up onto the shiny cushions. “What the hell are you jumping around for? Goddamn it! Just sit,” their grandfather demanded.Stan took a deep breath. He moved his attention to ...

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“The Princess that had three suitors” by Daisy Yi

Submitted to Contest #125

The story tells that King Oba had a beautiful and delicate daughter who represented everthing to her father, she had three suitors named; IKU, ARO and OFO. Everyday the Princess complained to her father that she couldn't decide which of the suitors to choose for a husband. FOr Oba this represented a problem, he didn't want to generate conflicts and revenge because he was a man of peace, but time was of the essense and he knew that if he gave his daughter to one of the suitors the other two would seek revenge. So as not to anger the life of h...

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“Something New ” by Mackenzie Hebner

Submitted to Contest #125

Something New  Mackenzie M. Hebner  It’s easy not to realize how fortunate you were until what seemed like a burden slips away, and suddenly there’s a hole you never realized had needed to be filled. It grows a little more as you sit there watching everything you had with a new light. This time there is a tick inside your mind, counting down the moments you have left with this fresh perspective, and you don’t want to waste the moments hurting, but it’s hard to feel any other way than a plain fool.  You see, it’d been a roug...

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“You'd be late to your own funeral....” by Stacey Iannazzo

Submitted to Contest #125

S. Hileman Iannazzo (Better Late than Never Contest Entry) I didn’t know morticians don't bother with shoes until I was hauling ass to the church in my stocking feet. I also didn’t know that even though I was the guest of honor, I’d have to ‘walk’ to my own funeral. They loaded my corpse into a shiny black car driven by a somber looking fellow dressed in a neat charcoal suit.  While they were arranging all of the flowers around my coffin, I tried to slide in, but I was too late and cursed myself for having stopped to smoke a cigare...

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“The Economics of Time” by Susan Whitlock

Submitted to Contest #125

Nate Haskins had a very loose relationship with his watch. He glanced at it now and then, but more often than not his mind went to the man who had given him the watch, his maternal grandpa, Ray Lever. Sometimes he saw the time and was likely to leap up and take off for some appointment he had completely forgotten. He managed to race in five minutes late to most of his college courses, dates with his pretty girlfriend and basketball games he had drummed up himself. Nate was not a rude person; it was not that others time and feelings were less...

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Contest #125

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This week's theme: Better Late Than Never

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Ended on 23:59 - Dec 24, 2021 EST

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