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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

“Let Madness” by Kim Hoag

Submitted to Contest #222

Let Madness A poem with background story. • Lethe is a cure to madness – a sharp cut through the frontal lobe; Madness is wide-eyed and handsome as a bearded Prince waiting... smiling and standing against a thing howling in the rushes. Who could sleep with madness birthing dreams in the soul like moons, coldly burning, brightly beautiful? That ancient sun-blackened word for the special ability to carry visions at the edge of the eyes.... It's a half-life that's the price for living beyond the means of the soul. The true pl...

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“The Choice is Yours” by Fai S

Submitted to Contest #222

Chandler was walking through the park, lost in thought. He didn’t notice the joggers and other walkers that had to dodge out of his way. Earlier that day, he had visited a company he had interviewed with to pick up the offer they had made him. The company, Nexxel, was a pharmaceutical company, researching nicotine addiction. He applied on a whim, because his roommate was a biology major, and had been following the company’s announcements. Chandler tried to channel his roommate’s excitement while interviewing, and that apparently worked, give...

2 comments 2
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“Traveler” by Rose Esposito

Submitted to Contest #222

Eight was probably too old for a wacky straw, Lissie decided, as the smiling waiter approached her poolside chaise lounge with her second Pineapple Dream Surprise of the day. She thanked him and waited until he'd left before removing the blue plastic spiral from the tall, frosted cup and, after licking off the creamy yellow slush, setting it on the low table beside her, next to her magazine. She glanced over the rim of the cup as she sipped it, her plastic heart-shaped sunglasses hiding her observant eyes – did everyone get one? Maybe it was...

1 comment 1
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“The Number Puller” by Sarah Talbert

Submitted to Contest #222

“Lightning struck the Empire State Building again,” Teddy said sipping his coffee as the news ticker scrolled by on his television.  “Really?” Jessica’s brows lifted.  “It’s not that big of a deal. Lightning hits that building at least twenty-five times a year,” Teddy shrugged his shoulders. Standing, he walked over to his wife and kissed her forehead. “Engineers are learning how to absorb and deflect the massive amounts of energy away from the tall buildings.” “You and your infinite amount of random facts,” she winked at him...

2 comments 2
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“Hugh Munn” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #222

Discussion of suicide.Hugh Munn had a secret.An enigma wrapped up in a conundrum, encapsulated in a misunderstanding, giving birth to a phantasm? He called it his life, sort of.In other words, he was like anyone else.#Hugh! How do you do? Asked everything around him. Really! You can hear the voices in your head, can’t you? Most of us don’t listen that hard. But everything else does.That’s the thing about reality. Always listening. And we are the deaf and blind leading the…“What you need to know!” screams the headline as it takes us by t...

5 comments 5
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“Deus Ex” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #222

There are moments in life where everything narrows to one point. For a heart-stopping moment, it’s as though the air itself solidifies and either side of you there are walls and the walls are closing in. They close in so much that you’re trapped in a tunnel. A spec of data travelling down the wire. Then, as the transition makes itself fully known to you, it all makes sense and the surging tide of fear settles. The fear has not dissipated, but somehow it has turned, becoming an ally in the endeavour that beckons. I step up onto the stage an...

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“Emma's Gift” by Webb Johnson

Submitted to Contest #222

A good friend and colleague who knew I had several weeks of summer hiatus from teaching design at Claremont College, asked me if would volunteer to teach a summer school art class for high school freshmen. I agreed and this announcement was included in the Spring/Summer issue of the City Civic Arts Newsletter:   ’Scapes: Land and Sea. Learn to draw the world around us. For young artists interested in taking their drawing to a higher level. Explore a variety of subjects, developing an understanding of form, composition, line, ligh...

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“Dear Theophania...” by Nay Nay

Submitted to Contest #222

As you lay in your sterile hospital bed, surrounded by medical equipment and the scent of your own sick, a spark of hope flickered in your weary eyes as an unfamiliar figure stepped into the room, carrying a bouquet of vibrant flowers that promised a world beyond those sterile walls. For a moment, the ethereal figure nearly deceived you as you mistook her for someone else through your tinted view. But it wasn't her. “Excuse me, is this the right room?” the woman asked. “I’m looking for a Grace Magdelene.” You barely nodded as your brea...

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“Balancing on the Ferris Wheel” by Don Macintosh

Submitted to Contest #222

Balancing on the Ferris Wheel        Lying in bed as a toddler, he hung closely to the pleasure of touching himself, at times entering a sickly dark tunnel that made his insides want to retch. He felt as if he was being scraped off the side of a giant sticky soft Ferris Wheel that continued to revolve faster and faster until his head and body felt like an hourglass turned upright, draining all the sand.        This was a time before he could understand that thi...

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“Writer's Block” by Laura Johnston

Submitted to Contest #222

The blank page on her screen lights up her hands, her right pointer finger tapping impatiently on the keyboard. Her tired face reflects back as she stares at the blinking cursor, imagining it mocking her for having nothing to say. She can almost hear it ticking like a timer, counting down as the deadline approaches. Tick… tick… tick…. She has so many things piling up on her to-do list: answering emails, folding the laundry, putting the dishes away, picking up groceries, scheduling appointments. But still, she sits at her desk, tapping, typin...

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“Unseen” by Juhee Singh

Submitted to Contest #222

           Lila stared at the Dutch apple pancake deflating in the skillet. The front door slammed as a small hiss of air escaped from her culinary masterpiece.            This morning she’d made a point of getting up early enough to make her specialty. But it wasn’t enough. The kids had emerged from their grottoes and followed their father out the door without a glance at her. She’d hoped their favorite might have coaxed them into f...

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“THE WRITING CLASS” by Jolanta Polk

Submitted to Contest #222

There were three of us in the little cafe squeezed between a dime store and a launderette in Little Italy. We had the place to ourselves; it was too late for the night-time boozers who dropped in to hose down their stomachs irritated by the excessive intake of Manhattans and too early for the mid-day pastrami-on-rye guzzlers from nearby offices. If anybody wondered why a would-be writer, born, bred, and baptized in the Dublin Liberties, was more frequently than not seen in the company of two octogenarians born, bred, and bar-mitzvahed in pre...

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“The Hero's Journey” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #222

The Hero’s Journey Daniel ran down the steep edge of the cement aqueduct to the bottom where it was flat. A small amount of water was starting to pool in the drainage crease at the bottom and he knew by the end of the day there could be a raging torrent of water but for now, it was not only the fastest route across town but also the safest. Unless they blew the dam. The city had been on high alert for the past twelve hours, the streets and highway leading out of the city were clogged with desperate families trying to evacuate the city. L...

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“The Artist” by Amani Carson

Submitted to Contest #222

There was something about the dark, empty streets of London at night that felt like a warm embrace. Escapism? Was that what these 11pm post-library walks were? Tegan asked herself, as she strolled across the concrete, her current favourite song purring in her ears as the inky River Thames came into view.  Escapism was what a lot of people liked to imply Tegan indulged in.  Her mother, for example, who said it kindly, for she reminded her of her at that age.  And Brently, who insinuated it with a sneer whilst questioning her ma...

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“Swish the Kool Aid” by Danny Bubb

Submitted to Contest #222

Warning: This story concerns substance abuse, emotional and physical abuse, and sexual abuse. Long Eddy, NY Swish the Kool Aid  Larry was pleased with the boy’s progress. He was a quick study, and knew how to adjust recipes on the fly. There had been some minor disasters, but the kid was 15, and he was attentive. Last week, there was a misunderstanding regarding tablespoons and teaspoons, but some potatoes and stock diluted the minestrone until it was just right. They simply froze an extra conta...

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Contest #222

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