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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story with a character pouring out their emotions.

Posted in Dramatic on Jan 24, 2025

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✍️ 46 stories

“Emotions run free” by Susie Bennett

Submitted to Contest #287

The chipped porcelain mug warmed Elara’s hands, but the tea inside remained untouched, a stagnant pool reflecting the weak morning light filtering through her kitchen window. It was a Sunday, the kind that usually promised lazy comfort, but today, a storm brewed within her, one she knew couldn't be contained any longer. She’d tried, for months, to play the good soldier, the calm professional, the ever-supportive friend. But the weight had become too crushing, the silence too deafening. Elara, a graphic designer known for her vibrant creation...

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“But I Love You” by Karen Gregory

Submitted to Contest #287

Today, I saw you and skirted around the phrase “I love you.” I went everywhere but right up to it. You hovered at the edge like a fixed statue as I went round and round, knowing it was coming. Dreading its coming. And, just as I was careening right to it, you stopped the movement with a tip of your head and a resistant smile. I steadied. Caught in your eyes, your body language, the disappointed rumble of your voice saying, “You don’t want this.” You traced a tattooed hand across your faded grey shirt, pulling the words across you like a sh...

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“No, I regret nothing. ” by Marie Lagreen

Submitted to Contest #287

Dance with me!The light in the room glows dimly. A woman stands in high heels, wearing a black dress slit at the knee, holding a glass of red wine. Her loose hair cascades over her shoulders like waves. A massive mirror reflects her slender silhouette.I look exactly the way I wanted! Just as I imagined! And this necklace—it goes so well with the dress. It’s really beautiful, isn’t it? I even picked these heels specifically for today. Today, I will dance! I will dance for you!Then, in complete contrast, she collapses into the armchair and lau...

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“Your Cup of Iced Tea” by S.J. Song

Submitted to Contest #287

CW: Contains themes of loss and griefDo you remember? The summer heat, the blazing curiosity, and the iced tea that you somehow messed up? You were an American foreign exchange student, which meant you didn’t know how to make tea, therefore didn’t know how to make iced tea, so you panicked and dumped four tea bags into a tea cup with icy water? I remember your red face when I exposed the weird flavour and your warm, fumbling hands as you went to take the tea away from me, which ultimately spilled onto my dress. You were acting like a chicken...

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“Releasing Pain Through The Pen” by Nikita Mahone

Submitted to Contest #287

Sitting here sweating from having another nightmare that I been having since I was younger. When I was younger and the nightmares came I used to sit in my closet in the dark, it was my escape , and my sanctuary. Back then, it was the only spot I felt safe to write and cry without fear of being overheard and punished. Now I'm grown and this pain I feel is still an unbearable ache in my heart and spirit. The pain is so intense that it consumes me because I never fully unpacked my childhood wounds and scars. Leaving me sitting here in the da...

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“Echoes of a Soul” by Ryan Hinkey

Submitted to Contest #287

The room was dimly lit, the only source of light being a single flickering candle placed on the old wooden table. The shadows danced on the walls, casting eerie figures that seemed to echo the turmoil within Sarah’s heart. She sat at the edge of her bed, her hands trembling as she clutched a worn-out notebook filled with her deepest secrets. Tears streamed down her face as she opened the notebook, her mind flooded with memories that she had tried so hard to bury. Each page was a piece of her soul, an echo of the pain, joy, love, and loss tha...

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“ride to Jail ” by Jasper Edwards

Submitted to Contest #287

“Peter. I’m going to ask you to take your hands out of your pockets and lift them above your head. We just want to see that you are unarmed. Can you do that Peter?”“Yes.” Peter raised his arms and hands out of his pockets and above his head.“Good.” Officer Blankenship made out. “Now we need you. My partner Jens and I need you to take a ride with us. We’re going to take you down to corrections to get you booked. We have to arrest you son. For shoplifting at this Walgreens.”Peter lowered his hands in front of his body and raised his palms to i...

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“Love Lives on in My Heart” by Thelma Martin

Submitted to Contest #287

LOVE LIVES ON IN MY HEART After Sidney passed away, I struggled to concentrate on anything. The typewriter that Joan gave me was my savour. I had never typed before and am still very slow, but I started to hit the keys and copy my poems. I found that time flew by, and I had peace.Christmas was a sad, empty time, but my family filled in many gaps. I picked up Sid’s ashes in January; they were in two blue plastic containers. I shall never forget holding them close to my heart and vowing I would fulfil his wishes: “Cast them to the wind on...

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“The Monster” by Carson Lupton

Submitted to Contest #287

I still think about that night. So long ago now, but it remains clear as crystal in my memory. The fear. The blind fear is still palpable. Sometimes when I sleep at night, instead of the dreams that usually make up that time spent unconscious, I am taken back to that night. I wish it never happened. I wish I had forgotten it. I wish I could forget it. But I can't. And I never will. Night. The forest. Somewhere on Earth. Somewhere on earth. It is tranquil. The animals that wander this place by day have withdrawn to their burrows and their ne...

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“Pest” by Hannah Helton

Submitted to Contest #287

11/16/2016Dear Diary,Today will be the day I finally address the family problem, and finally confront that sorry excuse for what that "life" is. I have to be the one who takes control since my parents are clearly nothing but doormats. I have to stand up for them because they can't stand up for themselves toward anyone. Especially if it's someone in the family. I don't know where things went wrong, but I have no problem with a subtle confrontation. Today's the day.As soon as I finished writing, the smell of chicken and rice had entered my bed...

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“Another Late Night” by Daniel Murray

Submitted to Contest #287

I checked my phone over and over with the only change to my notifications being my gmail icon popping up with two more job rejections. I tossed my phone on my bed and walked to the kitchen, being as silent as possible not to wake my sleeping parents. I was already having a bad night and I wouldn't want to add an angry father and a confused mother to my list of things to worry about.  I opened the fridge, letting the cool air trail over my arms as I looked for anything small I could nibble on. I'd thought that there were some grapes left...

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“The Legacy of a Decapitated Head” by Chenchen Du

Submitted to Contest #287

The Legacy of the Decapitated Head Flint was a boy stranded on the shores of a foreign empire that trapped him as a perpetual outsider in Canton, as the new emperor Qianlong carried his father’s legacy of determined to keep the foreign barbarians from entering the inner land of the Celestial Empire with an iron fist. He chose not to sit and be silent.  “Why can’t you or your precious Company do porcelain business,” James Flint’s Chinese teacher complained. “That surely leads to less problems with transportation than tea.” “We need Ni...

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“Pour Me Out” by L.A. Rogers

Submitted to Contest #287

CW: Substance Abuse, Mental HealthMy old TV bathed the living room in pale blue light as advertisements interrupted a particularly tense hand of the professional poker tournament.Not that I particularly cared for poker. I didn’t care for particularly anything these days. None the less, I made a game out of the commercials. Every time it was a commercial for a medicine, a lawyer, or a politician, I took a drink. When the poker tournament came back, there was one swig left in my bottle.My leg bounced and skin crawled, anxiety and loneliness cr...

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“The Listener” by Laura Hathaway

Submitted to Contest #287

Elliot stepped into his small apartment, the weariness of the day etched into the lines of his face. His suit, once sharp and tailored to perfection, hung crumpled on his lean frame, his tie loosened and askew. His usually composed demeanor cracked, revealing the frustration simmering beneath. His dark hair was slightly mussed, a result of the countless times he had raked his fingers through it in exasperation during the day. His eyes, the color of warm caramel that were often guarded and calculating, now held a trace of vulnerability as he ...

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“Unsent Letters” by JS. Señor

Submitted to Contest #287

November 19, 2023Mother, Oh, how I miss you, Mother! Each passing day since you left has created a void too deep to ever be filled. I have been consumed by pangs of loneliness and, even more so, by regret. Every night, I try to relive the moments we shared when I was younger. I realize now how inattentive I was during those times — always daydreaming and not particularly fond of your presence. I took you for granted — your love, your presence, and your company.I remember our last encounter. I stopped by our hometown for a short visit, b...

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