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Start your story with someone being presented with a dilemma.

Posted in Character on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 150 stories

One Decision Too Late

Submitted to Contest #95

Introduction This chapter picks up two years "The First Circus" left off. from when Kat and Jaime were teenagers. Kat’s POV The Circus returned for the next two summers. That last year, I was fourteen, and Jaime was sixteen. The Circus was only in town for a couple of nights, it was such a short time, but I looked forward to it every year. Not because of the performances, I was getting bored with those, but because I got to spend time with Jaime. We were sitting on hay bales in the stable next to the jail, talking. The hay smelled swee...

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The Dilemma of Diminishing Dreams.

Submitted to Contest #95

“You move one step forward Joeline . You will suffer the consequences. Did you get me ? You will marry the guy I want you to marry.” Joeline’s father closed the door in anger. “ But dad I want to do something more, explore in life, and will he help me in doing it? I don’t want to marry right now.” Yelled Joeline, without paying heed to listen to Joe her dad left the room locking her up. Joe was crying inside her room and imagining, marrying a man she did not even know. How can dad do this to me? Now I have only two options either leave the h...

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Boy Trouble

Submitted to Contest #95

(This story is written for young adult or middle grade readers) “I should have such a problem!” Elaine fluffs the pillow behind her back and settles comfortably into its softness. “If only...” She looks over at Jess and sighs. It's a deep sigh, one of longing and desire. “You are so lucky, Jess. So why aren't you smiling? Or swooning? Or something!!” This last word is said with such intensity that the rest of the girls in the group nod their approval of it's emphasis and look to Jess. “It's not as much fun as you are making it out to be....

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The Contagion

Submitted to Contest #95

"It has to be done Commander," said the stern, hard-faced woman on the viewscreen, "I am sorry. Containment protocols must be observed," Commander Aaron McKenzie had tuned her out long ago. His ears rang. He felt ill. "Commander, do you understand?" "What?" His attention was drawn back to the viewscreen, "I'm, er, I mean, yes ma'am. Of course," "Good," the look on the woman's face was skeptical at best. The harsh lines around her eyes and mouth made her look like a corpse. Her cold indifference made him sick. The viewscreen did not show colo...

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Rosco

Submitted to Contest #95

‘’Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you, our finalist for tonight, Robert. Robert is about to make a lifetime decision. You can select to have ten million dollars, tax-free, or…give up Rosco to a wealthy family that will take care of him and leave to live with them in England,’’ announces the game show host, Damian. ‘’Can I visit him time to time, when I feel like it?’’ Robert looking very undecided. ‘’I am afraid not. You have passed all the levels of this game show. Now, you don’t need to play. You need to decide. Rosco or ten m...

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Made Unbreakable

Submitted to Contest #95

I blinked, I blinked! I’m sure that was all I did… how did I get here? God, my throat is sore, and it’s so dark. What is that rancid smell? Hot iron and rotting meat? I’m going to be sick. “Ah, you’re awake, welcome,” a man says from somewhere around me. Welcome? To where? Why can’t I move my… I’m tied up. How did I get tied up? I was in bed! “It’s perfectly normal to feel a little, out of sorts when you first wake up, my dear. Don’t worry,” why don’t I recognise this assholes voice? He sounds like he swallowed a jar of honey, and who is ...

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Who Wins?

Submitted to Contest #95

"Jerry, if we don't choose the right story to win we could be named the worst judges ever!" Jimmy groaned and kicked back on his chair. "I know, I know!" Jerry yelped. "I am here!" Edna announced dramatically as she entered the room. Edna was also a Judge. Edna was a tall woman with long hair. Edna loved to have a dramatic effect on everything. She was probably the most annoying Judge. "You are late." Jimmy huffed as he put down a story called 'My Dog Ate A Poo And Liked It' "Yes. But I brought donuts!" Edna sang with a smile. Edna sat at th...

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Should I Stay or Should I Go

Submitted to Contest #95

Should I stay of should I go. That is the dilemma I have been pondering for the past several days. After growing up in a military family, yes I am or was a military brat, I determined that when I left home I would find a place to settle and would stay. I had hated that we had moved so much while I was growing up. It kept me afraid of making friends as I knew that as soon as I became tight with someone dad would be transferred and we would be moving again. That was not a big problem during grade school but when I reached junior h...

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I Think I Can Do Better

Submitted to Contest #95

“It’s important to talk about. It’s important to speak. To express yourself. I understand your writings and your drawings, but now I want to hear from you. I want you to trust this space and open up. That is the way to healing. To process these things, to say them aloud to someone that is present and listening. You need to be present and willing. Understand, time is not necessarily a problem here. We have time for you to breathe, to collect your thoughts before you begin. But this is what will help. This is how you get out.”“…No.” “…Tak...

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The Final Shot

Submitted to Contest #95

My tired eyes were burning as sweat ran down my face. I felt my heart pumping loudly in my chest. My breath was shallow and harsh. My lungs hurt with every breath I took. The air was hot, and felt hostile, poisonous. I was overcome with fear, pure unadulterated fear. It was the kind of fear you felt when you knew your life was about to change for the worst. Few people knew this kind of fear, and I envied all who didn't. My hands were shaking and they felt foreign and clumsy as I clung to my camera. The scene before me felt unreal like a bad...

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This Time It's for Real

Submitted to Contest #95

THIS TIME IT’S FOR REAL They were together. Total peace, absolute calm, seconds drifting in a sea of silence. Now they would never be apart. Never, ever. A door banged shut somewhere else in the hospital, how had all this come about? Peter Sinclair was drunk, he knew that because Eileen, his companion for the evening, had told him so. She had also told him that he was in dreadful trouble, what on earth had he been thinking, getting into such a romantic embrace with his best friends wife. Actually he hadn’t been thinking of anything, he ...

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Oasis

Submitted to Contest #95

It was a choice, he could see that, but he didn’t want to make it. No matter which side he chose, there would be blood, and death and carnage. He just wanted to live a peaceful life, tend to his farm, maybe go fishing from time to time. He wanted to explore, rebuild, but this world had other plans for him.                He sighed as his cleaned his riffle and oiled it, loaded it the bullets and set it against the wall with the others. His arsenal was growing an...

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Was it?

Submitted to Contest #95

It's 11: 30. I am laying on the floor, looking at the line of ants marching 2 feet away from me. They look messy yet organized. stopping every second to hug the ant coming from the other side, passing information about their enemy. I've always been scared of them. Not like I scream and run away when I see them. but they always creep me. still,seeing hundreds of them in a line, minding their own business is better than seeing a single ant, wandering, on the floor, on your clothes, your food, your skin. I flinch at the thought. It’s like ...

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Number 1 Dilema

Submitted to Contest #95

Ever wake up in the morning and think, "Wow! What a beautiful day, everything that I ever had an issue with is completely gone and I feel normal and sane!" Yup. Me neither. Sometimes I think life is one big joke that someone is playing on us and we're trying to reach the punchline, but as we get closer, it evolves and mutates into a Tim and Eric sketch that makes you just slightly nauseous. The dilemma in question is always, what are you going to do with your life? Even then that spirals into a plethora of other questions that have been tain...

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Wash Day Love

Submitted to Contest #95

Wash Day Love by Pauline Whitchurch “You need to go. I’ll be fine! I am a college graduate you know!” he said with a big smile on his face.          She heard the words…but believing them was a whole different matter. You would think it would be a simple decision to make…YEAH! A road trip, let’s go, zippering your hastily packed suitcases as you threw them in the back of the car. Waving goodbye to those unlucky enough to be left behind. But Pauline is a true homemaker, t...

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