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Write about someone who realizes they're on the wrong path.

Posted in Character on Jan 13, 2023

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✍️ 69 stories

Violet or Red

Shortlisted for Contest #181 ⭐️

You were born on National Maple Syrup Day. Your mother names you Alcyone (pronounced AL-SEE-OWN-EE) because Alcyone means calm. It’s a cruel, unfitting choice given your family’s history of anxiety. You wish your name were something simple and easy-to-say, like Hannah.By the time you turn nineteen, you've grown tired of constantly having to correct people. It’s Al-see-own-ee, you tell them on the days you have more confidence than usual, but they don’t hear you, and if they do hear you, they forget. As far as they’re concerned, you are Aliso...

66 likes 55 comments 55
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Strive for the Light

Submitted to Contest #181

    James wept more than he has ever done in his life. A life so full of happiness quickly taken away by the evils of the land.            “If I was only there to protect you,” he said of his wife, Rene, as he looked at the mound of dirt. “I could have protected you or at least gone with you to the afterlife.”            It was two weeks ago that James left his cabin and his lovely wife in the woods to go to a sma...

37 likes 23 comments 23
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The Wrong Bus Home

Submitted to Contest #181

There is nothing irrevocable about getting on the wrong bus. The next stop offers you the chance to hop on the proper bus home. You get on the right bus and you’ll only be home fifteen minutes later than usual. The chicken will be defrosted. Matt will have finished his homework. Christy will still have hers to do, because she’s on the phone with Erica. You’ll have to chide her, but not by much. She’s a good girl. They’re good kids. You’re happy that they’re good kids. The other night you were laying in bed and Richard turned to you and sai...

32 likes 22 comments 22
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Movies That Suck

Submitted to Contest #181

My wife Janine wants me to stop organizing the monthly movie meetup in Hoboken. “Love you babe,” I tell her on the way out, giving her my best I’m a great husband aren't I smile.Without looking over, she says, “have a good time,” and wiggles her fingers in farewell.I don’t get much TLC on movie nights. But I think she understands a man needs to blow off some steam every once in a while. She’s also been giving me a hard time about being stuck in my ways, so it’s good to get the night off.I slip out the door quietly. We used to talk about how,...

22 likes 18 comments 18
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Elysius

Submitted to Contest #181

In the end, Uranius Mons didn't put up much of a fight.  Everything went according to procedure. No accidents were reported in the 3 weeks it took to demolish it. According to all corporate standards, it was a financial success. All 15,922 ft of Uranius Mons were completely flattened. The event was messy. Metric tons of dirt, debris, carbon, and granite were flung wildly into the air. The sun disappeared behind the clouds of ashen smog. A great, dark canvas would slowly settle throughout the land as Mars would heal itself. It was a wo...

21 likes 4 comments 4
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The witch who can't curse

Submitted to Contest #181

The witch who can’t curse ------------------------- Nathan burst into the library and went running to the inside room where all the thick, dusty volumes are kept and quickly crouched under one of the reading tables. Lucky it was lunch break and nobody saw him running to his go-to hiding place. Tim and gang won’t go to the trouble of coming inside the library to catch him, especially on the inside room. For some reason, most bullies are allergic to books. Thank god for small mercies, thought Nathan. Still he did not take the risk of getting u...

21 likes 8 comments 8
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The Iris of the Wrong Path

Submitted to Contest #181

Through thick red and white flashes, you break into the giant glass doors. Your whole body pulsates from cold ebbs and warm flows that leave cracks on your porcelain nerve system. As you enter dead blue space, a massive nurse jumps on you like a hungry-for-victory-quarterback and knocks down. The sound of a cracked ripe pomegranate fills the hall as your crucified spine finds itself under her heavy breasts. “Do you have a corona?” A muted vo...

20 likes 15 comments 15
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What Happened to Me?

Submitted to Contest #181

What Happened to Me? By Jane Tompkins As I set the kitchen up for, yet, another one of my “lessons” I keep thinking of all the hopes and dreams I had as a senior in high school. I was going to “be” somebody. I was going to be successful and make a good living. I was going to meet my future husband in college, get married, and have a couple of kids. NOW, I look at myself in the mirror and see a 38 year old, single, woman who graduated college with a BA in Political Science (thought I was going to be a lawyer) and a Master’s in Sports Journal...

19 likes 1 comment 1
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Our Secret Path

Submitted to Contest #181

They said that one day, something snapped inside of you, and without telling anyone, you went off to die quietly in a cave somewhere. They said you had given up. I heard many different versions of it, mostly from well-meaning people who wanted me to move on, but I refused to believe them. I knew you had your flaws, but I never accepted the idea that you had it in you to abandon us like that. And I know it sounds delusional, but I kept your things ready for when you eventually came back.The craziest thing is that I always knew the way to find...

18 likes 4 comments 4
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"Anyone Can Improve."

Submitted to Contest #181

Hilary, aka Hilaria, and her husband Ben, were both retired school teachers. Unfortunately for Hilaria, old Ben had retired early into television land. He was so not interested in travel, hobbies, or doing anything but turn on blaring TV. It was getting to her a bit, she often could not be bothered cooking any more, so they ate takeaway food. Their favorites were pizza, kebabs, or burgers and fries. Really, any home delivery menu provided an option for meal choices. Delish! Time saving. Hilaria did not know what she was saving time for, but ...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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Tomorrow's Lament

Submitted to Contest #181

“Jaysus died for all our sins…” Henry “Hank” Hope pondered over the words thrust at him by the short, skinny priest stood before him in front of a row of trash cans. Startlingly appearing from out of nowhere within the Bostonian alleyway that Hank was relieving himself, the small man bore a remarkable resemblance to the old Irish actor, Barry Fitzgerald – a legend of the atypical Irishman depicted in old black and white movies. A guise that was curiously disarming in its visual demeanour, but highly suspicious in its sudden out-of-the-shado...

15 likes 3 comments 3
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All That Remains

Submitted to Contest #181

All That Remains 🎶 Memory, all alone in the moonlight— I can dream of the old days Life was beautiful then. I remember the time I knew what happiness was… Let the memory live again. 🎵 ©️ I was beautiful once. I had style. Class. Substance. People flocked to my doors, begging to be included in my sphere of influence. That was then. Now, all that remains is a shell of myself.  Walls, floors, roof—these form a structure meant for shelter. Shelter I have afforded many, over the years. Those many who have lived within my walls… the...

15 likes 10 comments 10
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The Notion

Submitted to Contest #181

The Notion.I glanced at him, careful-like. Didn’t want him to notice me noticing him. He swaggered into the kitchen, giving me that look, his brown eyes narrowing. I could feel my fingers tingle. He still had that effect on me even after all these years. I lifted my glass of Rosé wine, the cheaper kind, nothing too fancy, we didn’t do fancy too often. Kids had been away from six. I could hear him rattling the oven door, checking his food.When we met, he was a real popular guy. Had loads of girlfriends and loads of history. I Ignored it. We w...

15 likes 11 comments 11
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The Tao of Loud Sue

Submitted to Contest #181

The spiritual seeker named Victor climbed the rocky path up the mountain. He stopped several times, doubting the directions he’d been given. He thought he’d lost his way and doubled back more than once on the ill-marked path. ‘Is it too much to expect a sign? Or an arrow? Work with me…’ Thirst nagged at him. Hours passed, without results. Entering a clearing, a thatch roofed hut came into view. A strand of smoke rose from the chimney. ‘This must be it,’ he thought. ‘Who could live so remotely? Who else would?’ Victor sought the legendary w...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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Speed of Sound

S N

Submitted to Contest #181

Many lights sing, a cacophony of assaulting sound. This whole place is an assault. On ears and noses. Eyes.Good.The blare of the multi-colored lights shooting off at random is a great distraction. Seventy-year-old women and their dangling bracelets clink with the buzz of mechanical slot machines and it's enough to drive my headache to migraine land. Another reason to cry. Mid-spring in an Arizona casino and the AC is on full permafrost blast. Not the liveliest of Wednesday afternoons. It will have to do. A handful of those bracelet...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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