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#121 Giving Thanks

Next Thursday marks American Thanksgiving: an occasion for people to come together, catch up, and enjoy large quantities of mashed potatoes. In keeping with the name, many also take this time to reflect on what they’re thankful for — whether that’s good friends, a great job, or the aforementioned potatoes.


This week’s prompts expand on the idea of thanks, exploring not just gratitude, but also recognition, perseverance, and shades of the phrase itself. Whether or not you’ll be celebrating on Thursday, we hope this theme gets you thinking (and in case we haven’t mentioned it lately, thank you for being a part of our amazing community!).

🥇 Winner

Onboard an Angel Flight

Winner of Contest #121 🏆

Onboard an Angel Flight Deborah Elliott An uncounted number of men and women have stepped up and served this country so that we might keep our freedoms.  We should all be thankful when we get a chance to repay them. The story below is fictional, but the service that brings fallen soldiers home is real. Let us all give thanks. *** Fortunately, it had been a quiet flight so far. This night the sky was clear and peaceful, which was a blessing because shortly after takeoff U.S. Air Force Captain Matthew Marrow’s co-p...

151 likes 72 comments 72
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⭐️ Shortlisted

No Thank Hugh

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

“Thanks a lot for coming in tonight—you are a wonderful crowd. Now get out of here!” Hugh’s trademark comedic snark teeters between sincerity and sarcasm. The audience does not know how to take his tone, so they laugh even harder, cheering and whistling at the close of his set. But Hugh is already off stage, walking through the venue's hectic kitchen and out into the dark alley before the waitresses drop checks on the comedy club’s sticky tables. The alley is empty and cold. Hugh puts his head against the rough brick of the bu...

65 likes 49 comments 49
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Another Day in Paradise

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

CW: Reference to human trafficking.I am 17 and in Paradise. It feels like I have been here forever.Flashes of life before keep coming to me in my dreams; Mother feeding grains to the clucking hens and Father slumped on the floor with an empty toddy bottle rolling next to him. Now I live with Didi, Bhaiyya and their little angel.I wake up without an alarm. It must be around 4.00 a.m. now. I wake up to a space filled with food around me- just like yesterday, the day before and the day before that. I fumble with my cold hands and flick a switch...

42 likes 29 comments 29
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Reflections

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

TW: Brief mention of suicidal thoughtsWe had been dating for three years before we decided to end it. It was mostly mutual, or at least that’s what we agreed to call it. I hated his red couch, and we sat there with stiff backs and fidgeting fingers. It was his home so he felt more in place than I did. My heart never settled in the crooks and angles of his muddy studio apartment. Isolated from the rest, the couch’s vibrant nature was meant to “spruce up the place” but I think he forgot to realize that when everything looked so dead, putting s...

21 likes 8 comments 8
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Thank You

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

**TW** Mention of death, suicide, and mental health. To say my job is hard, it’s an understatement.  I am one of the thousands of workers allotted to take people away after they pass. People call us Death. We don’t look the way people describe us in the media, there isn’t a dress code. We don’t wear long black cloaks and carry a menacing scythe. How we look varies on each one of us. I am light, I am scary, and I am inevitable. That’s the only way to describe me.  The unfortunate part of my job starts when I arrive at the scen...

20 likes 6 comments 6
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This week's prompts

Start your story with someone saying “Thanks a lot” (sarcastically or sincerely).

Fiction – 36 stories

Write about someone giving or receiving a gift.

Christmas – 49 stories

Write a story in which someone gets credit for something they didn’t do.

Thriller and Suspense – 13 stories

Write about a character who struggles to express their thanks.

Angst – 14 stories

Write about someone in a thankless job.

Teens – 33 stories

Stories

Onboard an Angel Flight

Winner of Contest #121 🏆

Onboard an Angel Flight Deborah Elliott An uncounted number of men and women have stepped up and served this country so that we might keep our freedoms.  We should all be thankful when we get a chance to repay them. The story below is fictional, but the service that brings fallen soldiers home is real. Let us all give thanks. *** Fortunately, it had been a quiet flight so far. This night the sky was clear and peaceful, which was a blessing because shortly after takeoff U.S. Air Force Captain Matthew Marrow’s co-p...

151 likes 72 comments 72
Read story

No Thank Hugh

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

“Thanks a lot for coming in tonight—you are a wonderful crowd. Now get out of here!” Hugh’s trademark comedic snark teeters between sincerity and sarcasm. The audience does not know how to take his tone, so they laugh even harder, cheering and whistling at the close of his set. But Hugh is already off stage, walking through the venue's hectic kitchen and out into the dark alley before the waitresses drop checks on the comedy club’s sticky tables. The alley is empty and cold. Hugh puts his head against the rough brick of the bu...

65 likes 49 comments 49
Read story

Broken promise

Submitted to Contest #121

“When we’re older, let’s get married.” A blonde girl with pig tales smiled. She just recently lost her two front teeth making her have a small lisp. Her bright green eyes shined with happiness as she suggested her newest thought. “Yeah, okay.” A boy the same age smiles just as brightly. He was young but he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his days with her. She was perfect and as he responded her eyes only shined brighter. “Pinky promise.” She held out her pinky. It was an unspoken rule between them that a pinky-promise was unbreakab...

56 likes 12 comments 12
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Another Day in Paradise

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

CW: Reference to human trafficking.I am 17 and in Paradise. It feels like I have been here forever.Flashes of life before keep coming to me in my dreams; Mother feeding grains to the clucking hens and Father slumped on the floor with an empty toddy bottle rolling next to him. Now I live with Didi, Bhaiyya and their little angel.I wake up without an alarm. It must be around 4.00 a.m. now. I wake up to a space filled with food around me- just like yesterday, the day before and the day before that. I fumble with my cold hands and flick a switch...

42 likes 29 comments 29
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96%

Submitted to Contest #121

Driving down the highway, she passes an eighteen wheeler. It has a large yellow sign plastered to the back side: Come join our team! Customers report that they are 96% satisfied with us!“Did you just read that sign?” She asks her daughter. “They think 96% is something to brag about? They are OKAY with 96%? I don’t think I would want to work for a company where the customers aren’t 100% satisfied.”“Mom, you’re joking, right?” her daughter turns the radio back up to ear deafening, thus ending the conversation.“I’m not kidding, kiddo, what...

36 likes 23 comments 23
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The Right Gift

Submitted to Contest #121

Author's note: hatred and violence due to racial differences.“Thanks a lot”, John White said sarcastically. He closed the front door, went to his cold bedroom, opened the drawer of his wooden nightstand, took his old revolver, sat down on his comfortable bed, breathed in deeply, looked at his upset face in the mirror, and killed himself without thinking much about it… or after a fast-convincing thought. John White was raised in a rural southern county where lifestyle and social etiquette have remained the same for ages.* *  *J...

29 likes 4 comments 4
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The Music Box

Submitted to Contest #121

I don’t know what you expected me to say to her, Jonathan. She is very excited about this new chapter of her life. A divorce is never easy, but a third divorce? Which is to say nothing about all the separations. She and Kasta separated four or five times before they finally made it official, and every time she’d kick him out, along would come a new vocation. Our daughter is a hobbyist who fancies herself a professional--that’s the trouble. It’s gotten so bad I now veer her in the direction of labeling herself an “artist” even though she’...

26 likes 10 comments 10
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Meter

Submitted to Contest #121

“You have got to be kidding!” If it had been a different morning, things might have gone a different way, but here she was, once again, taking a pile of abuse from another driver who did not put enough change into the parking meter before heading in to buy something in what looked like a very upscale store. She noted that the woman staring daggers at her had two very large bags in her hands and was driving an SUV. And was this a zone for only handicapped parking? No, that was not under her jurisdiction. She only covered what the city demande...

25 likes 4 comments 4
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Nobody's Fool

Submitted to Contest #121

There’s no doubt about it. Olga and I are grateful to the state for allowing us to work at the Hotel Cosmos. At our time in life and advanced age, there aren’t many other countries that would look after us in this way. We get to see each other at lunchtime and the chef saves us a plate of the day’s special for our evening meals. If it weren’t for the relentless nature of the work and the freezing cold conditions, we’d be laughing all the way home.#Vladimir is a stubborn old fool, but he’s my silly old fool and after sixty years of marriage, ...

24 likes 4 comments 4
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The Magic Potion

Submitted to Contest #121

"That's Clara," the child's voice whispered from behind, "She's a witch." Maggie looked up to see the woman with long black hair wearing an orange jogging suit, balancing herself on a cane as she walked down the sidewalk. "And just how do you know?" Maggie asked looking over her shoulder at the red-haired freckle faced girl pointing across the street. "I snuck in her house once." "And what did you find?" "A million burning candles, a hundred potion bottles and six black cats." "My goodness. I guess Clara really is a witch." Maggie held back ...

22 likes 5 comments 5
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Reflections

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

TW: Brief mention of suicidal thoughtsWe had been dating for three years before we decided to end it. It was mostly mutual, or at least that’s what we agreed to call it. I hated his red couch, and we sat there with stiff backs and fidgeting fingers. It was his home so he felt more in place than I did. My heart never settled in the crooks and angles of his muddy studio apartment. Isolated from the rest, the couch’s vibrant nature was meant to “spruce up the place” but I think he forgot to realize that when everything looked so dead, putting s...

21 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

The Guitar Player

Submitted to Contest #121

“Thanks a lot,” I say. I sigh and bend down to pick the crumpled one-dollar bill that landed in front of my feet on the sidewalk. I’m not homeless by the way, I just like to sit on the street corner to play my guitar. The streets are littered with leaves that scrape along the asphalt in the crisp autumn breeze. Sometimes when I play, I watch them float and dance as though they’re moved by the music. On nights like tonight, my breath gets caught in the streetlights when I sing, and people pass by bundled up in their coats walking back fr...

20 likes 8 comments 8
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Summoned

Submitted to Contest #121

Tom said, “Thank you.” He shook his head. “No. Not sarcastic. How do I make it sincere…? I thank you!” He stamped his foot. “To what can I… Keep it simple. How can I thank you…? Too tentative. Mean it. I’m honored…” He hissed in frustration. “This is a one shot deal. Thank YOU. THANK you. THANK YOU… No! No!” He stopped walking and looked about. The road stretched for miles. Tom Legato couldn’t afford transportation. He walked alone. He was a simple cat. ‘Not a meerkat as some ignoramuses say.’ The occasional carriage rattled by, stirring u...

20 likes 5 comments 5
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Thank You

Shortlisted for Contest #121 ⭐️

**TW** Mention of death, suicide, and mental health. To say my job is hard, it’s an understatement.  I am one of the thousands of workers allotted to take people away after they pass. People call us Death. We don’t look the way people describe us in the media, there isn’t a dress code. We don’t wear long black cloaks and carry a menacing scythe. How we look varies on each one of us. I am light, I am scary, and I am inevitable. That’s the only way to describe me.  The unfortunate part of my job starts when I arrive at the scen...

20 likes 6 comments 6
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A sequined dress, a pair of cha-cha heels and a box

Submitted to Contest #121

It's November 30th, 1996. Surprisingly, there is no sign of snow in the Northern hemisphere. I was born and raised here. I remember, my mother looking through the window and praying for a green Christmas. She was a very superstitious woman, and she used to say that when winter was late, luck was near.I decided this morning that it was time for me to clean her dormitory. She passed away a week ago. For some people, it's too early and inconsiderate, but for me, she left a long time ago. Six months had passed since the unfortunate accident that...

19 likes 4 comments 4
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