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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who has reinvented themselves, but realizes it's not always easy to outrun your past.

Posted in Character on Dec 29, 2023

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✍️ 62 stories

“George Buys a New Car, and Then...” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #231

George Buys A New Car, and Then…January 3, 2030George, a man in his early fifties, was in a car dealership staring totally enchanted by the new car he was just about to purchase. It was the newest incarnation of cars. It was a Ford Computermatic. His then current car was a Ford, but it had reached the end of its driving utility. George first checked out the readily visible unique features of this car. There were video cameras above each headlight, one on the back bumper and an antenna on top of the car, all of which would...

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“It's Not That Simple” by Moludan Moore

Submitted to Contest #231

“He spoke to me on New Years Day”, Jonah began. It was now the 18th of January. “I was in prayer, Isra, after we hung up, and I prayed and prayed, asked and asked that I may see His glory. We’d read Exodus 33 that week in church, and I kept thinking about Moses. I kept thinking that the whole point to life was to know God. To build as intimate a relationship with him as possible. I kept thinking about how perfect He must be, that someone like Moses, who knew Him so closely, could see at most His back. I kept thinking these things, and I pour...

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“Tet Offensive ” by Marco Damiano

Submitted to Contest #231

Col. George Olsen hadn’t changed much in the five years since Lou saw him last. Even sitting in a New York diner, his bearing gave him away to the observant as a career military man; the aviators he insisted on wearing certainly didn’t help matters. Luca Aragno took a wry look at his former commanding officer, then puffed on his cigarette and said: “You seem disappointed. Is it the hair?” Olsen grit his teeth, and behind his dark frames Luca could still see his eyes involuntarily glance at his long, black ponytail. It made a stark cont...

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“The Mailman” by Alex's Bermudez

Submitted to Contest #231

The Mailman …Watch the exact moment when the light breaks the darkness galloping over the south’s landscapes with its astonishing valleys, it’s mesmerizing. Driving in the middle of nowhere racing against the sunlight while invading like spreading waves from hill to hill, from leaf to leaf, from cloud to cloud, till it finally and as always wins. Blinking your eyes repeatedly while looking at your rearview tainted on some salvage orange, over your eyebrows, over your eyes, over your face…over your thoughts… ….The massive thunders break the s...

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“Deja Vu” by Shreeya Srivathsan

Submitted to Contest #231

Written By: Shreeya Srivathsan Context: Selena Rose, 37, is dating John Henderson, 40. She had previous husband, Derrick Jackson, and had two daughter. Jackie (14) and Mary (5). However, they all tragically died, which is what lead Selena to dating John to escape her past and led to her guilt. How did her past family die? It is not clearly stated in the story, but there are some clues that give it away, and it give itself away in the end. Do you think you can figure out how they died before the end?  A cold, shady rain hit the lands o...

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“Better Off Dead” by Megan Atkins

Submitted to Contest #231

Last YearIt was a new year. Outside my window, a group of children were engaged in a snowball fight. As I watched them, I imagined what I would say to him.I knew you, once. Now, it’s all business. Every communication starts with “hello” and never “hi.” Every word, chosen carefully, deliberately. Only a quick ask, signed with a “best,” and never a “love.” It happened so swiftly… “we” can never be “us” because “us” lives in the past now, the direction opposite from our path of travel.Even though you aren’t here, I will never be without you. “Y...

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“Winter in Malibu ” by Arvin Tavakkoli

Submitted to Contest #231

She walks on the cold sand of the Malibu beach in winter. She never gets tired, the soles of her feet press on the cold damp sand and she keeps walking. Later, with the tide, her footprints are washed away. Where are you going?  I have never fallen in love, but you have, many times. I don’t know why we are here now, walking up and down the Malibu beach in winter. I don’t really care much for the beach or the palm trees, but you do. “There’s something strange about palm trees,” you used to say, “they are captivating and eccentric.” We ...

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“Keystone Cop” by Phil Murray

Submitted to Contest #231

The shop bell tinkled. The ripped flyscreen door slammed shut. A besuited, professional woman in her mid-forties, hair pulled tightly back in a bun, scanned the ramshackle hut that masqueraded as the local store. ‘G’day Sunshine,’ the barefoot owner chuckled. This was not a friendly, country salutation from the local shopkeeper. No, this was an appellation from a distant, but not forgotten, past. Behind a well-worn counter stood a badly-worn body; emaciated, capped by a mass of grey whiskers and untamed, dreadlock hair. Speaking re...

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“heaven's postal service” by Aanya Rampuria

Submitted to Contest #231

cw: implied death, mental health, substance abuseThe drunkard, the angsty teen, the depiction of an angel thriving inside of a picture frame, the bratty child, the squeamish toddler, and the go-nowhere-generation very much adult (or so he justifies) 25-year-old, all sit at the rustic now worn-down mahogany dining table with very-imagined, pleasant silence...That, a damned fantasy; the only silence they’d ever receive is one of awkwardness, haughty glares, and bombastic side eyes. It hadn’t been all that bad, four, distant years ago. As of no...

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“A Very Adult Fairytale ” by Karen Arnold

Submitted to Contest #231

A Very Adult Fairytaleby HW Dylan. Nom d’plumeOnce upon a time there was a Jew, not a good Jew but a wealthy Jew. He lusted for power, wine, women, sin and song. He built ornate castles declaring himself king. He encouraged and awarded philanders with gold and silver. His domain became known as Sodom and Gomorrah. He angered God who heaved in temper destroying the kingdom with wrath and exiling the king.The king rode off with his women never looking back even at one wife that turned to salt. The journey caused fighting within the travelers. ...

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“Destiny's Call” by Grace Morning

Submitted to Contest #231

“Hey, Carla” a gravelly voice greets from behind. As she finishes swiping her card through the time clock, Carla turns toward the direction of her name and sees Vicki digging through the bag barely hanging onto her shoulder, her keys jangling wildly, as she stood in the middle of the hallway, blocking Carla’s path toward the elevator. “Shit, I do this every morning” she says as she coughs. “Can’t find your badge?” Carla asks. “Fuck no!  Even though it was right here when I tossed the damn bag in the car.” “You don’t think...

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“Baby Teeth” by Renata Jones

Submitted to Contest #231

TW: mental health and physical harm“As we expand into the Northwest division in Q3, we anticipate grabbing 15% of market share by…”Jeff’s looked attentive and nodded at the right times, but his consciousness walked down an alley he’d known as a boy, just enough porchlight to see the way forward. Crickets chirped. He looked up to the Milky Way and-“Jeff, what are your thoughts?”He blinked the stars away and monologued for a few minutes about why the expansion was a good idea. His boss’ frozen face slowly ratcheted into an expression of jubila...

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“Not a Drop” by Bennett Varga

Submitted to Contest #231

If someone asked you what the devil looked like, what would you say? A big, scary monster? Red horns and covered in flames? Or does he look like what you want him to look like? Money? A certain website late at night? Or . . . a bottle of beer? A bottle of beer . . . that was how the devil appeared to Richard Carter. Having been sober for 17 years, the fear of his past addiction returning had faded; it had ebbed so much, in fact, that when Richard's recently made friend, Zackary Smith, invited him and his wife to the club, he joyfully accept...

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“Working Class Dogs” by Jack Sutherland

Submitted to Contest #231

Sammy started to climb. The frame was only a metre tall but to him, it felt like a mile. He took his position by holding onto two plastic rocks and planting one of his feet on the other. At last, he left the red mulch beneath him. Across the back of his Transformers t-shirt, the sun licked his back. Its touch was hot and every time Sammy’s fingers grazed the metal sheet holding the green plastic rocks his fingers pulled back as fast as the chickens in the coop when he wanted to pick them up. Eventually, he wrapped his fingers around the yell...

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“The Golem’s Run” by Arthur An

Submitted to Contest #231

It was the furthest north they had ever been. Far from the Josefov Ghetto of Prague where a golem could receive the daily blessing from a rabbi  required to sustain the soundness of the materials and ethos which makes up his body. Sela, who had no such benediction for three days, started to notice the crumbling of his toes and cracking on his ears. “There.” Barzel pointed to a gloomy silhouette of a lowhung roof under which faint yellow reluctantly shone through the windows. She wrapped her hand around Sela’s thick fingers and led him...

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