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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who struggles to do the right thing.

Posted in Character on May 24, 2024

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 35 stories

“We Can Be Heroes” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #252

Her unexpected smile—from a bank teller, no less—was like a spell. Wanting my traveler's cheques cashed—in Vienna, I was charmed, vulnerable to her whims, colored cheeks, and rosy lips…This international language of twenty-somethings overcomes everything. Smiles are the start, followed by delicious looks and touching what has been touched. You know, papers pass between us. Then her halting English trumps my abysmal German so that we’re transcendent together, dreaming.Until she hands me too much money. Uh, what?I fumble for my phrase book. “E...

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“Kindly's Boys” by Brandon Cox

Submitted to Contest #252

The young recruits were in a ragged state, bunched together in the wood-paneled great room of the guild hall. Their shirts were more potato sack than tunic, and there wasn’t a shoe in existence among the lot of them. Dirt covered and starved as they were, these were now Kindly’s boys. All twelve had, just today, surrendered their future to guild service in exchange for hot meals and a bed, and it was now Kindly’s job to make thieves of them.He’d never been a troop master before, as he was just a young rogue himself, but Kindly’s tenure with ...

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“Ain't Genealogy Great” by Matt Ward

Submitted to Contest #252

Ain’t Genealogy Great!(Based on a true story) Walter Hanson was from East Tennessee. He was a proud southern gentleman. Maybe not so proud of the south’s slavery history, but still loyal to the memory of his ancestors. Proud that his great-great-grandfather had fought in the Civil War for the South. Proud of the tombstone in the local cemetery that, while not marking the grave of his progenitor, it did commemorate the man’s loyalty to the south with the inscription, “Jacob L. Arbeiter, Cpl. CSA, 1834 – 1865.” Proud to be the great-great gran...

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“The Physician’s Reckoning” by Connie Elstun

Submitted to Contest #252

I hear voices chattering. I cannot make out what they are saying; conceivably murder, perhaps, the clues are prevalent, I suppose. “Murder-suicide, most likely,” the Crone shouts out in an alto voice. It sounds like she has a tribe of ghouls at her side as they mumble, sometimes cooing delightfully. I do think it is Satan’s bride herself coxing me deeper and deeper into despair. Voltaire once wrote that every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. I assume he was thinking of young gentlemen who, like me, can start t...

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“Death” by Camille Clarke

Submitted to Contest #252

Death                                          By Camille Clarke  Mark looked around at the arid, dry ground. He knew what lay ahead. The smell blowing in the breeze was acrid, vomitous and telling. It was a smell you would never forget. Death. Death has a smell. You can't doubt it. The stench is overpowering. It was a habit ...

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“Jacob” by Lucas Alexander

Submitted to Contest #252

I finally made it home. It’s about time. School felt like forever. I enter my home and sit on the couch. I soak in comfort and take off my shoes. Thank goodness I finished my homework during silent reading time. Basically I am reading when I read the problems, so my teacher has no problem with it. She told me as long as I am quiet, she doesn’t care if I do my homework. I can take a quick nap before my parents arrive, right? I don’t remember them telling me to do anything before I got home. My room is clean, the kitchen sink is free of dirty ...

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“Entropy” by Gonzalo Armas

Submitted to Contest #252

“By any means necessary. This concept is often associated with Machiavellianism, as it rids the self from any moral standard in pos of doing what is required in order to reach an objective. For this reason…” His head was groggy from pain, struggling to keep focus for more than an instant. FuckThe boy’s eyes were growing heavy, the image of the professor blurring as they gave in. “Hey,” The boy lifted his head from the table and faced the person talking to him. His name was John, and he was an annoying fucker, but the closes thing to a f...

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“A Fable” by Siegfried Pueblitz

Submitted to Contest #252

A Fable Don't cry The best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids' flutter which says we are for each other e.e. cummings There was a very old man who fell in love with a very young woman. And, as often happens in love, there was no rhyme or reason to it and it didn’t matter if no one understood it or criticized it. How could they? He never told anyone about it – not even her. It’s not that he didn’t want to tell her, on the contrary, he thought about doing so many times. But ultimately, he ...

2 comments 2
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“Truth and Justice” by Justin Diaz

Submitted to Contest #252

A cacophony of child laughter and stomping of feet filled the small suburban street as small kids in all manners of costumes scurried about filled with excitement about what this time of year brought. A time of scary movies, fun costumes, spooky decorations adorned every house and most important of all to any kid during Halloween, all the free candy. All the while the parents walked behind and alongside their kids hoping that all this running around would tire them out before bedtime and allow them some peace and quiet for a brief amount of ...

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“Life In Tinwald Town. ” by Farai Gotora

Submitted to Contest #252

Marilyn didn’t notice the black duffle bag right away. It was obstructed by shrubs and reeds beneath the underpass. Besides, she wasn’t looking for a bag but a man. A drug dealing man named Tony to be more specific. Tony was as unreliable as a faulty wrist watch. It was already fifteen minutes from the time he’d said he’d meet up with her and there was no sign of Tony.  Marilyn wrung her hands nervously and began to pace. The half moon gave its light on this dark night and this only exacerbated Marilyn’s anxiety. She preferred an obscur...

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“A Bitter Brew” by Stephanie Santana

Submitted to Contest #252

Today, June 25, 2024, is a double shot espresso day. The sun is beaming down on the worn, green bench where I sit, watching my son, Gil, play in the sand. Today, I’m sipping my coffee extra slowly, savoring each bitter taste. Because when I finish, I need to decide whether or not to call the cops on my mother. ****This all started at Tophi’s Coffee, where I always get my drink. It’s my and Audrey’s favorite spot. Everyone who enters is instantly greeted by hints of warm, french vanilla and cinnamon. We love sipping our drinks surrounded by h...

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“Trouble at Cedarwood High” by Patrice Nicholas

Submitted to Contest #252

In the middle of the hallway stood a boy who people called a troublemaker, Jonathan, who was known for his shenanigans and undertakings. He grew up in Cedarwood, a small town where everyone knew everyone else's business, and where life wavered between the everyday and the uncommon. Jonathan was extremely smart, his mind always whirring with questions and ideas, searching for his own path amidst the chaos of adolescence. With his unruly hair and serious demeanor, he often seemed older and wiser than his years. He was also a bit of a goof-ball...

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“The Old Soldier's Dream” by Kenneth Penn

Submitted to Contest #252

Booker stirred restlessly in his sleep, plagued by a familiar nightmare. The wind howled like a banshee. He ran, barefoot and shirtless, unmindful of the marbled gray rocks strewn across patches of dying grass. Snowy curls of kinky hair glistened wetly against the dark skin of his chest. His arms pumped madly, his breathing hitching in and out in short gasps. A warning stitch dug painfully at his side, but he couldn’t afford to stop. He wasn’t going to make it in time. Around him, the darkness seemed to thicken, blotting out all but two pair...

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“Breaking Up Is..” by Odile Glatz

Submitted to Contest #252

       I stood at the mirror in my bathroom. My thick, dark hair needed taming down. I needed the opposite of a volumizer. My almond shaped eyes had dark circles underneath them. I inherited both my amber eyes and the dark circles from my mom. Makeup solved that problem, but I still wasn’t happy. How did I end up dating Teddy? Now, he was even talking about marriage and it had been less than two months! I needed to have a “talk” with Teddy.         Seven wee...

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“Til Dusk Do Us Part (Revisited)” by Samuel Bowen

Submitted to Contest #252

Caul appeared ageless like a painting of nobility, yet his eyes betrayed his flawlessness. For beyond the carved complexion, an ancient weight sunk below his brows. Blood tinted irises separated the void of his pupil from the darkness in the blacks of his eyes. His graceful gaze fell on the smatter of gore at his feet.  The remnants of the grey flesh shuddered in the wind, clinging limply to ashen bones. The discordant array of sinew in the field of crimson could not be recognized as having once been human. Bile polished Caul’s shoes as...

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