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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about a character who finds guidance in an unlikely place.

Posted in Dramatic on Oct 27, 2023

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 81 stories

“In A World Of Pure Imagination ” by Caroline Campbell

Submitted to Contest #222

Stuart has had enough of Violet. This much she knows. He lifts his face upwards to the Artex kitchen ceiling as if appealing to a higher power to give him strength. “This can’t go on, Violet. We can’t go on.” Violet says nothing as she watches him. Stuart ’s eyes are extraordinarily beady, and quite close together. He looks like a tall pink mongoose. It occurs to her that she really does not find him attractive at all. This realisation collides with a gut-punch of panic that he appears to be serious about ending things between them this time...

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“Mr. Fisher, the unlikely mentor ” by GRACE TIBBETTS

Submitted to Contest #222

Mentor in an unexpected place It was the summer of 1982 at the heart of small-town Cobleskill, NY. And me and my sister were up at the crack of dawn, dreams of dollar signs in our eyes.   We were sure the entire town would be showing up like gangbusters to buy our rocks. We set up our display on our front lawn, me, 8 years old, and Roberta, my sister, 6 years old. I mean, we had given up an entire summer day of playing to put our hard work into this. And it was such a beautiful day, one of the perfect ones that was not to hot ...

5 comments 5
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“The Eclipse of Llam” by Muntaqa Bari

Submitted to Contest #222

It was only the early hours of the afternoon but the town of Llam was starting to get covered in darkness.Normally, the inhabitants would be standing outdoors or looking out of their windows to observe this strange phenomenon. But, today, no one seemed to care that the crescent sun was getting smaller with each passing minute.The solar eclipse arrived exactly as the news had predicted, yet the residents of Llam greeted it with cold silence instead of wonderment.Nora, however, was waiting for exactly this moment. The instant the edges of the ...

4 comments 4
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“The Woman in the Mirror” by Karen Best Wright

Submitted to Contest #222

Emma woke to her annoying alarm clock. Oh crap, I pushed the snooze button too many times? Now, I am going to be late. Mr. Taft locked the classroom doors before he distributed the final exams. He had zero tolerance for students who could not bother to be punctual, his words. Emma grabbed her hairbrush for a quick brush and ponytail job and tilted the golden etched mirror, which sat on her nightstand. The mirror was a treasure given to her upon her grandmother's death. The mirror was rumored to be magical, but Emma did not believe in such hu...

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“Such a Nice Girl” by Parul Shah

Submitted to Contest #222

Sitting there in the packed living room with its faux leather black and white sofas and improbably- bad green, leopard print rug, all of it shipped from China like slow-release carcinogenic bombs, killing us slowly with our own bad taste, Sneha thought. Sneha often found herself holding her breath when she and Dhruv would visit, first out of renewed shock at the horrifying aesthetics and then trying to not inhale the residual fumes of Chinese synthetic carpet manufacturing.  She’d never breathed easily in her in-law’s house with its g...

2 comments 2
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“Daddy's Little Girl” by Jill Potter

Submitted to Contest #222

Jennifer sits at the kitchen table, the sun hitting her dark brown hair and highlighting the pretty red undertones. Her face is drawn and pale and she stares at the glass of soda on the table as though her life is over.            I want to comfort her but at the same time, I fear that my words might sound hypocritical for I too am grappling with mixed feelings about her father getting married tomorrow.            “It’ll be alri...

5 comments 5
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“On the Job Training ” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #222

On the Job Training Picture it: I have known what I wanted to be since I was ten: a nurse… My mother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at sixteen. For the most part, she had things under control. Type 1 diabetics are insulin-dependent. It snowed overnight, and nothing was moving or open for three days. My father had a pulpwood business, and his logging truck would plow through. When the town reopened on Saturday, Mom asked Dad to pick up her insulin. I don't know if the communication got lost in translation or if he got distracted by his ...

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“The Gatekeeper” by Linda Wright

Submitted to Contest #222

    Write a story about a character who finds guidance in an unlikely place                                        The GatekeeperIt’s my job, Gatekeeper, it’s what I does an what my Pa did do before me. If I gets an order from the Highers, all praise the Highers, I opens the gate. I opens the gate only when it pleases the Hig...

4 comments 4
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“Phantasmagoria” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #222

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Phantasmagoria is defined as 1) an exhibition of optical effects and illusions, 2) a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined – or a scene that constantly changes, 3) a bizarre or fantastic combination, collection, or assemblage. “Again, when I close my eyes, I see static – like very small particles moving quickly all around – and within seconds everything seems to shift, and random things just appear. They appear as if I were seeing them with my eyes open only not clea...

3 comments 3
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“Gone” by Diane Tolley

Submitted to Contest #222

“Cross my palm with silver, young man and I shall tell you what I see in your future!” Gerald scratched his head and stared into the blue face. Was this a face he could trust? Should he be—as Brother Martin cautioned when he gave him the day off—cautious? “How do I know what you say is true?” The man straightened huffily and his blue skin seemed to glow. “You question the Blue Haruspex?” “Well . . . I . . .” “If I may interject.” Frederick, Gerald’s friend, whispered loudly into Gerald’s ear, “You are right to questio...

2 comments 2
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“Hope” by Michael Blight

Submitted to Contest #222

In a world marred by the scars of an apocalyptic catastrophe, where remnants of humanity struggled to survive amidst the ruins, a young girl named Eliza struggled to survive. Eliza was a resilient 17-year-old with auburn hair and dazzling blue eyes who had seen the darkest depths of human nature which left a bitter taste in her mouth. This resigned her to a life of solitary existence, convinced that people and trust was not a luxury she could afford to have.Her long, tangled hair and dirt-streaked face were evidence of the challenges she had...

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“Orange Juice” by Piper Jenne

Submitted to Contest #222

I was in the orange juice section of the dairy aisle when I received my first prayer. It sometimes happens that way, I guess. I was just looking for some juice with a little bit of pulp, but there are a million and one pulp options to choose from. There's semi-strained and mid-range and mildly-chunky and almost-a-solid and I couldn't tell what any of them meant but I just needed to get the juice that Claudia would drink and I didn't have time to stand in the goddamn juice aisle having a panic attack over pulp but it was happening and there w...

1 comment 1
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“A Guardian in the Rough” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #222

I walked in the door with two strange women that would soon become family, carrying all my worldly possessions. They amounted to one suitcase and a shoulder bag. I was broken. I’d been granted entry to the refuge after a long debate with myself about whether I should ask to go or not. It should have felt like progress, but it felt like a huge step backwards. I was starting from scratch, building upon the rubble of my recent life. I didn’t know where to put myself. The old building was warm, but it felt vast. I didn’t know where I was going, ...

4 comments 4
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“Do you see what I see” by Omar Scott

Submitted to Contest #222

Black boots crushed the gravel beneath them with each step along the desolate highway. With the August sun on his back, Deputy Sheriff Henry Lee Jones cast not only a large shadow on the Nissan Maxima he was approaching, but on all the residents of Harrison County. He adjusted his aviator style sunglasses on his pale white face that had the texture of sandpaper. As he approached the driver side window, his dark blue eyes scanned the interior of the car. He noticed a black man with dreadlocks in the driver seat, and a female companion with he...

1 comment 1
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“Louisa’s Insurrection” by Arthur An

Submitted to Contest #222

Being betrayed is like breaking your arms. You can forgive but you won't be able to hug. -Leo TolstoyLouisa pranced upstairs. The euphoria of becoming the newly elected president of the 42nd Street Council allowed her to ignore the bleeding leg wound. It was only after she sprinted up to the fourth-floor landing that she realized her utter exhaustion and, there on the linoleum steps, the trail of congealing blood glistening under the fluorescent lights.Taking a breather on the landing Louisa recalled that it was her best friend Agnes who ha...

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Contest #222

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Ended on 23:59 - Nov 03, 2023 EST

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Title: Just Like Him

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