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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Posted in Angst on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 320 stories

“Fuzzball Fry’s” by Ophelia McBride

Submitted to Contest #98

The old electronics store had closed down years ago. But those who remembered it knew it was so much more. Every child would beg their mother to stop on their errands to run into the store and see him. The pride of the quiet town. He played every Friday and Sunday, from 12:30 to 1, a schedule every kid had engraved into their brains. And on those days, when the summer days got hot, or when the winter wind rushed through the playgrounds, people of all ages would sit down on the cold marble floor, stare up at the blinking lights and the bright...

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“Lies Worth Telling” by Alexander Smith

Submitted to Contest #98

Growing up on the farm, I loved the summers best of all. Morning sun bathed the land in light. The goats were unruly, always out of line. I was young, young enough not to have many chores. So, I played in the grass and ran through the hills. It was heaven if it were true. How was my childhood, you ask? You really want to know? I wouldn’t be sitting here with a shrink like you if it were idyllic. My childhood was rust, sludge, and machine parts. One that forced me to comb through trash for saleable parts. A dirty up-coming with no one to lo...

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“Final Sunset” by Kaylee Umstead

Submitted to Contest #98

The three suns shone brightly upon the planet Varterra. The planet was lush with rolling Hills. Not once has it rained on this planet but yet it still sustained life. Upon this planet lay three kingdoms - the Chimpmunkan tribe and the Deerman tribe were among these three. They were always at war with each other. The constant fighting became normal for these kingdoms. They would fight just for the fun of it. Of course, no lives were lost during this long war. One day, the king of the Chipmunkan tribe died of a disease and his son, Carl III, t...

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“In Flight” by R K

Submitted to Contest #98

Hanbei knew the story Jingwei, the fierce bird who flew through the skies above the Chinese oceans. She often wished she had met the beautiful princess who was transformed into the mighty-winged bird who protected her people from the crashing waves and the powerful seas surrounding her homeland. Hanbei regularly looked up into an unfamiliar sky filled with New York skyscrapers, and she wondered if Jingwei knew that she now lived near the Atlantic Ocean and in new country where her family needed the protection of the bright, majesti...

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“Wishful Thinking” by Ed Westhoven

Submitted to Contest #98

            Wishful Thinking    Jeff finished reading the invitation and threw it on the counter.    Has it really been twenty-five years already?    He began to think back to those high school days. Things were so different then. His friends were always around to hang with. He could picture Tiny, the gentle giant standing six feet and four inches tall and about half that number in width. Then there was Chico, which was short fo...

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“The Fishing Trip” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #98

They picked a beautiful day for it. On that weekend, the weather was perfect for anyone willing to spend their time on a body of water that shimmered like a beautiful mirror, under a sun that was not too hot in a bright blue sky, and with hardly anyone else willing to travel out that far to go fishing.  It was a small vessel, running with a motor but with an option to use sails when the need to save on gas was high. Today, the wind was very light and calm, so George made a point of having extra fuel available when the vessel was being p...

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“Come In Number Seven, Your Time Is Up!” by Jason Ivey

Submitted to Contest #98

The cries of gulls circling overhead punctuated the sound of the gently rolling waves. A fresh summer breeze stroked Galen’s face as he lay in the sun’s radiant warmth. With his eyes closed, he reached out with his left arm and was met with the warm body of his best friend and wife, Elena. The laughter of his two children, Jonathan and Jacqueline, splashing and playing together in the lapping waters added to the aural tapestry. Galen inhaled the salty sea air and took a moment to reflect: though perhaps not quite the life he had imagined as ...

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“No Way Home” by Poonam Desai

Submitted to Contest #98

My Papah says America will be good. He says it will take care of us. He says the city has better opportunities and we will have more food. He wanted me to go to a school and have a chance at a better life. Many people from our settlement had travelled to America and made a life there. Papah was confident we would thrive there as well. Just the night before I had heard him tell Mummah, "You worry too much. Look at Nico. He is settled in America, he has a place of his own. He works at the docks but thats a steady income. I can't let Lily grow...

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“Hide ME” by Elaine Baker

Submitted to Contest #98

My name is Lacy Kreen. I am hiding from the end of the world. That might sound like something from a sci-fi horror story,but for me it is reality. I’m hiding with my little brother. God save us from those monsters. I don’t want to die,please save us. A small girl walked forward. Her eyes darted around,like an animal hiding from an apex predator. A young boy clung to her back,trembling. The two glanced back and forth. The first thing you'd have noticed about them is that they're covered in a sticky onyx gloop,and that they're both out of b...

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“Leaving” by Kayley Dickins

Submitted to Contest #98

He had always said he would go home. From the very first day, when he had snuck out the upstairs window in the twilight, he had promised in his note that he would return when he could. And in the meantime, when he could not be there in person, he would stay in contact, sending letters and souvenirs from the places he got to. He had kept it up to a certain extent, trudging into towns whilst not on patrol and spending too much money on the postage of a letter he had written by the light of a burning shed and which was written by a sharp twig d...

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“My Heart Lies in Palestine” by Ali Anthony Bell

Submitted to Contest #98

“Hello?”“Mr. Ahmed Ebrahim?”“Speaking.”“Hello, this is Anthony Bannister, I’m an investigative reporter with NPR. We have a radio show coming up on May 15th dedicated to Nakba Day, and I’m looking for survivors to bear witness to what they lived through. There aren’t many refugees here in the States, but your grand-daughter Aya contacted me and said that she’s sure you’d be willing to give me an interview. As you know, not many Americans know about this catastrophe, and my job is to increase awareness.”“That was 73 years ago. I was only 10 y...

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“Immortal” by Naomi Mordaunt

Submitted to Contest #98

  The grand doors swung open, revealing King Marbow to the nobles waiting outside. The lords and ladies glided in, desperately wanting to be out of the cold winter air. Although they thought their pace was casual, Kelsiella eyes were trained from years of reading body language, and she saw the slight quickness of their step, trying to get out of the cold, and the outside. The outside was a place for peasants, not for the nobles. Kelsiella didn’t mind the cold; she had had lived on the st...

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“Warriors of the Red Cave ” by Kay (:

Submitted to Contest #98

The mountain air fresh in my lungs, the wind blowing softly through my hair. The cold rock is hard under my feet. My heart longed to be back with my friends and family. I thought back to the thousands of others who traveled this path before me, not knowing what lies ahead. My heart thudded with the sound of the unknown and my task that lies ahead. Let me start from the beginning. My name is Dhara Apala, and I’m the eldest daughter of Bodhi. I never knew my mother, she was sent on this journey just like her, I hope to find her in th...

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“The Prodigal Expat” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #98

Two hundred years ago, as Earthmen were first attempting to colonize the Red Planet, the Empyreans chose to reveal themselves. From the first expedition log of Lieutenant Barbara Brooks, the sole crash survivor, it was evident she encountered two of these “alien angels” and helped them to survive prior to her disappearance. The second and third expeditions established a foothold on the fourth planet, but when the fourth expedition force arrived, it was met by a contingent of the flying aliens; apparently they already had a flourishing c...

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“Wings in Azure Skies” by Anje Campisi

Submitted to Contest #98

She gazed up at the azure sky. White wisps twirled around the endless depths, reflecting the amber hues of the setting sun. Below her feet, she curled her toes in the moist ground, feeling the dirt squish between them. Little sprouts of evergreen grass tickled her heels.   She knelt and ran her long, supple fingers along the edge of the tree root that jutted out of the fresh soil. A crisp scent of pine and jasmine mixed into her inhaled breath. Slowly she closed her grey eyes and tilted her head, conc...

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