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End your story with a character saying “Thank you, God. Thanks an awful lot.” (sarcastically or not).

Posted in Dialogue on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 43 stories

A Cult Unloaded

Submitted to Contest #132

Content warning: violence, references to sexual abuse, and language.Humble was coming, and he would keep them warm. They called themselves Unity. On January 6th at precisely 10:00 p.m. Unity crowded into the compound’s central tent, and the North Dakotan air frosted their bald heads. No one complained—no one dared speak—they all knew the rules.Beckett Gorman, Humbles second in command, prepared to start his “unloading.” He paced naked behind the tent. I’m going to die tonight, Beckett thought. The sharp winter winds drilled into him. Why isn...

28 likes 8 comments 8
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A Lot Can Happen in Five Minutes

Submitted to Contest #132

 CONTENT WARNING; STRONG LANGUAGE, SEX SCENES “11 minutes sir, until impact, that’s what CNN says.” Sir cowers on all fours, placing his desk between him and the nuclear warhead that is now minutes away from turning our school into a barbecue pit. He pokes his phone’s darkened screen hard with his index finger, tap, tap, tap. He’s trying to call his wife or kids or something; I doubt he has a mistress, not Sir. He’s going to tell them he loves them, apologise for being a lousy dad and a crap husband, sorry yet again for having ere...

26 likes 2 comments 2
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Missionary Position

Submitted to Contest #132

[TW: Possible strong language]At one time or another, each of us will pause to ask ourselves the age-old question What is the meaning of life? The natural follow-up to Why am I here? is Where am I going? For many, these moments of cosmic contemplation are short-lived. We pause, we reflect, maybe we vow to be a better person, to start giving to charity or going to church, and then we go right back to living as we were. Some, however, embrace these lucid intervals and use them to inspire real change.When Simon enc...

25 likes 7 comments 7
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A Family Attrition

Submitted to Contest #132

“Bless me father for I have sinned.” How many times have you heard that phrase? To me, they’re simply empty words on deaf ears from forced confessions of the indoctrinated - a practice passed down by each generation to the next gullible crowd of oppressed souls, fearful of divine retribution. I was born into an Irish Catholic family, so these archaic beliefs were acted out before me every Saturday and Sunday, firstly at confession then followed by the next evening with holy communion. As a reluctant child dragged to the weekly ritu...

23 likes 28 comments 28
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My Summer Friend

Submitted to Contest #132

"It will be a blast! You'll just love this college!"If I knew then what I know now, I would have slammed the door in her face and never looked back.Martha was my summer friend, my buddy. I was a kid that loved to swim and dream and talk about the future. I liked to listen to Martha talk about school in Massachusetts. I thought she was cool. The thing is, Martha had an overblown opinion of herself. There was no room for disagreement but try telling this to my fourteen-year-old self. There was no way I would think poorly of Martha. She was so ...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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THE DEVIL'S HARASSMENT

Submitted to Contest #132

Warning Includes violent scene: Free at last...free at last that's what I kept hearing in my head as I walked through the doors of freedom, the ones located at Ossining Prison in upstate New York. I laughed to myself as I remembered how many times, I said those words when leaving a prison, a few prisons. Seems like half my life was spent behind bars which is not a new story for a criminal like me. I could never shake that devil guy for long, he seemed to just show up and get on my shoulder and we would do it all over again. I had neve...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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Bruno

Submitted to Contest #132

I picked up the pen.  I put it down again. Picked it up, put it down.  Picked it up, put it down. Picked it up. Dear Mom,  I wonder what you would think of Tommy.  He seems nice and all, but a little bland.  I want adventure!  I want an adventurous boyfriend!  But I also want someone to hold me tight in the wintertime, and who will kiss me with abandon, and…sometimes I don’t know what I want.  Or who.  Should I stick with Tommy, for now?  Or is that just leading him on?  Perhaps it ...

17 likes 1 comment 1
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Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Submitted to Contest #132

Content Warning: religious trauma Melanie cringed as Cassie’s shrill voice rippled through the wood-paneled living room. “All right, ladies!” Cassie called out to the little clucking group of ladies before her, her back bent precariously over the silver DVD player that her husband had just bought for her. She had to have it for the Ladies’ Wednesday Night Bible Study; naturally, since it was for church, he obliged. But as Melanie sat cross-legged on the beige carpet, peering down at her own trembling hands, she wished she could fling t...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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Down in The Desert

Submitted to Contest #132

I was on the edge of the desert in Northern Nigeria, when my car broke down. It was midday, and the sun was beating down at its hottest. This was pre-Boko Haram country where people now get slaughtered for doing nothing. The fan belt had snapped and was still circling around as if to show me, as I lifted the hood. I knew I was in trouble. I had not seen a human being since leaving Kano two hours ago and, looking about me, I saw nothing but sand. Seeing the sand was new to me. We don't have sand back in London which I had left a month ago. I...

17 likes 7 comments 7
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The Ruby Vacuum Cleaner Salesman

Submitted to Contest #132

Noreen was home performing her daily cleaning ritual, which was fierce, as she firmly believed cleanliness was next to Godliness. She had been married to Fredrick, a pentecostal pastor for nearly 23 years at that point. They had a total of 8 children. Their children were in various stages of their walk with the Lord. Naturally, Fredrick and Noreen want salvation for all of them, but the bible is clear, true acceptance must be a matter of free will. Of all the children, Mookie was the most worrisome, as he had fallen in with a notorious stree...

17 likes 1 comment 1
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A Child's Penance

Submitted to Contest #132

A Child's Penance Saturday mornings began early for me. I was usually the first up, at least in my recollection, and the Three Stooges were always there to greet me. Mom slept in a little while but never failed to present us with stacks of pancakes with syrup, crispy fried bacon and cafe au lait (half Folger's and half whole milk) with lots of sugar. The day was spent meandering about the street we lived on, Rhapsody Drive. Our house backed up to a slough, or ditch, or what we called a bayou. It was simply a shallow r...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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Mistakes

Submitted to Contest #132

Trigger Warning: This story contains the use of a gun. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” That’s what Jerome always said. He must have willed his way into jail cause that’s where he’s been since he accidentally shot his best friend in the leg. This would have been fine if his best friend wasn’t Cappie, Pastor Mackenzie’s son, which would have also been fine if Pastor Mackenzie didn’t have it out for Jerome in the first place.According to Grandma, after the incident, Pastor Mackenzie was overheard saying that Jerome should have been ...

16 likes 1 comment 1
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French Doors

Submitted to Contest #132

Content warning: verbal parental abuse, mental illness, disordered eating.…and please God, help me to be more kind and patient and respectful, but brave, yes also, brave…She thought she heard the floor creak beneath someone's feet outside her door. Or maybe it was just the house settling? Making sure not to lift her head or neck, she slowly opened her eyes and shifted them as far as she could to the left before they felt sore and stuck. She tried to see if she could make out any shadows or figures through the sheer curtains they had placed o...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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Sleep Through Your Alarms

Submitted to Contest #132

WARNING: mentions of death He doesn’t really remember much of that night. Bits and pieces come back to him while he sleeps; they float through his dreams with piercing clarity, waking him to an erratic heartbeat and salt stained sheets.  Some things are clear, and he remembers them so vividly that he feels as though he’s reliving them.  Some things are blurry, and he doesn’t know how to explain to everyone that he feels as though he’s missing parts of his memory.  These are the things he doesn’t remember: #1: what ...

15 likes 2 comments 2
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The CheKa

Submitted to Contest #132

T he frightening news arrives that Lenin's dreaded secret police, the CheKa are in the area, searching for the Dyachenko family. For Bohdan Dyachenko to know that the CheKa is now hunting specifically for him, not just any bourgeois, is terrifying. It is equally worrying for the villagers, who realise that their risk is greater than before, as the CheKa must have information that the Dyachenko family is hidden close by. So far the villagers have avoided their village being trashed, by accepting the Red revolutionary demands. N...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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