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Write a story about a stranger coming to town and shaking up the order of things.

Posted in Character on Jun 23, 2023

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✍️ 56 stories

When East Met West

Submitted to Contest #204

Molly “Their behind us Molly!” Jamie yelled.       I felt his cold cheek on my sternum and turned his head forward.       “I know!” I said sternly, sounding like my mother.       I flicked the reins one more time just to make sure the stallion was giving it everything he had. I had just glanced up at the north star when I risked a look back. Jamie was right, behind us was a gathering of six lanterns. Called them all did ya? I thought. Sur...

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Murder, She Said

Submitted to Contest #204

An ache rides up my tailbone with my thighs yearning to be rid of this horse. Not that Sally isn’t a good mare, but riding for hours on end is like a corset for the whole body. “Ahh, see there, Miss Jones?” Austin points to the town filled with horses, cowboys, and the same dust that had powdered my black gloves on our journey. “I see, Mr. Wilder. I do hope you’re ready for another rude welcome,” I say with a mischievous grin. He tilts his hat at me. “Yes, ma’am.” We reach the posts as I gratefully hop down from my horse and pat the ...

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The Half Breed

Submitted to Contest #204

The Half BreedShe was tall and moved in such a way that those watching her approach understood she was to not be meddled with. Part Cherokee Indian and part Mexican, she walked with catlike assuredness. Our small outpost of Graham’s Gulch was not a place that attracted many outsiders since the gold seam was mined out a dozen or so years ago. Strangers, especially lone young females, were greeted with a mixture of fear and curiosity. Fear held the upper hand as curiosity could lead one to a freshly dug plot in Boot Hill on the edge of town. B...

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Golden Girl

Submitted to Contest #204

Every day is the same in this town. The sun comes up, people go to work or school, and some just sit around smoking packs all day. Always seeing the same faces, the same run-down buildings, and the same view of rocks and country going on for miles and miles. The dull browns and reds of my desert home make it all the more mundane. My family has lived on this reservation, of what is now southern Utah, for generations now. My grandfather started his own horse ranch so our poverty-stricken community would have a place to keep their beloved anima...

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Ride On Through...

Submitted to Contest #204

Old Town hadn’t seen change for as long as it could remember and it didn’t know what change looked like, not until he came along that was. Some places fall into a way of things. A rhythm that feels a lot like the gentle beating of a heart. The residents of Old Town were in synch, their hearts beat as one. Everything had its place and there was a place for everything that was necessary for Old Town to circle around and keep doing its thing. That’s not to say that people didn’t come and go, because they certainly did. Those people were alw...

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The Stranger

Submitted to Contest #204

The Stranger As the scorching sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows over the dusty streets of Thornwood, a hushed silence fell upon the old western town. The arrival of a mysterious stranger, bathed in an air of enigma, set the restless inhabitants abuzz with curiosity and apprehension. He rode into town astride a powerful black stallion, its hooves pounding against the worn cobblestones, as if announcing the stranger's presence with every thunderous beat. The townsfolk, their gazes fixated on the imposing figure, couldn't h...

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A Desert Daisy

Submitted to Contest #204

This story involves the mention of suicide, violence, and alcohol-use. Plum-colored clouds struggled for the dominance of the sky, fire-red and orange and yellow roiling against the impending darkness as the stranger came to Riverbend. With her came a horde of tumbleweeds, dusty wind flowing into the town’s single street on waves of smoke and charred flesh. Each of Riverbend’s occupants, those pilgrims of the West so brazen as to remain in a dying village when all others had left, stopped and watched the strange woman as she glided i...

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Starla Bulette Has Arrived

Submitted to Contest #204

The pale yellow envelope of the unopened telegram contrasted the cherry wood side table it laid atop. Starla assumed it was one of her politicians forewarning their arrival and procuring his favorite girl for the week he’d be in town. She tried to recall the excitement a telegram used to incite as she walked past and out the door.           Starla Bulette had arrived. She had tracked down a wagon train headed West, negotiated her transportation, and made her way across the miles of uncla...

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Death's Gift

Submitted to Contest #204

(contains mentions of suicide and murder) My day started out normal enough. My town is small, boring, and lacking in entertainment. Most of its inhabitants even more so, but it was a fair way to live life. No one starved and we survived, and in some towns you couldn’t even have that. But then one day, I saw a new house among the few we had. It was tall and the wood was black, looking almost rotten. The grass was withered and no flowers grew on the lawn. You could hear the house creak and groan as if it were about to collapse, and take o...

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A Dish To Die For

Submitted to Contest #204

The woman stood assertively at the entrance of the bustling kitchen, her sharp, piercing eyes commanding attention as they scanned the room with an intense glare. The furrowed lines on her forehead deepened, accentuating the scowl etched on her face. “Attention!”  Her commanding voice cut through the cacophony of noise in the kitchen, rising above the clattering pans and sizzling stovetops. With unwavering authority, she projected her words to be heard by all, asserting her presence in the chaotic culinary realm. The room fell into a ...

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Mirrors & Reflections

Submitted to Contest #204

"eh, Lass?" Prodded the dwarf. As Willaims discarded the unconscious drifter on a nearby cot. The bunker had been transformed from an empty storage room to a makeshift infirmary. The village survivors all huddled together within that sanctuary. When Willaims didn't respond and showed no intention of stopping, The old dwarf angrily waved the girl off with a disgruntled "Bah!.." Williams, feeling like she just needed to 'go'. An indescribable urge to just walk away. She did just that. She didn't know where she would go, nor did...

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The Invitation

Submitted to Contest #204

THE INVITATION     He had ridden this trail many times, but he couldn't remember the name of the little town the cowboy had told him was near here.     It must be another one of those damn gold rush towns," he thought. “They have cropped up all over creation since 1850. Calefornee is full of ‘em, and I bet this here one is jest another one that’ll probably go ‘bout as quick as it come.     This damn road ain’t much more than a rut for the last ten miles er so. It’s mostly a d...

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Prosperity

Submitted to Contest #204

This story contains violent imagery and some explicit language. I never expected to be sheriff of Prosperity. In fact, I had always been under the impression that killin’ a man put you on the opposite side of the law. I guess I was in the right place at the right time. But when Delilah came bustin’ through my door, her chest heaving heavy and an ill wind at her back, the scar on my forearm started to throb. “Sheriff! A strange man just walked into town!” She said, her eyes wide and panicked.  “Strange how Delilah?”  “He’s…...

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Prokop Comes Home

Submitted to Contest #204

“So, is this everyone?” Prokop inquired, wiggling her nightstick. The people arrayed in the snow choked square pretended to search further, their breaths piping into the devouring white sky above. They began gesturing, visibly wondering, counting, when a man began to shake his head vigorously.  “Where?” She stalked toward the man as he began to clutch his head and chant.  “On the north flank of the livery, there be the Brechts. Do not harm them. Do not harm them.” She’d already begun in that direction, snapping at two of her me...

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George West

Submitted to Contest #204

GEORGE WEST It’s not uncommon for a town to be named after its founder or a person of great influence, such is the case of the city in Live Oak County named George West. History tells us that George and Kitty West came from a small town in Tennessee in 1913 and became cattle ranchers of seventy – five thousand acres. Because of their wealth of land and ranching enterprises, they began to colonize, offering other landowners and ranchers the opportunity to grow, build and contribute to the city, while keeping the majority for themselves and ...

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