Start or end your story with someone saying, “We have all the time in the world.”

Posted in Dialogue on Jan 19, 2024

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✍️ 71 stories

“The Buzzmachine” by Agnieszka Baczkowska-Maśluszczak

Submitted to Contest #234

“We have all the time in the world,” Frank sank into his fluffy armchair and sighed. He loved his job. All he had to do all day was to sit in a room filled with action figures and memorabilia, with his best friend Burt at his side, drinking coffee and joking around. Only once in a while, an order was delivered. It came in an envelope, and as soon as they received it, they had to type in a special type of code into the buzzmachine. He had been working here for over two years, but if anyone asked him what he did, he'd have trouble explaining i...

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“Glory Under Pressure” by Nathaniel Stiles

Submitted to Contest #234

Glory Under Pressure By: Nathaniel Stiles “We have all the time in the world.” “What was that sir?” The youth’s face was marred with scars and cuts, some freshly bleeding. “We have all the time in the world,” Dersite repeated slowly, staring out over the carnage beneath him. Funny, how, when a person lives their life to the fulfillment of greatness, one overstep topples their reign like an ax to a sapling. To his eyes, the land itself bled from a gaping wound. To his ears, the land broke apart. To his body, the world stilled, holding its...

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“"Timeless Echoes of Beela" ” by Brian Hastie

Submitted to Contest #234

"Timeless Echoes of Beela" In the small town of Beela in Western Australia, Australia, nestled between rolling hills and meandering streams, time seemed to move at its own pace. The residents were accustomed to the unhurried rhythm of life, where the ticking of the clock was drowned out by the rustling of leaves and the occasional song of a distant bird. In this tranquil haven, the phrase "We have all the time in the world" was more than just a saying; it was a way of life. The story begins on a lazy Sunday afternoon when the town's fol...

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“The Clock Keeper” by Savannah Robbins

Submitted to Contest #234

The last clock was burned seventeen years before I was born. As a child, I marveled at the image of a clock in our historical texts. The little hand and big hand, going around and around with no other obligations. The Government workers modeled their lives around the clock. It told them what time to wake up, what time to kiss their children goodbye, how long their hands were going to toil until bleeding and blistered, how long until they would do it all over again. The world carried on this way until the people began to rebel. They w...

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“Is Love A Competition?” by Tracy Brown

Submitted to Contest #234

Hello, my love. Grab yourself your favorite drink. Come closer, open your mind, and shine your eyes because the topic of the day is: Is Love a competition, and why is dating hard? We have had this conversation before, but allow me to dig a little deeper on this chilly day with beautiful skies. Here goes. We have been dating for the past six months. Our relationship has been a rollercoaster, we have experienced all the emotional highs and lows, and all the unexpected turns, but we have managed to beat the odds, and this is bec...

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“Optimism” by Alexis Pemberton

Submitted to Contest #234

“What’s the point?” Jesse’s dull dark blue eyes wandered aimlessly— failing to find focus. Her unkempt, uneven, hand-cut, black short hair still somehow managed to knot itself just like the tangle of the conflict in her mind. “I am failing all my classes. I haven’t attended in almost a month!” Clothes lay scattered across the entirety of her dorm room matching the lack of decorations on the wall. The white wall was quite literally a blank canvas that conveniently mirrored the lack of identity within the struggling college student. Her unma...

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“The Silent Dream” by Grace Shook

Submitted to Contest #234

Once upon a time, I myself had the pleasure of making the acquaintance a very unique soul. It was in fact a miracle that he even wanted to acknowledge the existence of someone like me, for I was an uninvited guest to his wondrous pity party in those days. But I guess even condescending miserable men such as he sometimes need a sort of connection to the more wondrous world that exists outside of their own head. As a child, I hated being known as a nerd. But when that charming trait opened the doors for me to attend Oxford University in Engl...

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“Welcome Home, Anna!” by Aiden McConnell

Submitted to Contest #234

The clouds support me, my footsteps making delicate impressions that are soon erased; how water pours into an indent made by a skipping rock. My surroundings are milky in color, the landscape opaque and unclear. I reach out, running my hands through the billowing clouds. Their silky texture is soft between the webbing of my fingers and the moisture transfers onto me. The air is lighter and free of saturation, a foreign identity to my body. My nostrils take the air, and my lungs expand to full capacity. I close my eyes, feeling the mo...

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“time in the world” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #234

“We’ve got all the time in the world.” Eric said as he encouraged me forward in the line. The line slithered through the eighteen switchbacks of tiny posts. We were standing here in the preamble. The foreword. We hadn’t even gotten to Chapter 1: Security guard takes my ID and boarding pass and looks at it as if he is reading the directions to defusing a bomb. He looks at me and he looks at my ID again. There is no way this can be helpful because the ID is four years old. Four years of varying hair colors, on and off weightlifting, on and off...

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“When There is No Time Left” by Isobella Evans

Submitted to Contest #234

“We have all the time in the world.” Mrs Camp gripped the wheel of her beat up van tighter as she tried to calm her nagging teenaged son. The car steadily made its way through rolling Kansas fields and open blue skies. The radio in the background played a catchy country tune. Mrs Camp began to tap the wheel and nod her head to the beat, hoping to distract her young son from his desires. “But when will we ever be passing the world's largest ball of twine again, I need it for my weird things book,” her son said in a young whiney teenaged ...

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“Stolen Moments” by Zyn Marlin

Submitted to Contest #234

The first one was easy, so easy that Magellan almost couldn’t believe it. The girl was sitting in the window as he was passing by, and it was the work of a moment – literally – to catch her attention tenderly in his grasp and redirect it to that middle space where nothing existed. Her eyes glazed over, and he could feel the way her mental energy shifted from thinking to absence. If Magellan had been corporeal, his heart might have leaped, or his stomach might have fluttered, or his face might even have split in a grin of delighted trium...

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“A Drop in the Bucket” by Sabrina Green

Submitted to Contest #234

For a being a wanted fugitive, Agent #344979 is mysteriously easy to find. Agent #902743 almost finds it suspicious when the watch gives off a friendly ping in the middle of the early twenty-first century less than half a revolution after she got her hands on the case file. It couldn’t have looked more like a trap than if it had appeared with a large flashing sign with the letters T-R-A-P spelled out. It wouldn’t be the first time something similar had happened; it wouldn’t even be the first time it had happened to her. Barely a revolution...

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“The Sphere in the Sky” by A.J. Williams

Submitted to Contest #234

As I shut my eyes to listen to the gentle melody on the radio, I notice the sound of her footsteps. When I open my eyes again, she has moved closer to us. I've nicknamed her Big Betty. It's like a colossal metallic sphere gliding down to Earth. Quite a dramatic ending, don't you think? A massive alien spacecraft cruising on autopilot, heading straight for us. "I baked muffins for us, the ones you enjoy," Janet, my wife, mentioned as she placed them on the stool in front of me. We sat on our balcony, savoring the city sounds and the anxious ...

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“Shared Time” by Lauren Normac

Submitted to Contest #234

Misco grimaced. He could hear music from the other corner of the tavern, the musician strumming away on some kind of string instrument. And that was impressive, because the voices between his spot and the corner should’ve muffled that. The musician seemed to be using some kind of magic to make sure the music could be heard from everywhere. Unfortunately, he’d been very sloppy, and created a feedback loop. The music was loud, so people talked louder to hear each other, and the music ramped up further. And . . . it shouldn’t have been that bad...

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“The Deception of Time” by Irene Mina

Submitted to Contest #234

TW: death, chronic illness “We have all the time in the world,” I say to Kyrollos as I break apart from his embrace. I don’t meet his gaze as I look around me, eyeing out who can see us. We sit in the school library, doing anything but studying. Which isn’t wise since it’s our last year before we graduate. I’m usually a rule follower but lately, Kyrollos has been very convincing with getting me to just spend time with him. He’d always say, “Just live a little, Vero.” Vero isn’t my name, Verena is and yet, I don’t think I’ve ever heard t...

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Start or end your story with someone saying, “We have all the time in the world.”

Submissions are closed

✍️ 71 stories

“The Buzzmachine” by Agnieszka Baczkowska-Maśluszczak

“Glory Under Pressure” by Nathaniel Stiles

“"Timeless Echoes of Beela" ” by Brian Hastie

“The Clock Keeper” by Savannah Robbins

“Is Love A Competition?” by Tracy Brown

“Optimism” by Alexis Pemberton

“The Silent Dream” by Grace Shook

“Welcome Home, Anna!” by Aiden McConnell

“time in the world” by Lara Deppe

“When There is No Time Left” by Isobella Evans

“Stolen Moments” by Zyn Marlin

“A Drop in the Bucket” by Sabrina Green

“The Sphere in the Sky” by A.J. Williams

“Shared Time” by Lauren Normac

“The Deception of Time” by Irene Mina

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Write a story about someone who wishes they could turn back time.

Write about someone taking advantage of some unexpected free time.

Set your story in a place that’s frozen in time — literally or metaphorically.

Contest #234

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

340

Contest entries

132

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: