Write about someone who receives a gift or message that changes their life forever.

Posted in Dramatic on Jan 3, 2025

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✍️ 94 stories

“Just Perfect” by Shae Ali

Submitted to Contest #284

Desiree had the perfect life. Well, perfect by her definition. She was thirty-seven years old, fit and strong, thanks to the boutique gym she attended, with her exorbitant personal training sessions which was well worth every penny. She had a large network of friends, picture perfect husband who ran a successful business which had recently taken off internationally. Both her children attended prestigious schools in their neighbourhood, and she believed she connected well with them. After all, she ensured she stayed up to date with the latest...

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“You Should Have Just Been Honest” by Kyle Durnan-Kerns

Submitted to Contest #284

Content warning: Themes of/references to sexThis time you loved the conversation before you had sex. You loved the conversation afterward. You loved that he reached over and slid his fingers in between yours. He closed his fingers first and you followed suit. You hesitated because you didn’t want to reveal how you really felt about him, but you desperately wanted him to stay. He delicately stroked your naked chest, and you gently did the same to his. You stroked his fingers while he held yours and told him how surprisingly sof...

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“A Vicious Cycle” by Mimi O

Submitted to Contest #284

June“You will be sober by the end of the year, or I will leave you.”The message echoed in his brain. But only when he was clearheaded enough. Drink a few more glasses and he’d forget. But seeing it in her handwriting writing made it real regardless of his state of sobriety.What a cycle. He’d get sober, just enough to realise how far he’d slipped into the drink. The guilt would eat him up. So he’d drink some more. Just enough to forget. Sometimes more than enough to forget. The more he drank, the less he could keep count.“Shh,” he’d...

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“Someday” by Adriana Dorsey

Submitted to Contest #284

“Jane!” The petite woman called out from across the coffee shop. She then began flailing her arms excitedly, beckoning her dear friend over. “I have so much to tell you,” she announced with a smile so wide it barely fit her face. “Just a minute Amelia.” The blunt remark was followed with a singular index finger that landed in front of Amelia’s face, a face that was no longer smiling. The call went on long past a singular minute, yet Amelia sat patiently and waited for her friend to finish. She listened as Jane spoke in a stern voice an...

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“The Dragonfly” by LAURA Spiritualquest@earthlink.net

Submitted to Contest #284

The Dragonfly - 1080 words My husband left for work at 4 p.m. for an overnight shift. We lived on a peninsula jutting out into Maine’s Penobscot Bay. The location was rural and quite isolated. It was ...

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“Under the Tree that Once was in my Dreams ” by Amber McGinnis

Submitted to Contest #284

Expecting the sun to rise even while you dreamed with closed eyes was always a realistic expectation. I learned as a child that the Sun doesn't rise when the rooster crows as it it did in my favorite child hood film Rock-a-doodle-doo. The sun has no limitations to a speck of dust on a planet that is but a grain of salt in the vast sea of the universe. Still, I'd like to think that my life would one day hold such a meaning in another life as the sun is to the life of on earth. Wishful thinking I guess. "If you could live in your mind instead ...

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“Baby” by B.T Beauregard

Submitted to Contest #284

Baby((CONTENT WARNING: GORE, HOMOPHOBIA, ABUSE, SUGGESTIVE CONTENT. READER DISCRETION ADVISED))[12.25.1989 // 3:05 AM]The whirl of a tape recorder. A click. A hum.‘Hey, Baby.’ Slurred, unsteady, a voice like a stumble, a voice like a catching of breath. Tires a snarl on the highway, gritty like the grinding of teeth. Red-eyed drunk, words liquor-soaked: ‘Call me back. I need you.’You see her in your mind’s eye: rosy-cheeked and beautiful, tussled golden hair like an unruly halo, her makeup smeared. That necklace — silver, bearing Christ cruc...

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“The Unraveling” by Heather A. Slawson

Submitted to Contest #284

As the priestess unsheathed the ceremonial needle and prepared the dais for the coming sacrifice, I watched as a servant discreetly turned a dial near the entrance. In response, the shutters on every lamp shifted slightly, dimming the light of the great room. I marveled at the ingenuity, remembering how my father had described the years of trial and error before this synchronized system reached perfection.The tapestry emitted a glistening silver-white light, causing the trinkets and baubles adorning the guests to twinkle.My headpiece gleamed...

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“The Worst Gift” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #284

It was the last day of Christmas holidays. There was so much to do to get the kids ready for tomorrow. Sierra planned to wake them up in an hour. They would be grouchy, but it was better to get on to the school-time schedule a day before they actually had to do it. She bit her lip, wishing she didn’t have to be the Grinch, wishing the fire emergency was over and that Pat could be home, safe and sound—and helping corral the kids. Fire season used to be April to October, so Pat normally had time off over winter. It had been a shock when the fi...

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“Lucky Suit Legacy” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #284

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit you more often since the funeral,” Drew says.“No biggie, son,” Leif replies. “I was mentally prepared for your mother’s passing. I loved her and didn’t want to lose her, but it was better for both of us. It was hard watching her die an inch at a time. She was such a vibrant woman, and she was in a lot of physical pain. But Sandy’s helped me adjust to life after forty years of marriage.”“Sandy? Who’s Sandy?”“Misses Amuso.”Drew snickers. “You and the neighborhood yenta?”“She’s more like the self-proclaim...

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“Mother's Pendant ” by M B

Submitted to Contest #284

Amber Zazuetta, ace meerkat reporter, sat at her desk in the newsroom. Her claws went to the jar on her desk and fished out a gummy worm which she devoured mechanically as her pen tapped against her temple. Things had been far too quiet lately: she’d even had to resort to a few puff pieces just to justify her existence. She scanned through her many emails when her ears perked at the creak of wheels on linoleum. Amber looked up to see Dusty, the rabbit from the mailroom. “Delivery for you Miss Zazuetta,” the rabbit grinned, handin...

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“The Diary” by Noël Geyer

Submitted to Contest #284

I’ve always considered myself average. A little too average, honestly. Nine-to-five job? Check. Husband glued to his computer, immersed in World of Warcraft? Check. Three kids, each with their own lives that barely intersect with mine? Triple check. Add in four yapping little dogs and a stack of unfinished stories and poems in a dusty drawer, and that’s me, Becca Stevens: a walking, talking middle-of-the-road life. Until the diary showed up. It was just sitting there on my porch when I came back from the grocery store, wedged bet...

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“The Underground” by Klaudia Dudek

Submitted to Contest #284

Martin's life was slowly becoming boring. He felt he had fallen into a monotony and didn't know how to get out of it. Studies, casual work and sleep were the only things he had in his life. Sometimes he needed something more, but he couldn't give up anything because he wouldn't survive. He resigned himself to such a fate. Despite his young age, he felt old. He switched on his phone and started browsing Facebook. As usual, most of his friends had children, were getting married and some had even managed to get divorced. And he had nothing. Not...

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“Do Not Open” by Emily Rochford

Submitted to Contest #284

He looked down at the chipped gym-locker combination lock. He looked at the box. The box looked back.Ben Graham dropped the lock back in the drawer of junk where he’d exhumed it. There was no latch—nothing, nowhere on the box to even put a lock.Maybe Justin can weld something for me…His eyes slid back to the box, pulled by gravity. Barely the size of a shoebox, wood darkened by the oil of hundreds of hands.If he got close, Ben could almost make out something on the lid. But when he got close to it and got looking at the thing, he found his h...

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“The Gift of a Blank Book” by Faith LeMone

Submitted to Contest #284

3/25 Dear diary, that’s what you’re supposed to say right? I’ve never done this before. My therapist Danny gave me this notebook and told me I should start keeping a diary, I said that a diary is something a 13-year-old girl uses to write about her crush, and he said I can call it a journal if that makes me feel better. So here I am… I don’t have much to say at the moment, life’s good, I honestly don’t even know why I’m in therapy. Bye, I guess… I don’t know how to end one of these. 3/26 Hi, me again. Danny also suggested I wr...

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Write about someone who receives a gift or message that changes their life forever.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 94 stories

“Just Perfect” by Shae Ali

“You Should Have Just Been Honest” by Kyle Durnan-Kerns

“A Vicious Cycle” by Mimi O

“Someday” by Adriana Dorsey

“The Dragonfly” by LAURA Spiritualquest@earthlink.net

“Under the Tree that Once was in my Dreams ” by Amber McGinnis

“Baby” by B.T Beauregard

“The Unraveling” by Heather A. Slawson

“The Worst Gift” by VJ Hamilton

“Lucky Suit Legacy” by Michael Jefferson

“Mother's Pendant ” by M B

“The Diary” by Noël Geyer

“The Underground” by Klaudia Dudek

“Do Not Open” by Emily Rochford

“The Gift of a Blank Book” by Faith LeMone

🌟 Similar prompts

Center your story around a character spending their first holiday alone.

Write a story that includes the line “I should’ve known better.”

Center your story around an unexpected guest who changes a traditional get-together.

Set your story in a place where everything should be familiar to your character(s), but isn’t.

Contest #284

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

347

Contest entries

145

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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