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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story titled 'Desperate Remedies'.

Posted in Dark on Apr 26, 2024

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✍️ 65 stories

“Desperate Remedies” by Melissa Van Rensburg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #248

Was she taunting me? I was jolted awake by a strange sound — pee-pee-paw, pee-pee-pee-paw. It drilled into my skull, causing shockwaves, though that might also have been the alcohol. I forced my eyelids open a fraction, afraid to face the light. It having been New Year’s Eve, I at least had an excuse for a change. For the first time in five years, I greeted the new year alone. What kind of new bird could this be? I went outside to look for the source of my annoyance. A female tui. I could tell because of the size and plumage. Stran...

72 comments 72
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“Desperate Remedies” by Bruce Carrington

Submitted to Contest #248

Marlon Brando got it. He understood the craft. He was disliked by his costars. They called him ‘frustrating’, ‘unpredictable’, ‘difficult’. Short-sightedness was the common feature among the people working with him. They couldn’t see beyond his intricacies. But their worst sin was that they couldn’t comprehend that art requires sacrifice. I got it. I understood it perfectly. I, like Brando, was an artist in the truest sense. I, like Brando, would be misunderstood at first but it would not matter in the end. The thing is, Brando never even th...

28 comments 28
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“DESPERATE REMEDIES (AGAINST ALL ODDS)” by Darvico Ulmeli

Submitted to Contest #248

The pain hit me with a ferocity that stole the air from my lungs, a sudden onslaught that shattered the fragile veil of sleep. It was as if the night had turned against me, unleashing its wrath in searing agony. With a guttural cry, I was torn from the embrace of dreams and hurled into the harsh reality of my torment. Clutching my abdomen, I doubled over in agony, the weight of my own body crashing down upon me like a ton of bricks. It was a visceral assault, a symphony of agony that reverberated through every fiber of my being. Each wave of...

32 comments 32
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“Desperate Remedies” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #248

The Golden God was beginning the languid descent towards his home beyond the horizon, casting a brilliant tinge across the embankment sheltering the trees. The river, a smooth glass of serpentine fluidity, reflected the blazing orb as it neared the jagged peaks that devoured it every night. On the shore, a man as stout and squat as the rocky escarpments surrounding the valley advanced with unwavering resolve, his broad brow furrowed with worry as he pushed onward into the formidable landscape.In the dimming radiance of a setting sun, Druk, w...

14 comments 14
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“Desperate Remedies” by Martha Kowalski

Submitted to Contest #248

Community Hospital – Cardiology Department Diagnostic & Treatment Confidential Conference Room  RE: Case #00411325, Name redacted, Age 20 (DOB redacted)    Diagnosis: CardiomyopathyMedications: ACE inhibitors (prescription details redacted)  Proposed Treatment: Heart transplant from out-of-bounds donorNotes: Patient currently is on list of above medications and extra dosage of Community-issued suppressants. Patient responds well to medication but shows no improvement in heart function. Still a...

14 comments 14
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“Desperate Remedies” by James Vogner

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #248

This story includes sensitive topics including mental health, gore, and self harm. I didn’t tell my mouth to rip the flesh off my arm. I didn’t even let myself think about it. Instead, I concentrated on the muscles just below the cheek. I tightened them with no more expression on my face than if I were reading the newspaper. Dark red blood began to squirt into my mouth and onto my face. I could feel Brian panicking, but his voice was quiet, like a man trapped in a padded room about to be filled with gas. A warmth filled my mouth, and a text...

6 comments 6
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“Desperate Remedies” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #248

Jake had been deputy sheriff for about three weeks when the stranger drove into town. At first, he was puzzled: he’d thought he’d met everyone in this God-forsaken place – hell, he saw most of ‘em in the saloon every night – but this man was unknown to him. And then, as the horse slowed to a halt and long, lean limbs unfolded themselves from the driver’s seat, he realised his mistake. Years of hardship had etched lines on the woman’s face, but he thought she would be beautiful if she ever smiled.       &nbs...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #248

“Did you ever see the movie ‘First wives club’?” Tiny asked the other two guys seated next to him.Everyone in prison had a nickname. Tiny was so named because of his size. He stood a hulking six and a half feet tall and looked like he could play linebacker for the Green Bay Packers. He and the others were sitting in the day room, shooting the breeze. There was a lot of time to kill when one was in the joint doing time. The day room was surprisingly empty save for their little group. Most of the other inmates had gone back to their cells afte...

9 comments 9
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“Desperate Remedies” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #248

Joaquin found himself in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Late for his meeting, attempting to avoid a clogged freeway, he took an exit. Now he was in it deep. Food trucks and sidewalk vendors lined the congested street. Brake lights glowed. Small time entrepreneurs moved from car-to-car hawking food, flowers and souvenirs. Colorful flags snapped in the breeze. A busker played an accordion. The mood was festive. Joaquin wasn’t in the mood.His autodial called the office where his meeting awaited. Project developers wanted his input. And dollars.The...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Orwell King

Submitted to Contest #248

I can still feel the weight of my daughter's frail body in my arms as I trudged through the dark, rain-soaked streets of New Orleans. Her sickness had defied every remedy, every doctor's prescription, every whispered prayer. My little girl, once full of laughter and mischief, had become a ghost of herself, pale and weak, her eyes haunted by pain.I had scoured every inch of this city for a cure, from the sterile clinics of uptown to the dingy bars of the French Quarter where rumours and shadows judged every footstep. It was in those shadowed ...

4 comments 4
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“Desperate Remedies” by Robert Pyke

Submitted to Contest #248

Diffident knuckles rasp at a hospital room door already ajar. A black, wrinkled hand pushes the door open. A hoarse whisper, “Willa?” A slow step, almost a shuffle, into the room. A wizened face pokes through the doorway, a mix of curiosity, anxiety, and guile. “Willa?” Willa, wasted, charcoal gray face leached of its former ruddiness, shuts her eyes, recognizing the voice. “What do you want, Bitsy? Missing that alimony?” Bitsy lowers his gaze and, with an apparent effort, brings it back to her face. “Just wanted to see you, baby.” Willa sta...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #248

Norman was the first up. He was always the first up and also the first downstairs. This was his routine and in the solitary minutes afforded to him as he made his mug of tea and toasted his bread, he could taste the flavours of another life dancing upon his forlorn tongue. Mug in one hand. Half remembered buttered toast in the other, he stared out into the world and wished himself just a few yards hence. That was all it would take. To step through the prison of glass before him and be swept up and away by the wind. A fallen leaf carried off ...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Thomas Wetzel

Submitted to Contest #248

When the birds all started dying, that’s when it began. Of course we didn’t know that at the time, but looking back now it’s easy to see that was the first sign. We just didn’t know what we were looking at. What it meant. I remember getting the phone call on a Sunday morning when I was at home, sleeping in late.“Hey Jordan, have you been outside yet today? Just wondering if you are seeing what I’m seeing here. This is…pretty disturbing.”After a brief conversation I hung up the phone, put on my sneakers and went out for a jog. It was hard to ...

4 comments 4
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“Desperate Remedies” by Kristina Hopper

Submitted to Contest #248

“There is this desperate need to always afflict. To run. To create destruction. To drop proverbial bombs that detonate on arrival. It is an empty feeling. It is what you are calling survival.”               Rachel Wallace shifted in her seat. She held onto the glass of water, in her hands, too tightly but she desperately had a feeling of needing something to hold onto. Her therapist, Cecil, waited patiently for Rachel to regain some semblance of calm. She reached out with ...

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“Desperate Remedies” by Hope Linter

Submitted to Contest #248

Kyle pulled back Melanie’s hair that fell limp over her gaunt cheek and tied the food bib on her. She placed her hand on his, her muscles involuntarily jerking; she could no longer hold her eating utensils. He knew how hurt and challenged she felt like this, and when she thought he was out, he heard her raging and it broke his heart.  “I really like the texture of this food,” she said, after he spoon fed her from the bowl of processed dinner.  “And the taste?” he said, ignoring the bitter edge of her sarcasm. “Let me guess, carrots...

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