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Write a story with an open ending that leaves room for your reader’s own interpretations.

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 25, 2025

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✍️ 92 stories

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ARGENTINA or Keeping an Eye on the Inverted Commas

Submitted to Contest #313

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ARGENTINA or Keeping an Eye on the Inverted Commas I last saw Martin in Barcelona. We had dinner in one of those restaurants by the harbour where they serve fish in huge iron skillets. We ate a zarzuela of hake and swordfish, and mussels that looked like ebony sculptures. Martin had insisted on red wine. Outside the street-lights came on, and I saw a young woman wrap a cardigan around her shoulders. A gull called out in the dusk. As the waiter passed our table Martin picked up the empty...

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Letters

Submitted to Contest #313

The house settled around him with the kind of hush that only came after long years and longer routines. Abe shuffled across the kitchen tile in worn slippers, still in the khaki slacks he'd fallen asleep in, one hand rubbing at the knot in his shoulder like it might finally work loose after twenty years of complaints.The morning light had that flat, pewter tone to it, like the sky hadn’t decided whether to clear or keep brooding. He didn’t check the weather. Didn’t care. The pot on the counter still held yesterday’s brew, and that was enough...

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Speeding in a Foreign Land

Submitted to Contest #313

The public announcement system which was probably installed in the 1950s bellowed out a very loud and distorted command, first in the native language, then in German, and finally in English: “Will the next visitor please go to counter number seven?” Sarah caught the German version and nudged Robert to start walking to the right. Robert noted that this is their lucky day, for seven is the most common roll with two dice and is an automatic winner in Craps. “Yes,” Sarah retorted, “but only if it’s a new shooter’s first roll; otherwise, it’s his...

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Wanting a live change

Submitted to Contest #313

Wanting a life change When I look back on my early years I lived in the lap of luxury. My parents possessed a well appointed house in Greenwich. My bedroom was a large, airy room filled with toys, books and objects carefully selected and approved by my mother. I was an only child. I often thought I would have loved a brother or sister to play with. I occasionally asked my mother if she was going to give me a playmate. Her reply was always the same. The responsibility of one child is enough. I was the center of their attention and in those ...

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Dollar and Whiskey

Submitted to Contest #313

Dollar and Whiskey JFK International Airport, September 1987 Marek Zielinski clutched the strap of his worn leather satchel as he stepped off the plane. The smell hit him first-sterile, with a strange sweetness in the recycled air. Then came the noise. A man shouting into a payphone. The rapid clicks of heels on tile. Children’s laughter. An announcement in English that zipped past him like a gust of wind: something about baggage claim and Terminal B. He understood none of it. His English was minimal—textbook phrases and phonetic guessing...

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One Last Fight

Submitted to Contest #313

The spectators towering above me in the stands chanted with one voice, “Kill it!” The noise bounced off the walls of the arena and rang in my mind. A battle cry. A single command. Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! But a small voice in my head begged me to stop. The once-magnificent beast in front of me did not deserve to die. It squirmed in a pool of blood on the ground, its golden chest still rising weakly, defying its own end. I had seen the glassy haze clouding its eyes too many times to count. How very strange, I thought, that an animal and ...

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Best Kase Scenario

Submitted to Contest #313

Best Kase Scenario "This is complete horseshit," Kasey mused, tossing the complaint over one shoulder like a discarded wrapper. The hike was Kayden's idea, after all, like it always was, so it was his responsibility to take the abuse for her acceptance. She didn't even bother to look back and gauge his reaction. She didn't have to. He was her twin and she'd memorized the glint of long-suffering humor in his eyes eons ago. It had always seemed to her that Kayden had been born with the foreknowledge of his place in the world and carried an inn...

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Echoes of Toby

Submitted to Contest #313

There, in the gloomy and dark grey distance, twisting and rotating with ferocious strength, spun two terrifying tornadoes! One tornado was slightly smaller and thinner; the one on the right side, however, both seemed to be dancing and twirling to a tune only they could understand. It was a tune—no, a band—a live band, created with drums (the pounding thunder), trumpets and horn instruments (the piercing shrill of the wind), and also an electric guitar (the crackling, sizzling bursts of lightning). As the “music” and shrieking storm reache...

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Turmeric

Submitted to Contest #313

“Definitely the theater fight,” Louise said.“Absolutely,” Ian agreed, “That one’s a no doubter.”“What was up with you that night?”“I was hungry. That’s really just it. In a bad mood to begin with because it was a shitty day at work, and then I hadn’t eaten since lunch, and all of a sudden you were sweating me for being a little late, and I just lost it,” Ian explained, “I’m sorry.”“Why couldn’t you just say that” Louise said, “I thought you were really pissed at me for something and I didn’t have a clue what I’d done. And it was so humiliati...

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Are You There, God? If So, Please Say Something!

Submitted to Contest #313

Are You There, God? If So, Please Say Something! Once upon a time in a huge metropolis called Danville, Va., there lived a really nice person named Sam. With long hair and a high-pitched voice, but liking cars and cowboys, people didn’t know if it was a guy or a girl. Life was especially hard for Sam because of all the talents God had given. Being really athletic, could beat most of the guys in almost any race. On the other hand, one of the favorite past-times was house-keeping and cooking. Yet watching cheerleaders do their tumblin...

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Blooms That Burden

Submitted to Contest #313

Birdsong filled the air with a chorus of different notes; high chirps from blue-breasted bobbins, the shrill calls of territorial whistle-whip, and the low chortle of my favorite red crested knocker. Bumblebees buzzed around me joining in the song of nature. Unfortunately I was taken out of my calm moment enjoying the sensations around me by a more annoying sensation. My glove had started slipping again, the wretched thing. With an exasperated huff I grab it with my left hand and pull it back into place with the lacing around my wrist on my ...

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Would You?

Submitted to Contest #313

“Would you love me when I am weak, just as you do when I am strong?” The Knight Francis asked The Princess. His eyes met hers with a mix of anticipation and worry, for he did not know how long he had left. His dreams were to ride into battle with her blessing of love, knowing that he captured her heart and lived valiantly. Her eyes, however, remained dispassionate in his ask. Clearly, from his perspective, she was deep in thought in response to his request. Of course, he was a knight, but he was also her knight. To protect and love her as a ...

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Cosmic Threads

Submitted to Contest #313

Under the endless expanse of a star-speckled sky, Sarah stood alone, her eyes scanning the heavens for the first streak of light. The meteor shower was supposed to start any moment now—a celestial show she’d been planning for weeks. But the field around her was empty, the stillness broken only by the faint chirp of crickets and the occasional sigh of the wind through the grass. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.Even the fireflies seemed to whisper warnings with their coded, flashing light, their erratic glows hinting that something in the n...

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Co-op

Submitted to Contest #313

A stifling waft of hot air hit them as they entered the arcade. Immediately every sense was overwhelmed by strobing neon lights, Blaring, Looping jingles, electric whines and of course, the overall stickiness of the place. “Nathan, get us some drinks.” Mike ordered, already on his way to hog Streetfighter. Sam gave him an apologetic shrug before joining Mike at the machine. Nathan debated if he should just leave. It was loud, he wasn’t sure his friends wanted him there, but it beat the hell out of letting his anxiety spiral out of control. ...

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Who Designed Your Route To Success?

Submitted to Contest #313

Lacey Stanwick was invited to motivate the graduating class of Collingswood University. She was encouraged by her best friend Paula. “I know you hate public speaking, but these are young innocent minds who need a spoonful of wisdom from us ol. . ....? Paula held onto the D. Lacey threw her a stern look, and she said, “Us mature women.” “Nice recovery,” Lacey said with a smile. Staring at more than three hundred eager minds, their spongelike brain unprepared for the struggles and cruelty of our world. Breathing heavily for courage, as her int...

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