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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about two strangers chatting while waiting for something.

Posted in Dialogue on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 196 stories

“Waiting for the Last Bus Home” by Heather Wightman

Submitted to Contest #49

Waiting for the Last Bus Home  It was a quiet evening. The dark of the night seemed to hold a secret I had yet to find. The moon was a perfect half cresent, almost too perfect to be captured as the truth in a painting, and the sky was fluttered with the stars of a thousand dreams. I was happily walking home, lost in my own dreams and wonder when suddenly, my ankle gave way as my heel sunk in a gap between the grey paving slabs. I noticed a bus shelter next to me and the old wooden bench looked like the perfect place for me t...

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“Up Next” by Dan Pulzello

Submitted to Contest #49

A man sits at a bar, pouring over jokes in a crumpled notebook. A woman approaches, walking from the back showroom, and takes a seat next to him. The floor of the bar is sticky and he can hear her suction-cup footsteps before he sees her. “Hey, are you Brian?” “Yeah, hey.” “Hey, I’m Jess nice to meet you. The manager told me to tell you that you’re up in 10 minutes.” “Thanks, Jess, are you a comic too?” “Yeah, I just went up” “How’s the crowd?” “Small, probably like 10 people. There’s a couple up front that won’t stop ta...

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“The Slide” by Chris King

Submitted to Contest #49

Matt could feel the sunburn spreading across his neck. He had hoped that the SPF 70 sunscreen he had purchased and applied (not just once but twice) would help shield his pale skin from the harmful rays, but the warmth his body was emitting told him it had been all for naught. The lack of shade was one of the many things he hated about water parks. He also despised their damp, musty smell, their soundtrack of screams, cries, and whines (coming from both children and adults), and their sprawling, seemingly never-ending lines. And it was in on...

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“The 9:15 ” by LeighAnne Ferreol

Submitted to Contest #49

Mark turned his head as he heard a soft thud next to him. Another man nodded to him briefly before sitting down. Silence quickly filled the air. It was late. The station was between busy periods. Long past the time the nine-to-fivers would need it, but not quite late enough for the late shifters to need it. Mark broke the silence first. “Waiting on the 9:15?” He asked, turning towards the man. The other man nodded but didn’t say anything else. The silence quickly filled the air again. This was no good. It was one thing if he was alone, but...

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“Nature's Way ” by Alex Arias

Submitted to Contest #49

Rami straightened out the bus ticket clenched in his sweaty palm. He didn’t want to go home. His stomach squeezed up, displacing the small breakfast he’d managed to swallow down to the bottom of his throat. He reached for his phone in his back pocket, but stopped when he remembered this morning’s call. For a second all he could do was breath deep and blink furiously, thoughts replaced with a despair that simultaneously paused and sped up time. He didn’t know how many times the boy had asked to sit next to him on the wooden bench before he wa...

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“Bus Stop Conversations” by J.S Cross

Submitted to Contest #49

 "Hey, how are you bud?" a middle-aged man questioned you.   "Just waiting for my mother to get off the bus, Sir," you spoke uncomfortably.  Talking to strangers has always made you uneasy. Something in the way they so freely spoke to someone they did not know. As if they have been friends for years.  "Oh is she coming from work?" he sat on the bench.  "Just to visit, Sir."  "Well that's lovely," he offered a grin.   You gave your best smile given the circumstances. You will try to be kind, he has...

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“Organic Material” by Charlie Howell

Submitted to Contest #49

Twenty-four hours in a day. Sixty minutes in an hour. I am counting down the seconds. I break time into basic units, crack it into pieces like one tears off cotton candy fluff or shreds cigarettes. I am careful. I budget my time. I live my life in color. Carnival rides at Coney Island, painting on my walls, and that pleasant buzz right before drunkenness. I spend each second carefully, knowing that they are ticking away. But at the same time, I’m always in mental transit, waiting for the next moment to arrive. I wait for the weekends when I ...

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“The Evil Memory ” by Lubna Alrasa

Submitted to Contest #49

Little Fiona was lying on her bed, eyes closed, waiting excitedly for the alarm to start beeping.  Tik Tok.. Tik Tok.. Tik Tok.. The alarm started beeping, not even lasing 5 seconds, Fiona shut it down, went to her wardrobe and took her favorite green jacket. It was 5 am, half an hour left till sunrise. Fiona put on her slippers, tied her long black silky hair in a ponytail, took her drawing notebook, pencil, and came out of her room. Her grandparents have a huge beautiful garden. The garden was fully planted, thanks to Fiona’s ...

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“The beauty of a delay” by Jason Hutter

Submitted to Contest #49

On a warm summer morning I was sitting at a bus stop waiting for the 8:43 near my house in Pittsburgh. I’ve been working as a chef for approximately 4 years and was mostly satisfied with my career. However like most careers they come with good days and bad days. This day was not good or bad, it would be great!However this Friday morning started so differently. I noticed a teenager was there who I had not recognized before. I’ve been taking this bus since I started my career and knew everyone else who was going to work at this time. This teen...

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“Messengers” by Amanda Kelly

Submitted to Contest #49

Emily anxiously twirled her hair, holding her six-year-old daughter's hand. She stood up on her tiptoes, peeking over the sea of people. "You excited to see your husband again?" A gentle voice asked from behind Emily. Her brain didn't register that the strange voice could be talking to her. She glanced behind her to see an old woman with two long white braids and a wrinkly, kind face looking straight at her. "Oh!" Emily exclaimed apologetically. "I'm sorry, I did not realize you were talking to me," She explained. The woman waved h...

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“Interlaced” by Cam K

Submitted to Contest #49

Sweat trickled between the creases of my clasped palms. Instinctively, I flipped over my phone for the twentieth time, hoping somehow my nervous antics would make time run faster. 3:20 p.m. When I had set foot into the musty Damsmarsh Police Station, the location the authorities had told me to come. I had considered not showing up, maybe even fleeing the state to my Aunt Laine, but I doubt she would take me in without telling mom. “Just stop it, you’re fine,” I told myself, knowing that it was far from the truth. I would definitely be charge...

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“Something Worthwhile” by Yashaa Bajracharya

Submitted to Contest #49

My fingers played the keys on the piano, making sure I hit every note right, making sure I made no mistakes. My palms were sweaty, but I had to get through this selection. I had to. It was the only way to get the music scholarship so that I can join Evergarden Music Academy - the finest school to learn music in this country. However, only the best three performances were to get the scholarships after being judged by the musicians who taught in the school.As I carefully played Beethoven's Fur Elise, I was trying my best to not feel intimidate...

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“Little Blessings” by Sara Pelletier

Submitted to Contest #49

Somewhere in Amy’s groggy mind, the sound of an alarm registered. “Alarm...turn it off,” drifted lazily through her subconscious. Suddenly, startling questions began popping up in her drowsy mind. “Off? Alarm? What time is it?” Amy’s eyes flashed open to see that the alarm she had set on her phone had been going off for 20 minutes. “Well, I better move,” she thought, as she hopped out of bed, and began flying around her apartment, gathering clothes, make up, and anything else she might need.  This was not how Amy usually liked to prepa...

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“Social Distancing” by Phyllis Brown

Submitted to Contest #49

Max pulls his friend in for a hug ignoring the offered hand. Hard, tight and brief he whispers something to the shorter man before letting him go. Dan nods, claps Max once on the shoulder then follows the nurse out the door. Once they’re gone he turns to face the currently empty waiting room inside the University of Pennsylvania hospital. Max paces a bit, periodically stopping to stare out at 34th and spruce through the waist to ceiling windows that cover three out of four walls. Snorting loudly he wonders if the busy self-important folks r...

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“The thing about Virginia” by Theo Kleine

Submitted to Contest #49

“I think, what I like the most about Virginia is… How unapologetic she is, you know?” I tell him. We are at the post office, waiting for the first arrival to come in. It is a cold winter morning, our necks and chins hidden, buried inside our scarves, our hands deep in our pockets. “She just does not stop to ask for anyone’s approval, and that I love,” I say. “And maybe I do because I would really like to be like that, to be more decisive, more...“ “Unapologetic?” I sigh. “Yes,” I let out with a smile. “And how long have you two known eac...

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