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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character doing something they’ve done hundreds of times — only this time, it’s taken on a new meaning.

Posted in Character on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 148 stories

“Marigolds at the End of the World” by Lisa Lacey

Submitted to Contest #101

Throughout her lifetime, Maggie had planted thousands of seeds that had grown into hundreds of gardens. During the early years of her marriage, she had planted them for her family to help put food on the table during the lean times. Years later when her daughters went off to college, one of them suggested she turn her green thumb into a small business. With her husband’s support, she quit her job at the local grocery store and began to sell her landscaping services. The business proved quite profitable and she found work planting flowers for...

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“Life” by Anushka Gaikwad

Submitted to Contest #101

It was 7:30 in the morning, and I heard someone singing “Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear''. I opened my eyes and it was my dad who came to wish me as it was my 20th birthday and like every year he came to wake me up singing happy birthday songs for me. Like every year, this year too I went to the temple together with my mom and dad. Then we went to shopping together then my dad dropped me at cafe cause we all friends were going to gather them for celebrating my birthday. I spent my all day with my friends we...

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“Malcolm, the crab catcher” by Veronica Owens

Submitted to Contest #101

MALCOLM, THE CRAB CATCHER There are not many events in a person's life that could be considered life changing, but whereas one minute in a person's life does not define him or her, that one minute can most definitely change your life. I challenge you to sit back, and relax, as I tell you the story of a man who was a professional crab catcher. The man's name was Malcolm. He hunted and caught land crabs for a simple, unassuming living, and made a pretty good living by all standards. From this simple, unassuming livelihood, Malcolm developed ...

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“Just Another Number?” by PNayer Two

Submitted to Contest #101

"I've done this a hundred times before, maybe even a thousand.", he thought as he mechanically went through his morning routine. Paying little attention to anything really and completely lost in thought. He cleaned himself up, ate breakfast, and drove himself to work.  "There it is," he sighed out loud at the site of the plain brown building, which slowly crept into view and rounded a curve in the road. Without being fully aware he parked his car and made his way inside. Going through his tasks, as he did any other day, he knew today ...

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“Darkest Corner” by Brandon Zarycki

Submitted to Contest #101

The Darkest Corner By: Brandon Zarycki “Mommy, Mommy!”  Her Mother came running into her little girl's bedroom in the middle of the night. “What’s wrong baby girl?” Her Mother asked as she quickly flicked on the bedroom light in one quick movement. Light filled the tiny, pink painted walls and for a second blinded both of their eyes until they adjusted to the sudden burst of light. “I saw a ghost.” The little girl cried as she sat straight up clutching her Frozen inspired blanket. “It was standing over there,” she said, pointing t...

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“Fickle Flowers” by Tiferet Simon

Submitted to Contest #101

It was cold the day Mum died. We were all expecting it, waiting for the blow to land; What with her cancer being beyond control of the doctors and specialists. I wore her cardigan to the hospital visit in hope she would remark on its ownership, tut me and warn me to not borrow her things without permission. She didn’t.  She didn't even notice. I don't think she could see much beneath her swollen eyelids. It took everything in me not to crumple right there and then- In a staring contest with the machinery hanging around Mum's bed like wa...

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“The Assassin Will Rue His Life” by Sanil Maheshwari

Submitted to Contest #101

It was a cloudy day with dark skies. It was serene but the silence made it ominous. In a corner of Los Angeles, blood smeared onto the ground. Armed men in black suits were randomly shooting around in a narrow alley. They couldn’t seem to figure out how four of their men just dropped dead. ‘Where was the perpetrator?’. There were five guards left, circling around one man, who was wearing a fancy suit and a lot of cologne, trying to protect him. He kept shouting at them, “What did I hire you for? Find him!”. He was panicking. Then suddenly on...

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“Pa$$WorD Support from Beyond” by Lizzy Loomis

Submitted to Contest #101

Violet pounded on the keys of her ancient desktop computer. She had the same password for the ten years she had her account. Violet changed a few things, added numbers, and capitalized odd letters, but it was the same. She slammed her pinky down on the enter key. The text box that popped up made her gasp. Your account is locked. Please enter the security key information. Jake had left a month ago. He understood how to fix these things. She fumbled with the desk drawer pushing papers and bins out of the way. The contents shifted, still n...

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“Something Old, Something New” by Colm Lawlor

Submitted to Contest #101

“Do you have everything?” “I think so.” I peer into the car, then mime the sign of the cross as I pat down my pockets, “Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch.” Mom grimaces, knowing as well as I do that I only have one of those things on me. After a moment, she says “Are you absolutely sure?” She speaks slowly, giving each word its own space to breathe. She is not just asking about my absent-mindedness. “I’m sure” I breathe through gritted teeth. Before she can give me another meaningful look, I open the door and get into the car, throw...

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“I've Never Done This Before” by Christine Hungerford

Submitted to Contest #101

My friends and I escaped through the creaky, eerily black iron gate towering above us in front of an ominous, foggy forest. Our crunching feet snapped the dry leaves as we were running back and forth so many times since early childhood. As Camille and the others all leaped over fallen logs and swung from low branches, I stopped and turned around. The place—scarily inappropriate for small children—didn’t make me shudder and run to my parents to comfort a scared me anymore.      I stood, all fear and hesitation vanishi...

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“Lucky Strikes” by Kai Dao

Submitted to Contest #101

  TW: alcoholism, substance abuse Spirytus Vodka   Lucky didn’t often drink. She drank only once a year for only one reason. The first few years after her sister’s death she drank alone. Her brothers and sister, they weren’t family. Not really. They were strangers, a group of orphans thrown together by chance. But not Lucky and her twin. They always had each other. They grew up together. She tipped the nearly empty glass around on its edges, eyes hooded as the weak pot lamp’s light bounces off the glass’s many angled facades. In ea...

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“Conversations” by Star Squid

Submitted to Contest #101

Prompt: Write about a character doing something they’ve done hundreds of times — only this time, it’s taken on a new meaning. “Hey, Lina.”  “Hi!” “How are you?”  “Good. And yourself?”  “Oh, I’m good. What have you been up to?”  “Nothing much, you?”  “Nothing.” “Cool. Okay. Bye.” The end of conversations usually make impressions, for me atleast. Then later in the day, my mind will slip away from reality before the transcript of my conversations weigh me down. Cool? Great way to end a conversation, huh. Usually it’s t...

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“It doesn't matter but matter suggests that...” by Ian Seruuma

Submitted to Contest #101

It was the 1926th time the old man had tried this calculation in anticipation for a big astrophysics breakthrough. His was a life of constant trial and failure but never did he at anyone point yield to the fate of being destructed, he too like old men had lived his life like the albatross, full of wondering and wandering, and he hated sleep. His inspiration was driven by a charming young man, Nixon, a teenager physics genius full of vigor to learn to unlearn. Professor SamuelBest Sentt lay down his head on the edge of his office desk and the...

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