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Write a story about a character experiencing anxiety.

Posted in Character on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 83 stories

The Dead at My Door

Submitted to Contest #20

They were still following us. We hadn’t managed to lose them, despite our best efforts. I could hear their frenzied footfalls and their growls filling the wintry night air, just behind us. How close were they, I wondered? One step? Two? If one of us stumbled as we ran up the path, would they be upon us before we hit the ground? Would they catch us even if we didn’t? Were we one or two seconds away from being tackled to the ground and devoured, our pained screams straining into the night?As we sprinted, full pelt, the questions swirled around...

20 likes 7 comments 7
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Ready

Submitted to Contest #20

Jaime couldn’t stop pacing. The waiting room was too small. Should it be taking this long? Something was going wrong. Something was going terribly wrong. “Nothing is wrong.” His husband, Eric, hadn’t moved from his chair, one leg up as if this was normal, as if they were at home and he was about to do a crossword. “Calm down.” “Something is definitely wrong,” he insisted. “It’s been hours.” “That’s normal,” Eric insisted. “Look, Julie knows what she’s doing. This is her fourth kid. It’ll be okay.” “But can’t births be hard on aging mothers?...

19 likes 2 comments 2
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Alone

Submitted to Contest #20

Jackson Williams sat in English just like he did every Wednesday. Literally. He was just sitting. He wasn’t actually there. Not mentally, at least. He was typically more attentive than his fellow classmates because he enjoyed learning the finer points of the English language. He often pictured himself as a mechanic, the classroom as his garage, and the assignments he got as vehicles and machines that needed fine-tuning. He’d pull out his grammatical toolbox and tweak and turn until each sentence hummed with precision and promise. And he did ...

16 likes 9 comments 9
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24/7 Anxiety Around the Clock

Submitted to Contest #20

“Deeeeep breaths sweetie.” Damon gives my shoulders a squeeze, and hands me my lunch. “Turkey and cheddar on whole wheat toast. With a little mayo smiley face in the middle.” He smiles his cheesiest grin and I roll my eyes as I take the brown paper bag“Alas, the bread will have smushed it.” I retort sarcastically. “You’ll just have to wear the smile instead, then.” He kisses me gently on the forehead, as I pick up my bag of supplies and my purse, and head for the door.“Are Brian and Britt still asleep?” I ask. “I haven’t seen them all mornin...

15 likes 4 comments 4
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That 'Good' True Love

Submitted to Contest #20

Love will make you do crazy things, the craziest things. And if you have never had true love before, it can be scary when you finally have it. I did not want to worry about our love; I did not want to panic about losing her, but the thoughts of her leaving me just kept entering my head, making me scared. I panicked. I did the only thing I could think to do to keep our love going. Well, to be honest, we did not have a love at first. It was just me fantasizing about her. I remember how we met. I worked at a company called The Service Cent...

13 likes 0 comments 0
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Knots

Submitted to Contest #20

He is good with knots. Not tying words together, not putting them so they make sense, not connecting people, nothing figurative or important. But he’s good at knots and string. He makes loops, pulls string through, tightens. Words come thick and fouled like retching molasses.She is looking at him again, tapping her fingers. He knows she is going to call his name.He makes another loop, grasps the string, feeds the end through, pulls it, tightens.When he was young, he was the first to learn how to tie his shoes. He wou...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Reunion Anxiety

Submitted to Contest #20

“What are you doing here?”“Hi, Mom! It’s been a while…”“Well, you’re here now. Come in. You’re letting out all the dust.”Maybelle stepped aside and opened the door for Tom to enter. She offered her cheek for him to kiss. The house had the smell of home. ‘Only here,’ Tom thought. ‘It never changes.’ His childhood unfolded before him.“Staying for dinner? Might as well.” They went into the kitchen. She called out, “Al, look what the cat dragged in.”“You have a cat?”“Figment of speech. No cat.”Al entered. “Hi, Tom. You drinkin’?”“I’ll have whate...

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Cobwebs

Submitted to Contest #20

                      Number 43. I’d finally found it. A weather beaten brown door. A cheerful duck egg blue terraced house. I knocked on the outskirts of the knocker, fashioned as a cool iron hand. It felt rude to put it to use somehow without shaking it first. Once I got ideas like that in my head, they were difficult to dislodge.I could hear a soap opera being turned down, then slow considered footsteps approaching. The door creak...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Finding Hope

Submitted to Contest #20

Finding HopeLory was a perfectly healthy young woman of 25 years old. She enjoyed walking in the park with her cat, she loved to see the sun rising and never missed a sunset because she said: “every sunset is unique”. And she was right.Lory lived alone in her apartment. The complex consisted of six apartments and she lived on the second floor. Her apartment was beautiful, nicely decorated with a big gray comfy couch in the middle of the living room. Sometimes she fell asleep on her couch and spent the most wonderful nights of her life. Her c...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Waiting for Dinner

Submitted to Contest #20

“ . . . can you play me a memory? I’m not really sure how it goes, but it’s sad and it’s sweet, and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes” [Billy Joel]   Regarding Sue, his mindless sister-in-law, Jim decided to confront her later.              Of course, when she visited again.               What else could he do?             &...

8 likes 5 comments 5
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A Gory Story

Submitted to Contest #20

My whole body had gone numb with fear. It was impossible to focus. I sat there, shivering in my suit, damp with sweat. I looked down at the little box I was confined in, then up to the judge’s menacing glare, and finally back over to the prosecutor.“...Can you identify that man in the courtroom today?”As hard as I tried… I couldn’t.I remember wishing this whole thing was over so I could go back home, where it was safe. “Mr. Wheeler?” I could feel my heart beat faster and faster with every passing moment. I wheezed and strained my lungs....

6 likes 2 comments 2
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The Aliens Inside of Me Talk.

Submitted to Contest #20

This is fiction. This is fact. I’d hide from it if I could or should but that wouldn’t be wise, nor lead to a cure, at the very least my demise. I cannot believe that it was just an act – who played me and who played them, my friends? Where do I live? That’s a trick thought, I’m certain. I stay in the ward on many an occasion, in a hospital close by. They worry though they don’t say much, but I can see the fear in their eyes. I cannot but stop and swear, and I see visions everywhere. Whenever I open my mouth, it all comes out strange. It’s ...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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Fighter

Submitted to Contest #20

Her hand twitched nervously towards the phone as it rung over and over; Jane’s heart pounded furiously against her ribcage. Her palms became clammy, ‘Please hang up, please hang up…I can’t do this!” thought Jane nervously as she rocked back and forth on the couch. She stared at the phone as the caller waited for her to pick up, however, she didn’t recognize the number. Jane felt helpless, trapped and fearful. Who could be calling her? It couldn’t possibly be him…could it?           Final...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Stressed Finnley is not best Finnley

Submitted to Contest #20

Finnley poked his head of the red velvet curtain and was greeted with a sight that horrified him. There was hundreds of people, looking as though they were prepared to eat him alive with sharp, malicious teeth. He felt his heart start to race. Knees weak, his palms were sweaty. He tried to catch his breath but he couldn’t. Was he dying? He couldn’t be dying; he’s been really healthy lately. But there was that cold lately. He felt his throat become scratchy and dry. He coughed. And coughed. And coughed. Yep, he was dying. He can’t perform, he...

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Duck

Submitted to Contest #20

Someone decided to replace the klaxon with music.I wish I could meet that asshole and shake him by the throat. I used to love music, but now it makes my skin crawl. The sound of blaring horns and ringing bells should warn us, not the sweet harmony of a string quartet. But that’s just how it is these days. You wake up, the neighbours are scattered in bloody pieces over your nicely mown lawn, and some ratbag is playing Mozart on the radio.It must have been eight generations back when the sirens were loud. Back then, the sound was telling you t...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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