Start your story with someone witnessing magic from a hiding place.

Posted in Fantasy on Dec 9, 2022

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✍️ 52 stories

“Antichrist” by Vanessa McGonigle

Submitted to Contest #176

Thump, thump thump! The wooden door bellowed through the suburban split level with ease. Jenna startled and, like any millennial, would never dream of opening her door without first knowing who was knocking and why they were here. She knew that her warm, incandescent light was spilling out of her living room window onto the front lawn, and that her car parked in the driveway was a dead giveaway if nothing else. She thought of how she might answer and began the ritual of running through endless scenarios of social anxiety. What if she said th...

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“Tinkering” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #176

1957Danzer felt a frisson of humility as he strode through the cavernous dining hall. It was an unpleasant sensation for the American wunderkind.The Augustiner Keller was a dazzling paradox -- raw masonry arched over elegant banquettes and the finest white linens. The last of Vienna's ancient monastery cellars, the grand “basement” had survived der Fuhrer and his Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the communists, and a quadripartite postwar occupation that had ended only last year with the Austrian State Treaty.Danzer spotted th...

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“A Discovery of a Lifetime” by Kiryn Bell

Submitted to Contest #176

Crystal didn’t know exactly how she ended up in this situation. She had been born a regular girl with an average family, but that all ended 6 years ago. Her parents had left for their Friday date night and never returned. Another driver had had a sudden stroke while driving and ended up crossing the line directly in front of my parents. The head-on collision killed the 3 people instantly. The next day Crystal was forced to pack up her things and was sent to a home for children. She was 10 years old and silent, probably still in shock from...

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“He Sits Watching” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #176

A young boy who went by the name of Bill rather than his parents’ preferred ‘William’, was sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree in the middle of a wooded area watching without been seen. It is Friday afternoon on a warm summer’s day. The circus is in town. And the boy is there to watch the goings on in the field beside the woods. The tent closest to him is that of the magician. ‘What luck!’ He thinks. He has long been a fan of magic tricks. ...

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“Max's Furry Little Problem” by Emily Giammalvo

Submitted to Contest #176

Max Hayes sat in the closet of the headmaster's study peeking out of the keyhole. After hearing rumors about a secret room in the headmaster's closet, Max had taken it upon herself to find out if the rumors were true. The mission took weeks of planning. After countless nights creeping around the boarding school after curfew, writing down and memorizing the headmaster’s schedule, tonight was the night. Max knew that this evening, like all Thursday evenings, the headmaster would be leaving school grounds at precisely 5:15 pm to go to a l...

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“Jacoby Levitating ” by S N

Submitted to Contest #176

“What the actual fuck is happening?” I was standing behind a trash can that smelled of cat piss. I reasoned that the sight before me was the byproduct of ammonia intoxication because people can’t just levitate ten feet off the ground, in the middle of the street, with no chords, ropes, or jet packs. “Isn’t that Jacoby, that weirdo from third period?” Clara questioned beside me. Not only was I not aware that she had been next to me, but I was confused as to why she sounded so calm. It was indeed Jacoby, the most random of people to be perf...

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“In A Dark Forest” by Irene Duchess

Submitted to Contest #176

Eleven year-old Emma Rosewood stared out the window, searching the dark forest. Only minutes ago she had seen a bright red flash, and was waiting to see it again. Emma wondered what it had been. She knew it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t stop herself from hoping it was magic. It could be, though, right? She was just starting to turn away from the window when she saw another flash—it was in the same spot, this time blue. Emma stared hard out into the dark night again. Nothing. Should I go or stay? Emma frowned, then made her decision. She w...

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“Bad Dog” by Martha Sanipe

Submitted to Contest #176

“Hi Jack, I’m Dr. Stanley. Do you know why you’re here?”Do I look like a moron? That’s how I wanted to answer this patronizing shrink. But I’d figured out by now that a bad attitude wouldn’t get me very far. So I said nothing.“I understand you and Stevie were best friends a long time, ever since—” Dr. Stanley raised her eyebrows and nodded, a prompt for me to fill in the blank.I capitulated. “Grade Three,” I mumbled.The doctor smiled. “Tell me about Stevie. What was he like?”Her use of the past tense irked me. The assumption Stevie was dead....

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“The Ritual” by Emma Herbst

Submitted to Contest #176

It is hard to remember a time when I felt truly free. When my every action was not tied to the whims of a cold, uncaring captor. I could have been so much more; I should have been. But, apparently it was not meant to be. Stopped in my tracks as I made a life for myself, I entered my eternal prison, under lock and key of one who delights in my torture. Sometimes I think there may be some great scheme, some monumental reason for my capture and imprisonment. Perhaps this is simply how I fool myself. If it were meaningless, a fully thoughtless ...

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“1979” by Bronwyn Henry

Submitted to Contest #176

I couldn't feel my hands in the slightest, my fingers were utterly frozen numb. Why didnt I bring gloves? I am an Idiot, that's why. My legs were moments away from giving up entirely. They'd been asleep for the past twenty minutes. But still, I crouched. The sagebrush made me itch and the cold fog froze my skin, but I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was maybe ten yards away, standing completely still over the rotting corpse of a magnificent elk. She just stood there, breathing so heavily I could match her breaths from where I hid. I h...

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“The Knight and His Lady” by C. J. Peters

Submitted to Contest #176

The first time he saw her, he was tucked up in the branches of an old oak. On clear, cool nights like these, after a day spent working away under the scorch of sun, he found himself drawn to the ancient forest, climbing up into the rough arms of trees to see the stars.On this night, he ventured deeper into the woods than he had on any other, as if some invisible thread was gently tugging, tugging him in. The air was sweet with late summer blooms and damp earth, the soft buzzings of nocturnal life the only sound accompanying his footfall. He ...

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“We Also Make Thunder” by Luke Melvin

Submitted to Contest #176

Hannah had known two indisputable truths about lightning: it required broody clouds to be formed and a quick eye to be seen. An indisputable truth challenged without proof inspired laughter. An indisputable truth challenged indisputably simply inspired. So it was with Hannah when, having hidden herself in the old haven from her childhood, she spied a Starry One in the near clearing. Creeping forward in the forest brush, Hannah crouched in the loam soil and fragrant scent and watched, a woodland creature whose den had been intruded upon. The ...

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“Metaphorical Kaleidoscope ” by Reve Mitchell

Submitted to Contest #176

I’ve never been one for dark spaces. Something about the way sound is swallowed up, how the only sensation to go by is that of trembling hands, how every corner likes to press in towards me; it's a suffocating feeling. With a sigh, I turn uncomfortably over on my side. These are the types of thoughts my brain likes to pick apart and swallow, rationalising every previous twitch of muscle into the light hours of the night. When the sun knocks its watery fists on my window, it’s with bloodshot eyes I stare the day in the face. Stu...

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“The Pipe Mage” by Elise Volkman

Submitted to Contest #176

Gran Marion would have made a perfect healing mage because she cried all the time. Everyone knew healing magic only worked with the power of tears. She’d told the story of the boy who fell in the well dozens of times, and every time she got to the part where the farmer saved him, she’d choke on her words and get teary-eyed. And yet, when Grand-Da died, she didn’t cry at all. She came into Ming’s room to tell her she’d found him on the porch. He’d been smoking. Gran said he probably froze to death. She tossed his pipe onto Ming’s bed and le...

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“Hypothetical Marriage” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #176

Sara hid in the bedroom closet of her boyfriend, Trevor, wearing his sunglasses, hoodie and sweatpants. He lied face down on his mattress, wearing only a t-shirt and boxers. Sara watched from the slight opening of the closet door as he wiggled his cute little tush in Sara’s direction. He played the innocent coed studying for final exams, while she played the creepy stranger out to have her way with him. But just before she pounced on her prey like a lion on an antelope, smoke burst in the middle of the room. When it dissipated, there s...

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Start your story with someone witnessing magic from a hiding place.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 52 stories

“Antichrist” by Vanessa McGonigle

“Tinkering” by Martin Ross

“A Discovery of a Lifetime” by Kiryn Bell

“He Sits Watching” by John Steckley

“Max's Furry Little Problem” by Emily Giammalvo

“Jacoby Levitating ” by S N

“In A Dark Forest” by Irene Duchess

“Bad Dog” by Martha Sanipe

“The Ritual” by Emma Herbst

“1979” by Bronwyn Henry

“The Knight and His Lady” by C. J. Peters

“We Also Make Thunder” by Luke Melvin

“Metaphorical Kaleidoscope ” by Reve Mitchell

“The Pipe Mage” by Elise Volkman

“Hypothetical Marriage” by Jarrel Jefferson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story involving a magical potion — which may or may not work.

Cast a magician (a real one, or a party entertainer) as your story’s protagonist.

Write a story told from the point of view of an animal.

Set your story in a magical bookshop.

Contest #176

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

231

Contest entries

111

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: