Write about a character who develops a special ritual to cope with something.

Posted in Angst on Jun 30, 2023

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✍️ 90 stories

“Good Morning” by Vikram Benipal

Submitted to Contest #205

It has been eight days, twelve hours and five minutes since Derek had received the text. He looked up from his watch, as he stood in line at Greg’s Pizzeria, the only pizza restaurant in the city of Waterloo that opened this early in the morning. The restaurant couldn’t have been larger than his college dorm room and reeked so hard of pizza he thought he could taste the grease with every breath he took. There was silence apart from an Indian soap opera playing from a cracked television, and the restless foot taps coming from Derek’s feet.&nb...

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“Whatever It Takes To Cope” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #205

Milly had been my pet for fourteen years. The day she died was when a part of me died too, another little piece of my heart. She was given to me at eight weeks of age, a tiny soft bundle of fluff. From the minute I held her, she clung to me as if her life depended on it, and in a way it did, and mine on hers. “Mrs Wilson, this is our way of saying sorry for your loss. We know how lonely you will be without Mr Wilson, so we thought a puppy would keep you company”, and all the girls from the gymnastics club that I taught at, stood on my fron...

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“The Quiet Escape” by Lynn Matchett

Submitted to Contest #205

The Quiet Escape “What is happening?” Cora asked her husband. They both watched the news on the television and tried to get a grasp on what was happening in their city. In a few short hours all the schools were closed and restaurants shut down. By the next day sporting events, conventions, dental offices, hair salons, airlines, hotels and retail stores had been closed. Everything was happening very quickly and after a few more days of watching the news it was clear the world was in for a big change. “I can’t belie...

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“Bellis perennis” by Ksenija Rubež

Submitted to Contest #205

People say that one cannot love an animal as they love another person. Unfortunately, one has to experience a loss of life to realize the falsehood of this statement. The pain is still sharp. As soon as I start thinking of that overwhelming event, an unstoppable wave of hot tears fills my eyes. I never thought that crying could be initiated so easily. Almost effortlessly. I find myself in the most random moments doing the most random of things, reminded of this reality, and I want to sob. I hold back my tears as I write this. He was so...

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“I'm Taking This” by Anabeth Faley

Submitted to Contest #205

Emily lifted the glass apple from the lip of the china cupboard. Flakes of gold sparkled in the sunlight when she gave the apple a little shake. The sun caught an edge of glass in the stem and flashed a rainbow of prismatic sunlight across the wall. Glittering joy quickened Emily’s despair. Only her quickened breath intake made a sound in the quiet house.Her mother was dying. She had in-house hospice care with on-site care givers. Her older sister Sara was buying the house to help finance the cost of the caregivers. It was a nice alternative...

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“Rituals” by Shelia Boyd

Submitted to Contest #205

“Mr Canter?” It was finally my turn. I smoothed out my jeans and red tee then ran my hands through my locs. I got up and followed the assistant as we walked into the office slowly. It was a throwback from the 70s if ever I had seen one, complete with flowered chairs and fainting couch with a plaid design and a lava lamp on the table. A woman who I assumed was Dr Andrea Goch sat in one of the flower power chairs, her curly brown head down reading what I presumed was my file. Upon hearing me walk into the room she looke...

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“Darkened days and night” by Rebecca Maric

Submitted to Contest #205

On the Sydney street near Wynyard stTion was crazed mixed up emotionally old homeless man ,each night,he went down to the old tankstream arcade which was situated at Wynyard station nopeolpe would pass him by as he would scream and hold a radio up ,he would have hoard of old radios all lined up on the table,some for wrecking and a scream then one radio played the same old song by the group exciters ...tell him. Years went the man had disappeared and the old tankvstream arcade ended up under demolishing for some new shops to be built there, T...

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“Old Friends” by MeLynn Berkley

Submitted to Contest #205

Alarms were beeping rhythmically as people in scrubs hurried down the halls past my door. I sat in my wheelchair by the big window and watched as a red bird struggled to get the last few pieces of bird seed from the feeder. “I’m so sorry, momma.” My daughter cried as tears rolled down her pale cheeks. She gripped my wrinkled hand tighter, seeming to hold on for dear life. I gently placed my hand on her shoulder. “Honey, I know. This is the right thing to do. I’ll be very well taken care of here.” It was my 6th fall this month. A broke...

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“Lucid Dreams” by Rebecca Wiberg

Submitted to Contest #205

I walked into my room and looked at the bed. Between the graveyard shifts and my classes I had barely slept since the breakup. And I was starting to feel some serious contempt for the word “breakup.” The word seemed so casual. I was betrayed by my best friend, the only person who knew me better than anyone else in the world. I had lost my soulmate. I didn’t really know who I was without him. I could no longer envision my future. Whenever I thought about my future there was a black hole, so empty that just thinking about it made me want to gi...

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“Frank's Process” by Chuck Thompson

Submitted to Contest #205

My mom was special. She tolerated so much more than I could. I was about five when I remember her protecting me from a bad guy she brought home from wherever she went and found the bad guys. We had a process after that. She would unlock and open the door and close it again so she would have to unlock it again. This caused her to stall coming through the door just long enough for me to hide whenever she brought a bad guy home. “Why bring bad guys home?” I asked one morning. She explained they paid a lot more than ...

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“Calen’s Sandbox” by Krystal Brown

Submitted to Contest #205

“This is the playground to Nurse Riona,” said a voice through the crackle of my walkie-talkie. I picked up the black receiver and pressed the side button with my thumb. “This is Nurse Riona. Go ahead.” “We have a girl out here who said she hurt her ankle. I think she’s okay, we just can’t get her to come to you or get up.”I asked the secretary to watch my clinic as I hurried outside, searching for a student that looked hurt. I spotted a girl sitting on the blacktop leaning over her knees, with her upper half tucked face down into c...

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“The Ritual of 369” by Zeeshan Mahmud

Submitted to Contest #205

Warning: Contains a scene of extreme violenceThere was an old-fashioned blackboard in the dining room. And just like the wooden times there were broken chalks and duster on the ledge.Soh picked a half-broken one up as puffs of calcified dust fell on her tiny palm. Then she got up on a small stool and scrawled:Let there be world peace!Let there be world peace!Let there be world peace!Then she took the duster and wiped it away.Everyday before breakfast she does it. Long before the others wake up. Some wants a million dollars. Some wants a Beve...

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“Blessed” by Sun Fei

Submitted to Contest #205

The morning dew dapples the dandelions with water droplets. She plucks each one from the ground—carefully, so the roots stay attached—and wipes each flower on the hem of her shirt, stowing them in the basket until its grassy bottom couldn’t be seen anymore. Eodalin chirps and wraps his limbs around her arm until she satiates him with a flower, letting him gnaw on the florets. “Is this enough?” The creature clicks his tongue. Yes. At the cottage, she uses a dagger to separate the dandelions into parts, into sections of roots, leav...

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“Counting Steps” by Amber Davis

Submitted to Contest #205

Three steps off the school bus. One… two… three. Deep breaths. And then a half-hearted leap off the edge. My skirt sways just enough I can feel the air hit my thighs. It’s like the wind carries me. For just a split second, I’m weightless. I’m sailing through the sky and I’m free. In that moment I become jealous of the birds. I wish I could wrap myself in feathers and fly away. I’d never again feel the impact of the hard, cold ground under my feet. Not unless I wanted to. Not unless it was my choice to land. And I’d only land in a spot that f...

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“All Hail the Saint of Coffee Brewers” by Dave West

Submitted to Contest #205

All Hail the Saint of Coffee Brewers / David West Picture if you can his workspace. There is an L-shaped desk in a corner of the room. Starting from left there is a two-drawer filing cabinet, on top of which sits a stack of three wire-mesh filing trays, all overloaded. Beside them is a binocular case. The binoculars themselves are on top of a cabinet in the living room, near the front door, where he has a view of the harbour. On the left side of the desk there is a stack of four notebooks, different sizes for different purposes. Next to the...

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Write about a character who develops a special ritual to cope with something.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 90 stories

“Good Morning” by Vikram Benipal

“Whatever It Takes To Cope” by Valerie Preston

“The Quiet Escape” by Lynn Matchett

“Bellis perennis” by Ksenija Rubež

“I'm Taking This” by Anabeth Faley

“Rituals” by Shelia Boyd

“Darkened days and night” by Rebecca Maric

“Old Friends” by MeLynn Berkley

“Lucid Dreams” by Rebecca Wiberg

“Frank's Process” by Chuck Thompson

“Calen’s Sandbox” by Krystal Brown

“The Ritual of 369” by Zeeshan Mahmud

“Blessed” by Sun Fei

“Counting Steps” by Amber Davis

“All Hail the Saint of Coffee Brewers” by Dave West

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story during a full moon night.

Make your protagonist go through a rite of passage.

Make a character perform a ceremony to set something or someone free.

Write about a character who breaks free from a tradition to create a new one.

Contest #205

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

307

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: