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#259 The Elephant in the Room

Once in a while, we all have to calculate what is and isn't worth saying. Whether it's admitting our feelings to a crush, acknowledging the brewing tension in a friendship, or speaking up in the face of injustice, we sometimes have to carefully decide what to speak up about, and what is better left unsaid.


This week's prompts are about moments just like these, when the metaphorical "elephant in the room" becomes unbearably large, and we must choose whether to speak our minds, or to leave well enough alone...

🥇 Winner

Getting Better

Winner of Contest #259 🏆

The feeling was like sinking. Gert and the counselor drifted outside her field of vision; her breath halted. Sophie knew even if she could speak, her words would go unheard. She wanted to run out of the room, but thought better of it, so she sat, head in hand as if she were concentrating.  “Are you ok?” The counselor’s voice was even, warm. The clock ticking, the sound of Gert breathing next to her on the couch, the stare of the counselor, all irritated her. She took a deep breath, looked up.  Gert said, “We all want you to be ok.”...

73 likes 62 comments 62
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⭐️ Shortlisted

Team Meeting | 10 AM - 1hr

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

“Happy Monday everyone,” Suzanne burbled. Emma used a good deal of restraint and avoided rolling her eyes. A small victory. Her poker face was getting better.  “Now, everyone got the agenda. So first up, we have some housekeeping items. First, congratulations to Melinda, on her six-year work anniversary!”Emma dutifully hit the applause reaction button. Then the “celebration” reaction button. Then, finally, the “heart” reaction button. She watched as everyone else hit various reaction buttons.  Poor Melinda. Six years was a long tim...

27 likes 22 comments 22
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Tallow

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

I spotted the village from the train window. It emerged from grey fields, its houses crooked upon the short slope of a hillside. Tallow - that was its name - possessed a certain sadness, as if it longed to be forgotten. A manor, with its many wings and porticoes, loomed over the houses from the hill’s peak.  There were few signs of life when I exited the train. No one walked the streets and all the curtains were closed. It stunk of old cabbages and sulphur. In the distance, children played, but no school or playground existed ...

26 likes 25 comments 25
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Two Warriors

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

In the late hours of a hot summer day, two enemy warriors lay on a bloodied battlefield. Each has mortally wounded the other, and has lost their strength to land the fatal blow. Exhausted, sweating, and quickly losing blood, they sit up against opposite trees and face each other. One bears a red sigil across his chest and rests in the shade of his mighty oak. The other displays a blue crest across his shoulder and grows weak below the arms of a willow.The warrior wearing a red sigil slowly removes a pen and paper from his satchel, wipes...

21 likes 10 comments 10
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07-18-04

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

A burnt child loves the fire, I reminded myself as I crept closer to the writhing blue flames. I felt the heat on my chilled pale skin and exhaled.  I never wanted to leave the city this weekend, but when Clarke called me, I knew I had to oblige. I’ve always thought of myself as a good friend, but just like any other human, I have my intrinsic selfish nature. I would’ve much preferred sleeping inside my apartment with the TV lulling me to sleep and a Diet Coke on my bedside table rather than camping in the middle of nowhere. But it's b...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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The Things We Cannot Say

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

Is nobody going to say it? But I’m not brave enough to let the words pounding in my head cross my lips. My mom puffs on her cigarette, oxygen cannulas shoved upher nose, while her brand-new concentrator hums along with the cicadas. A monthin the hospital—four long touch and go weeks, one emergency surgery and thewords “stage four lung cancer.”  Yet, here she sits, as if nothing has changed. Old habits die hard, I guess. Her nightgown hangs loose around her from the weight she lost during her hospital stay. She blames it on the quality o...

14 likes 6 comments 6
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Blink and You’ll Miss It

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

Keith Mitchell awakes to the sound of a ringing bell. As it has been since the accident, there is a second of confusion at waking up somewhere that is not his mother’s house. It doesn’t take long for him to remember where he is - the Haxton Regional Rehabilitation Centre. He repeats the words to himself and that helps to clear the fog of sleep. Then, he turns to sit at the side of the bed, winces at the pain in his head and lifts the leg that is still in a cast to join his other uninjured leg. He’s become used to the dull, itchy feeling belo...

13 likes 10 comments 10
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This week's prompts

Write a story about two people who aren't admitting their true feelings for one another, despite it being obvious to outsiders.

Romance – 57 stories

Place your characters in a tough situation, where nobody wants to acknowledge the reality of what's happening.

Angst – 82 stories

Write a story that includes the line, "Is nobody going to say it?".

Dialogue – 81 stories

In a small town, a powerful family have a dark secret that nobody wants to discuss. One day, an outsider arrives, who's not happy to simply drop it.

Mystery – 46 stories

Set your story in a world where conversation about one particular topic is banned — but there are ways to get around the rule.

Dystopian – 25 stories

Stories

Getting Better

Winner of Contest #259 🏆

The feeling was like sinking. Gert and the counselor drifted outside her field of vision; her breath halted. Sophie knew even if she could speak, her words would go unheard. She wanted to run out of the room, but thought better of it, so she sat, head in hand as if she were concentrating.  “Are you ok?” The counselor’s voice was even, warm. The clock ticking, the sound of Gert breathing next to her on the couch, the stare of the counselor, all irritated her. She took a deep breath, looked up.  Gert said, “We all want you to be ok.”...

73 likes 62 comments 62
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Radio Romance

Submitted to Contest #259

This is the Philippines’ most romantic station, Radio Romance 101.9, where love comes to you in a melody. It’s been a lovely three hours, but I’ve got to go. Don’t worry, though, Caroline is next to take care of the music. This is Henry. Catch you tomorrow.***5 January 2024Dearest Caroline,Gawd, every single time I close my show with that familiar spiel, I just feel my heart drum right out of my chest.The routine has been etched into my head like grooves on an LP. You would wave at me from behind the glass, your large cocoa eyes scintillatin...

64 likes 70 comments 70
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Destined / Chance

Submitted to Contest #259

“Holy shit!” That’s what you say right before the big black out, not something prophetic or memorable, but a base utterance steeped in a casual strain of blasphemy. In the fleeting seconds that the words take form and flight, your brain cycles through a million images, memories plastered on a spinning reel. You brace for the impact of all the accumulated choices, stunned by the inevitability. The blur of your life becomes a recognizable whole. you shouldn’t have read that extra chapter last night of Trudy Jas' latest novel / if only you hadn...

49 likes 29 comments 29
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Why Did That Two-legged Pirate Invade My World?

Submitted to Contest #259

Lost. Confused. Scared. Discombobulated. Yes, especially discombobulated. I think. If discombobulated means I'm freaking out that Arrow will be like Jack, then I'm extremely discombobulated. Why did that two-legged pirate invade my world? I was fine before he showed. Happy even. Now?I tried sewing to give myself something else to think about, but after stabbing myself three times, I gave it up. Thinking of Jack was similar to my needle. Both caused stabbing pain. I remember the first stab - a slap across my face. It was mild compared to the ...

35 likes 25 comments 25
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Where's the Elephant?

Submitted to Contest #259

Where's the Elephant?Barry ambled across the park-like grounds of the facility and pulled on the long brass handle to the double doors of the low stacked stone building with the thick columns to make his entrance. He was met by a uniformed personnel member bustling about performing her duties. “Excuse me, I'm look...” “About time you got here. You're running late. If you want to work here you gotta learn to be on time.“ The worker, 'Buffy' according to her name tag, chastised the new hire. “Grab a bucket and mop from that closet and join in....

35 likes 45 comments 45
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Concordia Comes Home

Submitted to Contest #259

It came at her with a high-pitched wail and thick froth foaming from its mouth, black eyes wide on bald head, stubby limbs flailing as tainted feathers slipped from its wings.“Scelus!” she gasped, as the prune-skinned not-child crashed into her, knocking her into a wall that wasn’t a wall. Grasping the pair of swallow-small wings protruding from the creature’s shoulders, she tried to hold it back while it pawed at her chest. “Get off me!”The ‘wall’ behind her shifted and two pillar-like arms shot forward, one of them clamping around the todd...

35 likes 22 comments 22
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It Ends With Us

Submitted to Contest #259

With exquisite skill and talent, Matt Perucho would show her the man he was. No longer would he be the dorky Asian kid, but with her on his arm, the coolest guy in school. He knew this was his chance to impress Lani Macatangay, his true love.He felt the three rubber balls in his pocket, then tapped his foot; pressed his pants straight with his hands, and pulled at his collar.In his best suit, bought for his cousin’s wedding last summer, he practically sparkled in the pale blue with a matching tie. He knew he looked good in it, his ...

30 likes 35 comments 35
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Miracle for a Horse Named Ginger at the Mystical Coast

Submitted to Contest #259

The ocean was flat and calm. The sun was down. The afterglow was orange. The air was still.It was a beautiful evening. It was a terrible evening. It was the day of the accident. It was the day of the miracles.The lighthouse beacon rotated across the shores and the sea, flashing on the scene at the lighthouse keeper's barn near the house. Twelve-year-old Elsie kneeled next to the little red filly, Ginger. Still only a five-month-old foal, Ginger was sprawled on the ground with her long legs folded, in the corral near the lighthouse....

29 likes 35 comments 35
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Was He Okay?

Submitted to Contest #259

(TW …  depression and suicide) He was sullen. Again. He was sleeping all day. Again. “What’s with that kid?”  “Leave him alone. He’s fine,” I hissed, not wanting to be overheard. “He should be helping. It’s not fair. Why do I have to do this shit by myself?” My older son was right. It wasn’t fair. I stood outside my younger son’s closed bedroom door contemplating my choices. “Hun, you ok?” I could ask tentatively, only for him to reply, “What do you want? Leave me alone.” “Get up.&n...

27 likes 18 comments 18
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Team Meeting | 10 AM - 1hr

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

“Happy Monday everyone,” Suzanne burbled. Emma used a good deal of restraint and avoided rolling her eyes. A small victory. Her poker face was getting better.  “Now, everyone got the agenda. So first up, we have some housekeeping items. First, congratulations to Melinda, on her six-year work anniversary!”Emma dutifully hit the applause reaction button. Then the “celebration” reaction button. Then, finally, the “heart” reaction button. She watched as everyone else hit various reaction buttons.  Poor Melinda. Six years was a long tim...

27 likes 22 comments 22
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New Hamburg

Submitted to Contest #259

Out of order. Of course the ATM would be out of order. Steve sighed and peered in through the bank's huge windows at the long line inside. A light, clean breeze danced around him and lifted the "out of order" sign, giving him a peek at the outdated keypad and sunbaked screen beneath. The machine had to be at least thirty years old.He glanced over his shoulder at the car. The car. He growled impatiently. He needed gas. The only gas station in town was cash-only. He wouldn't make it another mile up the mountain without filling up.Steve took a ...

26 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

Tallow

Shortlisted for Contest #259 ⭐️

I spotted the village from the train window. It emerged from grey fields, its houses crooked upon the short slope of a hillside. Tallow - that was its name - possessed a certain sadness, as if it longed to be forgotten. A manor, with its many wings and porticoes, loomed over the houses from the hill’s peak.  There were few signs of life when I exited the train. No one walked the streets and all the curtains were closed. It stunk of old cabbages and sulphur. In the distance, children played, but no school or playground existed ...

26 likes 25 comments 25
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WHISPERS OF MORTALITY

Submitted to Contest #259

In the world of Euthenica, the concept of death is not just taboo. Death does not exist. Centuries of scientific advancement have eradicated disease, aging, and crime. Under the omnipotent oversight of the Coalition of Continuance, a governing body that emerged from the most brilliant minds of the past, the utopian society has engineered a perfect existence. Genetic modification ensures that every individual is born without the capacity for malice, greed, or violence. People live for hundreds of years, their bodies perpetually rejuvenated b...

25 likes 18 comments 18
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The Red Rocking Horse

Submitted to Contest #259

Nobody thought to clean it up. If we did, it would mean it was broken. It was. It was broken. But there’s no explaining logic to a terrified child. Not even one who’s thirty-seven years old. I was thirty-one at the time. Muddle was thirty-three. I envied her. Thirty-three is the best age in the white room. You get extra food everyday. Nobody knows why. You also get to sleep on the cot with the softest pillows. After thirty-three, nothing good ever happened. Nothing we knew about anyway. Murmur was the thirty-seven year old. The one who could...

24 likes 16 comments 16
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An Inconvenient Grief

Submitted to Contest #259

December 24, 2003She draws me to her small chest, her sinewy arms closing around me, wrapping us in faux seclusion. I’m drowning in the scent of her cloying perfume. “Would it kill you to be a little more social? People are going to think you are rude!” She says with a smile that could shatter teeth. She takes another sip from her flute of water. For her, “water” consists of one part water, and three parts gin.Oh no, I might appear rude!? As if that would be the most horrific thing ever! ...

23 likes 23 comments 23
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