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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone seeking an oasis in a desert — whether literally, or figuratively.

Posted in Dramatic on Aug 19, 2022

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✍️ 37 stories

“The King of Bones” by B R

Submitted to Contest #160

The heat.  It’s like a dream. I think I’m asleep, a walker dragging herself through the heavy weight of sand flooding around her ankles, almost soft clouds that tempted her to sink into and sleep. But then the hot sun beats down on my back like a sharp whip, reminding me that this is, in fact, real. If I genuinely decide to lie down and close my eyes, my sleep may turn eternal.  It’s tempting.  How long has it been? Days? Weeks perhaps? I shouldn’t have escaped.  The high walls of bones sound like a luxury now, a sanctum ...

2 comments 2
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“A FRESH WATER SPRING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #160

A FRESH WATER SPRING Ruth had married very young to leave a family where no one had never cared for her, where indeed she was also mistreated. In her family of origin her life had always been hell. Of course, if as a child and as a teenager someone had asked her what plans she had for her life, she couldn’t certainly have answered that she was thinking  of a family of hers, with husband and children. Yet at the age of seventeen she had married, and she had not married for love either, and not even because she wanted to have children and...

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“Promise of the Garden of Eden” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #160

The dark storm raged around her, she needed to get inside or she would die.  Sara was still on the ground after falling, she had to get up! The sand and rocks pelted her body through her thin dress, pressing tiny needles into her skin. It was another dust storm, coming from the west to engulf their farm, but bigger than ever before. The black blizzard had filled the air, she had no landmarks to know which way to go. She stood up and began running forward, she hoped it was the right way. The whipping dirt was cutting her, blinding her...

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“Mermaid of the Oasis” by Murry Lee Haithcock

Submitted to Contest #160

Flashing lights danced within the aircraft cabin. The signs of danger swirled with the air as it conveyed certain death to its passengers. A siren sang in harmony with the screams of those beside Ammon. His best friend yelled into his ear like a muted television. He grabbed his hand and held it tight when he felt his stomach leap as the plane plummeted.  He read the lips of his friend, “Ammon, I just wanted to tell you —” as fire protruded from behind his head. The fire swallowed every inch of his face; his green eyes were the last t...

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“Daniella” by A. Nic

Submitted to Contest #160

Somewhere in the scorching sands of the Sahara lies an oasis named Daniella.  With a gentle sparkling top of blue barricaded by green, she’s a beauty. A blessing. And the very thing that Ivan had been seeking for the past three months of his life.  His days would go something like this: rise with the sun, walk underneath it, stop to drink from his thinning thermos, continue his march, and when the sun had finally set, he’d sink to the ground and pray for the entire night that this would be the last day of his suffering. He wouldn...

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“The Camel” by Ian Matonti

Submitted to Contest #160

“Hey don’t drink it all!” The camel blinked and stared at me. I wasn’t sure how to answer the animal. I raised the bottle back to my lips.“Save a little for later!”By this time I’m drunk. I’m sure of it. It’s the only way I can explain a camel asking me questions in a bar. Wait a minute…“You’re not in a bar. You’re in a “barn”. A twinge of panic courses through my veins. “Are you narrating your thoughts?”Sheer bloody panic mode. I need to get out of here. The camel grabs the bottle out of my hand with its mouth. It places...

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“Sixty-One, Forty-Nine & Fifty” by Debra Styers

Submitted to Contest #160

To visit a real oasis was number forty-nine on Kelly’s bucket list. This was an obtainable goal. She was pleased that she thought of putting it down. She didn’t write down pipe dream items, such as going to space or the moon. Sure, she would love to go but she wanted to achieve her goals and as many of them as possible in the short time she has left. “Sixty-one,” Kelly thought, “is that young or old?” She certainly feels young, especially when she plays doubles on the tennis courts. The sport makes her feel like she did in middle school; ...

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“The Oasis” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #160

Warning: offensive language, bigotry, violence and gore In a penthouse suite atop The StarShip Towers luxury apartment building overlooking the Las Vegas strip, there is a tense minute of near silence, only a clock ticks softly. The three men in the room are fifty stories up and tense because the boss’s hooded eyes blaze with fury. The clock on the wall over the bar tinks away a full sixty seconds…at a slug’s pace. The two who were summoned wait respectively for Don Carmine Vaselletti to speak. Vassey stands, saunters to the chrome ...

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“Shepherd's Oasis” by Jethro Pili

Submitted to Contest #160

Author’s Note: Ceamor is pronounced Kay-more There was a reason the native Kashgarians named this desert the Desert of Ten Thousand Suns. Waves of shimmering heat rolled off the hot sands of Dragonsgrave, causing Sir Derek Brunaulf to squint behind his helmet’s visor. Far in the distance lay the Dragon Horn mountains. From where he was, the whole mountain range looked like a sleeping dragon, or a partially buried dragon that had died, its sharp spikes jutting out from the blazing desert sands and ominously silhouetted against the unforg...

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“Anna's Oasis ” by Ian T. Smyth

Submitted to Contest #160

Anna's Oasis Part I - Travelling West IThe dunes stretched out onward and forever. Anna was coming from the Eastern Sea, leaving behind the destruction of her village and the horrors she'd faced there. She was the only survivor. Now, she was a fugitive. A runaway. Desperate to escape, she fled into the only place left to go: the great desert of Harken.IIJudging by how intensely the sun was beating down on her, Anna guessed it must have been high noon. But time didn't work like that anymore. No, time was thi...

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“The Rhythm Of The Rain” by Hope Haggerty

Submitted to Contest #160

The endless drought continued. It had been over 900 years, without a drop of rain on planet Earth. The thirsty land was cracked and dry as far as the eye could see. It sucked up the heat of the sun and regurgitated it back into the air, which was as dry as tinder. All vegetation had been incinerated years ago. Mathew Bishop's lungs burned, as he breathed in the super heated air. That was the cue to replace the H20 tanks from the artificial atmosphere machine. Otherwise known as the AAM. The AAM, modified the air in t...

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“Finding the oasis” by S. Wensome

Submitted to Contest #160

Water surrounded me, I was suffocating in it. My arms, flailing about, were desperately trying to find a way out of the darkness. I couldn't see the water, but I could feel it: it was cold, wet and heavy. I tried to fight it, only it was too strong and I could feel myself being dragged downwards. I wanted to scream, cry for help, but no sound would escape my mouth. It was so silent that I could feel my rapid heartbeat, echoing in my skull. I was so afraid, scared of dying, but also terrified that no one would find me, that no one would save ...

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“The Last Goodbye” by Kimberlie Daylene

Submitted to Contest #160

My world was perfect, until I felt him start to pull away from me.It was gradual over a few weeks but I really started to feel him change that last night we were together. My mind was screaming at me it isn’t fair. My granny would tell me life isn’t fair, but I never really believed her until that night.I drive to his house after my shift at the dairy bar, excited to see him after a long hard day being on my feet. He greets me on the porch and takes my hand. "I am starving. Come on let's get something to eat." I wince because, I don’t want t...

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“Death Valley: An Allegory” by Brenna W.

Submitted to Contest #160

It’s no telling how long Benjamin and Jamie DeVere have been lost in the desert of Death Valley, California, as they theorize differently with memory. The couple slumps through the same footprints walked for hours, days, weeks, each footstep digging deeper with recollection. The sandy circle is the master of their minds as they muddle through another day in the valley of death. Arguments become conversation as they gripe on about where their destination started and how it will end, each voice raising a beckoning call to end the trip. The dee...

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“Rarer Than the Gold of Ophir” by Lorilyn Roberts

Submitted to Contest #160

“Why do you strike the fish above the eyes,” Emma asked her dad. Jace remembered what he said to his beautiful daughter those many years ago. “That’s a good question, Emma. The reason is that you want to stun the fish into unconsciousness so when you bleed him out, he doesn’t suffer.” “Oh,” she said as she watched. His wife edged over to Emma. “There’s no need to traumatize her,” and she redirected Emma’s attention elsewhere. Emma was only ten then, and it was her first fishing trip. Kate, his wife, had reluctantly agreed...

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Contest #160

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This week's theme: A Watery World

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Ended on 23:59 - Aug 26, 2022 EST

Won by Lee Disco 🏆

Title: The Chandelier

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