Adam Applebaum

“Quitting Time” by Adam Applebaum

Submitted to Contest #109

"I can't do this anymore. I worked too hard and gave too many years of my life to continue in a place where I am miserable every day of the year." Those were the words I bellowed as I handed in my resignation letter. Fortunately, I'd saved up just enough money to leave for better things, but my savings won't last forever. I have to be strategic about finding a better place to exist. My name is Thomas, and today is the day I hit the road and find my way in life. Many States are offering attractive packages for the correct industries to move i...

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“Red Lies” by Adam Applebaum

Submitted to Contest #107

Honesty is the best policy, right? Then why don’t males tell a female when a dress looks fat on her? You don’t upset her. What’s the harm in encouraging a little positive self-image? My name is Frank, and I’m here to tell you how a little white lie can seemingly overnight spiral entirely out of control. It all began on a Friday night. It was karaoke night at the local tavern. I was out with a friend, her name was Kira. We sang songs and had our drinks, but sadly she couldn’t hold a note to save her life. ...

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“Cynically Romantic” by Adam Applebaum

CW: child abuseCynically RomanticThis world is a beautiful place full of wonder as far as the eye can see. The children go about their play amid the summer sun without worrying about the world or even skin cancer. Ah, such youth I enjoyed too once upon a time, not that anyone would believe it now. Now that I'm an adult, I consciously downplay the beauty in everything."Man-up," they said, "only a female or a baby let their true emotions show."It is a tough habit to break even though I've come to understand that it is becoming outdated. Hard t...

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“Triality War” by Adam Applebaum

Submitted to Contest #105

Good, Evil, and Neutral are all very different alignments of morality. I never perfectly identified with any of them. I am neither the type of person to go out of my way to be mean to people nor am I one to let people walk all over me either. I think in a way Neko feels similarly, but Isaac unfortunately is too young to understand such Nuance. Before I get too ahead of myself, I suppose an Introduction is in order. You can call me Adam the Forsaken. I am a two-tailed cat boy who found a book of death and inadvertently played a part in starti...

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“Fun and Games” by Adam Applebaum

Submitted to Contest #104

“Are you coming tonight?” was the message I got from my well-intentioned but oblivious friend, Lauren. Sometimes I wonder why I hang around her or what she sees in a guy like me. We made it clear we have no feelings for each other. She likes sports, but I don’t particularly care about them. Tell me the score if you must, but being the only one in my family born in this state leaves me wondering about my loyalties when it comes to such shallow things. “Maybe.” That was my response. “Aww, c’mon Noah, it’ll be fun!” “Fun for who, Laure...

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“Hopeful to Cynical” by Adam Applebaum

Submitted to Contest #102

I'm just a regular person working a pair of jobs that don't quite allow one to live without others paying a share of expenses though I live as if separate from them. I am not antisocial; quite contrary, getting me to shut up has always been the challenge once I get yammering. It wasn't always like this, though, hard as it is to see now, I once had a thing called "hope." For purposes of ascribing a name to me, most call me "Adam." I am 31 years old, and boy, was it ever an interesting three decades or so. The first memory I can recall but whe...

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“Grim Return” by Adam Applebaum

Submitted to Contest #101

Everyone has traditions. Sometimes it is family trips to a favorite venue other times, it is at-home rituals that they’d feel wrong if they missed the chance. For me, it is traveling to a place called Covina and then returning from whence I came. As far as introductions go, you may refer to me as Adam, which means the first man in Hebrew or something to that effect. There isn’t much to tell of how I came to be, but rather the return pattern. The place seems insignificant to anyone else, yet so much more for me. As I hear the click-clack...

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