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Write a story that includes someone saying, “We’re not alone.”

Posted in Dialogue on Aug 4, 2023

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✍️ 87 stories

Sight Unseen

Winner of Contest #210 🏆

Sight Unseen Abraham Morgenstern reverently offered Sidra the Radio Shack catalog, as if it was his most prized possession. “This is the new one,” he said. “Shall we begin with the CB radios and then move on to the antennas? And please, call me Abe.” Sidra rolled her eyes, which fortunately Mr. Morgenstern – Abe – could not see, and started reading. She was barely through the first line, “Realistic TRC-410. Compact, but with all the necessary features. Hysteresis-type squelch…,” when noise from the street below drowned her out. Lo...

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The First Date

Submitted to Contest #210

The sounds grew louder as I got closer to the tree. A loud, hiss-rattle sort of buzzing, almost impossible to articulate, but as familiar as my own voice. I stood beneath the crepe myrtle, no actual shade at all to protect me from the excruciating Texas sun, wondering where it was. Suddenly, I was smacked in the face with a fierce and angry flutter, as it scuttled off higher up into the branches. “Bastard,” I muttered. “I hope my cats find you!” It hiss-rattled louder in defiance at my intrusion. “I’m just trying to water my fucking tomatoe...

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Bedtime for Muriel

Submitted to Contest #210

ANGELA“Cocoa! Warm not scalding! With pink marshmallows. And use a mug this time! I don’t need to lose any more porcelain by knocking it off the table in the middle of the night. Use your brain, for fuck’s sake.”“Yes, Muriel,” said Angela, nodding as she tucked the hummingbird-motif duvet around the octogenarian’s neck. “I’ll be right back, you just get comfy and listen to Barry.”“‘Listen to Barry’,” the old woman with the silver hair scoffed, shuffling under the covers as if in criticism of the way she’d been positioned. “Why do I have to l...

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Love in the Time of Asthma

Shortlisted for Contest #210 ⭐️

The mask swam elephantine and bug-eyed in the dark glass. After several years of passing the auto shop, whose empty windows were the only ones between the drilling fields and the motel left unboarded, Tommy still struggled to recognize the reflection as his own. He stopped absently to observe himself. It was dawn. The sun pink as a freshly peeled blister behind its film of dust cast downtown into streaks of gray shadow and warbled rose. It accentuated the muffled slurp of the mask, the clouds of dirt rising from the shuffle of what feet...

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GAIA OS 2.88.13v

Shortlisted for Contest #210 ⭐️

The year was 2048 A.E.M., and Gavin was on his last patrol before his shift ended. The street was quiet; only the buzzing sounds of neon advertisements filled the air. The tablet attached to the car’s dashboard buzzed – it was Linda from headquarters."God damn it, not her again," Gavin mumbled to himself, taking a deep breath before responding to the call. "Hi, Linda! How are you doing?""It’s Lieutenant Linda to you, Gavin.""Of course, Lieutenant Linda, it rhymes," Gavin joked, a failed attempt at lightening the mood.Linda responded onl...

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A taste of progress

Submitted to Contest #210

  Inside his belly, he could hear the screams of a thousand men and women. He laughed, and a city fell. On his morning jog, oceans sloshed and spilled over coastlines, drowning the praying tourists and locals; indiscriminating destruction, done without malice—without emotion. He belched, and with it came a collective cry for mercy. He shrugged. What was he to do about it? He had tried everything that he could think of, including but not limited to ingesting Ipecac, punching himself in the stomach, getting black-out drunk, eating ghost ...

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They're Here!

Submitted to Contest #210

The moon hung low in the night sky, casting an eerie silver glow over the tranquil suburban neighborhood. The houses stood in solemn darkness, their windows reflecting the obsidian void.Among them, a standard residential house seemed to blend seamlessly into the quietude, but within its walls, a storm of fear was brewing.Tasmin dashed out of the house, her breath quick and erratic, panic etched across her features. Her eyes were wide, reflecting a terror that seemed to emanate from the very core of her being. The house's lights remained unli...

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The X Factor

Submitted to Contest #210

“In 1961 Dr Frank Drake made a list. He wrote down all the things you’d need to know to be able to predict the likelihood of finding intelligent extra-terrestrial life.” Dr Maurice Gaunt paced around his office as he delivered the lines that had opened dozens of freshman lectures. “Unsatisfied with his list, Dr Drake seasoned it with a few multiplication signs and realised that he’d done just that. The product was an estimate of the number of detectable civilisations in our galaxy.” "Yeah, I’ve seen Cosmos with Carl Sagan. People have be...

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Visitor

Shortlisted for Contest #210 ⭐️

VISITOR by Mel Makaw The more I got to know my new neighbor, the more I liked her. She was a little mysterious, you might say, but she was curious and enthusiastic, and she laughed easily. I thought we might become good friends. She hailed from somewhere in the Midwest. Iowa, I think she said, although I often get Iowa mixed up with Ohio, so I’m not really sure. She was excited about being a new Oregonian and was determined to “leave the past behind.” “Hi!” she’d waved and called from the house next door, the very day the moving van w...

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The Poisoner's Garden

Submitted to Contest #210

I broke into the Poison Garden on a dare. It’s always a dare with us. Something to break up the tedium of being an only child and completely neglected by parents who are trying to keep a roof over my head and don’t have time for childish games, thank you very much. Wallace is bored for other reasons. But I suppose you’ll question him later. Suffice it to say, he dared me to break in, so I did. At night. Alone. Well, not completely alone. There was somebody waiting for me there. As you well know.  Of course, I wore gloves. I’m not an id...

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Fermi, Where Did The Stars Go?

Submitted to Contest #210

ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE '33 Dr Johannes Korhonen, principal senior researcher at the ELT telescope, thought that people would call him a madman. He had even begun to think so himself. If he published his findings, he told himself, his credibility in the field of astrophysics would be eviscerated. But the results of the spectrographic scans were undeniable: dozens of stars were disappearing from the night sky.“Maria!” he shouted at the door. “I’ve found something remarkable!” Maria, assistant researcher to Dr Korhonen, came bounding into the offic...

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Ain't Childhood Grand

Submitted to Contest #210

    Ain’t Childhood Grand                                  By CJStevens    We have many enemies tonight, the wind is one of them. It grabs at our clothes and rips away thin strands of hair. It uses the sand, twigs and tiny pebbles as projectiles to hamper our escape.  I think if we could only get back to camp, we’d ...

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Must See TV

Submitted to Contest #210

It was another dull Thursday night.  My mother was working the late shift.  My job was to feed my sister, Emma, and I fish sticks, also to make sure we stayed out of trouble.  Emma forced me to watch her favorite show, “Friends”.  As I lie there on the couch, my eyes glued to the television, I wondered if these people ever went to work.  Also, how does a waitress in a coffee shop make enough money to pay for rent in New York City? Just then I heard the beep signaling the washer was done, I ...

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An Encounter

Submitted to Contest #210

A door slammed, and I flinched. The lights flickered and dust fell from the slats in the ceiling. But then there were heavy footsteps overhead, and I knew I needed to be as quiet as I could possibly be. Slowly, very slowly, I reached my hand out to find the button on my extension cord. The click was too loud, but then the lights went out and I held my breath. The steps continued across the floor and into the next room. Another door slammed and my shoulders fell away from my ears. “That was close,” June whispered. She clicked on the flashligh...

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Nature's Call

Submitted to Contest #210

The woods were alive with the sounds of nature, birds conversing with each other while families of squirrels argued over nothing and everything. The chorus surrounded her with the comfort of normalcy - each chirp, bleat, and chitter signaling the absence of danger. Annie knew she could let her guard down since her furry neighbors never did.That afternoon, though, she was so preoccupied with digging the mud from the gaps between her toes that the alarmed call of a blue jay in the woods almost escaped her notice. She would’ve missed it, had it...

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