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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

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 62 stories

“My Transformational Resolution That Gave Me Life” by Ashi Olshan

Submitted to Contest #231

I had always taken for granted the fact that I had enormous wealth that would never dry up. I was born into it, lived with it all my life - for better and worse - and had no clue about what it might feel like to be poor. Nor did I worry about poverty becoming an issue that I'd ever have to deal with.I believed myself to be a generous man with my help and the 6,036 employees of our pharmaceutical company. I did not see myself as being bigoted on any level, other than the usual defensive poor vs. rich separation that great wealth naturally cre...

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“New Year, New Me” by S.d. Schwarz

Submitted to Contest #231

Day fourteen of sobriety. Cheers to the two week mark. The bartender with a shiny head and gray beard pours tequila in two small shot glasses rimmed with thick layers of crystalized salt. He aggressively jams a lime slice on the lip of each before pushing them over the gray marble counter to Elijah and his girlfriend, Lupita.  “Sure you’re not gonna take one?” Lupita asks, instantly grabbing her shot and bringing it to her tomato-red lips. “I think you need it more than anyone.” “Ay, chill Mami.” Elijah’s muddy brown eyes follow t...

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“Like I Have No Face” by Ian McKenna

Submitted to Contest #231

 I eat and that’s me. The cocktail shrimp tastes like wet sticks, and I swallow it. The crackers, tasteless, damned by salt, dry my mouth. Cold and dead things; I eat and that’s normal of me. I stand amongst lifelong friends I’ve seen just today. Murky faces I talk and act to like I adore them. Lapses in normality or common gestures I quickly blame on the vomit tasting Chardonnay. I play and convince others of myself. Therefore, this new self must surely be me. “You know what, Gary? You remind me of one of those gloomy, handsome hero...

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“Once Upon a Star” by C.N. Jung

Submitted to Contest #231

When Adam was twelve, he was a Little League star pitcher. At fourteen, he was accepted onto an All Stars team, playing with the best of the best.At sixteen, he was hit in the face by a ninety-mile-an-hour beaner.The doctors told him that there was bleeding in his brain. They looked him in the face and told him that if he didn’t take a break and if he didn’t stop playing, he could put himself in a coma.Adam didn’t listen, and the doctors were proven right. He played himself right into a three-month slumber.When he woke up, everything he love...

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“Margaret Fraizer - A Memoir in Progress” by Jerie Clowes

Submitted to Contest #231

Margaret Fraizer sat in the old weathered Adirondack chair on the beach in front of her cottage at the eastern end of Long Island. Bundled up against the frigid wind of mid-November blowing in off of Long Island Sound, she sat silently watching the sun setting in the western sky casting its purples and pinks and oranges across the sky. A smile crossed her lips when she heard the crunch of footsteps on the frozen sand approaching.  “Mags” a male voice called out. “Richard, you made it.” “Why do you insist on dragging these chairs so far ...

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“Remoras” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #231

(Contains violence and some swearing.)The pub has a hierarchy and those higher up are always served first, get the best booze, get the best food.At the very top of the pyramid is Tank – a hard name for a man as hard as nails. He has his own table in a corner. A stranger tried to sit at it once and gave Tank a bit of lip; they found him in the alley out back later, his guts holed like a colander. That’s Tank’s preferred weapon: the knife. He has a favourite one he calls ‘Lucille’, like BB King’s guitars. He uses it on his steaks, slicing thro...

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“Dead Coyotes” by Dan Mullen

Submitted to Contest #231

She twisted the top off a bottle of beer and placed it in front of a soft, ruddy-faced man. The bottle landed with a hollow clunk on the whiskey-stained bar. Gabi noticed the oversized Hawaiian shirt and thought the man looked out of place.  “Don’t think I’ve seen you before,” said Gabi, smiling warmly. In the year she had been tending bar she had become good at warm smiles. It helped with the tips even if it didn’t come naturally. When she wasn’t chasing her dream, Gabi had little to smile about. “My wife and I are meeting someone,” ...

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“A Quiet Winter” by Dwayne W

Submitted to Contest #231

Eran was standing on the roof of the tower that was his office building, listening to the saddest song he could think of as he prepared to walk off the edge. Komm Süsser Tod or Come Sweet Death, a song that he heard in an anime when he was a teen. He heard the door open under music behind him as he climbed onto the edge, followed by the sound of supplies dropping, like someone clearing the top of a desk in one swoop. He turned around to see a woman standing frozen, staring. He gave her a smirk and returned to his action. Eran had barely...

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“A New Dawn in Old Paths: The Transformation of Caleb” by David Owino

Submitted to Contest #231

In the rolling hills of a Bamba village, where the air is always thick with the smell of blooming flowers and damp soil, Caleb was a name that echoed with a mix of disdain and mirth. He was the village drunk, a title he wore like a badge of honor. Caleb's days were spent meandering through the dusty paths that snaked between the huts, a bottle of cheap liquor always clasped in his calloused hands. His arrival in any part of the village was heralded by a cacophony of barks from the local dogs, who had learned to associate the jangle of his bo...

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“World's Best Lie” by Nicole Farmer

Submitted to Contest #231

"Y aura-t-il autre chose aujourd’hui?" asked the portly waitress as she stood at the register, counting the money just handed to her. She tabulated the owed amount versus what was paid, then closed the register drawer mostly with her plump, round belly. She smiled warmly at the gentleman on the opposite side of the counter. Despite his wild and engrossing beard, a small but appreciative grin returned from the gentleman."Non, merci," he replied in a barely audible tone, nodding politely. The waitress blushed, attempting to busy herself with o...

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“Shoes that go nowhere” by Nava Libman

Submitted to Contest #231

My parents keep a strange archive of shoes in their back porch; Mom saved one shoe from each of our pairs, as a way of tracking me and my sister’s growth. instead of marking a line on the doorframe, she measures time by the increasing distance between our heel and our toes. One summer holiday, my older sister Mickey and I sat on the scorching sidewalk and examined the feet of pedestrians. Mickey had theories about people's character traits and personalities based on the shoes they wore."Men who wear pointy shoes have a problematic perso...

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“The Scenario” by Nicole Elwell

Submitted to Contest #231

Her throat itched. She asked it to emerge. It buckled, both of them wondering if it was even alive.  She asked, near begged it: exist. And quickly.  A burn ran down the front of her. Was that her way of knowing she could do it?  Her eyes drifted past the lecture building, up the red orange leaves dancing along the mountain face. She knew about the trail leading through those thick trees. There was a cue up that hill, hovering in the forest, waiting to be met. She would be guided to it. They all would. They would walk into t...

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“A Letter to Mr. Birdshaw” by Mason -

Submitted to Contest #231

This story contains themes such as violence, death, war, existential qualms, PTSD, and other associated sensitive topics. Dear Mr. Birdshaw,I hope that you receive this testimony well, I am nothing but honest. I know journalism can be a tricky field and you are, to a certain extent, required to fit a certain narrative. I am disregarding this stipulation. Let the people read the truth, it takes no side, and if I don’t see this in the newspapers my point will only be strengthened. I know that I said I would give you a story of heroism and...

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“New versions of me ” by Lina Ja

Submitted to Contest #231

She would go up to people, which used to scare her. She would be the light of the party. But she failed to live up to her ideal self because of her past. She thought she could have just left it behind. But then, when luck was just around the corner, she clung to the pain. She purposely destroyed her new self. This is a story of pain and hope, of crushed dreams and new hopes in the dark. Of bullying and friendships, being your own cheerleader and your worst enemy.  In school, I was bullied. Very badly, in fact. I only realized this as ...

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“A Night to Remember” by Andre LeFosse

Submitted to Contest #231

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. If you could please take your seats, we will begin with the main purpose of our dinner tonight, the lifetime recognition of Jeffrey P Element and all of the work that he has done for our community.” A round of applause erupted from the hundred or so guests of the small banquet hall. Jeff sat at his table, stoic, glass of coke and a cup of coffee in front of him. He didn’t look miserable, but he wasn’t happy either.  Coffee wasn’t served yet, at least for anyone else, but since this was Jeff’s big...

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