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Write a story about someone who decides to confront their fears head-on.

Posted in Character on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 35 stories

World Got Smaller

Winner of Contest #5 🏆

“And now Ben’s coming to the wedding with—I don’t know, some girl from Facebook, and I’m going to look like an idiot going alone. Because I am an idiot. Because I’m the one who dumped him. Christ, I’m an idiot.” Charlie groans and falls over onto the bed.  “Oh, it’s not that bad,” Scarlett says, opening the curtains. They take a seat on Charlie’s wire-strewn desk.  “It is that bad,” Charlie insists. “No. You don’t get it. If I ditch now, it’ll look like I’m a pathetic gay idiot. If I go, I look like even more of a pathetic gay idio...

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HH-SGF-CM

Submitted to Contest #5

Tabitha slid one finger and opened an eye to see through her hands, covering her eyes. Mom sat in front of her assuring her that Dad did not turn into a monster.“Yes, he did,” Tabitha argued. “When I went to bed on Christmas Eve, he was fine. But this morning Dad is missing, and a monster is trying to look like him. Except the monster has bumps, and red eyes, and yells, and tried to swallow me whole.”“Tabitha, he did not try to swallow you whole. You were running through the house, and your dad picked you up, lifted you above his head and ov...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Going up in the World

Submitted to Contest #5

GOING UP IN THE WORLDMargaret was claustrophobic. She admitted to it, but always said things along the lines of “it’s fairly low-grade” or “it doesn’t affect my life”. It was absolutely fine to admit that she would rather sleep on a park bench than live in a basement flat, as in the first place it was hypothetical (or at least, for the foreseeable future!) and in the second place many would agree with her, and there would be empathetic nods. And a lot of people didn’t like tunnels, though they didn’t, perhaps, go quite to the ...

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I WILL NOT FEAR

Submitted to Contest #5

“Get in the harness,” he says. Ten of us were on the three-foot platforms hanging on every word. “Step in, loop the straps around your thighs. Ladies, adjust the braces so they won’t crush your breasts when the chute snaps open. Men, reach in and adjust your privates so the straps don’t crush the boys when the chute snaps the straps harshly around your thighs.” How the hell did we, I mean I, get here? Why am I taking this class? Oh, I know why. Just so my thrill seeker girlfriend doesn’t know how much of a wimp I am. I remember challenging S...

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FACING HER FEAR

Submitted to Contest #5

"Sarah! Wake up!" she could hear her mom's distant voice but her body failed to respond."Sarah!" her mom shouted, shaking her shoulders with extreme force. Sarah's eyes flew open and she stared at the ceiling, beads of sweat trickled down her face. Her mom sat there beside her, quiet as a church mouse. Sally, Sarah's mom, stood up and left the room giving her sixteen year old daughter space.Sarah sat up on her bed and looked around her room. Everything was still the same, the dirty blue curtains, the old wooden dresser, the white paint and a...

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The Morrison's

Submitted to Contest #5

My name is Richard Morrison and I was born on Sunday, August 5, 1934 to my proud parents Arnold and Martha Morrison in Paterson, New Jersey. Being my parents’ only child afforded me many opportunities to learn different things in life. Since I enjoyed working with my hands, I took to making different things out of wood and working on cars. I would tinker with just about anything I could find. In fact, that is how I met Emma.While I was attending East Side High, I took up shop class because it allowed me to continue to work on woods and metal...

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HAMMER MAN

Submitted to Contest #5

                  Milton couldn’t stop tapping a cigarette pack in his shirt pocket. His foot drummed an uneasy rhythm as he watched digital numbers on elevator display. Why’s this elevator so darn slow? It’s taking forever. Using his fingers, he worked a stranglehold of his shirt collar and tie free. Milton grimaced, feeling sweat soaking his shirt.           Looking back at a sign on his office do...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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KADDISH FOR THE TROGLODYTES

Submitted to Contest #5

KADDISH FOR THE TROGLODYTESBy Andrew Paul Grell“You must take the ‘A’ Train.” Sophia, as usual, made the practical suggestion. The group was occupying their customary real estate near the west end of Stiffy’s polished oak bar, enjoying the freedom of 1970s Upper West Side New York. Jacob prepared for other people trying to help him by punching in the code for a DUI—a Drinking Under the Influence; a very dry martini, eight parts gin and one part vermouth. Stiffy’s cousin poured the ingredients, gave it a ride on the paint-...

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FEAR.

Submitted to Contest #5

I walked down the corridor. I couldn’t see in front of me at all, but the door I’m walking towards is burned into my mind. I don’t have to know how many steps it takes to get there. My body knows already.I turn left and open the door. The room is dark, like it always is. I close the door behind me, knowing if someone heard me or saw me, I’d be taken away and humiliated in front of thousands of people. I press a syringe into my neck and drop it. A few moments pass and the ground shifts beneath me and turns into soft earth, tall yellow grass b...

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Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

Submitted to Contest #5

I will always love you. Never forget that. But I have to do this. No matter how many times Blanche read the letter, her eyes always came back to this one line. It was the line that haunted her dreams, causing her to wake in a cold sweat. She could almost hear James’ voice, speaking aloud as he wrote the words. It was how he wrote all his letters. She raised the crinkled white letter to her nose, inhaling the scent, and then brought it to her lips, brushing the paper against them. The slam of the front door brought her back to ...

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Fear is just a piece of paper!

Submitted to Contest #5

Jake, 8 years old, was a brave boy most of the time. He does not fear to dive in the deepest swimming pool. He never fears the heights of skyscrapers. Spiders were his best friends and he had no fear of cockroaches or math tests. Jake doesn’t fear the dark; on the other hand, he painted his room in the shades of black. He could face every adventure. So, Jake was a really very brave boy for his age. But there is one thing he afraid of!Only mom knew Jake’s fear. He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. He was adorable and mom-dad loved him...

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Childhood Memories

Submitted to Contest #5

The thing about childhood homes is that they are depressing. Some homes were worse than others. There was never a time in which Jade had ever enjoyed even thinking about going back to where she was born. It may have something to do with the neighbors who hated her or the school that taught her to trust nobody. But, as she stood in front of the two-story house, Jade knew that the reason she dreaded this day had nothing to do with the community around the home. It had all to do with that house.  It sat as a monument to all the things she...

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So, Be a Writer

Submitted to Contest #5

She was troubled. Worried even. She didn’t know whether she should or shouldn’t. She turned her head toward the clock. 10:10 PM. Late for her. She reached into the top desk drawer and took out her reading glasses and propped them on her nose. She’s going to do it. Whether she should or not. She thinks really, she is going to do it. Despite that feeling in the pit of her stomach. That sinking feeling that is always there, especially these days when absolutely nothing is certain. She got through that first paragraph. She didn’t even know what...

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WITHOUT YOU

Submitted to Contest #5

                     CHAPTER ONE                      LIMERENCE  IMPERFECT PERFECTION best qualified the love duo Drake and Diana. Love lived with them. They inhaled and exhaled love, ingested and digested it, slept and woke with it and saw it in each other’s eyes.  Fate crossed their paths on a day Diana left l...

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The Lost and the Found

T O

Submitted to Contest #5

Cal... It has been three years since the war. Three years since I lost my family. Three years since I lost all I had to live for. Aug. 2, 1999- I strolled down the wet, musty street, and looked over my shoulder as I heard the rumbling of what I thought was a car. But as I looked back, I realized it was not a car, but a heavy machine. A tank. It seemed to tower over everything in sight, seemingly a hundred feet tall. I stood there with my mouth gaping open, eyes wide, and a thought in my mind, why is the tank here? I didn’t know that day...

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