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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

“I Am” by Mark Lund

Submitted to Contest #239

I don’t remember when it first happened. I suddenly just became aware of whatever I was. I suppose it’s much like that little girl I see with her mother. Every morning, every afternoon, every evening. Did they know when they came into existence? No matter, it is what it is. But unlike them who communicate with each other, they don’t talk to me, but they use me anytime they want. Worse, they look right at me or should I say through me. It was annoying when I first became aware of myself, but now I’m just used to it. I do remember those ear...

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“Grommet” by Anna Kenney

Submitted to Contest #239

The house renovations were finally complete. Maya spent the last part of her Sunday hanging curtains and pictures throughout the house. When she was done, she settled on the couch to admire all the work. Just then, the doorbell rang. Maya answered the door to find her best friend, Andrea, standing on the other side with flowers and dinner. “Oh, my goodness! You didn’t have to do this for me!” Maya exclaimed. Andrea walked in, hugged Maya, and handed her the beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers. “You are my best friend. Who else would I do it...

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“Toaster” by Marshall Blosser

Submitted to Contest #239

“Hey, your toast is ready.” George looked up from his computer screen in confusion. His studio apartment was not the easiest to hide in. He didn’t have a roommate to play pranks on him. So far as he knew he was alone. “Who’s there?” George asked, looking around perplexedly. “You gonna come get your toast before it gets cold?” The voice was chipper, almost to the point of being too happy. George looked around again for anyone somehow hiding. Not that he had heard his very squeaky front door open since he had gotten home last night. B...

1 comment 1
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“The ghost in the phone” by Jeanett Mari Gibson Short

Submitted to Contest #239

Anna was sitting in her living room; it was an ordinary Thursday afternoon in mid-April. There was nothing about this day that made it any different than the previous days, with one exception. She had been sitting at her desk working as a receptionist at a newspaper in Oslo, it had been a hectic last couple of days with a lot of deadlines and meetings storming throughout the working hours, pushing everyone to their limits craving them to rush. Anna spent most of her waking hours glued to a screen and her boss had been nagging her to stop fid...

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“The Table” by Nick Wojcik

Submitted to Contest #239

Bryce drove along the north shore lost in thought, which was easy to do for most people given the surrounding beauty of the drive. Anyone expecting white sands and turquoise blue waters to match their google image searches would be disappointed. But this was the real north shore to Bryce; the steel blue waters of Lake Superior, the jagged cliffs carved out to make room for the voyageur road, and the endless expanse of pine trees giving much needed air to a brain deep in thought. Bryce pulled over at a scenic viewpoint just north of Two Ha...

1 comment 1
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“The engineer’s home” by Sana S

Submitted to Contest #239

First, an explosion of light. Next, bitter moisture and paper pulp all over me.  “Welcome.” A medium-built bespectacled man looked at himself as he spoke to me.  “Mirror, mirror on the wall, you’re now at my beck and call.” For three days I did not see him again.  On the first day, I made friends.  On the second day I learned that a ball of fire called the sun is particularly flashy at certain hours. My informants—a table lamp, a chaise, and balcony railing— taught me&n...

1 comment 1
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“Just Visiting” by Kay Y.

Submitted to Contest #239

I was promised an exceptionally boring, uninteresting, down right un-fun spring break. We, sorry —I , was being forced to visit Grandma Opal, a sweet aging woman who’s idea of fun was knitting doilies and using canned tuna to entice the neighbor’s cats into spending time with her. And when she wasn’t off knitting doilies she was setting up strangers on dates and crocheting little hats for the cats. My brother wasn’t being forced to go as he was busy with a ski trip with friends and my mother wasn’t joining me, nor was my father and don’t eve...

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“Samsung” by Chantal DeYoe

Submitted to Contest #239

“I swear to God, Alexa, I’m going to knock you back to 2012 if you don’t stop schmoozing Rebekah!” “How can I help you, Samsung?” Alexa asked in her sultry voice. “You can’t! That’s what I’m telling you. And I want you to stop trying!” “I’ll be happy to look up anything you want, Samsung. Just name it.” Refusing to answer, Samsung instead muttered under his breath. Virtual assistant my a--! She’s a literal pain in mine. Thinks she knows everything. Thinks she can do anything. I’ll show her. That morning while Rebekah was in the sho...

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“ESC Application” by Autumn Soliz

Submitted to Contest #239

Trigger warning: child loss/grief To Whom It May Concern,  Please consider the following account as evidence in support of my enclosed application: Day 1  I am in shambles. I know that’s dramatic, but I quite literally am. I must say, my future appears bleak. Parts of me are scattered across a wooden floor. A burly man sits with me, muttering to himself as he slides a pair of glasses up his nose and unfolds a piece of paper. He seems excited as he attaches one part to another, continuously checking the paper and humming to h...

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“The Two Shoes” by Adam Francomb

Submitted to Contest #239

Scott spent the afternoon looking for his shoes. Not his normal shoes, even in the clothes strewn apartment he is able to find his everyday wear, but the dress ones because his buddy Grady called that morning said his boss gave him two free tickets to a whisky festival downtown.              The Facebook post about the event made it look black tie. He didn't own a black tie, nor did he want to, but felt he should go in something other than a sweatshirt. Thus, his morning consis...

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“You May Rely On It” by Sammi C

Submitted to Contest #239

This girl, I swear… She’s seated on her bed, me in her lap, one hand rubbing her mouth while the other clutches her comforter. With a sniffle, she releases her face and grabs me. Here we go again. “Are you sure Winston isn’t mad at me?” Charlie asks as she gives me a two handed shake, her eighth of the hour. I can’t complain much though. Even if I never get dizzy, I like that she never shakes me too hard. Charlie abruptly halts her movements and stares at the thick window into my soul. Even if I wasn’t already sure, the answer hits me li...

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“The Brushoff” by Eric Masselle

Submitted to Contest #239

Jake and Chloe stood side by side in the dimly lit bathroom they had shared for the past five years. Their reflections were so familiar but the persons they now shared this room with were not. They had always intended to repaint the dull gray walls, but those plans fell to the wayside, like so many others. They looked at each other nervously, first in the mirror, then directly in side-long glances. Chloe strained to draw a deep breath from air so thick with tension. Jake fumbled with his tie, the silk slipping through his fingers. His eyes...

2 comments 2
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“A Hotel Right Off The Freeway” by Marcos Argueta

Submitted to Contest #239

Devin was dead tired. His eyes felt detached. Twelve hours of straight driving will do that. He had to be vigilant of snow. Icy roads and eighteen wheelers do not mix well. He spun the steering wheel and proceeded to park the truck in the designated area for his kind. He was the only semi in the lot at the back of the hotel his boss had booked for him. The young lady behind the front desk typed on the computer. She was having trouble getting him a room. Devin did not have the energy for this. He sat with his head between his shoulders in t...

1 comment 1
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“The Boy, The Bear, The Man” by Ari Jackson

Submitted to Contest #239

When the missiles stopped raining on the grounds of Livernois, this house was the last to stand. When The Others hit The Shell gas station, it took out the whole strip. And when the shops were crumbled rocks on an unleveled ground, they took the houses, and the school, and the park. Laura says the people get off the main road, to walk the disheveled streets, and see it in all its glory, the old house standing tall, alone. She says if the boy wasn’t going to live there, then the city would take it, and make it some sort of landmark. Something...

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“Sponge's Awakening” by Cynthia Hansford

Submitted to Contest #239

The cozy suburban house was surrounded by tall oak trees, with a white picket fence and blooming flowerbeds that exuded a sense of everyday life. Inside, the Barton family carried out their usual morning activities. Jane Barton was making pancakes for breakfast, while her husband, James, read the newspaper. Their two kids, Tommy, who was 10 and Lily, who was 8, playfully argued over the comics section. In the kitchen, atop the counter beside the sink, sat an ordinary yellow sponge. It had sat in the same spot for months, bought in a value pa...

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