Write a story that includes the phrase “Maybe in another life.”

Posted in Dialogue on Apr 28, 2023

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✍️ 74 stories

“FEVER” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #196

Maybe in another life. I shot up in bed, my back slick with sweat, and gulped for air, feeling as if I had been drowning. I clutched at my throat, my fingertips running along my adam's apple as I clawed for a breath. My heart rate slowly calmed and I relaxed... though not completely. I could feel him in the room with me, despite the space being empty. As I sat up in bed, rust colored light poured in through my window, crosshatching my beige carpeting with illumination from a streetlamp. Across the room on my desk sat all of my school paper...

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“In another life time.” by Karina Navarro

Submitted to Contest #196

In another life timeEven at your lowest love knocks at your door but at times is just not the right moment, making us say “Maybe in another life time,” to our love of our life.June 21 1887Katherine reminisce as those words faded away in the air once again like in the last 20 years“Maybe in another life?”Katherine looked outside her window as she saw the rain fall down, losing herself in her own thoughts.Taking herself back 20 years ago, when she would be in Alexander’s arms. Where both of them vowed to love each other to the end and fight fo...

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“Dragonfly” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #196

Dedicated to the small mountain town of Estes Park. Fall 2011The first time I sat next to Finn Frazier was in 6th grade. We sat at long art classroom tables, three students to one table. Our little feet dangled off the metal stools. Mrs. Stevenson looked like Hera. She stood tall in flowing skirts and dresses, Colorado winters be damned. She had beautiful chestnut curls that stirred envy in my 11 year old heart.“Good afternoon, class,” she greeted us after dancing like a nymph into the classroom. I caught a glimpse of a fiery red ballet flat...

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“Eden in the Rearview Mirror” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #196

Jarod plopped the bag of food down on the desk and likewise plopped himself in a chair. The afternoon sun had creeped in through the windows, showing off angular shapes and making the shadows appear denser, solid. Sounds from outside the room were muted. No one, it seemed, wanted to further fracture a day that had already been horribly shattered. “Thanks, bro,” Fenny opened the bag and poured the contents out. Two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and a double cheeseburger. “Lot of cops out there, Fenny.” Fenny took a large bite out of the first fish...

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“Parallel” by Mihnea Balan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #196

Horace wakes up at 6:30 AM. He gazes toward his wife but she’s brazenly curled up in a ball with her back toward him. After sighing his morning sigh, Horace gets up and walks to his study. He glances at his bonsai tree. It’s obsessively trimmed. He then sets Newton’s cradle in motion and begins his ritual of looking into the brown eyes reflecting back at him from the mirror, putting on his suit, and rehearsing the meeting’s talking points. Newton’s restless balls set the rhythm. As he’s mentally orating, Horace fixates on certain words in hi...

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“Election Fever: Leftie Lucy Vs Rye T Tie Tee” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #196

With the election just days away Leftie Lucy faces Rye T Tie Tea, a battle for the soul of the country. Never in the country’s circular history has the nation been so divided. Leftie has accused Rye T of importing voters from the 1940s to supplement his shrinking voter base. Tie Tea in turn asserts that Lucy has artificially inflated her numbers by giving every slice of avocado toast a vote. Capital Will, named for our forefather Will I Am the Read, looks like the scene of an impending battle to rival Sekigahara. Banners declaring Rye T the ...

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“Lies Hurt Less Than The Truth” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #196

It’s almost 9 by the time the obligatory drinks party is over and my jaw aches from smiling at people I don’t know while I listen to their self-indulgent self-promotion. I’m a last-minute replacement for Helen, my team leader, who has food poisoning. Allegedly. To be honest, I’m pretty sure salmonella is just an excuse: her way of avoiding yet another tedious conference with endless slides of sales figures and excruciating small talk with people who actually care about data systems. &nbsp...

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“Not Meant To Be, Never Will Be” by Anesa Feratovic

Submitted to Contest #196

“From the moment I met you, I knew there was something special about you,” he starts, tucking a loose strand of my curly brown hair behind my ear.I smile, thinking of the first time I heard that line. The boy who said it was my first love. And for a time, I thought, the one. But he’s not the one standing in front of me now. Instead it’s Adrian, my boyfriend of four years, wearing that cheeky little grin of his.“You have this warmth and kindness that shines through in everyone you meet, and everything you do. You make me laugh, you challenge ...

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“Finding Roots in my Boots” by Morgan Thompson

Submitted to Contest #196

“Your life is not a fairytale country song,” my recent ex said as I packed my car with the few belongings I had in our home with my name on them. Mostly from the kitchen. “George Strait would beg to differ; I am going to write my own country love song with a happy ending!” I said as I angrily slammed my SUV’s door shut.I put my car in reverse and sped out of our gated community in proper Las Vegas. As I drove out of the golden gates, I vowed to find my Knight in Shining Armor…or cowboy boots. Forget this town, I wanted to go back to my roots...

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“The Monsters” by Geir Westrul

Submitted to Contest #196

1567Edinburgh“I’ll gie ye a skelpit lug!”His father followed through on his promise, landing a slap on Brod’s ear so hard it made the inside of the young boy’s head ring like a great bell.Brod began keening, tears running down his soot-smudged cheeks.“Haud yer wheesht, and stop yer greetin'.” Donald Munro gave his son a squint-eyed glare under bushy eyebrows above a great, big, bulbous, broken-veined drunkard’s nose. “Dae ye want the whole hoose tae wake up and catch us in th’act o' thievin'?”Donald Munro gave his son a hard shove. Brod fell...

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“Try” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #196

Was it clear from the message what they wanted him to do? * The letter arrived in a beautiful envelope, with his name and address written in embossed letters on red glossy paper. He had woken up that morning wondering if he was going to speak to his neighbor about their dog and their children again (they were always teasing the poor thing when he saw them in their yard). At his front door, he picked up the letter and thought that this might be another joke. But as he read the note inside, he realized that this was a real company and that he ...

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“Dad's Dream” by Bernie Rhodes

Submitted to Contest #196

Dad wanted to get back to his origins. He was burned out and sick of his sales management job, which he had held since 1949 when my parents were married. Dad was tired of constant travel all over the state, conducting meetings and listening to the route salespeople make excuses for their lack of productivity. He was feed-up with the greasy restaurant food, lumpy hotel beds, and depressed over the isolation. It had been fifteen years, and he was ready for a change. He fantasized about havin...

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“Letters I Cannot Write” by MSP _

Submitted to Contest #196

Dear You, The sun still shines, the moon still cries. The sand remains warm, beneath my feet, and the ocean tide ceaselessly roars far in the distance. Everything in sight remains the same around me, yet I can feel that everything has changed. The calendar on my bedroom wall flips its pages by, in no way fit to measure the time that has passed since your path interrupted mine. The humidity of one autumn night, under that deceiving fairytale of blinding floodlights. My shaking hands reached forward to yours, which too could not rema...

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“Breaking Up is Hard to Do” by Audrey Lewis

Submitted to Contest #196

I took my final sip of coffee as the morning sun finally passed the horizon. It shone like a spotlight in the sky that glistened across the Pacific ocean and the assortment of white boats standing at the dock. I inhaled deeply, taking in the balcony view I’d known for the last three years, and walked through the thick sliding glass door. I rinsed my mug in the sink and looked out over the living room. It was a skeleton of itself. The black leather couch we’d gotten from Facebook Marketplace and the glass coffee table I’d found at Goo...

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“the Grind” by Anne O

Submitted to Contest #196

The curtains are drawn this morning, allowing the sun to wake me. Jordan must have known I wanted to sleep in, but also that I would be angry with myself if I did. He usually parts the curtains first thing in the morning for me, before he gets ready for his morning jog. I needed the extra sleep, thankful not to have been brutally awakened by a striking alarm clock. I can still hear the cries from the evening before. Despair has a taste if you didn’t already know, and it never seems to truly dissolve. I carry weight I don’t need, the emotions...

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Write a story that includes the phrase “Maybe in another life.”

Submissions are closed

✍️ 74 stories

“FEVER” by Brynn Helena

“In another life time.” by Karina Navarro

“Dragonfly” by Amanda Lieser

“Eden in the Rearview Mirror” by Delbert Griffith

“Parallel” by Mihnea Balan

“Election Fever: Leftie Lucy Vs Rye T Tie Tee” by Graham Kinross

“Lies Hurt Less Than The Truth” by Jane Andrews

“Not Meant To Be, Never Will Be” by Anesa Feratovic

“Finding Roots in my Boots” by Morgan Thompson

“The Monsters” by Geir Westrul

“Try” by Kendall Defoe

“Dad's Dream” by Bernie Rhodes

“Letters I Cannot Write” by MSP _

“Breaking Up is Hard to Do” by Audrey Lewis

“the Grind” by Anne O

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character unknowingly experiencing a “sliding doors” moment. Write your story in two halves; what could have been, and what actually happened.

You’re walking down the street, when you spot a familiar figure. It’s another you. And they’ve come from an alternate reality to warn you about something.

Write a story involving a portal into a parallel universe.

Set your story in a world where time travel has been perfected, and people can use it to hop between alternate timelines — but at a cost.

Contest #196

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

279

Contest entries

149

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: