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Write a story that includes someone saying, “I feel alive.”

Posted in Dialogue on Mar 24, 2023

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✍️ 68 stories

The Girl Who Played the Giuoco Pianissimo

Shortlisted for Contest #191 ⭐️

February 3, 2021 I will die in this house and no one will be here to see it. The thought comforts me. **************************** “You smoke too much,” Ash said, eyeing the full ashtrays in the living area. He plopped himself down on the sofa and waited for Portia to finish what she was doing. Portia took off her headphones and leaned back against the back of her chair, stretching, and rubbing her neck. She refilled her glass and drank deeply before moving to a chair opposite her brother. “You also drink too much,” he added. “I smoke the pe...

53 likes 73 comments 73
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Soso

Shortlisted for Contest #191 ⭐️

The Toymaker. Thomas. The Prodigy. Taking the River Trail. The dragonfly ornithopter remained still on the craftsman’s workbench. Inside its balsawood frame were scaled clockwork machinations - guts of miniaturized pistons, cranks, servos, and gears - that lay exposed in its abdomen. Four paper-thin metallic wings were secured to its thorax, and it had round eyes of polished purple kunzite. The tiny marvel was surrounded by an assortment of fine, delicate tools, a visor of sliding loupe magnifying glasses, cabinets filled with spare parts, a...

41 likes 50 comments 50
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T.G.I.F.

Submitted to Contest #191

T.G.I.F.  Not because it’s the end of my work week. I retired a decade ago. T.G.I.F. Not because I’m heading south for a week of surf and sunshine. No chance of that. My only income is old age pension and some pennies I’m paid for reviewing books.  But T.G.I.F., because that’s the day that Reedsy teases me with 5 new writing prompts and I feel myself coming alive again. No, I’m not kidding. You see, after not writing anything but reviews for 7 years; after being bored stupid during covid and too scared to attend writer meet...

35 likes 51 comments 51
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Fish Story

Submitted to Contest #191

In the pink sagebrush dawn, a herd of better than thirty brown-hided antelope stare at me from a hundred yards. I slow when my jeep makes the turn and they dart off as one, like an earth-bound flock of brown and white starlings locked in formation. They're soon lost on the featureless plain. Speeding back up, the four wheel drive rumbles down a mud road, crosses snow still left from winter in patched places, powers through, and then after miles of prairie flat, comes to the trailhead on the western slope of the range. I unload my p...

30 likes 29 comments 29
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Martha And Her Kite

Submitted to Contest #191

Kite waited patiently all the long, dark winter for the sun to return. Crumpled up in a tangled heap on a top shelf in the crowded, musty garage, she counted down the days till spring. While mice tiptoed across her tail, she dreamed of soaring through the sky. When sleds and shovels were taken out for snowy fun, she longed to feel the wind on her belly and warmth on her back. Just when she thought she might spend eternity covered in cobwebs, forgotten on that shelf, a hand reached up and pulled her down. The hand belong to Martha, the youn...

27 likes 6 comments 6
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Worms of Confusion

Submitted to Contest #191

For days, Jane was humming the song “Closing Time” thinking back on how much she liked the last episode of Seinfeld. She was humming it in line for coffee and a skinny blonde guy with multiple tattoos started singing it. They both laughed.“You like Seinfeld too,” Jane asked him. He looked at her quizzically, dropped eye contact, and fussed with his jacket pocket, pulling out his phone, which was clearly not buzzing. Jane shrugged, smiled, and kept humming until the barista took her order for one large gingerbread latte.“Don’t have gingerbrea...

24 likes 15 comments 15
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Paper Violins

Submitted to Contest #191

Even the clouds churn with anticipation as the flock of musicians park their cars and race to the building, a scatter of raincoats and umbrellas bustling through the streets. There is only one evening of the year in which this orchestra’s esteemed reputation wrinkles, before a concertmaster must smother it over a handful of weeks after. City orchestras can be a nuisance. A timid smile paints Lucie’s lips as she greets each performer walking into the auditorium, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. A blanket has been cast over the crowd,...

22 likes 8 comments 8
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Memories of Magnolia

Shortlisted for Contest #191 ⭐️

“Look, magnolias! I love magnolias. I haven’t seen magnolias since…”She falls silent, and I follow her gaze to the gnarly tree trunks decorated with bowl-shaped flowers. As I watch, the delicately coloured blooms smudge together, and I blink rapidly, more for Anya’s sake than mine.If I have learnt anything over the last thirteen months, it is that I am no longer afraid of tears. I welcome them. They remind me I am alive. But Anya has more reason to cry. She has lost more. So, I feel embarrassed that my emotions leak out easily, while everyth...

21 likes 10 comments 10
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One With the Sea

Submitted to Contest #191

Her hair whipped through the wind. The harsh breeze carried the heavy heat of her surroundings off into the waves. The beautiful scenery kept her from her reality, but only momentarily. Her eyes drifted away into the sunset, how mesmerizing. She never imagined things to be like this, so harsh, but so breathtaking. It was hard to comprehend, where everything had gone wrong. They were so happy, so in love. Yet now everything has come crumbling down. The walls of their once sturdy castle of freedom had been shot down by the cannonball of gree...

20 likes 10 comments 10
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The Virtue of the Foxtrot

Shortlisted for Contest #191 ⭐️

I won complimentary passes for Wednesday afternoon lessons at the Cheek to Cheek dance studio. I never win anything, and at the time, I wished my losing streak had remained intact. The "gala dinner" at the church hall was designed to raise money to preserve a local heritage home - McDougal House. Hattie Headly had donated the passes. Her sister was married to an English dance instructor who was a Canadian champion within some sort of specific category. There are always enough competitions and levels to reward decent talent, even if it is jus...

20 likes 6 comments 6
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Decision at the Diner

Submitted to Contest #191

Donnie reclined gloomily in the plastic booth, absentmindedly toying with the froth in the coffee, now cold, that sat on the table.“Been in this dump too many times,” he mused, glancing up at the flickering neon sign proclaimingHAPPY HARBOR DINER - UNLIMITED COFFEE WITH EVERY MEAL!Shifting his weight restlessly, Donnie reflected that the coffee really wasn’t good enough that a person would want more than one cup anyway, unless they were really desperate. Of course, a large amount of the diner’s clientele were definitely desperate, so wh...

20 likes 11 comments 11
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Eric’s Last Stand

Submitted to Contest #191

Was this Eric’s last stand? He hoped not. But the past year made him think it might be. Eric stood before the one room cabin. It was his, a gift from Simon, his dying friend. Eric had never seen it before. Spiders had spun brocades under the eaves. He felt numb. That was an improvement over the despair he’d nurtured lately. Maybe numbness was something he could build upon, use as a springboard. Regardless, numbness would do for now. He’d heard, ‘nothing to be done,’ too often. The doctors said it about his late mother, before she passed. To ...

18 likes 9 comments 9
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THE INTERVIEW

Submitted to Contest #191

Fred burst into the kitchen and proclaimed excitedly, “Honey, I have great news!”His wife, Furn, spun around and responded, “Oh, Fred, you know I love good news! What is it?”Fred held back just for a moment to heighten the tension.“Well, do you remember the position I applied for last week?”Furn’s eyes widened. “Do you mean the director job at Platinum Industries?”Fred chuckled. “Director job? That’s a modest way of describing it. If I get this position, I would be running an entire division. Platinum is initiat...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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Watering Hole

Submitted to Contest #191

Desolate. Barren? Sterile… One by one, the words trickled through Otto’s mind each morning as he ambled through the rubble streets of his hometown. Twenty-six years he’d lived here, and he heard the same three words echoing behind the curtain of his subconscious every day of his short life thus far. Still, he could never decide which word most accurately captured the truth of this place. As always, the streets were empty, save the beggars huddled around the watering hole – hoping beyond hope that the long-obsolete building would magically re...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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Moving On

Submitted to Contest #191

The crisp autumn air sent a shiver down her spine as she stepped onto the dirt road. Emma had been walking for hours, her feet pounding the pavement with each step. She was trying to clear her head and forget the mess that her life had become.She had lost her job, broken off a long-term relationship, and was now living in her car. She didn't know where she was headed, but she was determined to keep walking until she found a place to call home.The sun began to set, Emma saw a small sign that read "Welcome to Whistle Ridge." The sign was ...

15 likes 3 comments 3
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