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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#80: Living History

It's an important truth that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves living through historical moments whether we’ve prepared for them or not.

 

This week, we’re going to examine all the ways that people live through — and shape — history. Whether that’s an important activist organizer, a daring political leader, or just someone trying to educate people on the past so they can avoid previous mistakes, history is made up the actions of each and every one of us. How will your characters change the course of their world?

🥇 Winner

“A Terrible Thing Has Happened” by Virginia Sackville-woolf

Note: Inspired by the children who found Virginia Woolf's body in The River Ouse in 1941 during World War II A TERRIBLE THING HAS HAPPENED There were two things Mrs L. M. Everland wasn’t. She wasn’t married. Never had been. And she wasn’t a good cook. “It’s rabbit,” she said, putting the chipped white plate down in front of Tabatha, “or it was...

162 comments 162
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“One Last Dance” by Rebecca Cole

If it was the end of the world, what would you do?For the citizens of Sector 20 of the Galaxy MW.43, this is not a hypothetical question. They have exactly 3 hours before everything they have ever known is gone. This once beautiful planet, reduced to floating debris, in some forgotten corner of the universe. Maybe the ashes of this dilapidated planet will one day become part of the stars again, or maybe they won’t, maybe this is truly the end of the story for the human race.While the rest of the planet ...

44 comments 44
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“I Heard A Rumor” by Michael j. Conroy

I heard a rumor. A rumor that the soldiers are using leather straps, a tree stump, and a mallet to break wrists. “It’s to stop us from talking,” Ingeborg whispers. “Can’t you hear the screams?”I answer no, say, “My bunk is on the West Wing; therefore, any scream would lose its momentum before it reaches my window.” Ingeborg speaks with her eyes; therefore, I don’t doubt her when she says she can still hear screams long after they’ve stopped. “Long after the sun has set,” s...

20 comments 20
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“Philadelphia 1918” by Fawn Marshall

Saturday, September 28, 1918 Today, we went to the big parade! I got to sit on Father’s shoulders for a while to wave at men with instruments and dancing ladies. Father put me down after a few minutes and told me I’m too big to sit on his shoulders anymore. My brother tried to climb up a lamp post to see the parade over all the other people, but Mother made him climb down.

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“My Dear Lethologica” by R. A.

I remember how, when I was young, I would sometimes stop to take a good look at my father. I would examine his strong jaw and the dark skin beneath his eyes and the smile that so charmed my mother, and I would stomp my little feet and shriek my little voice, and wonder, frustrated, what am I missing?My father was very patient with me, whenever I got like this. He would watch me watching him and smile, kindly, in a way I’ve since tried to emulate but have never quite mastered. Kindness, as ...

5 comments 5
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“A Silent Extinction” by Nico 93

The death of the last bumblebee feels like it should be stopping everyone in their tracks. I shut down my phone after reading the breaking news. It feels like radio listeners in their cars should be shocked to the point where accidents are skyrocketing. Like a couple of screams should be audible from apartment windows. My surroundings remains static as ever as the impersonal voice in my headphones repeatedly recount the ...

4 comments 4
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This week's prompts:

Write about someone who never planned to make history but is now about to deliver a speech in front of millions.

General – 119 stories

Write about a child witnessing a major historical event.

Dramatic – 258 stories

Start your story with someone entering a museum, and end it with them settling down to join a sit-in.

General – 50 stories

Write about an elderly character who was part of a historic movement years ago.

Historical Fiction – 148 stories

Start your story with a major news event breaking — one that will change the world forever.

Dramatic – 171 stories

Stories

“THE SAVIOUR ” by Hanifah Kaka

Ruth and Naomi were twin sisters living in Cross river state in the south eastern part of Nigeria. They had parents, but had a long time been separated from them, because of a practice which arose from a mere superstition which if hadn't existed, a lot of children would still be alive.It all began long ago. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Obi had been married for more than five years and never got to conceive. They sought several doctors, priests and herbalists but all were in vain. After so much praying and fasting, they managed ...

164 comments 164
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“A Terrible Thing Has Happened” by Virginia Sackville-woolf

Note: Inspired by the children who found Virginia Woolf's body in The River Ouse in 1941 during World War II A TERRIBLE THING HAS HAPPENED There were two things Mrs L. M. Everland wasn’t. She wasn’t married. Never had been. And she wasn’t a good cook. “It’s rabbit,” she said, putting the chipped white plate down in front of Tabatha, “or it was...

162 comments 162
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“I Can't Escape” by 【ↇ𝔸𝕂𝕆⇝𝔹𝔼𝔸ℝ 】

All of us soldiers were packed into a van, like cows in a pen. I saw the battlefield, with falling and fallen soldiers, with blood and rain carpeting the once-green field. Bullets were flying everywhere as the sound of firing and explosions rang through the battlefield. The soldiers in the front line dropped dead one after another like trees being uprooted in a massive tornado. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion...

34 comments 34
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“No time like the future” by Cj Liggins🏳️‍🌈

On March 3rd, 2021 the nationwide alert was heard on every T.V. screen, Radio, Phone, Tablet, Streaming service. Every electronic in the country was showing the same thing. “Disturbance, Covid-19 now known as the Zombie virus, is catching faster and faster. The world is under a complete shutdown, no human is allowed in or out of the house. I repeat Disturbance…”I turn to my brother quickly, the fear present on his face scares me more than the message itself.“What do we do?” I ask him quietly, I don’t want him to hea...

84 comments 84
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“Once upon a time, everything changed” by Moon Lion

"Good afternoon. Today I come before you to discuss the realities of the newest threat faced by this country." Philia looked up when her mother sucked in a terrified breath, clutching her hand. It bothered her, mommy took her happy medicine, but she was still sad. "Mommy, what's going on?" Philia asked, clutching at her coat. She was thirsty and bored and hungry, and she wanted to go home. ...

30 comments 30
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“A Shot in the Dark ” by Nainika Gupta

My friends are all gone.Naomi and Leah Baugh.The Nazis took them.And they never came back.One day we were playing marbles on the street with the other kids.The next their apartment was empty.Nobody was inside, I checked.Except for a scrap of lace on Naomi’s bed.Mama gets a scared look on her face when I mention my friends.Papa turns pale.And then they feed me some lebkuchen and put me to bed.They stay up for hours later, though, whi...

115 comments 115
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“Vainglory” by Zilla Babbitt

… Needless to say, I shall take advantage of the blessing of this platform granted to me, and declare now and for all that it was I who killed my cousin—I and no other, not his depression, not an overdose of sleeping pills, not unsuspecting investigators. You cannot even blame the .38 pistol: it was all me. You may carry me away in chains, you may destroy me and my name just as I destroyed my cousin, but you can never…I slapped my notebook shut as a producer in a black dres...

29 comments 29
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“The Enemy*” by Litlover ⌛🌌🦢

TW: war, violence, PTSD   “Run, Percy! They’re coming!” The sound of gunshots infects the air, poisoning my ears. I can feel the gas seep in through the barracks, setting my lungs aflame. There is no mercy, no prisoners. Only pain and death. Tossing my rifle over my shoulder with a grunt, I make for the next camp. You didn’t need to be in the crossfire to know what was going on outside. The Nazis had come, and they would kill us all.    Running ac...

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“My Torment in the Tower” by 山.w. S𝓀y฿elle

September 11th, 2001Two World Trade Center (the South Tower)New York City, New YorkI pressed my hands to the glass and gazed at the streets and people below. They seemed so tiny and insignificant. I stared at dad in amazement. ”This place is incredible! I can’t believe you work here! I can’t imagine coming here every day.”Dad smiled.“I’m glad you like this place. I knew you would.”I grinned. ...

156 comments 156
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“The Edge of Time ” by Nainika Gupta

March 1807John Coulter slowly took off his hat and fell to his knees, staring down at the canyon glowing with dark orange, yellow, and tinges of red hues. The roaring river fell hundreds of feet and meandered its way down the canyon that it had carved into for millennia. A sharp cry made him flinch and his eyes tracked the flash of brown and white as an osprey carrying a fat trout winged its way to its nest. He smiled as he watched it drop the carcass to its hungry chicks and returned to gape at what he had quite literally...

137 comments 137
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“The Box of Life” by Emily Grice

                              The Box of Life The city of LVIV (formerly Poland until the Nazi invasion). Now Ukraine, USSR. June 1941. ‘Take this and hide it.’ Father presses a wooden box to my chest. The box I was forbidden to touch when I ...

42 comments 42
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“Fault of the Night” by Izzie P.

I knew that life was short. Right from the very beginning. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself passing through your years- starting from year one. It’s hard to believe how fast time flies. One second you have a clean slate, and the next- “Carni! You must see this!” my dad whispered.  “Carni!” my dad repeated. He poked me in the ribs.  I giggled and smiled at him, letting ...

9 comments 9
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“The First Sit-In” by 山.w. S𝓀y฿elle

February 1st, 2019   “The New York Museum of American History.”   I read the sign on the door as I walked in. The sign really was beautiful. Bold, green letters, like the sign was letting you know that this was the best museum ever, and you should never doubt it. Swirls of red, white, and blue bits of color that seemed to be splattered on the sign randomly. And that’s what made it pretty. It was splattered in the sense of a chaotic mess, but it was free and lively. Not li...

78 comments 78
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“The Agony of Licinia” by Litlover ⌛🌌🦢

Limestone. God, I hate limestone. The dreadful color it reflects across the street and downtown from the museum steps is enough to make you despise it forever. In fact, not even pretty-princess pink defiles my neurons as much as the color of aged limestone. That day, when my class was on a field trip at the Met, I barfed inwardly, feeling no shame in my disgust.Mr. Mercurio, his long rimmed mustache curling in the fuzzy museum light, kept asking us to come check out the ancient Rome section. Not that we hadn’t learned ab...

125 comments 125
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“Let's Act Now” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Hello all! I want to thank all of you for being the best audience you can ever be. I honestly never imagined giving my story in front of so many people!  I would like to start from the very beginning of my life. My name is Johanna Mary Katherine. Many people like to call Joe, Mary, or J.K. (pun intended).  As a child, say about six or seven, I have always been fascinated by Earth. About evolution of the bio...

59 comments 59
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$50

Prize money

827

Submissions

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 12, 2021 EST

Won by Virginia Sackville-woolf 🏆

Title: A Terrible Thing Has Happened

Winning stories will be featured on our website and in our weekly newsletter. For more information, please consult our terms of use.

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