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Set your story during — or just before — a storm.

Posted in Dramatic on Jan 31, 2025

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✍️ 142 stories

Motherhood

Winner of Contest #288 🏆

We’re seeing some big storms roll through south of the capital region, bringing hail and even a few isolated funnel clouds… Rachel mutes the forecaster waving his arms at the churning mass of red, yellow and green spinning in their direction on the radar map.  She retrieves ice cubes from the freezer that hiss and spit with displeasure as they’re plunked into a glass of ginger ale. She slides the patio door aside and hovers in the midst of combat between the heavy humidity and the cool AC. She lifts a trembling hand to her brow, shieldi...

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The Day the Words Got Loose

Shortlisted for Contest #288 ⭐️

The rain began, a relief after a long, dry August. As if signaling the end of summer’s lazy days, the sky turned gray, and the first drops fell with a soft pitter-patter, carrying the fresh scent of wet earth. At first, it was soothing. But the rain kept coming. The parched ground, hardened into baked clay, rejected the offering. As the storms raged, water pooled on lawns, sidewalks turned to rivers, and gutters gurgled, whispering secrets as they carried the flood away. The rain began to seep into every nook and cranny of the old homes. It ...

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Subtropical storm Wendy

Submitted to Contest #288

They enjoy planning. Debating where to go for their annual vacation. Agonizing over hotel versus B&B. Studying the map for the best and safest route. Calculating mileage against posted speed limits. Learning which rest stop has a gas station and clean facilities. Researching and rejecting sights, attractions, and possible side trips. All this is as much fun as the trip itself. More, maybe. Months ahead of the trip, they will make lists. Adding items, scratching off others, often adding them to the list again. They will ponder and worry, ...

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Ballerinas in the Moonlight

Submitted to Contest #288

“Go back to bed, Miss Amelia darling. You know the rules.” “Who are you?” “You know who I am.” “Tell me.” “I’m Denise, your aide,” the stranger said. “Now let’s get you back into bed under your blanket. It’s going to be freezing tonight. Do you have your woolen socks on?” I looked down at my feet. Such ugly socks I had on. Why? “These socks are ugly,” I told the strange lady while getting into bed. She laughed, “Are you going out tonight? Perhaps dancing?  The socks are fine. You’ll be nice and w...

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Comin’ Round the Mountain

Shortlisted for Contest #288 ⭐️

She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain When She Comes The old folk song went round and round in her head as Joanna Fan peered through the wet windshield, the wipers slapping an irritating rhythm that didn't quite fit the music. Rippling sheets of water on the glass made the road nearly invisible as she crept along at barely ten miles per hour.  The day had started out warm and clear, but towards lunchtime, thick gray clouds began to pile up and the heavens opened with big fat drops. Joanna had brought a sandwich and a Thermo...

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Tempête du Cygne Noir

Submitted to Contest #288

The wind whipped the layers of storm clouds ever nearer the seashore, and the deadly scene on the sandy beach. The flashes of lightning highlighted the clumps of bodies, heaps of flesh and clothes, lying prone, face down in the sand. Dead bodies vulnerable to the sweeping heavy rain that came closer with every second, and with every gust of wind. The sea was growing, the constant tidal waves inflated in size, as the down drafts of wind pushed the waves higher. One could see the wind pressure from above pressing down, squeezing into the water...

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A Rainy Day in 2348 BC

Submitted to Contest #288

A Rainy Day in 2348 BC“Often it does seem such a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.”-Mark Twain“Looks like quite a storm brewing, Pops. We better call it a day.”“Nope, my itchy toe says no rain today, Shem. You’re just trying to get out of work early. Get back to the sheep.” “You and your stupid itchy toe. I’m telling you this one is going to a barn-buster.”“That’s why I call you ‘Chicken Little’. You worry too much. Now get back to work.”Noah was tough on his kids. His wife, whose name he somehow never learned (he affe...

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Lightning Rod

Submitted to Contest #288

A tall man stands in rainfall looking up at a dirty window in a dirty street. It is a biblical deluge and there is no other soul abroad. He buries his hands deeper in his pockets and flinches when a streak of lighting appears in the sky. It forks towards a downbeat hotel and is unmanned by a lightning rod on the roof. Ten seconds later there is an ionised charge of thunder. This too is biblical and fearful, like the galloping hoofs of the apocalypse. His daughter is here somewhere, and this somewhere is nowhere any father wants his daughter ...

34 likes 28 comments 28
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Something In A Storm

Submitted to Contest #288

Something in a Storm      It’s going to happen. I just know it. The air is electric, super charged, and sparking all around me. The breeze brushes up against my skin causing my arm hair to rise up. How strange. I’m looking in to the distance over the trees at the end of the meadow and there is a wall of blackness moving in while covering the grey misty sky.     If it’s cold, I can’t feel it. My senses are focused on the advancing cloud. Is that what it is? Not like any cloud I’ve ever seen b...

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The Road Home

Submitted to Contest #288

Wind slammed the car like a rageful fist. Carly’s hands tightened around the water bottle in her lap, and she clenched her teeth together, biting back the ever-so-tempting words, “Drive carefully.” Bobby, her husband, had his hands firmly on the wheel, eyes straight ahead, locked in. He was already driving as carefully as he would, twisting through the dark highway, combating the wind and rain. She could feel the car shaking against the storm. “Want me to turn on a podcast?” The words came out before Carly could stop them, small and weak. A ...

27 likes 17 comments 17
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No Body Wants to Work Anymore

Submitted to Contest #288

The rain lashed against the lab windows like God was tapping along to a Neil Peart drum solo.Victor Frankenstein gritted his teeth, his mop of a fringe plastered to his forehead by the sweat. He needed to hurry up; the storm would soon be upon him. He was so close, and if he didn’t have the creature ready in the next few minutes, he’d have to wait until the next storm. And who knew when that would be? No, it had to be now; it could not wait.Lightning flashed on the horizon. Fifteen seconds later, the thunder rumbled, distant. The rain became...

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The art in the storm

Submitted to Contest #288

Ann stood by the window and stared out over the lake. There was a storm brewing. One for the record books if the radio hadn’t been exaggerating. The greyness outside matched her mood but this was not what she needed right now. With a heavy sigh she turned away from those depressingly dark clouds and picked up her paints. The only thing she could do now was to pray that the electricity would hold up against the storm so she could finish her painting. She had to finish it. Not because of any pressing deadline but for her own sanity. That dam...

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The Royal Tar Tragedy

Submitted to Contest #288

And then there was no light at all in the East, save the flash of lightning out over the archipelago, which gave brief glimpses of the raging Atlantic, of giant monsters rolling directly into the cove, which was our supposed haven from the storm. The Steamship The Royal Tar was tossed around like a child’s toy, and we with it like ragged dolls. The captain stood grim-faced in the pilot house. None of the crew dared say what all were thinking, nor need they; the skipper knew what he was doing, and knew what he had done.“Check the hold, that t...

27 likes 12 comments 12
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Checkmate

Submitted to Contest #288

“Here are the rules,” Onyx folds her hands calmly behind her row of black chess pieces lined up on the board separating us.Against the lightning shattering through the cracked window behind her, illuminating her jet black hair and pale features while veiling her in the shadow from the blackout, punctured only by the flickering candlelight on our game table –  she looks absolutely sinister, demonic, wicked. I’m not sure if her appearance unnerves me more or the fact that she looks exactly like me. It’s like staring into a mirror. A ...

25 likes 22 comments 22
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The Pampero Wind of Buenos Aires 💨

Submitted to Contest #288

The Pampero Wind of Buenos AiresProfessor Hu stood at his office window, watching dark clouds gather over Buenos Aires. Pampero winds sweep in at the end of every summer, bringing rain and relief from the scorching temperatures of summer. At 38, Hu was a renowned biologist at Buenos Aires University—wealthy, handsome, and respected—yet each morning he awoke feeling alone and empty.Despite his accolades and a successful career, he felt a profound discontent. So he did what everyone seeking human connection did, he turned to DeepSage.➡️ DeepSa...

24 likes 16 comments 16
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