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Start or end your story with a house going up in flames.

Posted in Dark on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 55 stories

Burned To Regret

Submitted to Contest #108

The flames roared around me as my lungs fought against the smoke penetrating my air ways. I coughed into my hands, my blistering, burned hands, as pieces of spittle flew through my cracked lips. I peered through the thickening smoke, the walls around me blacked and broke, thick smoldering pieces falling around my crouched body. Ember sparks flew with each piece that cracked against the floor. In this horrible moment, I was thankful I had shaved my head two nights ago. The idea of my skull burning by now made my heart skip a beat. I shook m...

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The Stranger

Submitted to Contest #108

The Stranger He poked at the gravel with the toe of his boot, his brain going at a hundred miles an hour trying to get himself out of the hole he’d found himself in.            The accountant had been with his boss when he arrived back at the homestead. As she walked to her car, she saw Fraser pull up. She crossed the driveway, taking in the condition of the ute and fixing him with a deathly glare.            A galah streaked throug...

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Red in the Silver, Silver in the Red

Submitted to Contest #108

Red in the Silver, Silver in the Red Then It was hardly difficult, almost a ritual by now. All she had to do was excuse herself to the bathroom. Silently edge into the kitchen instead. Rummage for the oil and grin mirthlessly to herself about how they would never grill a steak again, what with her putting all the oil to better use. Drizzle the oil around, while sauntering through their house, staring at their pictures on the wall. Step out into the cold, black outside. Go around their sweet, cozy house, humming, the oil bottle nearly emp...

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A Mother's Cross

Submitted to Contest #108

In all aspects of life, we take on a part and an appearance to seem to be what we wish to be--and thus the world is merely composed of actors. -Francois de L Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680) She could see it now, the flames licking the bright yellow paint. Kissing the white trim before overtaking the façade. Ember’s and flames would dance in the night sky, while twinkling stars would waltz to the sound of the roaring. Her shoulders settled, and her clenched jaw loosened as her eyes closed. With a deep breath, she regained composure and responded...

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Firehouse Fido

Submitted to Contest #108

In 1905, the Morrises were living happily in their Victorian styled mansion in Sulphur Springs, Ohio, named after its sulfur mineral springs near the town. The Morrises weren’t the only ones very happy. Their pet dalmatians, Ontario and Onyx, gave birth to a healthy little dalmatian puppy. They named her Darleen because she was the most darling thing in the world. Darleen loved her family with all her heart. There was never any day where she wouldn’t want to be with them.   On spring days, when the Morrises would go on picnics i...

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How Slowly Thaws the Frozen Heart

Submitted to Contest #108

   They’d always called her cold, even when she was a child. Detached was what they really meant, but there were implications to that word and how it would apply to a child as young as nine that no one wanted to face.    Cold was a simpler definition. Cold could mean shy, or uninterested, or antisocial, which were all perfectly normal (if undesirable) things for a child to be. It didn’t hold all the nasty assumptions detached held, even if it meant the same thing in the end. Cold was easier to live with,...

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Jonny Firestone

Submitted to Contest #108

The hardest part was watching another building disintegrate before his eyes. Fire and destruction were a simple truth for Jonny Firestone. He stood barefoot on the curb; his smiley-face pajama pants clung to his frame, saturated in the light but persistent drizzle. He'd love to have his shirt and shoes, but with the house lit up like a sacrifice to the storm, clothes were a pipe dream.Sirens wailed in the distance, adding to the snapping crackle of the burning house and pitter patter of rain. The squat home had been cute. Single story, with ...

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Flames of Redemption

Submitted to Contest #108

Flames licked the soffit that ran along the underside of the roof, long thin fingers slid upward and touched the outer edge of the shingles. Asphalt dripped as the shingles began to curl into themselves. The siding beneath the soffit turned the color of toasted marshmallows and began to peel away as sirens wailed out into the dim morning light.  Standing side by side across the road, their arms crossed and their heads tilted in the same direction, Darian and Tess watched as the house was engulfed in flames.  “Well that was unex...

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Her

Submitted to Contest #108

I love the burn. One flick and the flame bursts forth between my fingers. It is so easy- just a roll of the thumb and I hold what mankind had taken eons to discover and harness. In the glow of the street light, I watch as the flame licks the air, a hungry tongue searching for something, tasting the night’s shadows. I release and the light vanishes. Another flick - the sound of my thumb against the metal - and it returns, still hungry, always hungry. I know it needs to feed soon. I know I cannot keep it waiting.     &nb...

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The Lick of the Flame

Submitted to Contest #108

My father called the tip of a candle light the lick of the flame. I never understood why, but neither did I understand why he would stare at a burnt candle for entire minutes. Watching it with such interest… as if the very sight of a small fire was more important than his own children. I had just turned old enough to drive when my mother has diagnosed with stage four cancer. She passed soon after, leaving my little sister and me with my depressed father. Since then I've had to drive my little sister and me so we don't miss school... or so w...

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Home Renovation TV on Steroids

Submitted to Contest #108

                         Home Renovation TV on Steroids1          I stood apprehensively, yet assuredly, tightly gripping the can of gasoline in my garage. Then I struck a match, ready to destroy the dwelling that, of late, had brought so much mental--and potentially, fiscal--destruction to the lives of myself and my wife.         ...

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The Flames of Change

J W

Submitted to Contest #108

My fate in this world was sealed by those traumatic flames long ago; when Farlaie, 'The Second Crisis' hit my home on Earth. They were well-versed in pyromancy, operating at a skill above Eiris, who was 'The First Crisis', and even Count Bilaise, who was rumored to have the heat to melt tungsten. Do you know how unbelievable that is?! The power of this being surpasses the Fire Mage himself! Anyways…  My house was heavily lit on fire, it's a surprise I lasted as long as I did. My first mission was to find my older step brother, mothe...

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I Remember

Submitted to Contest #108

I remember.You were so good to me. I sat on the floor, in awe of you, combing my fingers through the long weave of the shag carpet. Discovering the patterns of sienna mixed with the varying tones of brown. Like tiger stripes in a dry savannah.Your voice was like a song. Talking and laughing as the sound of the dishwater cascaded from your hands in a splatter, to the plate in a high pitched rattle, and the pots with the peal of a bell.I can hear the faint Canadian Midwest, and even fainter Scottish accents on your Southern California voice. I...

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Magda against the world

Submitted to Contest #108

-Everything is blurry and confusing, where am I? The loud sound of the bedroom door being broken woke Magda up and it felt like a lightning hit her in the head. The air was filled with dark smoke coming from the fire. The hangover was brutal, and the reality was even worse: she was still alive. Carried out of her bed without realizing where she was or what day that was, Magda grasped: they have found me! Today was the day Magda has been waiting all along. Naked and zipping champagne at 9 am in the morning, feeling the crisp and fresh mornin...

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The New Boyfriend

Submitted to Contest #108

Nate’s father is out of the picture. That is all the background you need. It was just Nate, his younger brother Mason, and their mom. Nate was a fairly normal teenager. He went to school, rarely did his homework, had a knack for baseball and all things baseball-related, and absolutely loved his car. His 2009 Corvette got him anywhere he needed to be, along with the occasional girl in the passenger seat.   He had a passion that set him aside, though. Nathan Romano wanted to be a detective. His family lived in a pretty large suburb in Mas...

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