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Start your story with a character struggling to remember the date, because every day is like the last one.

Posted in Dark on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 177 stories

The Longing

Submitted to Contest #84

Summer, 1961 My older sister moved back home after a month with a new accent and a listless gaze. She went away to forge new life for herself in Chicago when she was fifteen and returned without hope, her expression drawn and sad, her wallet full but her face empty. After she got back I’d wake up sometimes at night, from the heat, and her bed would be empty.  She and I didn’t go to school anymore, not for years. The superintendents didn’t think it was worth climbing the hill to check on us kids. It is hard to climb a thorny hill and co...

144 likes 44 comments 44
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Restart Button

Submitted to Contest #84

It only took ten seconds for it to sink in. I was bleeding badly from my abdomen. Where was all this blood coming from? I looked around at everyone running away from me. Where was everyone going? Help me, I'm bleeding. Buildings around me burned with hot heat. Grammy's Corner Store was being looted. People ran out with bags of food and large containers of soda pop. Two people were fighting over a Motorola, one of the ones that Grammy often had on sale. The ground was littered with shards of glass. An occasional brick was being thro...

79 likes 107 comments 107
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Parables and Pink Tutus

Submitted to Contest #84

~ Eventually, you’ll get tired of looking at all the crumpled paper cluttering what used to be your desk. Eventually, the coffee you made for yourself in your tiny room will run out, and you’ll get frustrated for no specific reason. Eventually, you’ll wonder what day it is, because you forgot to check your calendar and you just want an excuse to be lazy for a while. Either way, you’ll end up questioning the world and its choices—not that I’ve made any significantly better ones.  The family which lived here before were all-teeth...

74 likes 60 comments 60
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existential crises

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Submitted to Contest #84

** 40TH STORY**Song I listened to while writing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW9Fzwuf43c"Last stop, Market Street." I walk to the edge of the train when the doors open. My feet move forward but my mind needs to catch up. I shake the fog from my head and move forward. People crowd the subway station. There's a staircase marked "E" over to the left. I duck through the people running to catch the train. Moisture gathered in the corner of my right eye. It had been bothering me for five days now. Ever since... wait... five days ago. So t...

72 likes 231 comments 231
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Dreams of Reality

Submitted to Contest #84

“Okay people, time for attendance!”I jerked awake in my chair, causing the wheels to scratch my hardwood floor.“Jerry?”“Here!”I rubbed my eyes with my hands, realizing that I was in a Google Meet in the worst time of the day.Morning.“Kiana?”“Present!”I shook my body and released all the jittery thoughts bouncing around in my brain, and promised myself I would remember to do what I was supposed to do.What day was it?April 8, the computer read.“Farissa?”“Here,” I groggily squeaked out, turning my camera on just in time to see my teacher grin b...

68 likes 315 comments 315
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Last Light

Submitted to Contest #84

If only something would happen. What, he did not know. He couldn't recall the date; every day was like the one before. The screen door banged open."Jules, dinner is served."He stared out at the dimming light and the blue and purple floaters drifting about. The smokestacks along the horizon kept on smoking, and the group of men down by the mailbox kept on conversing, smoke from their pipes covering their faces.He could make out the voice of Mr. Robbins, who lived across the street and was usually hitting his dog with a cane, rambling on ...

63 likes 9 comments 9
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Where Darkness Blooms

Submitted to Contest #84

Her hair cascades down her waist, a small flower still planted behind her ear. Her olive eyes twinkling in the light. Her sweater falls down her shoulder, a rush of chilliness going down her spine.  She knows why it’s cold and she doesn’t care.  She tells herself it’s for the sake of rebellion, for the sake of love, for the sake of living her own life. She tells herself she’s doing something for the people of the Underworld, for her husband, for the darkness, for reality, where the light can’t seem to shine. She tells herself s...

43 likes 27 comments 27
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Ten Shades of Red (25 to Life)

Submitted to Contest #84

Cement walls make for poor companions. The days bled together like a load of whites with a single red sock. There were no windows to delineate night from day, sunrise from sunset. It was all the same washed out pink. Sleep was a way to keep track of time at first, but when her sleeping patterns slipped, so did her grasp on things. She turned to cigarettes as timekeepers, laying one down on the floor. Filter up for daytime, filter down for night. The temptation had been too much to handle though, although she'd genuinely tried to ho...

34 likes 18 comments 18
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Jack

Submitted to Contest #84

Time was meaningless in her sad sarcophagus of self-confinement.Liv had no idea what day, month, or season it was when her mother, Lydia, arrived at her door without notice. Or maybe there was notice. Liv hadn’t checked or charged her phone in hours, or maybe weeks. After Jack’s accident, the calling of well-intentioned friends eventually sputtered silent. The check-ins and chin-ups chattered themselves out. The thoughts and prayers moved on to other tragedies.But Liv was caught in the quicksand of devastation and burrowed deep under bl...

32 likes 14 comments 14
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Dear Diary

Submitted to Contest #84

Dear Diary,As you might have deciphered from my depressing rants, the lockdown has been going for a long time. My friend's circle group decided to hold a group call, to reminiscence those days, when we could actually meet each other. Somehow, the topic had shifted to birthdays and stuff.Rianna had asked me, about my birth date. She's new to our group, so I let the fact pass that she didn't remember my birthday and answered the usual. She was like, 'ooooh, it's coming soon, you must be excited.'Yes, sure, excited to spend my birthday alone.Bu...

30 likes 16 comments 16
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Two’s Company & Three’s A Crowd

Submitted to Contest #84

Don’t ask me what the date is, I don’t have a clue, and neither does my father; it’s not something we discuss anymore. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s early March 2021 because I set off just before the lockdown started, twelve months ago. At least I know the year which is more than I can say for him. Ralph’s been dipping in and out of the previous century like a slowly revolving door ever since I arrived.#I didn’t pay proper attention to the flu-like illness that was sweeping across East Asia until March 2020. Looking back through my iPhone’...

30 likes 2 comments 2
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2020 FOREVER

Submitted to Contest #84

(AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first book on here I hope you guys like it)  I felt the warm breeze on my face and, then I realized it was New years eve! I jumped out of bed and threw on a plaid shirt and some black tights. The sweet aroma of cinnamon floated up to my room and made me drool. My mom was making cinnamon rolls! I ran down the stairs and saw a plate of sweet rolls of deliciousness. I greeted mom and took a bite of the cinnamon roll, I saw her older sister, Lilianna texting on her phone. I rolled my eyes and looked over at my ol...

28 likes 5 comments 5
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Today, Yesterday or Tomorrow

Shortlisted for Contest #84 ⭐️

I woke up this morning to the sound of someone's dog barking, the same sound  I heard yesterday or was that the day before? I Lay there, staring at the ceiling, counting one, two, three...throw back the covers and roll out of bed. Groaning, my body sulks its way to the washroom, wanting to avoid my reflection but it’s there, the same as every day staring back at me with sallow eyes and pale skin. I pause for a moment and wonder when will it change? When will it be different? Scoop the coffee, pour the water, listen to the hum of the mac...

26 likes 8 comments 8
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Amidst the Ache

Submitted to Contest #84

In an attempt to shield her face from the rays of the rising sun that crept through her curtains and threatens to drag her back to reality, she rolled on her tummy with eyes shot and franticly perused the bed with her right hand in order to get hold of the duvet. On reaching it, she sadly hears her alarm clock wailing. “Don’t tell me its 9.00am already, I barely had enough sleep.” she said as she stretched her hand towards the bedside table on her left and turned off the alarm. Exactly three minute after she closed her eyes to slee...

25 likes 20 comments 20
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Rain Date

Submitted to Contest #84

Today is yesterday and will be tomorrow. Who said that? Macbeth, methinks. Or Vonnegut, maybe. I cannot tell them apart. It is not my fault. What beckons, confuses. This pool of blue. These azure pools. They would be alluring, were they not everlasting. Overshadowing. This cloud of gray. These drifting flocks and flecks of silver. They grimace at me, all the same, all blurred together. Perhaps they have no other nature, these clouds. They are all that has been up there for day after day. (If they cover the nights, I'll never know.) Thi...

24 likes 6 comments 6
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