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Write about someone with a Midas touch: everything they touch turns to [fill in the blank].

Posted in Character on Aug 25, 2023

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✍️ 39 stories

The Sculptor of Lyon

Shortlisted for Contest #213 ⭐️

CW: body horror, gore. Jacques heard someone enter his 5th floor studio, heard the heavy groan of the old wood door, heard the tired thing thunder back into place, slamming with a finality that said ‘no more’, and it was the only thing that stopped him from pitching forward from his balcony into the street below. Rich heels snapped against the scuffed parquet floor, and the boards underneath strained against the weight of every step the stranger took. “Hello?” came a man’s voice. Jacques relit his cigarette for the fourth time and looked o...

44 likes 57 comments 57
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Anand's Lamp

Shortlisted for Contest #213 ⭐️

Anand knew the snake wanted to eat him, even if his mother said it only ate the cats and dogs scurrying over the trash pile. Anand held up one open hand, and then a single finger on the other, examining the years of his life in nicked and dirty scars. His family was Dalit, the untouchables, only suited to garbage collection, or cleaning toilets, as anything they touched turned to trash. He wanted to get to two full hands, and then he could join the men picking up the trash in town and not battle against the snake for its ...

29 likes 36 comments 36
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Napoleon

Submitted to Contest #213

Jeremiah had no intention of turning his dog into Napoleon. He woke up one day and when Scotch Tape came to greet him in bed with a lick of the feet and a wag of the tail, Jeremiah gave him a pat on the head as he had always done, and the next thing he knew, there was a tiny tyrant standing before him. “Well, now you’ve done it,” said Napoleon, “Look at me. Just look at me. I’ve been dead for almost two hundred years, and you brought me back just to fetch a frisbee.” Jeremiah assured Napoleon that he didn’t mean to resurrect him. He ha...

28 likes 19 comments 19
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The “Hands-Off” Support Group

Submitted to Contest #213

LALA’S FLESHY MEAT HOOKS were squishing my face, and I was assaulted by the high-pitched screech of her voice that hummed thunderous, the way we think of the Big Bang as loud. “You’re back MontyEEE! So glad to seeEEE you!” Lala’s special touch is forgetfulness, and it took a minute for me to anchor in on my name after her embrace, but nothing could make me forget that voice. Going around the church basement of the “Hands-Off” meeting, each night we met: This is Sammy; this is Herman; this is Hamilton, whose long stringy h...

20 likes 9 comments 9
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Comic Con-voluted

Submitted to Contest #213

“SPLASH!” Was the sound of once living flesh and bone being transformed into water molecules, soaking into the dry, parched floor of the desert planet – some twelve light years from Earth. “Hydro, what have you done?” The elder-looking statesman alarmingly asked. “That was the high priest of Orr. There will be repercussions now from the Orronauts.” “So what!” Came the impetuous reply. “If their guards get anywhere near me, I’ll lay my powerful hands on them and turn them into vapour.” “Stop! Wait!” Came the outcry from the furrowed brow wiza...

18 likes 16 comments 16
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Midas' touch: A dystopian message (from an era after Nuclear Winter)

Submitted to Contest #213

Dear future humans or others,I write to you from a world you might find difficult to imagine, a world shaped by the reckless desires of those who came before me. It's like the ancient tale of King Midas of Phrygia, whose touch turned everything to gold. Our own "Midas' touch" turned our dreams into greed and our ambitions into disaster.In the fragments of what was once known as Istanbul, a small settlement now struggling to survive, I've grown up without ever glimpsing the graceful flight of a bird. The birds, like many other creatures, were...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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Gloves of Creation

Submitted to Contest #213

Alex jumped from rooftop to rooftop, each breath feeling laboured and ragged. His feet were heavy, and his arms dragged as he scurried atop the buildings. I can’t let them catch me! They weren’t really after him, but what he had taken – The Hands of Creation. It wasn’t like he wanted to steal the most priceless invention mankind had ever created, but he needed them. With these gloves he could create anything that his mind could imagine. They were a true work of art, as well as a feat of engineering. Alex had no idea how they worked and get d...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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The Perfect Touch

Submitted to Contest #213

I’d heard the stories, but then we all hear stories. There’s the one about the little old lady who just happened to work for some of the richest men in the world. She was there at the outset and she bought shares in companies that rose and rose until they cast a shadow over the world. But that little old lady never spent a conspicuous penny of her wealth, and it was only when she kicked the bucket that her investments came to light.  Never any relatives. You have to wonder where all that money went. As I wonder at that big loose end...

13 likes 5 comments 5
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Peanut Gallery

Submitted to Contest #213

Look up the word “average” in the dictionary, and next to the entry you’d probably see a picture of Harold Painter. In his late 30s, with a thinning hairline and a forgettable face, Harold wore the same white shirt, and brown pants and suit jacket almost every day. He sold life insurance, and lived alone in a small bungalow with only his German Shepherd Rex for company. In other words, he was the concept of boringness made flesh. Unlike many other boring people, however, Harold was painfully aware that he was indeed boring. He wanted to ch...

13 likes 4 comments 4
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Subterranean Homesick Blues

Submitted to Contest #213

I had her key. Living in the apartment next to hers, it was reasonable that she’d wanted me to check on the cat. But she had an absurd list of requests for a two day trip. She wanted me to come over almost hourly to check on the cat. I went over twice the first day, and just once the second day. Her place made me sad. Although it was full of plants, they all drooped. She said it was her husband who had the green thumb. She said everything he touched grew.  She left to go back to her hometown in the country to scatter her husband’s ash...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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Small Things in Life Bring Happiness

Submitted to Contest #213

My grinding week in the laboratory at Elkins Precious Metals Foundry has finally come to an abrupt end. "Wow, what a long week that it has been," Mike said to Tom grabbing his coffee thermos and lunch bucket from the lockers inside the cafeteria building. They both walked out together towards the parking lot. It was 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, and all that Mike could dwell on was his upcoming weekend at the fishing lake up north in Mocapeca Mountain resort. Fishing on the boat, relaxing by the poolside and just doing anything that h...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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The Meinus Touch

Submitted to Contest #213

Once upon a time not so long ago, there was a king named Meinus, who ruled over a kingdom called The Land of Perfect, and it was so perfectly named. The kingdom was filled with pretty houses and scattered throughout the land, laid parks, and luscious green meadows. All the citizens of the land had everything they could desire. Two cars in the driveway, HD televisions in every room, bright, healthy children, and incomes capable of supporting their lifestyles in comfort. Everything that everyone desired was available at their fingertips. It wa...

8 likes 5 comments 5
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They're Always Watching

Submitted to Contest #213

What’s the stupidest super power you can think of?  Go ahead, take a stab at it.  No really, I insist. What was that?  The ability to talk to rocks? Ha! Yea go ahead and tell a geologist or an anthropologist that you can talk to rocks.That stuff would like, turn them on. You’d spend your whole life trying to stop nerds still crashing on their mother’s couch from shoving dirty rocks in your face, begging you on their knees to bless them with its wisdom. Huh?  The ability to control the minds of squirrels? But only on Tue...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Verdant Touch

Submitted to Contest #213

Wild and flourishing, the ivy grew rapidly, rushing along the surface of the stone wall. The creeping vines found every imperfection in the man-made surface which to use as purchase. Reaching the top and spilling over, the growth finally began to slow, eventually stopping altogether. Elara removed her hand from once was an old, rusted torch mount. Gasps from behind startled her, and she quickly turned to see a small group of women standing a few yards away. Forcing a pleasant smile, Elara bowed and moved quickly along the road and quickly ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Mackus,the magic continues.......

Submitted to Contest #213

From my hotel room window, I witnessed an oversized billboard being displayed at the right corner of the street together with his life-sized picture: Mackus, the great Magician of his time. I was staring the whole time when I heard someone was knocking loudly at the door with the loud sound of the door bell.ting- ting .ding- dong. I hurriedly approached the door and open it little bit just to see who’s that person at the door…In my surprise,no one was there,I stepped out and looked around.,no one was there and the lo...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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