Write about a character who is starting to open up to life again.

Posted in Character on Mar 24, 2023

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✍️ 68 stories

“Excalibur” by Daniel Allen

Submitted to Contest #191

I’m not like most people. I accepted that a long time ago. To be honest, I hate that label, anyway. What does it even mean? Everyone has their burdens to bear, right? We all have those little things that come so easily to other people but drive us insane. For some people, that’s dating and the hot flush that scrambles their brains every time they even think about talking to someone they like. For others, it’s reading or writing and how the words swim across the page, turning what should be a simple task into a nightmare. For me, it’s the out...

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“Life After Death” by Cecilia L. Maddison

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #191

The rescue plane traced distant contours, circling, seeking, never nearing. Henry searched for a break in the canopy through which to attract attention, but the dense foliage clung and clawed, engulfing him in greenery slick with the jungle’s sweat. From the sky, he was invisible. The faint whirring of the engines taunted him like the whining mosquitos feasting on his blood, stealing him drop by drop from the refuge of his skin.Although last night’s violent storm had cleared, spent after tossing and tumbling the plane from the sky, the air i...

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“DOLORES-DELILAH” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #191

Dolores sealed the last box of her mother's memorabilia and shoved it into the corner of the bedroom. All the furniture had been sold off weeks earlier. Now, at last, mother's knick-knacks, photos, hymnals, holy cards, and sets of rosary beads were neatly buried in the boxes. Packing up these religious treasures made Dolores feel guilty, but Delilah, her rebellious alter-ego didn’t."Just do it!" Delilah coaxed. "There's no point keeping this stuff. My plans for the future don't include reminders of the past. They're good for nothing more tha...

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“Back From Outer Space” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #191

“Hey, Captain Caveman is back!” “…I’m sorry, what!?” “We thought you was lost forever. We even took bets as to if we’d ever see you alive again.” Jeremy Walpole stood in the doorway to his local pub. For the past two years, he had avoided all physical contact with the human race. The frightening Covid-19 pandemic resulted in an extreme reaction to cut himself off completely from society – relying solely on contactless home deliveries for survival. So, for him, a re-emergence into public life, was a monumental and brave return to civilisation...

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“Growing Up With You” by Suma Jayachandar

Submitted to Contest #191

I tilt the bucket and scoop out the last mug of water. Just warm enough to wash away the stubborn dirt sticking to your right toe from your barefoot walk in the garden with your Appa. I splash it at your toe, rub it, wrap you up like a croissant in your turkey towel, and carry you as you free your tiny arms and loop them around my neck. I place you on the bed where I have laid out your school uniform, baby lotion, baby cream, and comb. And give a final wipe to your underarms with the soggy towel as we both throw our heads back and giggle. Th...

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“Friendly Competition” by Kevin V

Submitted to Contest #191

I didn't intend to overhear anything. Grabbing my Walmart Great Value mozzarella string cheese and my sandwich bag of self-mixed nuts from the fridge, I'd only intended to take my quick break the same time I always did.She sat at the other end of the long table, her left arm, elbow on the table, supporting her head, which faced away from me. Though hushed, I clearly heard her say, "I can't do this job. Maybe I'm not cut out for any job."That is, of course, when I realized that she spoke to someone on her phone. I couldn't see it when I sat d...

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“Reproduction.” by Ken Cartisano

Submitted to Contest #191

I sat hunched over a table in an obscure little café I used to frequent. The place was deserted. All the locals go to the nightclubs a few blocks away these days. I just wanted a quick drink, and anticipated another quiet evening at home, alone. My expectations for the evening were low, but I felt like I had recovered from my break-up with Sue, and was thinking more constructively about relationships in general. There are certain things a woman has a right to know, but at what point in the courtship, exactly, does a man lay his cards on the ...

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“Call For Life ” by Pouria Razmara

Submitted to Contest #191

As the heavy rain poured down upon the street, washing away the grime and debris of city life, a sudden flash of electric blue sliced through the darkness. The ambulance, a beacon of hope and healing, emerged from the downpour like a lightning bolt, racing towards its destination with urgent purpose. The rhythmic wail of its siren echoed off the slick buildings, adding to the symphony of storm and city. It was as if the very essence of life and death was encapsulated in that flashing, thunderous blur of motion, as it sliced through the rain-...

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“Feeble Hope” by Caroline Eddy

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #191

Love was stored inside an egg. Charlie remembered his father saying that. Not once or twice, but many times in multiple ways, and always with a bright smile. Charlie liked remembering his father smiling. If someone cooks you an egg, they love you. Simple as that. That was the core of his father’s argument. That eggs could embody all love the way Paul described it to the Corinthians – patient and kind, giving away all it had without arrogance or resentment. Eggs were resourceful, unobtrusive, a tiny mass of potential. If there were eggs...

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“The Rituals of Grief” by Marta Eastover

Submitted to Contest #191

She played the notes again. This time with her eyes closed. Her right pinky extended, it hovers, then lightly taps the black F#. After a moment’s pause, her left thumb signals the rest of her slender fingers to cascade down on the keys. They rapidly unleash like gorgeously falling raindrops, one after the next.The piano radiates out the emotions she held in, as she strikes the keys harder and harder, faster and faster. Notes swirl and fall like a storm. She pauses a moment after the song has finished and takes a breath. Her wrists linger and...

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“At Sea” by Janet Carl

Submitted to Contest #191

A cruise. If nothing else, she would get out of town, out of bleak mid-western winter, away from friends who meant well, but who could do nothing for her but stuff her full of comfort food: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pot roast and potatoes, and every so often a big, greasy slab of lasagna. She had gained ten pounds since Glen died six months previously; the only thing that still fit was her shoes. And so, because it was winter and the boys thought it would help and because she was sick to death of comfort food, she had signed up for a ...

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“Deep Breaths” by Nona Yobis

Submitted to Contest #191

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. In, out, 1, 2, 3, 4. Smell the roses, blow out the candle. Focus on the sound and feel of the breath as it enters and exits the body. It’s just the grocery store. Everyone goes to the grocery store. It’s not a big deal. Just go inside, get what you need, and get out. Deep breaths. 1,2,3,4. Focus. Focus. Sitting in the car in the parking lot for 27 minutes gripping the steering wheel is not going to fulfill the shopping list. Entertaining the gut-wrenching terror of being a...

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“Flow” by Sav Lightwood

Submitted to Contest #191

A saturated grassy hillside against a soup of blue and white. Toru replaced his computer five years ago but hadn’t bothered to change it off its default wallpaper. He didn’t do very much with it anyway. Facebook. Reddit. Instagram. He was a frog dipped in daze, leaping back and forth with no destination. Travel blogs for countries he had no interest in visiting. Cooking channels with ingredients he could never access. Gaming forums for games he didn’t even play. There had to be something on his screen. Something for his fingers to ...

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“Self Harm” by Michelle Mahoney

Submitted to Contest #191

I want to cut so badly. I haven't told anyone. I feel ashamed. I know it's not a healthy coping mechanism yet I find myself craving the pain. I know I need help. I need therapy. I promise myself I am going to get it. I really want to hold out but I am not sure I will be able to. I am a broken woman. Will I forever be whole? Will I someday succumb to this addiction? I worry that I will. I have been cut free since Nov 23, 2023. Funny how I am writing this on Mar 23, 2023 Is this some sick coincidence? It has b...

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“Ice and fire” by Jennifer Cameron

Submitted to Contest #191

Brandon and Margo. The two names that would forever be fused together because one killed the other and that kind of makes them inseparable in people’s stories. Apples had littered the street, outlining parked cars and folding in on themselves as the wind took bites out of them. Margo pulled her coat closer to her body, Brandon kicked an apple out of the road and onto the cobbled path in front of her. That’s how they met, via rotten apples. And in a way there’s a sort of poetry to the symmetry because that was how they departed each other to...

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Write about a character who is starting to open up to life again.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 68 stories

“Excalibur” by Daniel Allen

“Life After Death” by Cecilia L. Maddison

“DOLORES-DELILAH” by Viga Boland

“Back From Outer Space” by Chris Campbell

“Growing Up With You” by Suma Jayachandar

“Friendly Competition” by Kevin V

“Reproduction.” by Ken Cartisano

“Call For Life ” by Pouria Razmara

“Feeble Hope” by Caroline Eddy

“The Rituals of Grief” by Marta Eastover

“At Sea” by Janet Carl

“Deep Breaths” by Nona Yobis

“Flow” by Sav Lightwood

“Self Harm” by Michelle Mahoney

“Ice and fire” by Jennifer Cameron

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with your character(s) going to buy some flowers.

Write a story about a character who’s late to witness a special event.

Make Japan (or Japanese culture) an element of your story.

Write a story that includes someone saying, “I feel alive.”

Contest #191

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

276

Contest entries

170

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: