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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Start a story that begins with a character saying “Speak now.”

Posted in Dialogue on Mar 17, 2023

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✍️ 86 stories

“Speak Now” by Emory Pearson

Submitted to Contest #190

“Speak! Now!” My father boomed as we stood in the dark foyer, my shoes in hand and socked toes gripping the cold marble tile.          “I’m sorry. It’s not—”          “—It’s not what? It’s not what it looks like? I was fifteen once, too, J.P., and it’s always what it looks like.” He continued without acknowledging I was speaking.I had snuck out of the house for the third time that week, not returning until a little after 4:00 a.m. This morning...

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“I’m ready ” by Kenneth Hunter

Submitted to Contest #190

“Speak now or forever hold your peace”demanded the officiant standing in front of the young couple. His stern voice rattled Todd’s being as the words reverberated throughout the near empty chapel. The officiant meant business. His words passionately escaped his lips as he recited his wedding invocation . Wearing a formal black tuxedo, exquisite cuff links and meticulously polished leather dress shoes, he dressed the part of the significant event. Utter silence, No one spoke. The tiny chapel featured two rows of pews , and the altar. The audi...

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“Irises” by ML David

Submitted to Contest #190

Speak now. He paused, confused. These days, the voices usually babbled in the background, giggling and gossiping and god knows what else. They whispered when he was on the street. They whispered at night when he was trying to sleep. They whispered constantly, but they rarely made sense. Speak now. “About what?” he asked. Valeria gave him a puzzled look. She put her french fry down. “Are you hearing voices again?”  Uli blinked back embarrassment. He cleared his throat. “No. I just…I was thinking out loud.” The voices returned...

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“Two Kinds of Teenagers” by Kelly Sayre

Submitted to Contest #190

Content warning: divorce. “Speak now...”  The reverend’s words ushered me into a vivid daydream. I instantly traveled out of the polite, Southern world I’d grown up in, where children were to be seen and not heard, and into this place where I said what I wanted instead of what everyone else expected. I had never been the “Speak now” kind of teenager. My bridesmaid’s dress, for example, made me look like a stalk of celery standing on that altar. But there I stood, wearing it anyway. In my daydream, however, I was free to say what was on...

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“Shared Ride” by Michael Petlak

Submitted to Contest #190

“Speak now,” he mouthed silently through a few yellow-stained teeth.  The man in the driver's seat felt his heart beating through his shirt. He moved his hands to ten and two, then squeezed the wheel. A damp trail of sweat followed his hands. His eyes slid to the rearview mirror to check on his other new passenger. A navy mackintosh, sprinkled with drops of rain, slid effortlessly off the designer weatherproof material and straight onto the leather seats of the black luxury sport utility vehicle.  “Morning, Richard?” asked the dri...

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“The Truth Comes Out” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #190

“Speak now,” I commanded Anne.  I needed her to talk to me.  To know she was okay.  That she was breathing.  And that she would not pull the Kultro chef knife out of the round block on the marble countertop and stab me in the neck. “What do you want me to say?”  Anne twisted her wedding ring on her finger.  Four carat solitaire surrounded by another six carats on a platinum band.  It was not the first ring I bought for Anne.  The first ring I bought Anne was simple.  It was a gold band with a sm...

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“First Time Misadventures” by Tracey Mack

Submitted to Contest #190

"Speak now." Angela Wilcox didn't show any emotion as she uttered those words but the tone clearly showed her anger. She didn't care what her friend - well, her ex-friend at this point - had to say. She already knew the truth and Titan was too late to say anything else. "Okay, never speak to me again, Titan," she growled.Deshawn Harris, or "Titan" as most of his friends called him, sat uncomfortably in his chair. He was six feet four and muscular, yet he trembled under Angela's glare. She was almost a foot shorter than him, yet he felt weak ...

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“Judge me, or not” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #190

-"You said you wanted to talk." He beckoned her further: "So, speak!" She was so nervous. She wanted to start at the beginning but mixed everything up. She started about a phone ringing, her tears, how he forced himself on her... -"How do you remember all that?" he said almost in a tone that suggested a suspicious fantasy. Maybe I should start at the beginning as well, although I have to admit that I'm not sure which "beginning" to start with. One fine summer morning she had taken the subway to her sister's house. Her sister was waiting for ...

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“Little Benny” by Stephen Spurlock

Submitted to Contest #190

Stephen Spurlock   SPEAK NOW Little Benny (that’s really what the runt told people to call him), held his stubby little arms imperiously over his head as though he might actually give the darkness a big mushy hug. Standing in the middle of a dark deserted house abandoned for years, this was Little Benny’s element; his moment to shine as he supposedly summoned up a ghost and bade it speak to be recorded for posterity’s sake-whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.     The only sound to be heard as Be...

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“Isolated!” by Anush Sukumar

Submitted to Contest #190

*Note:- Contains sensitive content - description of female body parts* “Speak now” She smiled at the blank eyes and the open mouth of the corpse lying before her. There was no sound apart from the flow of blood which oozed from the corpse’s head. He was reduced to a lifeless thing in a split second from the bullet in his head. That’s what he had to make the world believe. His true talent was to turn lifeless the minute the lights turned on and camera’s started to roll. Not to mention his coordination to squeeze the bag of red paint by his ...

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“The Right Girl” by Beth Rae

Submitted to Contest #190

“...Speak now, or forever hold your peace.” The pastor's words reverberated throughout the small building, louder and more clear than any of the others he had spoken that day. As Tristan looked at the woman holding tightly to his hands, he couldn't remember including that part in the vows. It was antiquated, out of date and something no one did anymore...right? But now, with the question hanging in the air like the scent of freedom and happiness, he was inundated with a thousand reasons why the people at the front of the room shouldn't be jo...

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