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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story with the line “Don’t tell anyone.”

Posted in Angst on Oct 18, 2024

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 80 stories

“Altered State” by Harry Stuart

Submitted to Contest #273

“Don’t tell anyone,” the words whispered from her lips with a longing desperation. She had repeated the phrase to herself innumerable times over the years, hiding away a hurtful secret. She stared at Rory, challenging him to be present in the moment, to acknowledge her sacrifice. “I never did forget you, even after all these painful years,” she wrung her hands, her upper teeth digging into her lower lip, a blunting of physical hurt to quell the tears.Night was advancing, and she strained to see his form in the shifting light. She w...

33 comments 33
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“Venus Buried” by Asia W

Submitted to Contest #273

The girl in the graveyard is your best friend, so you take her home. The night is a bruise between you, a blotch of rogue in the passenger window; the colour of fruit left out to fester. The body pries at her seatbelt, a finger, then two. The radio echoes static, the body shuffles in her seat. You study the face; the similar slice of jaw, the nose humped from where a baseball had hit her at twelve, just slightly off centre. The skin like a rain-licked plastic bag. The stink of musk and sulphur. You want to look away but you cannot. She's so ...

17 comments 17
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“Senseless” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #273

SenselessI have come to feed my addiction. I can no longer control my cravings, the ache deep inside of me.Daily I have tried to restrain my need by performing each task as if it is a religious ritual. The egg is boiled for exactly three and a half minutes, the bread is toasted to a light golden brown. The bed is made with hospital corners. The laundry is done on Mondays, groceries are bought on Tuesdays and Fridays. I watch the news at six.Tears at six thirty.Family and friends come and urge me to join them. A movie, or the opera? A class a...

37 comments 37
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“Whatever Happened to Dazzer Adler, Silverback Star of Stage and Screen?” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #273

Don’t know why I thought of you then, as I slid along the pew. Not a guest as such, but a stand-in, Lisa’s replacement plus-one in light of her recent split from her partner. She couldn't possibly not attend, her being second cousin to the bride. But don’t flatter yourself that my thinking of you was in any way romantic – or the opposite, come to that - and it wasn’t because Lisa served as a reminder either. Good friends since college (acting school, if you like) we often touched based, but didn’t normally meet up in church. So, I guess it w...

16 comments 16
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“The Request” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #273

“Hear me, oh master, as we submit to your will for our meager and groveling desires! We beg and ask you to feel our souls as they bend and call to you, oh master, for your mercy and favor upon us now!“We beg you to hear the thoughts of us all: Kevin, Robert, Dave with the Beard, Dave without the Beard, Steve and Stephen, Roger, and…yes, my little brother, Brian.“We have brought ourselves to this place on this very cold and difficult day to ask you for your assistance oh master…and please respond pretty quickly because my brother is driving m...

16 comments 16
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“DON'T TELL ANYONE ” by Darvico Ulmeli

Submitted to Contest #273

October 11.It keeps following me. All the time. I've been feeling it for days now - this eerie sensation of being watched. This morning, an envelope slipped under my door. No name, no return address. Just a single line written in red ink: "Come to the garden on Elm at midnight. Don't be late."My first thought was that it was a prank, maybe a mistake. But deep down, I knew it wasn't. I felt that same strange, heavy sensation in my chest - the feeling of being watched. Whoever's been following me wants me to come to this meeting.I should ignor...

11 comments 11
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“Jonas” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #273

Caution: mild references to sexual abuse of children and pedophilia.Katy hadn't seen Jonas in years. Knowing he would be at his father's funeral was one thing. Would he acknowledge her? This was another matter entirely. Jonas had always been the type of man to turn heads. If he didn't have such dark and irresistible looks, some things, including embarrassing moments, may not have happened. They had affected her, still affected her, in ways he had no clue of. It's the horrible feeling one gets after the right words aren't spoken at the o...

17 comments 17
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“flies to catch” by Emily Lees

Submitted to Contest #273

Some might say I’d been in the dating game for a few years. I had met a handful of men from time to time, but none of those encounters ever moved beyond a first date. I suppose it should have puzzled me, should have made me wonder what went wrong. But where others might feel the sting of rejection, I felt nothing, just a calm indifference, as if the absence of connection was expected. There is a certain richness in the quieter moments of life. Meeting new people, sharing fleeting conversations, glimpsing into lives so different from my own. ...

5 comments 5
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“The Secret ” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #273

   The whirling winds gusted thrashing hands through the last leaves holding strong to their branches. The evening air was Fall crisp, not winter bitter just yet. Katherine and Nicole swung their arms in unison, speed walking through their quiet neighborhood just as the sun was setting on a week of soccer practices, piano lessons, and softball tryouts.      “Well of course Madeline is going to make the team. She’s the only one who can actually hit the ball out of center field,” Nicole said matter-...

11 comments 11
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“All That Glitters” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #273

I won’t die today. Maybe only next week. Or so I imagine the doctor says as he hustles out of my room, just before the big weekend. I heard him talking to my nurse, “Can hardly wait, gotta new boat and girlfriend, it’ll be great!” My doc kind of goes with the sunshine that streams through my window, all patterns of luminescence, dancing through the lace curtain which moves with the spring breeze. That and the curly Q special lunch with a surprise! Dessert a la supreme chocolate cake, minuscule portion. Part of my special recovery diet! The k...

6 comments 6
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“Nothing to Worry About” by Montrell Burke

Submitted to Contest #273

I’m so happy that Eric and I are friends again.As soon as I step foot out of my eighth period English class, he’s already waiting outside for me, leaning up against the wall by the door. With a huge grin on his face, he trots over and leans down to playfully headbutt me in the chest, I grunt lightly and push his head away. He stumbles on his feet, laughing, then collects himself and walks beside me down the hall, slipping his arm around my shoulder.“How did you get here so fast? The bell just rang.”“I left early. Three guys started fighting ...

0 comments 0
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“Twisted Lies” by Dita Dow

Submitted to Contest #273

Don’t tell anyone. I look at her. My hands sweat. They always sweat when I lie. “I won’t,” I say, too soft. Too weak. She doesn’t notice. Her eyes dart around the room. “You swear?” she asks, stepping closer. I can feel her breath on my face. Minty. Clean. Like she isn’t hiding anything. “I swear.” It comes out too fast. Almost a whisper. She narrows her eyes at me but says nothing. “I shouldn’t have told you,” she says. “I just… I didn’t know who else to go to.” I nod. My mouth is dry, and my heart’s too loud in my chest. “If anyone finds o...

4 comments 4
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“Parrots Pluck Their Feathers” by Pres T

Submitted to Contest #273

This story deals with themes of self-harm, trauma, minor allusions to violence, and child abuse. Reader discretion is advised. Veronica for the past few weeks felt a newfound sense of tangible dread. The type of fear that creeps in once you turn your head forward bound and what is behind you isn’t in view. And in all fairness who would blame her. She’s an attractive woman in a big and dangerous city. The amount of women and young girls whose faces lace the nighttime news with captions of “gone missing" is in the hundreds this year alone.&nb...

0 comments 0
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“Can You Keep a Secret” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #273

September 1947Me and Billy had been on the road for almost two weeks as I chauffeured him to say goodbye to all his surviving friends. And for all my effort, he promised me a chest full of gold. I wasn’t sure exactly how he would deliver his promised bounty, but I wanted to see how this adventure was going to end.I had been fired from Taggart Transportation after missing a deadline in my delivery of a nuclear payload to an army test site. Instead of returning, I decided to go on this joyride with Billy Smith. He found me when ...

5 comments 5
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“The Lost Letters of Lottie” by Kate Simkins

Submitted to Contest #273

Frances stared at the open letter in front of her, fingers trembling. She added it to the pile and opened the next. 18th March, 1876Dearest Frances,I hope this letter finds you well. Things are unchanged here, and I am dreadfully, most dreadfully lonely. I honestly do not know what I would do without your letters and your kindness. It’s been so long since I have seen anyone other than the servants, that I fear I may have forgotten how to interact with others at all! It is only your correspondence that keeps me balanced and connected to ...

7 comments 7
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