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Start your story with it raining… anything but rain (e.g. flowers, cutlery, seashells, running shoes).

Posted in Fantasy on Feb 23, 2024

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✍️ 87 stories

The Smell of White

Submitted to Contest #239

As Alban Blanchard looked up at the large, white roses falling from the dark, overcast November London skies, --- as he saw the huge, pristine bulbs tumble out of a sky the colour of concrete and the air was filled with a heady perfume --- tears started to stream down his face, much like the floral rain he was underneath. Inside him, the question that had been growing for the past year had finally reached its full bloom.“How come Candace had never once stopped and enjoyed The Smell of White,” Alban whispered, sniffling as flowers starte...

69 likes 90 comments 90
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Lost Girl, Found

Submitted to Contest #239

We don’t call it a rain, not at first. In the purpled night, stowed away behind weatherboard walls, we imagine it's anything else. An incessant pattering against the asphalt: children throwing stones. A shatter that pulls us headfirst from our sleep: a drunk losing grip on his bottle. The scrape of objects sliding over dew-glossed footpaths: roller skates, scabbed knees, feral cats’ claws. Speculations which make sense. In the mornings, we pull lost things from the gutter like hair from a shower drain. Ring Pops which have already begun to b...

51 likes 35 comments 35
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Blessings Tree

Submitted to Contest #239

Blessings TreeI pick up a golden leaf. On it is written in flowing script 'Peace'. On the next one is 'Hope'. Three more: 'Joy', 'Love', 'Patience'. More leaves rain down on me from my backyard blessings tree. 'Kindness', 'Self-Control', 'Gentleness'. So many to choose from. I want them all. Please, help me decide. 'Wisdom', 'Knowledge', 'Health', 'Prosperity', 'Abundance', 'Talent'. How is one to figure it all out? Is there a limit? I shouldn't be greedy. 'Generosity', 'Unselfishness', 'Common Sense', 'Grace', 'Mercy', 'Foresight', 'Discern...

47 likes 50 comments 50
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Albumen Rain

Submitted to Contest #239

A little before one o’clock on a Sunday afternoon in 1993, it began to rain photographs in Newport. It was the last week in February, and many had been commenting that the winter had been colder than normal, but without any snow. This distinction made it difficult to complain, because while the cold was oppressive, it seemed neutered without the snow. Some said that they didn’t mind how cold it got as long as it didn’t snow. That’s why when the first photograph floated down, one of the old men sitting at the bar inside the Gaslamp Grille loo...

35 likes 15 comments 15
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Weather or Not

Submitted to Contest #239

Shay hummed along to the radio as she drove home from her late-night shift, happy to be heading into a three-day weekend. It had been a long week, exhausting and energy sapping, but TGIF! She had a hot date tonight with a bottle of Pinot Grigno and a hot, steamy Netflix series that she was planning on bingeing. It was the sum total of her dating life at the moment, and although her mother bemoaned her daughter’s single status, Shay had no energy left for the male of the species.The Weather Girls wailed from the speakers a...

28 likes 22 comments 22
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The Wish Granter

Submitted to Contest #239

Driving to the office I had to put on the windshield wipers as they were falling fast and furious. Why so many today?I’m not stopping, I decided. It’s tax season, and I have a growing pile of work on my desk. I can’t play. Not today, especially being Monday. I clicked my wipers to the fastest speed possible and leaned forward in my seat to see out. Last thing I needed was to crash my car. That would really put the icing on this rotten cake.Pulling into my parking spot, I glared out the window at the industr...

26 likes 9 comments 9
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The Goblin

Submitted to Contest #239

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds appeared in the blushing sky. With their arrival, pink flower petals fell from their depths for a solid hour each night. With the rain came a knowledge of things beyond the average person’s ken, but such was not the case with Aoife. Even though she was sixty-four, she awaited the rain each night for she knew it held mystery and power able to change her life. This evening was no different. From the bedroom window, Aoife could hear the chirping of crickets and the see the pink petals floating acros...

22 likes 6 comments 6
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It's Raining Secrets

Submitted to Contest #239

This story contains mentions of sexual assault and self harm. December 21I was sipping hot tea in my bedroom when thousands of white paper slips fell from the sky like confetti. It's always such a beautiful sight; it's the very reason I bought a house with floor-to-ceiling windows. I wonder whose secret is being exposed to the world in this storm.I turn on the television.“Today's Rainy Day reveals that Brittany Weiler was violently raped in a dorm room in the University of California when she was eighteen years old.”The secrets on the paper ...

22 likes 7 comments 7
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The Purest Blue on Earth

Submitted to Contest #239

8:30 on a Monday morning, and Boston’s financial district coughed and sputtered like a rusty machine rousing itself from a long sleep.With every click-clack of patent leather on the cobblestone, with every squeak of a shiny briefcase and start of a shinier SUV, another cog found its position in the chorus of places to be, people to see, and deliverables to gripe about. The crisp June air mingled with the exhaust fumes to form a scent all its own, and the quavering soprano of a flight of swallows shimmered where-smog-met-sky, far above the bl...

21 likes 12 comments 12
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Harajuku 2004

Submitted to Contest #239

It’s raining children and their lifeless bodies pile up on the side of the road. That’s the horrifying vision I see as I walk home along the tree-lined, majestic boulevard of Omotesando in Tokyo.Last year, I contributed to raising millions for the Asian Children's Fund, but they choose not to spend any of it on helping starving children. Guilt plagues my soul, infiltrates my psyche. It wasn’t my crime, yet I was helpless to prevent it.I approach the humble apartment building within which I live. The Okabe family eyes me suspiciously from the...

18 likes 14 comments 14
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Hallelujah!

Submitted to Contest #239

The screaming was the first thing we noticed. It was one of those grey days that me and my brother Mike used to like. The kind where the sky is dark with angry looking clouds and the wind is high enough that it makes your shirt cling to your skin. It wasn't wet though. Those days only got wet when we went in. Mike and I were out with a set of little plastic golf clubs, ignoring Ma as she hollered at us to knock off our mock sword fight, and it was only her cuz Dad was at work. It was at this point that we heard the screaming. At first, none ...

16 likes 3 comments 3
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Angel Feathers

Submitted to Contest #239

Luna stood atop the snow-capped mountain, staggered by the emerald feathers raining from the sky. She was tickled at the thought of the archangel dropping her a sign from heaven. Luna twirled around, catching feathers and stuffing them into her pockets. The sight of the feather storm was nothing short of a miracle.With a name like Luna Auriga Perez, she had always been drawn toward celestial inspiration. Her affinity for moons, zodiacs, and stars was evident in every piece of jewelry that bore her name. For a long time, she was afraid of tak...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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Antagony

Submitted to Contest #239

Today, my boss fired me. Reason? I couldn't take a joke. Then there's how my car wouldn't start. Sure, it's a bucket-mobile that's seen better days, but this time as it choked, I swear it sputtered a cackle. But by the time my vehicle turned over, I found the rear elevating. Some genius former colleagues took it upon themselves to hail the tow company. And from the Employee of the Month parking space I earned on top of that. So now here I am walking a country mile to salvation. Who am I kidding? That’s a misnomer. I still have one person to ...

15 likes 4 comments 4
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The Furry Muse

Submitted to Contest #239

I woke up this morning to the alarm clock blaring “This is How We Roll” by Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan. It's not my favorite choice, but it works. I prefer Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” or Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” but they don’t work so well to motivate us out of bed in the morning. I stretched in a few Cat-Cows, jumped off the bed, and strolled down the hall to the bathroom. My next stop was the kitchen to make sure the coffee pot had done its magick (technology, as some call it). Then I meandered to the dining room sliding glass door...

15 likes 12 comments 12
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Blood Rain

Submitted to Contest #239

It was raining today, which meant Sami had taken extra care getting dressed. She wore black knee-high rain boots, black tight pants tucked in with a black trench coat atop. She tied it all together with a pitch-black umbrella big enough for three. She could not let a single drop of rain touch her.  Sami rubbed her eyes as she passed strangers, in her eyes they were all covered in thick, red all-consuming blood. Most people did not have the need for umbrellas, so when it rained her life looked more of a horror film than reality. The cri...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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