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Start your story with an unexpected knock on a window.

Posted in Dark on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 138 stories

The Rest of Their Lives

Submitted to Contest #97

Trigger warning: ViolenceThis story is inspired by true events.“Ammi, I’m waiting,” I cried, gazing longingly at the empty plate in Ammi’s hand from which she’d just served the last makki ki roti (cornbread) to my elder brother, Ali.Abbu shot me a disappointed look from across the table. He loathed impatience.“Two minutes, Inaya,” said Ammi, wiping the sweat on her forehead with her dupatta as she disappeared into the kitchen where I could see my Chachi (paternal aunt) flattening a roti between her hands and placing it over the tawa. Overhea...

142 likes 100 comments 100
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Need a Friend

Submitted to Contest #97

The sound was faint, inaudible almost.My eyes instantly went to the curtains covering the window, the sound of tapping growing louder.There were only a few people I knew who knocked on windows at night, and only one who would knock on mine.As I got up from the bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I brushed away the possibility from my mind that it could be a kidnapper or a serial killer. No criminal would be polite or stupid enough to knock before entering.I also realized that no one would be polite or stupid enough to open the window to...

76 likes 36 comments 36
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When Wendy Grew Up

Submitted to Contest #97

Knock knock. I froze, staring at the window, feeling my eyes bug out of my head. The hell?I blamed the coffee, the late nights, and my dad's smoking while I was in the womb for this hallucination. I probably imagined-Knock knock! "Hey! It's me!"I groaned in annoyance while my panic melted away. "Seriously?" Sweeping aside the curtain, I quietly pushed the window up, glaring at the sandy, curly-haired boy who stuck his head in."Hey, Wendy, long time no see!" Naturally, he spoke as loud as humanly possible."Peter, shh!" I clapped a hand over h...

58 likes 22 comments 22
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I Await Thee Ravens, Among The Briars

Submitted to Contest #97

The bird flies at me, it’s sharp beak pointed at my eyes. It lunges and I duck, screaming. It’s talons get tangled in my long, golden brown waves. As it tries to fly away, I can feel some hairs giving way and snapping, allowing the bird to get farther into the sky.  I yank at my hair, trying to untangle the raven, but it’s beak stabs at my hand, and I feel something cool leak over my skin. A second later pain follows, and I draw my hand back, examining the blood that pools over my light creamy skin, the two colors contrasting, almost re...

45 likes 12 comments 12
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After Five Years

Submitted to Contest #97

It was one of the lazy Sunday evenings where I would lie on my bed with my favorite coffee mug in hand, reading a random Nancy Drew novel, sipping coffee and dreading about going to work the next day, when suddenly I heard a knock at my window which made me jerk, dropping my favorite coffee mug on the floor which broke into a hundred pieces. "Hey Miss Nancy Drew! I just knew I would find you on your bed reading a Nancy Drew novel with your favorite coffee mug in hand." "Shit.. shit.. shit.....I..I'm so sorry I didn't mean to..." "Na...

33 likes 7 comments 7
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The White Woman

Submitted to Contest #97

Author's Note: This is actually a story I submitted as an application to a writing class. I wrote it last year, so it's probably a little bit different from my other stories; either way, I wanted to post it, so I hope you like it! “Essie, give me a piggyback ride!” Harold shouted. I looked up from the essay I was writing. “I’m busy right now,” I said, scribbling down a few more words. My three-year-old brother looked up at me with his big brown eyes. “Please, Essie?” He pleaded in his I’m-cute-so-do-what-I-want voice. “Pretty please? ...

33 likes 22 comments 22
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The dead sometimes do come back

Submitted to Contest #97

3 days before camp. Knock knock. A sound came from the downstairs window. Silla with a bat in hand tiptoed to the window and moved the curtains slightly. She saw no one outside and thought it was the wind but before she could fix the curtain and head back to her room a figure jumped out and revealed itself. Silla ran to turn on the porch lights and saw it was her husband, Henry, standing outside. She opened the door and let him in. “You almost gave me a heart attack” Silla said smiling while also punching Henry in the shoulder a few times. “...

31 likes 8 comments 8
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Reflections Upon My Death

Submitted to Contest #97

The last sound I heard in life was a soft thump on a window. And I’m glad.If I was a better man, maybe I could say that I wish it had turned out differently, that if I had to die it should have been surrounded by my children, or laying chest to chest with my sweetheart, and maybe if I had planned for Tuesday to be my last day on Earth I could have arranged for it to happen that way, but I can’t change the facts now.Life happens, that’s what I always tried to explain to Kathy; life just happens and we’re along for the ride and what can you do...

28 likes 8 comments 8
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Captured

Submitted to Contest #97

The night was filled with silence - echoing, screaming silence. The kind of silence where you can just know something bad is about to happen.  No one needs to tell you anything, and already you can feel yourself on edge, waiting for some sort of tragedy to strike you down.  It was the kind of silence Rebecca spent her life plotting to avoid, and yet it was the kind of silence she was now confronted with. A sharp knock on the window was what startled her.  It was urgent and loud, piercing through the eerie silence, and as s...

27 likes 2 comments 2
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Monkeys

Submitted to Contest #97

It is said that we all have evolved from primates. Monkeys are said to be one of our most resembling animals in the world. There are a lot of expressions and sayings related with monkeys like cheeky monkey, don't monkey around, monkey business, and many more. We often call the naughty members in our family or friends as 'monkeys'. Monkeys have also been portrayed in many movies. In the 'Night at the Museum' franchise, the monkey, Dexter is shown as a very funny and sometimes irritating monkey. In the 'Jungle Book', monkeys are shown in the '...

25 likes 59 comments 59
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Night Visitor

Submitted to Contest #97

Night VisitorBy Merry Marcellino             Tap, tap, tap. My eyes flew open! Tap, tap, tap. Someone was tapping on my bedroom window. Maybe it was a tree branch. The oak tree overlooked my bedroom and sometimes stray branches would touch my window if the wind was strong enough. There was no balcony and the tree branches that reached my window were too thin to climb or hold a person’s weight.         &n...

24 likes 10 comments 10
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Do You Know What I Mean?

Submitted to Contest #97

I’m having my first cup of coffee at the absolutely ridiculous hour of 2:20 a.m.At 42, which might be the meaning of life, but a shit age to be female, my body went completely rogue on me.I gained 40 pounds in the course of three months; my circadian clock decided that anywhere from midnight to 3 a.m. were perfectly appropriate times to say, “Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey.” Quite enthusiastically at that. But at 46 now, I'm used to it in a weird way. I don't curse about much anymore at least.The husband tells me, “Just go back to sleep,” as if...

24 likes 4 comments 4
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Drip Drop Tippity Tap Who Is That?

Submitted to Contest #97

**WARNING SELF HARM TALK** Zylix wasn't a normal kid but who ever thinks they are? Without the average it's just a sea of average anyway since then the great will be normal. Zylix just liked getting through the day and waiting for Tristan, their best friend on the whole planet. Tristan came late at night, after the sun went down and those gorgeous stars started to twinkle. Zylix adored the stars, there were thousands of them but they were all so unique, so beautiful. Zylix could stare at the stars until the sun came again and still admired t...

23 likes 2 comments 2
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Challenge

Submitted to Contest #97

Sia was jolted awake by the ringing of something against the hull. There shouldn’t be any debris or asteroids in this region, but there it was again. It was...rhythmic? She sat the pilot’s seat up in time to see a figure in a vac suit slapping their hand against the forward window. A rub of her eyes and shake of her head convinced her that she was awake, and this was real. “I’m opening the airlock.” She hoped they were in firm enough contact with the hull to hear her amplified voice vibrate through the hull and their own suit. The airlock ...

22 likes 2 comments 2
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Corvids and Covid.

Submitted to Contest #97

There is a common superstition that to see a single magpie will bring sorrow. It is especially bad if the magpie appears at a window. In this case, it as said to be an omen of death for one of the occupants of the house. So perhaps some people would be less excited to be laying in bed with a potentially deadly virus, and be awakened my a magpie tapping at the window, but I don't believe superstitions, and to me, it was like a visit from an old friend. I wasn't always a bird person. I didn't dislike them, they were animals and I liked a...

22 likes 2 comments 2
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