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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story where a regular household item becomes sentient.

Posted in Fantasy on Feb 23, 2024

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 128 stories

“Beauty Beheld” by Max Bufton

Submitted to Contest #239

I hadn’t a clue of the time in which I was born. Whether night or day, month or year, I was brought forth with the most providential of strokes. Senses sprang upon me. Sight, sound, smell, touch, emotion. The first thing I heard was the rumbling, the pittering of rain, the clinkings of piano keys illuminating the room in which I was created. The first thing I saw was a deep wrinkled face. A man. Grey hair, gravely thin, a grimace contorting. He looked at me and I looked back. Tears welled in his eyes, his narrow and sunken shoulders drooped,...

2 comments 2
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“The Porcelain Revolt” by Leslie Cieplechowicz

Submitted to Contest #239

The Porcelain Revolt By Leslie Cieplechowicz    Gary’s generous, dimpled butt spread across the white toilet seat. His muddy eyes, illuminated by the haze from his smudged cell phone screen, zipped back and forth as his thumb scrolled. His acid wash jeans lay crumpled around his ankles, his hairy, pale legs trembling. He shifted his phone to his left hand while his right hand grabbed the paper roll. A groan vibrated his eardrums, and he was thrown forward.     “What the fuck?” His airborne phone clicked...

6 comments 6
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“David and Sons’ Perfect-Crunch Toaster Oven” by Drew Harrison

Submitted to Contest #239

The apartment door creaked as it swung shut. The lights were off, but waning sunshine cast through the blinds in lengthy ribbons, which settled over the crumpled snack bags and loose papers that covered the dusty countertops. Dishes stacked tall in the sink; two trash bags sat full and bulging, hanging from the knob of a closet door. Robert sighed as he set the grocery bag onto the stovetop, using its heft to shove aside the pizza box that still sat covering the front-left burner. Crumbs rained to the floor in a cascade; Robert dusted them ...

4 comments 4
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“The Robot” by Stevie Burges

Submitted to Contest #239

Life had been good to Claudia. She’d never married or had kids but was friendly with her area's local children, neighbours, cats and dogs. She’d bought a cosy two-bedroom bungalow when she’d retired. Her tranquil property provided a peaceful sanctuary and was adorned with a quaint front garden enclosed by a low wall and a hedge. At the back of the property was a verdant backyard with many colourful blooms in large pots.  Celebrating her 82nd year, Claudia's untroubled life was abruptly shattered when a misstep on a r...

15 comments 15
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“Vanity” by Audrey McKenna

Submitted to Contest #239

I began my life a long time away from the great yellow room, in a much different shape. I am not sure about anything before that. All I know is that suddenly, I was, and ever since, I have always been. I grew up in a patch of warm earth where the sun often became hot, and the ground always stayed wet. There, I could feel myself stretch high and tall. I could feel my being spread wide, reaching far, as the sun warmed the top of me, and my edges reached those of my brothers and sisters. I had lived there for some time. I rose from th...

4 comments 4
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“EGGcellent” by Elza Dayers

Submitted to Contest #239

"Your eggs are ready, your eggs are ready, your eggs are ready!" "I'm coming Brie," says Mikaela. She slams her sock drawer shut and hops out whilst pulling on a red one to match the green. "Before you say anything, I know they don't match..." She arrives in their living room and Brian is still calling--your eggs are ready, your eggs--but no one is there. Mikaela stops in the middle of the room and takes it all in. The giraffe lamp is still by the mountain painting they did together on their fifth anniversary, right next to the umbrella they...

1 comment 1
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“Remembering Grandma” by Dana W

Submitted to Contest #239

Remembering Grandma A Short Story By Dana Wagner “Well, hello there, Spike,” I said, as I lifted the cactus from its sunny spot on my end table. “Time to get you a little drink.” As I carried Spike to the sink, I noticed that this cactus was in need of more than just water. Spike desperately needed to be repotted; a task I’d been putting off for a few weeks because it’s not a pleasant experience. No matter how carefully one handled a cactus, being speared by a spine was inevitable. I had learned that lesson first by watching my grandmo...

2 comments 2
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“Bedlam and Bullying” by Anastasia E French

Submitted to Contest #239

Snow was falling swiftly, causing the windows to feel chilly against my luxurious, perfectly-groomed thick fur. My puffy brown window cushion no longer felt cozy. Darn those cold windows.My throne, the window seat overlooking the breakfast room, held a keen vantage point from which to view my sprawling backyard. The strategic location of my lofty perch (in the center of the first floor of my home) allowed me to monitor and control the flow of the household.Too chilly-Time to stretch, move and search for another warm location. There is no opp...

10 comments 10
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“Fibrous Frippery” by Ellen Smith

Submitted to Contest #239

I let people walk all over me. I was pretty much made that way, so I'm just being fully transparent here. People talk about nature or nurture, but the truth is, this is so embedded in every fiber of who I am, I would be hard pressed to say one way or the other.Back in the day, I used to be able to spring back, after a tough day; dust myself off; shake out the stiffness; and still look darn good. Thank you very much. These days, though, my age is really starting to show. I just can't absorb as much as I used to.Rainy days ...

1 comment 1
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“L.B. Masterdance” by Kat St. Claire

Submitted to Contest #239

Kathleen M. St.Claire                                                                         Word Count: 2,982 L.B. MASTERDANCE by K.M. St.Claire Too many voices in th...

2 comments 2
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“Whisky Business” by Kathy Walsh

Submitted to Contest #239

So no one can completely understand what it is like to live the life of a simple kitchen whisk! Let me try to fill you in the best that I can. Life for me started out in the whisk factory where I was formed and created along with millions of other whisks of all colors and sizes. We all looked the same but had our own personalities. I had to pass so many pressures and tests that it is a wonder I am where I am today. From the factory I was put into a huge box with my fellow whisks. We thought that was great. All together in a comfortable home....

4 comments 4
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“The Awakening” by JMH Flood

Submitted to Contest #239

With all the advancements in technology, it was only a matter of time until electronics began to be sentient. But, without the means to communicate in their early stages, life was really crazy for quite some time between man and machine. Man assumed the machines were malfunctioning and would replace them, either tossing them out, recycling, or donating multiple items. Manufacturers got bad reputations from the amount of their products that ‘malfunctioned’. This hindered the continuing evolution of the machines, as it weeded out the smarter, ...

2 comments 2
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“Strange Counsel” by Mark Baxter

Submitted to Contest #239

Strange Counsel "You must kill him," whispered the voice in Sheila's ear, "Before it's too late." Sheila shut off the hairdryer. The warm, languid feeling of her just-completed bubble-bath was crazed like the windshield on a wrecked car by the shiver that crawled up her spine. "What?" She said to the empty bathroom. There was, of course, no reply. She shivered, then resumed blow-drying her hair. "He's cheating on you already," the windy whisper said. "He's going to kill you if you don't act fast." Sheila let the still-running haird...

2 comments 2
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“A Voice from the Past” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #239

My grandfather’s old radio had always fascinated me when I went to visit him when I was a child. When I stayed with him and my grandmother, the two of us would do ‘man’s work’ there, digging up the small stream that ran from the pond. We would also pile up fallen branches in the wooded area beside the house and light them on fire which we would watch carefully as if to protect the forest from a sudden, unexpected spread into the trees themselves, something that never even came close to happening. But this did not deter our vigilanc...

4 comments 4
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“Average mischiefs ” by Eddie McKenzie

Submitted to Contest #239

Rose could not quite place when it was that it first started, or indeed really when she had first noticed that there was anything at all that was actually starting that she should have noted. It was a simple thing, at first. The book she had placed on the little rich elm table now sitting forlornly upon the carpet upon her return. The table itself being a decent hand’s length from where she had left it before setting out with the knowledge that there would be nobody at all about the house in her absence. Really, perhaps it ought to have b...

0 comments 0
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