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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

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✍️ 128 stories

“The Doll in the Trunk” by Rene Volpi

Submitted to Contest #239

"A Doll Comes to Life." The youngest child of the Howard family, Kaylee, got a present: Me.I was a doll who would make your dreams come true, regardless 0f how strange they might be. Like a magic wand. Unfortunately, her brothers made fun of her, and out of frustration, she threw me inside the trunk with all the other broken or discarded toys. I was forgotten and shut off. I felt lonely and heartbroken.I could've made her life and her world better, but she didn’t even give me a chance. Incredibly, that was also her wish. To change life for t...

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“The Earring and the Gypsy Ghost ” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #239

How can I find the words to describe it? It was infinitely worth millions, an enlightenment in an otherwise ordinary world. It was an escape into fantasy, an abundance of memories derived from the unimaginable realm of another reality. Thus, my unexpected journey began. It was an ordinary night, like any other, but unusually dark and eerily quiet with an ominous foreboding of the otherworldly. My mistress slept in her antique bed. Only the smallest sliver of moonlight escaped through the blinds, illuminating the room. Unable to sleep,...

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“A New Change” by Barbara Kerr

Submitted to Contest #239

From my vantage point atop a densely packed bookcase in the Old One’s apartment, I can glimpse the magnificent Pacific Ocean through the sliding glass doors of the balcony. I have to say that looking at that vast and mysterious body of water almost makes me feel alive if that’s not too presumptuous for a photo frame to say. The sea excites me because it’s always changing—countless shades of gray or blue or green, occasionally shrouded in mist, sometimes whipped into a frenzy of white peaks when the weather is stormy, and often more tranquil ...

2 comments 2
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“The House” by Yasmin Barajas

Submitted to Contest #239

The day they were set free, the house felt stifling and unusually quiet. The creak of windows opening caught her attention, and Hanna turned her head with a smile. While no one else was in the room, the windows were raised enough to let in the breeze. The weather today was strange for the season, but perfect for a long journey. She walked away from the kitchen doorway and towards the widows over the sink.  She stopped by the counter, her hand gliding over the pots and pans she used daily for everyone else. She sighed as the cast iron ...

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“Martin & Marie” by Annie Knox

Submitted to Contest #239

Martin sat at the table facing his beautiful wife and contemplated, briefly, what she would look like after a swift slap to the face. The thought was swiftly suppressed. She was scrutinising him, clearly irritated, and he realised that his small, intrusive thought of mild violence had caused him to miss what she had said.  “What?” Her eyes rolled back into her head. She sighed. The disrespect made him want to give her the imagined slap, but no matter what she did, he could never bring himself to hurt her. No matter how tempting the thou...

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“The Fountain in the Woods” by Keith Menendez

Submitted to Contest #239

Three weary hikers traveled an overgrown dirt path until the birch trees fell away to an open field.  A doe and fawn jumped away due to the noisy disturbance.  In the midst of the clearing, stood an ancient stone fountain covered in dew, branches and moss.  The still blackish water in the circular basin reeked of bacteria and algae.  Early spring daffodils and tulips surrounded the structure, but thorns and thistles imprisoned them.  Tall ragweed towers overshadowed three mushroom shaped benches, each equidistant fro...

2 comments 2
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“Vicky’s Car” by C.N. Jung

Submitted to Contest #239

Vicky Roberts was sixteen years old when she received the most incredible gift she’d ever received in her young life. A gift all the way from Japan, a surprise from her dad who was pretty much a myth, given his job kept him overseas more than home. There it was, sitting in the driveway with a huge pink bow like it was trying too hard at a prom and a tag that read; "To my baby girl." Underneath, in a scribble that screamed dad, "Treat her right, and she'll be your best friend." Vicky remembered frowning, peeking up from the tag, and stari...

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“For Beauty, For Brightening” by Katie Diaz

Submitted to Contest #239

I used to belong to her mother—a gift for her first date with the boy she had loved since they were small enough to play in mud. I smoothed beige over freckles, made her already pink cheeks pinker.              I saw her through her first breakup, when the boy she had loved since they were small enough to play in mud, decided he preferred the girl he had only just met. I hid the evidence of her grief, red around her eyes, splotchy around her nose.      ...

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“AI” by Linda Kenah

Submitted to Contest #239

Prompt: Write a story where a regular household item becomes sentient.      (2578 Words) Title: AI Author: Linda Kenah Barry slowed as he turned onto his block. His face beamed as he pulled into the driveway, just as it had every day since they moved in three months ago. He and his wife were proud new homeowners. And what a home! After years of skimping and saving, he and Mary could now say they had achieved the American Dream. They both had good jobs, with six figure incomes. He kne...

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“Discarded Gems” by Anka Troitsky

Submitted to Contest #239

DISCARDED GEMS "Mom said that my treasured scrapbooks were rubbish and threw them away. She doesn't know that they were her treasure, too." Overheard conversation of teens on the train. 2008 As the crumpled piece of paper danced on the whims of the wind, it fluttered from the motorway across the open fields, weaving through the tall grasses and wildflowers until it reached the outskirts of a quaint village. There, it skittered along the cobbled streets, past bustling markets and sleepy houses, until it finally came to rest against th...

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“The Witch's Son” by Stardust Rubino

Submitted to Contest #239

It was about time Erica Stevens got home after pulling a double. The client was restless that day from the behaviorists’ pressures on him, but Erica did what she could to comfort the man after they left.  “If he doesn’t want to shower right that moment, why do they force him to?” she thought to herself as she walked through the door. Her cat Sprinkles, a chubby girl with black fur, nudged her cheek against Erica’s leg, where she then picked her little friend up to give her a hug and kiss.  “Aw, did you miss me, my friend?” she ...

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“There’s something behind the sofa! ” by Amanda Falshaw

Submitted to Contest #239

I’ve been sitting here for about three years, in the same spot in the same house, with the same family. I’m bored, a little bit tatty and a teeny bit lonely. I think it’s time to have a bit of fun. The family will be home soon. The twins, Dexter and Emily get home about 4pm. They are about 6 or 7 years old. Dad brings the children home from school. He’s a teacher at the community college down the road. Mum comes home a bit later. She’s a doctor at the local medical practice.When they get home, the twins always jump all ov...

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“La Douche” by Emmy Gregory

Submitted to Contest #239

La Douche Decision-making is a skill that needs to be honed. You know who’s honing away at it at 5:30am? The person who wants your clients. So if you also want them, you better get ready to hone even earlier than that, my friend. Rules of the jungle. At 5:28am there were two different decisions for Heather to make: which shower gel to use, and whether to pay any attention to the strange tut sound she was sure she had just heard behind her. Cleanliness is next to productivity - isn’t that the saying? - so, shower gel it was. The purple one...

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“Pennies From Heaven” by Kady Graf

Submitted to Contest #239

Pennies From Heaven by Kady Graf The sun shone brightly on the lawn of Memorial Park as the boys huddled together by the oak tree. Another bittersweet day as they said goodbye to a friend who’d been adopted. A high inevitability that they too would be plucked from the confines of St. Anthony's Orphanage to start new lives with what they hoped would be loving families. It was Nathaniel’s greatest wish, but unsure if it was worth the risk of never seeing each other again. But everyone deserved a family, even waywa...

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“The Company We Keep” by Mara Rouge

Submitted to Contest #239

At night, Granny’s house hid all kinds of wonderful and whimsical surprises! As soon as she would switch off all the lights in the house to go to bed, a beautifully orchestrated symphony would start in the house: from her living room to the kitchen counter and ending in the dining room. It was a stark contrast from the daytime when the house was very quiet. That was when you could distinctly hear the whistle from the tea kettle, cracks on the wooden floors when stepping up or moving across, the deafening sound of the refrigerator, or bette...

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