Write about someone who is shackled by fears of failure, until they break free.

Posted in Character on Oct 6, 2023

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✍️ 29 stories

“Damn the Lizard Patriarchy” by Hazel Ide

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #219

CW: Off-page mentions of suicide and sexual assault.When I was young, I fell in love with a girl. Her heavy black Doc Marten boots, climbing out of her boyfriend's shitty old sedan, caught my eye as I stumbled off the school bus, my friend slamming into me from behind. I watched her smile and laugh, dumbstruck, before I was shouldered out of the way by other students, anxious to flee the tall yellow monstrosity behind me, but I couldn't stop staring. She wore a crushed velvet blue mini dress, a thick black choker necklace, and fishnet t...

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“Happy Place” by AnneMarie Miles

Submitted to Contest #219

I am dancing, but it is more like existing. Existing here, in this perfectly beautiful place. My body absorbs everything around me: the delicious warmth of a never-setting sun, the reggae music, the luscious greenery of the mountains and valleys, the brightly colored flowers, the bare skinned people brushing up against me. My body can’t help it: it is swaying slowly, rhythmically. It is liquid in its movements, gliding up and down and side to side. The music travels through my whole body like a river. Nowhere for it to escape, it just kee...

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“A Woman's Glory” by Hannah P. Simmons

Submitted to Contest #219

My mother’s hair falls down her back, like waves of amber, ebbing and flowing till it reaches her waist. It drinks the warm rays of the sunlight, gently swaying in the breeze. I run up behind her, and press my face into the locks. They brush my cheeks, soft like the tufts of dandelion clutched in my tiny hand. I watch Father tuck a strand behind her ear as their foreheads touch, and I smile. My hair falls around my shoulders, flaxen strands curling this way and that, like a bird’s nest. It is woven with grass, and strands of clover fl...

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“Among the Stars” by Daniel Allen

Submitted to Contest #219

Elise only ever wanted one thing in life; to take to the stars and soar. While other kids decorated their rooms with posters of pop stars and footballers, she collected models of the ships of the System Defence Squadron. When her classmates were busy partying or studying, Elise dragged her parents to conventions filled with starships, shuttles, and spacesuits. It was on one of those trips that she first laid eyes on the Low Orbit Combat Simulation Instrument—LOCSI, for short. The machine that would change her life.It was love at first sight—...

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“Pegasus Sky” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #219

The Pegasus sky is the color of Tim Burton dreams, the texture of crunchy nightmares. This makes me happy. A trio of dragons fly by, and I stare at the girl astride the smallest of the three. She doesn’t acknowledge me. This also makes me happy. The two angels that accompany me are snorting cocaine and imploring me to “do my duty.” This makes me unhappy. I stare at the computer screen, unsure of where to go next. I have a main theme: redemption. Which may or may not be the right theme. The angels symbolize something or other. Maybe I need so...

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“Coffee and Stories” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #219

“Hey man, you survived the monsters. Congratulations!” Mr. Abrams slapped me on the back, grabbed my hand, pumping it up and down.“Thanks! To be honest they almost got the better of me on more than one occasion.”“You’re not the only one, trust me. Any one of us can attest to that.” Mr. Abrams waved his arm around the faculty lounge at the rest of the teachers all there to celebrate my retirement.“He’s right,” Ms. Howe joined in the conversation gingerly balancing a slice of cake and assortment of cookies on a flimsy ...

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“Sometimes We Get What We Need” by Webb Johnson

Submitted to Contest #219

I finally got to the Redding bus depot. After ten hours in a droning Greyhound, I was beaten and wanted nothing more than to stand up, stretch my body, get on solid ground, and try to relieve my mind about an upcoming do-or-die job interview. The meeting with three interviewers would include questions about my general knowledge of the position I’d applied for as well as my demeanor. A degree in Forestry from Oregon State was a huge plus but the job required the facility to deal affably with the general public as well as all the people I’d be...

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“Bare White Knuckles” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #219

Pat’s eyes were draped with purpling black bruises and his knuckles were swollen red. The skin was torn off the peaks of his knuckles, leaving hollow pussy scabs. All throughout that first day, I can remember Pat Gardener laughing in his casual hick way, “Hey-ho.” We all noticed, but no one asked him about how he got those black eyes.That was the day when Pat ran to make the yellow bus at my bus stop for the first time. His ruddy face blotched up from running when he boarded. He laughed and said “Hey-ho” as he scooted past the bus drive...

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“Phone Calls with a Warrior” by Le Conteur

Submitted to Contest #219

For my Auntie who taught me what courage looks like.Monday“Hello?”“Hey shit face”“Auntie, we talked about this.”“Sorry, sorry, I forget, hello Nephew. That better?”“Yes, thank you.”“You know I only say that because you’re my favorite Nephew. It’s a term of endearment coming from me.”“I’m your only nephew Auntie. How are you doing today?”“You know me, my legs don’t work but I’m still kicking ass as usual! Did you get the gift I sent you?”“That’s good to hear. Yea I got it. What is it? It’s creepy as hell.”“It’s a uh, thing thing you know. You...

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“The Wishing Well” by Awen Kerr

Submitted to Contest #219

The Wishing WellSpiders and ghosts decorated the linoleum tile floors and peeling plaster walls of Sky Trail Elementary school that year. Hallways filled with Power Rangers, vampires, and—oddly enough—Forrest Gump, meant that I had my work cut out for me. With just one day left until the big Halloween Bash, I was determined to win the costume contest, but if this Spirit Day preview was any indication, my witch costume certainly wasn’t going to be earning me any prizes. One of the vampires had crimson splattered all over his collar, and his t...

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“Possessor of Power” by Sam Park

Submitted to Contest #219

I vividly remember one blazing hot summer evening where the all consuming sky turned into an intense shade of purple as the beaming sun slowly decided to set. I was staring over at the stunning trophy which was twinkling with the final rays of the glowing sun. It was so mesmerizing that it caused me to be enchanted like I was enraptured by some kind of potion due to the realization of what I had just achieved. At first I had to pinch myself so that I was certain I wasn’t in some sort of thrilling dream. With the egotism I had back then...

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“The Sacred Space” by Florian C.

Submitted to Contest #219

Dimly lit with one lantern hanging above our heads, the loathsome walls were grey, and the cold air reeking of chemicals made the room agonizing to sit in — for ordinary people at least. I glared into his eyes, my eyelids were glued to the sockets, it’s what I always do when I look at people. He was calm, at least he looked calm. “A perfectionist is what people usually define me by. I have surpassed countless when it came to art. ‘Pick one of his works and study it, that’s how to get an A,’ said a professor. That was how good I am. I was h...

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“The Little Ghost” by Schrodinger Penning

Submitted to Contest #219

I’ve always wondered what the meaning of life is. What is our purpose for existing? Why do many living things seek to persist in existing? Of course for me, it was mostly irrelevant. Death had come to soon for me to care, right? Even I could not rationalize my feelings or what I thought in my past life. I was a ghost who lived in dilapidated prison of a house. Sunken floors, broken walls, and a sorry excuse of a roof. The absent doors and broken windows left the house naked to the outside elements. Though free to roam, I seemed to be unabl...

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“The Cards You Have” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #219

It isn’t always so bad. Really. I can be entertaining. So perfectionistic. I make perfectionists nervous. I can laugh at myself, too.You aren’t the first to put two and two together. What a curious phrase that is. No one talks about putting one and one together. Connect the dots, make connections.You need others for that.So, I’ll be what you want me to be. That’s always the trick. I am guessing what others want before they are on to me. Or off to me. More off than on.I have to work on that.#She never paid that much attention. I’m that person...

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“Prison of Gold” by Lucy Gray

Submitted to Contest #219

It was spring. The air was crisp and warming. Flowers reached achingly to catch sunlight. Trailing the edge of the city, a brook gurgled merrily. Damon trudged along, kicking up loose stones and dirt, his back to the city. He glared at the glimmers of sunlight in the brook. There was no escaping the glare in a city of metal and jewels. Even nature worshiped it. He blew out a string of cold air until its moisture turned to ice. The particles gleamed tauntingly back at him. More light. More reflections. More sparkling, shimmering, glimmerin...

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Write about someone who is shackled by fears of failure, until they break free.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 29 stories

“Damn the Lizard Patriarchy” by Hazel Ide

“Happy Place” by AnneMarie Miles

“A Woman's Glory” by Hannah P. Simmons

“Among the Stars” by Daniel Allen

“Pegasus Sky” by Delbert Griffith

“Coffee and Stories” by Hannah Lynn

“Sometimes We Get What We Need” by Webb Johnson

“Bare White Knuckles” by Jonathan Page

“Phone Calls with a Warrior” by Le Conteur

“The Wishing Well” by Awen Kerr

“Possessor of Power” by Sam Park

“The Sacred Space” by Florian C.

“The Little Ghost” by Schrodinger Penning

“The Cards You Have” by Joe Smallwood

“Prison of Gold” by Lucy Gray

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that includes the line “I think someone’s listening/watching.”

Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Write from the POV of a security guard on the night shift, sitting in front of a wall of CCTV feeds.

Write a story about someone who breaks an unwritten social rule and the consequences they face as a result.

Contest #219

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

114

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: