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Write a story about a character forced to give up something important to stand up for what they believe in.

Posted in Character on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 26 stories

Protector

Submitted to Contest #137

Sir Morpheus’ eyes flutter, opening. “Again?” the knight asks. “Again,” the Lady of the Lake replies. Sir Morpheus has dark, swarthy features with thick, braided hair, high cheekbones, and bottomless black eyes. His strength, skills, and seeming immortality have made him the most feared and respected knight in the kingdom. With amber hair that cascades down her shoulders, shimmering green eyes, and an enticing figure, the Lady of the Lake is an enviable beauty. But she exists as a transparent apparition and is believed to be a witch. “H...

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The Virago

Submitted to Contest #137

Arecibo, Puerto Rico - 1869 Rafaela lay in her rickety cot watching a roach skitter along the stone floor of her cell. She drew her coarse prison-issue coverlet to her chin, unsure whether the chill she felt came from the brisk January wind that blew through the bars or the moans and sobs that reverberated throughout Arecibo Prison.  Two months had gone by since her capture and sentencing, the penalty of death for treason and sedition, for taking part in El Grito de Lares. Most of her compadres were raped and tortured with the worst t...

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Runaway pride

Submitted to Contest #137

I have no idea why my body rejected marriage.  I knew I felt a little apprehensive about saying yes when he sprung it on me on my birthday.  Like it was a gift to me that he would ask me to marry him on the day I was born.  I was really ticked off when he asked as well.  Because there was something in my eye and he put my hands down as I was brushing it out and held my face and asked me. I couldn’t even get a clear view of what he looked like when he asked this important question because there was pollen in my eye.  ...

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Vials

Submitted to Contest #137

Andy Sorkin tensed the marginal muscle that corded his arms.His physique was in the past, lost with the internecine of the war.Could do with a pump, he thought, turning around to admire his back.Artistry. That’s what his body was – used to be, he corrected.Every contour that ribbed his back, delineated with days of his life.                     Roids was a familiar word. Spoken by the insecure. But it was always complimentary the way he h...

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Abuela's Lesson

Submitted to Contest #137

“Do not be a pussy, Mason. Get your ass up that tree!” “I’m not sure we should be doing this, Eadrich.” “Oh yeah? Well 50 bucks a pop tells me we would be estupido not to do this. How else do you plan to make a whole year’s salary in a few months, boy?” “I know, it’s just…” “It is just your ass if you don’t get moving, NOW!” I wrap my climbing strap around the tree, stick in my shoe spike and start my ascent. I am a hell of a climber so I reach the nest quickly. Inside the hollow are three very small, naked and blind chicks sleepi...

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Eventful Days in the Condo Spa

Submitted to Contest #137

My wife and I had finally succumbed to the idea of spending a couple of the winter months in Florida as “refugees” from the ice and snow of the Midwest. We rented a unit at the Surf and Sail condominium complex in Longboat Key just north of Sarasota.On the first afternoon of our extended visit, I headed for the spa next to the swimming pool for a thirty-minute soak in the warm, bubbling water. My goal was to relax and wile away the time in the sun.Florida is called “God’s waiting room” for good reason. The spa’s daily visitors consisted of a...

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The Rainy Season

Submitted to Contest #137

From Andrea’s point of view, the most valuable thing in the world was empty space. She dreamed of space all to herself, of a vast field or wide open street, to run freely or do cartwheels or throw her arms out and spin and never worry that she would knock something or someone over. To Andrea, open space like that was all but unimaginable. Her home was a small island surrounded by warm, turquoise seas, and at some point it had probably been beautiful. But that time was long past. Today, almost all palm trees or tropical flowers had been sta...

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Home of Hurt

Submitted to Contest #137

Their love was a paradox. A fickle flame forced to life in the damp caves under the castle. Castor had worried, at first. That their flame had ignited because of the friction caused by their clashing persons. Or perhaps it was the situation they both found themselves in: neither accustomed to isolation and their only solution the tentative arms of one another. A love fostered from need, from a terrible greed for another beating heart; from that overwhelming fear of being utterly alone in a catacomb of silence with only their echoing footstep...

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Anything Else?

Submitted to Contest #137

Anything Else?            “It’s tough, Mom. My career hinges on getting 80% on the exam day after tomorrow.” Immediately regretting comparing exam results to doomsday, Rhondi continued. “But I’m sure I’ll do fine, and by the way, the kids are doing great; all three like their teachers this year.”            “Well, I don’t see how you’re doing this on your own. If I moved down there, I could...”    ...

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Why Can't We Soar

Submitted to Contest #137

When I was young, my wings were what gave me life. I’d run towards the horizon and push myself off the ground, soaring like a dove freed from its cage. I remember the sound of the wind rushing past and the feeling of the fresh air filling my lungs. I’d fly until home was just a speck in the distance, and my stomach rumbled with hunger.  As I flew, I’d sometimes hear shouts from down below. I thought they were shouts of joy, wonder, surprise. I’d look down upon them cheerfully, wave and shout back, then fly on. As I grew older, I s...

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The Measure of a Life

Submitted to Contest #137

Celia was crunching numbers, calculating the dose of an antibiotic for a tiny little patient of hers whose ear infection would just not go away. She did it twice because she knew she was distracted and didn’t want to make a mistake. Doing mundane things was so difficult these days– there were more consequential things going on in her mind. But not so for little Elise, whose ear pain was keeping her up at night, so Celia checked once more and ordered her treatment before leaving the nurse’s station. She stopped as she walked through the liv...

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