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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who gets good and bad news in quick succession — not necessarily in that order.

Posted in Angst on Oct 31, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 46 stories

“Appearances of Bad and Good” by Debra Koffski

Submitted to Contest #155

I hate when you’re almost asleep, your phone is plugged up away from your body, and then it rings. You think to yourself, do I really want to turn over, after I just got comfortable, to answer my phone at 11 o’clock at night. It’s probably a wrong number. But then you think, maybe it’s a friend who needs you, or your mom. By the time you think all these thoughts you’re wide awake, and you turn over to answer, and they hang up. It’s utterly frustrating!! So, I look at my caller ID, and it was my mom. Oh no, she never calls this late at night....

4 comments 4
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“THE SUMMONS” by R. J. Garron

Submitted to Contest #155

   The doors opened on a cold whim. No sound, no protest. Everything fell into the silent ambience of the alabaster lighting encapsulating every corner of the Civilian and Culture Building. The door slid shut behind without notice. In plain view was the conduct coordinator, a lump of a post-modern human more akin to a walking thumb, sitting at the circular desk in the middle of the room, a product of middle management handling the valuable contributions and disciplines of its employees. There was no na...

2 comments 2
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“A Fading Touch” by Gregory Wright

Submitted to Contest #155

Under the nurse’s guidance, Marty walked into the cold exam room and shuffled over to the examining table. Awkwardly pulling up on the legs of his jeans to get comfortable, he pulled out his shirt tails to give him more room, his feet dangling in the air like a school boy’s. He sat quietly with his hands folded in his lap while the nurse, after reassuring him the doctor would be in soon, closed the door, leaving him there alone. This was the consult he feared. The one after all the tests and questions and probing. The one he was dreading ove...

2 comments 2
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“Timing is Everything” by Amy Ingram

Submitted to Contest #155

PatsyThe morning after the office mid-winter Christmas party, sober again, I faced the reality of what I’d done. I didn’t mean to push Jeffrey into the harbour. Not consciously, anyway. He shouldn’t have been standing so close to the edge, the state he was in, but something on the water had got his attention and he was concentrating so hard on it that he wouldn’t have seen me roll my ankle and fall towards him. He’d had as much to drink at Dockside as anyone in the group and was none too steady on his feet as we headed, in twos and threes, a...

2 comments 2
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“A Cookie for You” by Rhonda Allen

Submitted to Contest #155

For the past 5 years, I have lived in a cul de sac with wonderful neighbours. Everyone is so friendly, we often get together for BBQs, holidays or just coffee on the porch. Two weeks ago, I sent out invitations to everyone in the cul de sac for a cookie exchange and tonight was the night. I had received the RSVPs back, and it looked like everyone was going to come. My excitement about this evening, was not just about houseful of people expected, it was about one person, the one person I was really hoping would come or my plans would be ruine...

3 comments 3
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“It's All Good” by J L Jones

Submitted to Contest #155

As a young mother, there were days when I couldn’t wait for my girls to grow up. I couldn’t wait for cries to become words. For diapers to become underpants. For their constant dependence on me to become self-sufficiency. Funny that as time passes and all those things come to fruition, all a mother wants is to go back to the days when those trying early years are the only ones in front of us. My girls, Elisabeth and Hanna, are now 29 and 28, respectively. Both live within 30 minutes of me, and I am so grateful. Time with them now is as imp...

1 comment 1
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“from Jessica:” by Kenn Rho

Submitted to Contest #155

(TW: mentions of sexual violence, gun violence, and bullying) Betty sat, criss-cross applesauce, underneath the bleachers in the gym. She set down her lunch tray in front of her, taking occasional bites of today’s meal: biscuits and gravy. She thought that this was more of a breakfast food; then again, she also thought that Jared would be here by now. Disappointments happen all the time, she figured. Surely he didn’t forget. If he did, this wouldn’t be her first time spending the lunch period alone like this. Jared often forgot about th...

5 comments 5
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“AH, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #155

AH, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! He entered the bar out of breath, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his T-shirt rolled up on his stomach, half uncovered. He squinted, he was not in his own ( he was not in himself) for the impatience to start telling us…oh, wonders. “ Ah, you don’t know, but sure, you can’t know! It happened a few  minutes ago , as I was walking down the alley of the fools…and there was only me in the alley! Uh!” After that he , standing at the centre of the bar, wobble...

2 comments 2
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“Guess What” by Pinny Bugaeff

Submitted to Contest #155

“Guess What?”                                     You know the sound a shopping cart makes when one of its wheels is wonky? Wockata, wockata, wockata. Last year, my hoarder mother snagged one of those things from behind Walmart. Tiny as she was, she trundled that thing around like a ferret chasing a chicken. Our stinking house, next to the tired strip mall, w...

3 comments 3
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“Praxip's Second Escape from the Shadow Overlords” by Scott Dutkus

Submitted to Contest #155

Praxip stood stone faced, staring forward and not moving while the Shadow Overlords and their aristocratic friends towered over him and reveled in the Shadow Overlords’ victory (and Praxip’s defeat.) Three nights ago, Praxip tried to escape from his dictatorial, power-hungry rulers, only to be thwarted by the fact that he was apparently a ‘Garden Gnome’ and the Overlords magically fused his legs together. Praxip didn’t agree with the stone statue overlooking the cross-roads that he was doomed to serve the Shadow Overlords by stayin...

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“Letting Go” by Andrea Shaw

Submitted to Contest #155

No birthday should be spent in a hospital. Instead of a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday”, we are serenaded by a symphony of machines. Each beep is the sound of my son’s heart beat-rhythmic and strong.     We tried to celebrate as normal; decorating his room with colorful balloons, streamers, and even a party hat with a pom pom on top. Anything to keep our minds from the fear that plagued us since our arrival. Despite our efforts to bring life to his cold, sterile room, the decorations look frivolous and flimsy. I c...

4 comments 4
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“Mom, Do You Want to Hear the Bad or Good News First?” by Etya Krichmar

Submitted to Contest #155

Mom, do you want the good or bad news first? At work, my cell phone rang. I picked up the receiver. It was my son, Jeff, a Ringling School of Arts and Design college student. He was about to complete the third year of his studies.            "Hi, Mom. How are you?"            "I am fine, and you?"            "I have something to tell you. Do you want the good or bad news first?' ...

1 comment 1
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“Tell Me” by Roxanne Abner

Submitted to Contest #155

TW: manifestations of a mental health disorder and some description of physical violence You know what? I don’t know if I should tell you this or not. I, myself, am a bit distressed at the moment. Therefore, I could use a clear mind, a reasonable mind, a partial mind to judge the whole situation. Yes, what you see is correct, this is the corpse of Mother. Yes, I was the one who killed her, you can see the hammer clearly in my left hand and a blow on her right temple. Her body scattered on the floor. But let me explain how I got into the si...

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“The Confession” by Darlene Chaney

Submitted to Contest #155

  Grief: Illness/Death; Language       Maria Garcia sits at her mother's bedside anxiously watching her chest rise and fall. Maria’s eyes are drawn to a photograph taken just the year before.  Before cancer destroyed their lives and especially, her mother’s body. “Unbelievable,” she whispers to herself, comparing the healthy-looking woman with full, rosy cheeks in the photograph to the shriveled body lying in the bed; her face, pale, gaunt, resembling plaster of Paris. “Damn this shitty ...

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“Never Over” by Sheri Dusseault

Submitted to Contest #155

 An image was taking shape in the corner of the hospital room. Not so much a vision but a vague impression. A humanoid form but elusive as willow the wisp, shimmering a little but full of shadows. Muddy brown shadows mutated into a subtle sparkle, a glimmer. It was beyond beautiful and yet dreadful. Although it was noiseless, I could sense it wanting to speak to me. I heard it calling over the beeps and sighs of the machines breathing for me and monitoring my every vital sign. I knew what it was, of course. Had been expecting it. "...

2 comments 2
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Contest #155

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Ended on 23:59 - Jul 22, 2022 EST

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Title: Someone Has Died

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