Write a story where the laws of time and space begin to dissolve.

Posted in Fantasy on Feb 23, 2024

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✍️ 99 stories

“Office Romance ” by E.D. Human

Submitted to Contest #239

.I don’t know how long I sat curled up in the fetal position atop the toilet seat, clutching my cellphone with trembling hands. Lori’s WhatsApp message had dimmed and I clicked it again, as if resurrecting it to life put paid to its blatant lie :Have you heard the news? Colin has died, a heart attack. Apparently.The broken-heart emoji was an empathetic touch but just as hollow as Lori’s tactless message. She knew our history. I had little doubt the entire firm did. My own broken heart lay in shards somewhere on the not-too-pristine cubicle f...

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“Aetherdrawn” by Morgan Aloia

Submitted to Contest #239

The aether stood, a billowing wall of blur bounding the whole of the very small world. Mepka stormed alongside it, taking miles of the swamp with spiteful steps. Where she could, she pounced from patch to patch of packed dirt using felled trees and moss-eaten boulders as stepping stones. In each of those places where the waters had been so gluttonous as to have taken any possible path beneath their murky surface, she jabbed her staff like a knife until they gave up a passable shallowness. She used the aether as a guide, following i...

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“Don't Forget The Milk” by Robert Lee

Submitted to Contest #239

Why does everyone buy milk? The thought perplexes you as you traverse the aisles of Jack's Mini Mart. Toilet paper makes sense. I mean, if you are going to be stuck in the house for days, you’re going to need toilet paper. But you've never seen Bear Grylls pack a gallon jug of milk in his knapsack before he heads out into the wild. The original forecast is for a light dusting of snow, but as the hours pass, the predictions grow more and more grim. Two inches, then four, then a foot or more. You were brought up in the backwoo...

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“Baby Butch” by Dee McGhee

Submitted to Contest #239

TW: transphobia Zee tucked their white tee into their Wranglers, slipped a sliver carabiner through their front belt loop, and put on their Tims. They slicked back their crew cut with a light pomade and evaluated themselves in the mirror. Was the look too casual? Too stereotypical? Maybe it'd be obvious that Zee didn’t know what they were doing, but it was probably too late to change.Zee checked their phone. 2:35 PM. 99% battery. A text from Lyla.See you soon! Parking can be a nightmare. I’ll wait for you out front :)Zee stared at the messag...

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“Tabatha” by David Weaver

Submitted to Contest #239

I was sitting on that rusty old bench in the park, the one near the bandstand, lobbing stale bread at the pigeons. The day was still fresh, but I wasn’t. Judith wasn’t around to keep me in check now. I often come here to think. Or rather to avoid thinking. My mind has been a little numb of late. It must be old age, not knowing what I'm up to half the time. But it's not just that. It's the regret you see; it keeps me awake at night and then I come out here and doze off in the sun. I'm a hopeless case but I can't be bothered to call anyone abo...

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“What Happened” by Leslie Kirc

Submitted to Contest #239

What Happened! I exist as the planet exists. I am part of this living world. I was created as the planet formed; molten. I watched with interest: as the planet cooled, seas formed, and the land was barren. I continued to watch as the plankton to large fish eat each other, reproduced, and multiplied. I rose out of the sea to become land. I watched it become covered with creatures large and small from one celled life to insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals. It was interesting to sense what everything was doing. Despite my small bit of...

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“Black Hole” by Chad Eastwood

Submitted to Contest #239

Contains Alcohol references and minor expletives Arthur Chestnut, 21 years old, unemployed, was walking down the main street of Tralee at four o’clock in the morning. He was very drunk. In order to travel in a straight line, he was having to use one arm to periodically bounce himself off the buildings to his left. This became intermittently problematic when he passed a window, misjudged the space, hit his head on the lintel and fell onto the road. He got up, however, each time, and resumed his horizontal kangarooing journey home. He had ...

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“House hunting” by Avital Malenky

Submitted to Contest #239

The phone rang and I answered out of instinct, hardly even waking before realising the phone was already in my hand. “Good morning, is this Mrs. Smalls? Anthony Harrow here, I hope this is not too early to call, only I have wonderful news! I found you a house!” The voice on the other side could not be mistaken. Such unbridled jubilation at this time of the day could only be found in the devoted denizens of the realtor industry. “Mr. Harrow, not at all, I was absolutely already awake…” my sleepy, mumbling voice, could not have conveyed my ac...

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“The White Almond Tree” by Elaine Elliott

Submitted to Contest #239

THE WHITE ALMOND TREE Sarah stared at the sailboat wishing it would take her around the world. It would never happen. She scraped by, barely paying rent and making car payments, so a long vacation on an expensive boat—a fantasy. She reluctantly took down her beach umbrella, folded her beach chair, shook sand off her towel and carried things to her car, ending a pleasant but lonely Saturday afternoon. Her willowy blond hair fell over her green bathing suit, and she shook the sand off her flip-flops and washed her feet at the ...

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“The army gathers” by Richard Beynon

Submitted to Contest #239

They were on the last leg of the journey from Johannesburg when Martin remarked on how many twin-cabs were barrelling past them. “And they all have a couple of bicycles lashed to the back, d’you see that? Every one of them.” “Families on their way to the sea,” Leonie said, just as another vehicle sped by. “Right on the bloody double line, that one.” Martin squinted into the sun. “Someone coming at them they wouldn’t have a hope in hell of seeing them.” He blinked. “And see that? Two big bikes and a little one. Bloody hell.” “I wouldn’t g...

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“EMANATION” by Laura Payne

Submitted to Contest #239

EMANATIONYou never knew that she had an infirmity until she struggled through the garden door. The limp only became distinct as she dragged her left foot slightly. The clumsy movement scraped her trainer and the bottom of her jeans on the floor. The constant pressure meant that the jeans were roughed up and frayed at this spot and the trainer clearly showed signs of being worn away. Once I’d noticed the limp I could then see that the whole of her left side sat awkwardly on her body as if it hadn’t been sculpted out fully by her maker, b...

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“Shortness of Breath” by Ben Gartner

Submitted to Contest #239

When I hold my breath, time stops. I don’t mean metaphorically like I’m waiting for a girl to respond to a marriage proposal. Or a flying piece of shrapnel to avoid my foxhole buddy. And certainly not in that overused trope of a phrase wherein I might “let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.” No, sir, I am hyper-conscious of every breath I might hold, whether triggered intentionally or not, because time does, in fact, stand still. For as long as I’m not inhaling or exhaling, at least. And only as long as I can hold it. Did you kn...

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“I Know the End” by Abbygail Kroeker

Submitted to Contest #239

“The world is ending.” “You always say that.” A dark cloud hangs over the lake. It looks heavy. Slightly green. That’s no regular storm. We’re in your car. The seat heaters are on. I can feel my legs humming as the warmth seeps into my clothes, my skin. I hug my backpack tightly to my chest. “I mean it this time,” I say. You flip through radio channels. All you get is static. You used to say you could hear voices in the white noise. Isn’t that how people communicate with ghosts? Mother. Winter. Rotten. Home. You strung them together, as ...

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“Something in the Air” by Aditi Kumar

Submitted to Contest #239

Content Warning: Mature Content and Language.When did everything we do become so lonely?I thought about this a lot while I waited for the next episode of The Family Code. With the current plot line the buzzy drama had promised to resolve today shivering in the airwaves like flammable vapor, I had to avoid social media. For among its denizens existed particularly loathsome assholes; waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting, expectant viewer with spoilers in everything they wrote: captions, descriptions, pictures - even emojis. Digital journ...

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“The Playroom” by Jason Wright

Submitted to Contest #239

Playtime was approaching. He sensed its arrival. Despite feeling nervous, it wasn't as overwhelming as usual. He was gradually becoming accustomed to the unpredictable nature of playtime. Today, he harbored hope for a good day, yet he understood that hope held no sway in the playroom. The playroom embodied the personification of childlike imagination. Seated in the living room, he focused on an episode of his favorite cartoon. The rhythmic sounds of his mother chopping vegetables emanated from the kitchen—perhaps a carrot or maybe broccoli. ...

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Write a story where the laws of time and space begin to dissolve.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 99 stories

“Office Romance ” by E.D. Human

“Aetherdrawn” by Morgan Aloia

“Don't Forget The Milk” by Robert Lee

“Baby Butch” by Dee McGhee

“Tabatha” by David Weaver

“What Happened” by Leslie Kirc

“Black Hole” by Chad Eastwood

“House hunting” by Avital Malenky

“The White Almond Tree” by Elaine Elliott

“The army gathers” by Richard Beynon

“EMANATION” by Laura Payne

“Shortness of Breath” by Ben Gartner

“I Know the End” by Abbygail Kroeker

“Something in the Air” by Aditi Kumar

“The Playroom” by Jason Wright

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story where a regular household item becomes sentient.

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

Write a story where your character is traveling a road that has no end.

Write a story about an artist whose work has magical properties.

Contest #239

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

515

Contest entries

132

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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