Start or end your story with a character receiving a hug or words of comfort.

Posted in Dramatic on Aug 25, 2023

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✍️ 101 stories

“A good soldier ” by Lyle Closs

Submitted to Contest #213

“Mate, pull me pants up will ya?” I saw him a few metres ahead on Pitt Street in 1979. I had just started working at Medibank. A lowly clerical job was all I was good for then. I rented a room in a house in Chippendale and could walk to work in central Sydney. My hair was long and my attitude could best be described as lackadaisical. I wore the required shirt and tie and ironed my trousers once a week to maintain some form of dignity and acceptability. What I really wanted to do was buy a Triumph Trident and ride into the sunset. “Ar Jesus,...

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“Untouchable” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #213

Sensitive content warning: emotional domestic abuse and control. I haven’t been touched in five years. I can’t remember what it feels like anymore. My life has become so robotic; it’s hard to tell what I’m feeling anymore. My husband told me he was a good man. That should have been the first cause for alarm bells, but I took him at his word. I trusted him from the minute we met, because why wouldn’t I? I had never met someone of his calibre before. Coexistence is hard when someone dehumanises you daily. I walk into the same room as him at...

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“Recipes for Revenge” by Karen Corr

Submitted to Contest #213

Vengeance began with a cobbled street, a secondhand store, an unexpected find in a pile of ancient cookbooks bearing women in aprons and high heels, and a purchase made with spiteful intent. Constance laughed as she drove away. She opened her find as soon as she got home and began to read.Recipes for RevengeIntroductionThe world is unfair. If you have ever wondered how the hateful make it to the top or get the girl/guy or the job you wanted, there is no simple answer, and you won't find solutions in this book. What I offer is balm for batter...

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“Sorry for the Weight” by YEMISI B

Submitted to Contest #213

One of the reasons that I chose my job was because I expected it to be easy. A long way from the cold cemented walls of the laboratories at school. My days at the University were filled with long lectures from egotistical professors and even longer nights filled with differential equations. My body accumulated extra weight as a form of self-defense during my tenure of being under duress while pursuing an education. I couldn’t blame school entirely, everyone in my family was predisposed to be on the larger side of things and I had long since ...

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“Twisted Love” by E.J. De Gale

Submitted to Contest #213

She walked dreamily along the streets at four in the morning, searching for meaning in the life she’s found herself enmeshed in. The events happened so quickly, she couldn’t piece together the moments that led to the many riddles in this divine comedy we call life. Only a few years ago, she was euthymic, top of her field, without any financial pressures plaguing her. Today, her bank account was zero, and none of the usual characters that moved her life to love or laughter were anywhere in sight. Like his presence, they were gone as if he wer...

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“Until Tomorrow” by Brent Bosworth

Submitted to Contest #213

Three infected surrounded Charlie as he backed himself against a tree. He tried to duck behind the old oak to get away, but Charlie was too small and slow. He was only seven years old and his little legs and coordination were not cooperating with him. He tripped over a root, and they were on him in seconds, tearing at his clothes. Charlie’s father Bo had just arrived back on the scene to see his son flailing like one of the old tube men you’d see outside of a tire dealership. He raised his pistol in the air and fired a round. The noise insta...

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“Prey Shares” by Jay DeBurgh

Submitted to Contest #213

Her mouth was cold, and she longed for the warmth of an anthropoid crimson to warm her. After finishing the document, she left it in the print queue for her personal assistant and switched off her laptop. Walking past her personal assistant's desk, she stuck a post-it note there so she could print and send the letter in the morning. She went beyond the security barrier. A street light highlighted her pale complexion, as she caused a shadow in its path and slipped into the embrace of the night. Distance noises of homeward-bound traffic echoed...

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“Two-Faced and the Betrayed” by Sarah Martyn

Submitted to Contest #213

***TW: mentions of divorce and an affair*** “This is a tale of two marriages, and I want you to figure out which one is real.” “Okay, I’ll listen and see if I can.” “Now, I know you’re my therapist, Diana, but you’ve become like a friend to me over the last year. I simply ask that you treat me more as a friend today.” “I can do that, Jonie.” “Well… let’s rewind a bit.” We met in high school, but we weren’t exactly sweethearts until college. In fact, I was someone else’s sweetheart from eighth grade until senior year, and not off ...

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“Last Visit to the Sky City” by Clark Graham

Submitted to Contest #213

Sky City Amanda stepped onto the shuttlecraft slowly, making sure her tired old legs could step across the gap between the platform and the ship. She used her cane to steady herself. Having traversed that, she went and sat down near the back. An old man, with a walker next to his seat, gazed up from his paper. “Oh, it’s you.” He went back to reading, ignoring her glare. “Tony got tired of having you around then?” She said it just to ruffle his feathers. He set down the paper in his lap. “What about your two lovelies? Are they going to mis...

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“Alicia” by Melanie Beckley

Submitted to Contest #213

Alicia lived a phenomenal and very much carefree lifestyle. She had no regrets of being single, and she loved every minute of it. Not having anyone to be responsible to was something a lot of her friends envied. Everyone who encountered Alicia, loved her free spirit and infectious laughter. She was that person that everyone wanted to be around. Here Alicia was, on her third holiday this year at Marina di Praia Beach in Praiano, Italy and it was absolutely breathtaking. What she loved the most was how the grey rock ...

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“The Forgotten Child” by Mary Ann Estes

Submitted to Contest #213

I used to have this recurring dream that I’m on the roof of a large building. It’s dark and gloomy, maybe a little rainy. I can see the silhouette of this girl sitting on the ledge very close to the edge of the building. I can hear her heavy breathing like she’s been crying. I’m not sure if I should say something or if I should just walk away but as I am trying to make a decision I hear her crackling voice, “What do you want?” I really didn’t know what to say. So I’m polite, “Did you need some help?”. “No, no one ...

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“Asleep At The Wheel” by Brian Tasby

Submitted to Contest #213

In the summer of 2005, I was working as a quality control associate at Hewlett Packard. Essentially, all I did was make sure the parts looked like the model. At the same time, I was attending the first session of summer school at Pine View A & M. Not to be confused in any way with the most prestigious Prairie View A & M University located in Texas. I said what I said…I was trying to bring my GPA up after having been on academic probation in my second semester, then suspended for the third. Let’s just say my freshman year was full of ...

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“Deerhead Mansion” by Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #213

Old man Hinkley liked his boys young… but probably not in the way you're thinking. What I mean is I never once saw Hinkley take off his three-piece suit. As far as I know, the man was born wearing one. And he hardly ever raised a hand to us because he didn't have to. His stare burned holes through us while his voice steered us toward Armageddon, all before his toothless smile brought us back from the brink. I was 6 years old when I first met him, this stick-thin man with slicked back hair who swaggered toward the pair of housing officers...

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“The Barber” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #213

Avery is a quiet man with a gentle sense of humor and an honest heart. He owns the dry-cleaning business in town. People like him. The store was originally his father’s, and Avery took it over when his father passed away. And why not? He has worked there since he was old enough to push a broom. Avery’s father took the time and patience to teach Avery everything there was to know about the dry cleaning business. Everything from the chemicals and how to use them to keeping excellent and accurate books from in...

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“PROTEGE” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #213

PROTEGEMax left the building on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse feeling exhilarated following his meeting. As he stood beneath the panoply of red flags, all proudly displaying the swastika emblem of Nazi Germany, he took in a deep breath of the frigid November air. Finally, he had a clarity of purpose; a reason to look forward to the future with real optimism.Ever since he had returned home from university, Max Brandt had been listless, unhappy, unsure of what his life might have in store for him. His father, Gerhardt, a wealthy industrialist was ail...

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Start or end your story with a character receiving a hug or words of comfort.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 101 stories

“A good soldier ” by Lyle Closs

“Untouchable” by Keelan LaForge

“Recipes for Revenge” by Karen Corr

“Sorry for the Weight” by YEMISI B

“Twisted Love” by E.J. De Gale

“Until Tomorrow” by Brent Bosworth

“Prey Shares” by Jay DeBurgh

“Two-Faced and the Betrayed” by Sarah Martyn

“Last Visit to the Sky City” by Clark Graham

“Alicia” by Melanie Beckley

“The Forgotten Child” by Mary Ann Estes

“Asleep At The Wheel” by Brian Tasby

“Deerhead Mansion” by Robert Egan

“The Barber” by Ralph Aldrich

“PROTEGE” by Charles Corkery

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character looking closely at something, or someone. They can't quite decide if what they're looking at is natural, or man-made.

Write a story about someone who is losing feeling in their hands and/or fingers.

Write about someone with a Midas touch: everything they touch turns to [fill in the blank].

Write about an AI or person trying to inject a ‘human touch’ into their work.

Contest #213

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

286

Contest entries

124

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: