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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

“Jump” by Danh Chantachak

Submitted to Contest #101

I stand at the edge of the platform, looking down at the view below. It’s dark, still a few minutes before daybreak, so I can only make out rough shapes and outlines of cliffs and trees. The waterfall plummets down the cliff behind me, its thunderous chorus filling my ears with the sound of crashing water. It is a powerful and terrifying sound and though I have made this kind of jump many times before, the sheer, violent speed of the water rushing down the cliff is enough to give me pause. Just as I am about to lose my nerve, the sun peaks ...

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“Takeaway” by Kayley Dickins

Submitted to Contest #101

It had been about five days after they met that one of them had first stepped foot in the other's flat at the end of the day, ready to share dinner. He couldn’t remember exactly when it was or what had happened but he had always been bad at remembering first times, a weakness he hated. Always thought about it a year later and wished he had paid more attention, he had long since taken to writing down itineraries of holidays or important days so he didn’t need to store the memories in his head, they could just be prompted by reading about what...

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“A trip to that house.. Again!” by Greg H. Dumont

Submitted to Contest #101

She had done it a thousand times, a thousand for sure.she did it every time her parents were very busy at work, every time she missed her, every time at celebrations and festivals. She had always loved to go there and cried a lot of times too, to stay there for more time.Here was she sitting in the back seat of the car, her mother on driver's and father next to her mum, doing the same thing, going to her maternal grandparent's home once again."When will we reach there?" She asked her face gloomy and voice shaky with the tears she was holding...

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“Prep Work” by Susanne Perry

Submitted to Contest #101

It was 1975 and my sister was getting married. Everyone thought it was wonderful; I thought she’d lost her mind. She had the perfect life at college. I imagined parties until all hours and concerts. Classes, papers, sulky professors, exams, and incessant poverty didn’t factor into my vision of her life.     The wedding would be small, out of doors. I would serve as bridesmaid, my sister’s best friend as the maid of honor. My mother would make our dresses for the event; floor-length, empire waist, spaghetti straps. In...

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“The Genie and the Garbage Man” by Danielle Cole

Submitted to Contest #101

Drive to the next house, pick up the can, dump. Drive to the next house, pick up the can, dump. Drive to the next house..... Gary hated the repetition of his job. He hated ending his work day at 3 pm stinking like everything and anything the upper middle classes decided to throw out that day- funky smelling couches, leftover pizza, road kill, deceased family pets, and whatever else your wildest imagination could think of to throw out. Yeah, it was an easy job. Yeah, it was a decent paying job. But it just wasn't a very challenging or...

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“The Truth About My Sister” by Haw Alu

Submitted to Contest #101

I really did not think it would be any different, Anna coming to school with me that day. I’d always thought that everyone would understand her the way I always understood her, the way our best friend Katie always understood her. Everyone always wondered why my twin sister didn’t come to school with me, I just said she had some issues going on and everyone just acted as if they knew exactly what I was talking about. Yet when Anna finally turned up for her first day at my school why did they behave so differently than what I had expected? ...

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“When In Doubt” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #101

It started out, the questions about the monotonous repetition of doing everything, anything. Eating, working, even sleeping, same dreams, nothing changes, always the same. I found myself counting my actions. Winding up the electric chord or hose; one, two, three, thirty-three. I realized that was, is, one of the cautions attributed to insanity. It has to do, or so I remember, with allowing yourself to be lulled by repetition into a state of subservience to routine. The less one objects to repetition the easier it is ...

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“because you” by Dayzgone Bye

Submitted to Contest #101

I could see her. She was standing right beside me, her sea foam eyes blinking against tears that only seemed to call when happiness arrived, never sadness.   I smiled and nodded vaguely toward her. "Happy?" I – how would she have put it? – let go of the reins.   Finally.   She reached over, touching my hand. Her fingers began to play with my fingers and the scraping of her nails against my nails sort of soft and warm at the same time and the sound of her breathing against my chest hardly moving. I leaned forward, touching a si...

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“Enginestart_Test (A Neo Kosmo Story)” by Josh C

Submitted to Contest #101

Kyler typed in the command to the shuttle’s console and slumped back in the chair, expecting to hear the engines roar and reverberate around the colony ship’s hangar bay as they span up to 100% thrust capacity. He’d lost track of how many times he’d entered it in the last month in an endless series of diagnostics on the colony ship’s fleet of shuttles. Enginestart_test, enginestart_test, enginestart_test. It was important of course. When the shuttles did get called up to descend through the atmosphere of the vibrant blue and green planet b...

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“This Time Is Different” by Selena Cress

Submitted to Contest #101

This time is different. The hundreds of times I had gone with Aiyana it had been considered a result of our misbehavings. A punishment. But this time is different. It’s an adventure. It’s a new perspective. It’s a chance to save ourselves from a terrible fate.  ***** I follow Aiyana’s dark, chocolate-brown locks that shimmer from the water’s reflection. Her animal pelt dress glows in the dim moonlight like a lantern, trailing farther and farther away from me.  “Wait up, Aiyana!” I call, as I pause to gulp a breath of air. S...

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“To Take out the Trash” by Akshath Jaganmohan

Submitted to Contest #101

tw: domestic violence This story is about someone who, despite taking out the trash many times before, does so one morning with his heart rate high.  Chennai city is famous for so many things. Filter Coffee, cricket teams, asking ‘Can I?’ instead of ‘May I?’, beach-side romance, cinema fandom unity, the list is endless.  Negatively, of course, it is famous for its slums, roadside spittles, illiteracy, child labour, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But the entirety of the South Indian state of Tamilnadu, of which Chennai is the capi...

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“PRAYER -- OM SHANTI” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #101

Lalita was reciting her daily prayers. As it was nearing its ending, she concluded by reciting the Shanti Mantra, --- Let all people be in happiness, --- let all people lead a healthy life, --- let all people see the noble things only, --- Let all people experience that which is good for all, --- let no one suffer, --- Let peace prevail everywhere. Om Shanti Om Shanti Om Shanti. Then she prostrated on bare floor and showered a bunch of flowers on her favourite God Ganesha. She folded her hands and with closed eyes meditated for a few se...

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“The Day His World Stood Still” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #101

 The Day His World Stood Still Suzanne Marsh He stood stock still in front of the television; dear God what was happening? Tears began to trickle down his face. How could something so horrible be happening here in the United States? Will, was in the process of getting ready for his shift as an EMT, in San Diego County California. His twin brother Gil was there in New York City attached to the FDNY Tower Ladder One; he said a quick prayer that his brother would stay safe. He drove through rush hour traffic in Los Angeles; bumper to bumpe...

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“The heart of the matter” by Stephanie Desiderio

Submitted to Contest #101

“Today, I will break up with my boyfriend.” I said as I lost yet another staring contest with the ceiling. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. I looked at my phone and it’s 4:31 PM. It’s been an hour. Time is a funny thing, the way it forces me to get out of bed is amusing. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I went outside hoping to get warmth from the sun, even just a little bit. “Today, I will break up with my boyfriend.” I said as I went back inside, drank water and ate a banana. I made coffee and opened my computer, stared at ...

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“Taekwondo” by Hina Nauman

Submitted to Contest #101

I was quiet as I was quite impressed by his moves. He was a fair man making a fair game at a fair near my town. It was indeed a challenging fight. It was my first time watching a live fight while I lived in Jacobabad. . A small undeveloped town. But a master of Taekwondo martial arts lives here.  Today was his power show of skills in this fair. I eye on this master while sitting at a wall bar where as he was eating a bar of chocolate just before his big match.I was  following him for the last 2 months without his knowledge. And tod...

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