Make a character perform a ceremony to set something or someone free.

Posted in Dramatic on Jun 30, 2023

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✍️ 55 stories

“Wellness Check” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #205

I put my hotdog into the bucket, because I want to see my daughter again. Her name’s Rachel and she’s fallen down the well. Also again. She’s always doing this to me. The first time was when I taught her to play chess, many sweet lifetimes ago. She was a ruby-cheeked cherub perpetually surprised at the beauty of life, and even though her mom feared she’d find the game boring, Rachel’s eyes widened with marvel at the armies arrayed on the board. But she thought it wasn’t a toy – something to be looked at and never touched. When I told her it ...

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“The Devil You Know” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #205

“Oh fow-el spirit, get out!” “It’s foul, not fow-el.” “What’s the difference?” “One is a pheasant or other type of bird.” “What kind of bird?” “I don’t know! Just get the wording right and get on with this exorcism, and can you please use terminology that’s not out of a Benny Hinn script?” “The English comic?” “You’re thinking of Benny Hill and not the Evangelist with the wavy white hair that starts in one direction, then goes in another, like it suddenly changed its mind halfway through.” “Who?” “Always wears a white suit. Thinks he’s the n...

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“Ritual” by Helen A Smith

Submitted to Contest #205

EGYPT, CIRCA 1350 BCWearing the mask of the jackal-headed god Anubis, Darius entered the ‘ibu’ tent with a heavier step than usual. The woman whose body lay naked and thoroughly cleaned before him on the embalming table was not just anyone. For a few seconds he caught his breath, half-expecting Zara who’d been a close family friend, to rise up and tease him about his big feet like she’d done when he was a boy.Darius had never minded her teasing. Having lost his own mother at a young age and with a father who was engrossed in ...

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“On a razors edge” by Kevin Logue

Submitted to Contest #205

***TRIGGER WARNING*** Details of abuse, rape and child lose.The cut-throat razor barely glistens anymore. Years of slicing, scraping and shaping have gradually worn it down. Made it obsolete. Its bluntness won't deter me though, I'll just have to cut a little harder.I turn it in my hand, a museum clerk appraising a lost relic, a murderer savouring the moment, a lover lost in loneliness. Your initials are almost worn from the walnut handle. I had it engraved specially, just for you, gold leafed, just for you. Everything just for you. Everythi...

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“The Virgin Wakes” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #205

We giggled as we ran through the gothic arch of the main doors and down the stone steps to the street. The shadow of the belfry momentarily shaded our eyes from the glare of the sinking sun. The golden rings adding new weight to our freshly encircled fingers would have glinted in the light if we hadn’t been holding hands so tightly.No confetti. No speeches. No first dance – at least not one that anyone else would watch. My dress was long and white, yes, but it had cost £30 off the rack and had barely a frill. We didn’t need frills, just each...

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“The Coin, The Fountain, and the Dream” by Chad Eastwood

Submitted to Contest #205

The shaft of the hammer in my hand was soaked in sweat. How many were there? Hundreds? Thousands.He was like a shaman, like a great religious leader. Passionate. Dangerous. Wild. True.He was in a feverous reverie. His words caught us by the back of the neck. They grabbed our souls and shook them to life. We wanted it. We needed it. We would have followed this truth anywhere.“Do you know what ritual is?” He cried out over the rain-soaked crowd.“Ritual is the physical expression of a psychological process. We act out in the world of the senses...

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“CHECK” by Dennis Haak

Submitted to Contest #205

- Trigger warning: mental health - Dan really envied people who could just grab their things and leave their house in a flash when they needed to go to work. This particular morning the thought hadn't crossed his mind yet, because things were going smoothly for once.Despite having started his closing ceremony only a minute ago, he had already finished making sure the door to his balcony and the windows of his apartment were locked. The first great disaster had been prevented: burglary. Not only that, Dan had managed to do so without feeling ...

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“Patience” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #205

There was no air conditioning in the Edmund School office. That was a luxury other districts could afford, like the one in Lawrence where Molly Driscoll had completed her student teaching the prior spring. No, she thought, I’m in rural Kansas, farm country, amber waves of grain, and all that. Grassroots America. Molly pondered this while using her front teeth to massage a canker sore on the tip of her tongue. The sultry early September summer air from the school office’s only open window seemingly hung over her head like a coming s...

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“A Study in Pigeonhood ” by Mira Sharma

Submitted to Contest #205

Martha the pigeon does not want to be free. Today is the same. I wake up, brush my teeth, sneak into Mum’s room, and begin my pigeon heist. Martha’s cage sits on the corner of Mum’s bedside table, right where most people would place a glass of water or last night’s reading material. The route is a tricky one, but I manage to slip through the maze of laundry, sail across the bed-and-dresser canal, and elude being punctured by a stray fork in under a minute. I’m steps away from Martha’s cage when the bed rustles - I freeze, heartbeat th...

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“The point of no return” by Eddie McKenzie

Submitted to Contest #205

Everything was off to a perfectly smashing start, really. The fact that the silence of the cave, usually broken only by the occasional drip of water further into the darkness was, instead, broken by the boy's alarmed hiss as the match burned out faster than he had expected and stung as his fingertips. He shook out the flame before it had the chance to do any further damage to his fingertips than that of which his distracted teeth accomplished. Adrian had hoped that he would have been able to light all five of the bone-white candles he h...

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“A Familiar’s Disenchantment.” by Cecilia Englishby

Submitted to Contest #205

Bovi felt unsure about his next client. This was odd as he never felt unsure about anything. However; engaging a Dragon’s Familiar felt like being unfaithful. He was after all, considered a friend amongst Dragons; as much as one could be considered such a thing. He was curious though; Familiars were something of a mystery paraded in plain sight. They came in many shapes, often very exotic; and followed some Dragons in droves. Yet, for all their apparent availability, no living creature has ever been able to penetrate the inner workings of...

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“The Bone Men's Duty” by Rachel Thompson

Submitted to Contest #205

When a body exhales its final breath its soul is dispelled, riding piggyback on the damp air. The soul is infinite but the body is only temporary. The soul thrives like a parasite on a fleshy host, it embeds itself deeply into every part. Inevitably the soul outlives its host, and time after time it is cast out into the cold, on a final breath. Each time it’s a wrench. Taking a soul from its body is like taking a newborn from the breast: it is a primitive pain. It wanders, meandering the landscape, in search of a new host. The soul always ca...

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“The Last Letter of Genzai Toshi” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #205

[I used google translate for the names of the characters, I hope that no offense is given to the Japanese people for the crude use of their language] The brush rises from the sealed envelope, leaving a black blooded wound on the paper. Soon, the tantou waiting in its sheath will do the same on his abdomen. “Dear Atarashi, my son. Every animal is born with the need to make their life as good as possible. We all strive for our survival, for our betterment and for our happiness; yet the mark of an honorable man is to extend this to the ...

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“The Birth of Guilt” by Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #205

I promised Brooke I knew what I was doing. Dad and I did seances all the time growing up so I could talk to Mom. The only difference this time, besides trading my childhood kitchen table for my college dorm room, was that I’d be talking to Dad. “So we don’t need a Ouija board or something?” Brooke asked with a morbid curiosity but still unsure of doing this. “No, that’s just a toy. All we need are a few candles and a dark room on a moonless night.” That was just to keep things simple. Really, it wouldn’t work without Dad’s Necronomicon a...

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“The Widows of The Comet” by Charlotte Kelley

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #205

You are looking at us. Wide eyes, fearful eyes. Help me. You, the woman, are haggard, sunburnt, too young for her skin. You suck the last bits of ash from your cigarette and vie for your husband’s attention. A bad husband, by the looks of it (and we know what a bad husband looks like). He, the man—hard-muscled, veiny, sickly pale—picks at the raw skin of his elbow. A cut, a weakness. You’ve been driving all night, you say. A place to sleep would be lovely. Happily, we oblige. We walk with you toward the mess hall. You question...

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Make a character perform a ceremony to set something or someone free.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 55 stories

“Wellness Check” by Michał Przywara

“The Devil You Know” by Chris Campbell

“Ritual” by Helen A Smith

“On a razors edge” by Kevin Logue

“The Virgin Wakes” by Katharine Widdows

“The Coin, The Fountain, and the Dream” by Chad Eastwood

“CHECK” by Dennis Haak

“Patience” by Gregg Voss

“A Study in Pigeonhood ” by Mira Sharma

“The point of no return” by Eddie McKenzie

“A Familiar’s Disenchantment.” by Cecilia Englishby

“The Bone Men's Duty” by Rachel Thompson

“The Last Letter of Genzai Toshi” by Gianluca Angelucci

“The Birth of Guilt” by Allan Bernal

“The Widows of The Comet” by Charlotte Kelley

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story during a full moon night.

Make your protagonist go through a rite of passage.

Write about a character who develops a special ritual to cope with something.

Write about a character who breaks free from a tradition to create a new one.

Contest #205

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

307

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: