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Write about a moment of defeat.

Posted in Angst on Jun 21, 2024

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✍️ 54 stories

Injury Time

Winner of Contest #256 🏆

Trigger warning: Domestic violence, emotional abuseThalia wipes down the pristine kitchen countertops, impatient for the game to start. She glances at the clock, then her eye catches the pile of bills on the table. The radio blares pre-match commentary filled with praise for the footballers. She turns down the volume so it won’t wake little Gabbi. She takes a seat at the kitchen table with a sigh. Another hard shift at the hospital is behind her, but it was always worth it in the end. Today, an elderly woman hugged her and gave her a pe...

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The Big Race

Submitted to Contest #256

The crowd went wild as I took off from the starting line in The Big Race. Through the cheering I heard Mom shouting “Run, Sammy, Run!”  I knew without looking that she was smiling from ear to ear and clapping her hands for me. She was probably jumping up and down also. I kept my eyes straight ahead running as fast as I could.  I quickly passed my best friend Tyrannosaurus Rex because, let’s face it, he wasn’t the fastest runner in the toy box. We trained together in the park, and I got a little bit faster every day, ...

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The Game

Submitted to Contest #256

You cry to me on the phone,Everything’s gone wrong.He’s hurt you,Broken up with you.And you still don’t understand why.You experience the worst painYou’ve ever felt,A stabbing knifeStraight to your still beating heart.No one will ever love you again.No one will ever be as good to youAs he was,But no longer is.What if you never find such aGreat love,Ever again.What then?How did this happen?It’s a mystery and nightmare,Wrapped in oneThrobbing ball of pain.You miss him.He was not only your true love,But alsoYour best friend.What are you going t...

20 likes 14 comments 14
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Kangaroo Court

Submitted to Contest #256

Skipper was on his second vodka soda when Jo hopped up to the bar. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said, “They had him tried and convicted before you even showed up.” It had been a miserable day for him in court. His client was found guilty on all counts, and Skipper had to promise him they’d do better on appeal knowing full well that was unlikely if not a downright lie. It was his forty-third loss in a row. He wanted to melt like the ice in his drink. When he was a wallaby, all Skipper dreamt about was being an attorney. He’d sit in his mother’...

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THE SILENT SURRENDER

Submitted to Contest #256

The woman awoke, her eyes darting open to impenetrable darkness, a black void that offered no solace or familiarity. Her breath came in short, panicked gasps as she tried to move, but a sharp, searing pain shot through her wrists and ankles, immobilizing her. She realized, with growing horror, that her hands and feet were bound with spiked wire. The cruel barbs bit deeply into her flesh, sending waves of agony through her body with even the slightest movement.Naked and sprawled on the cold, hard floor, she could feel every cut, every bruise,...

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The Race

Submitted to Contest #256

I sling my spikes over my right shoulder and shuffle to the starting line for the 200-yard dash. Not even thirty minutes before this, Coach had asked me to run the event. It was not one I'd ever run and was seriously anxious about it.Suuure, Mia has 'horrible cramps.' It was more like she had the Irish Flu. My best friend, Andi, tagged along with me, giving me words of encouragement and that strangely obligatory quick smack on the ass as we got to where the other girls were. My running mates were already stretching. The sky was growing darke...

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Down but not out

Submitted to Contest #256

All was dark and silent. Davey slowly opened his eyes; a fuzzy blue sky filled his vision. Where am I? The side of his head throbbed; his chin strap was cutting into his neck. Instinctually he reached up removing his helmet. As his vision became clearer, he glanced to the left, a wall of rocks and tree trunks by his side. To his right a motorbike front wheel, the suspension bent and the mounting bracket torn off. Past that, a few shattered pieces of fibreglass lay scattered. He stared blankly at the debris....

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In The Heat

Submitted to Contest #256

In the heat of battle you are transformed. There is so much less to the world and yet you become so much more. The flesh may be weak, but the spirit rises up to be counted when death stares it in the eye. Once you have tasted that exotic and intoxicating poison, the life you lead dies. There are vestiges of something that sometimes resembles a life, but all it really amounts to is awaiting the next adventure in the jaws of death. “I call it The Test,” I say before wiping the ale foam from my beard. “And I call it Hot Air,” Balur grins at me ...

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Elder Lion

Submitted to Contest #256

Perspiration lay thick over my brow, dripping and drooling on my burly body, succumbing to the damp despair as the seconds ticked by, tilting tirelessly to the rhythm of the night. Perceptive and intuitive, I observed my opponent, a lanky animal with quickness to match, dipping, peeking , and baiting with false openings. The universe uttered its lullaby, predetermined moves, strings strung on a straw doll, unfolding before my very eyes. I could see the blood vessels beneath his moon-kissed skin, read his brain as if it were naked, perceiving...

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The Interview Game

Submitted to Contest #256

Authenticity is for the rich. Be the chameleon I know you are. Yes, Vanessa told him. She could do that. It was how she’d made it through the first two stages. She remembered the advice from her foster brother, who regularly dealt with these situations, but from the other side. The side holding all the cards. She’d written down his other tips on a notecard taped to the side of her bedroom mirror. As she opened a new tube of Power Pink lipstick, she re-read each point. Know your keywords, say them over and over and overDon’t bl...

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One-Handed Catch

Submitted to Contest #256

What many don’t know about the nearly undefeated 2005 USC Trojans is that they had Jose Alvarez as a wide receiver on the team. His name has since been erased from history. Wikipedia articles don’t mention him, Youtube clips have censored him out, and ESPN no longer shows footage of the 2005 National Championship game.The government doesn’t want you to remember Jose Alvarez. But I do. I was his teammate, after all.Here is his story.“Alvarez, you’re up!” yelled wide receiver coach Lane Kiffin during tryouts before the season.Alvarez, a 5...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Don't Abuse Mercy

Submitted to Contest #256

Fiddling with the ring on my pointer finger, I looked at Darcy across from me. There was nothing concrete to warrant our meeting here, if you asked me again, I’d tell you that it was spontaneous. This pastiche mockery of a friendship is enough for us to meet on occasion and why we are still connected at all. “How is she?” I spoke first. Apart from our hellos and him mentioning his switch from cappuccinos to straight black coffee, we’ve let the strangers make all the noise. “More of the same. Doctors are hoping she dies soon so the ...

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Strangers

Submitted to Contest #256

Nora was never much of a musician. In fact, in eighth grade she’d received a D in music – partly due to her lack of talent, and partly due to her incessant talking. You have a lot of potential, all her teachers would say, and she wore it like a badge.But I suppose that isn’t relevant, so where were we? Nora was never much of a musician, so it was a peculiarity, albeit an endearing one, to find her onstage at an open mic night. She hadn’t anticipated the crowd, and amongst them her muse glistening like a pearl, lifting a bottle to his lips. W...

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The Duel

Submitted to Contest #256

Outside Campbell Creek, New Mexico, 1880 “All right, on the count of three. One... Two... THREE!” Stevie yelled. Two pistol cracks split the hot air, one a half second before the other. The can Billy was aiming at flipped into the air while the one Stevie was aiming at didn’t move—there was only a spray of sand behind it. “Shit,” Stevie said while a wide, goofy grin spread across Billy’s face. “Billy, Hell, I think you just might be the fastest gun in the West.” Billy held the barrel of the Colt up to his mouth and blew across the barrel bef...

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A Lifetime of Victories Ahead

Submitted to Contest #256

 March 14th 1945 Pvt. Daniel Brody. 9th Division Infantry.Nurse Cora says I should write about what happened. She thinks it might help me get over the emotional trauma, or at least help me cope, and deal with the nightmares that continue to haunt me. It has been six months, and still it continues to remain vivid in my memory, sometimes I feel like it's happening all over again, and I cannot be rid of the torment, or the guilt. In my sleep, I see the faces of my comrades looking at me in shame and distress. I would much rather face defea...

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