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Set your story in a town full of cowards.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 31 stories

THE SEA SPIDER AND THE BLUE HAIRED BOY

Shortlisted for Contest #135 ⭐️

When the giant sea spider swallowed the entire town of Cobble, it was decided that something should be done about it. Flee, the next town over and slightly higher up, had watched the unfortunate event from their balconies and terraces, very pale and very shaky, and also very quiet—in case the sea spider decided to look up and think about dessert. But lucky for the town of Flee, the sea spider had poor vision. He was old—old as the sea in which he inhabited—and every century or so felt peckish for a town or two, depending on his appetite....

44 likes 24 comments 24
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Yellow Town

Submitted to Contest #135

The town is named "Yellow Town" because there is not one single upstanding citizen within earshot. Dirt streets and tumbleweeds spin yarns of "would of" and "should have been" but never "proud of." Any shaky-kneed varmint that crosses the street will not face up to danger or principle. Courage and friendship are replaced by shaky knees and perspiration. A Sheriff's Star is a symbol of courage but the man behind the star is a paper hero. He looks like a sheriff, walks like a sheriff but when the going gets rough and tumble, you might as well ...

33 likes 9 comments 9
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Beaver Fur Bowler

Submitted to Contest #135

Tom Clanton’s daddy died in front of him when he was only thirteen years old. He was gunned down outside the Silver Dollar saloon in broad daylight for trying to prevent his wife from running away with an outlaw that had been feeding her opium for the last several months. The first bullet that hit his daddy sent him to the ground with such force that the dust nearly blocked Tom from seeing the second bullet tear through his daddy’s chest and kill him. The outlaw, Ben Philpot, left with the boy’s mother, and they were later killed by Blood In...

25 likes 7 comments 7
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Hypocritical Bullies

Submitted to Contest #135

“Russia invades Ukraine” was splashed all over the internet and dancing on the lips of everyone as Dierdre managed her Saturday. It had been but a couple of days since it had made the news. Everyone had an opinion about it. People were up in arms, the masses were protesting and nations were threatening sanctions.Dierdre checked her rear-view mirror. As she reversed out of the driveway for the second time that day, the lady that lived across the street from her thrust her a cruel stare and gave her a deliberate evil eye. The rotund creature w...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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Coward is a Strong Word

Submitted to Contest #135

It was 7 o'clock on a Tuesday morning, the alarm clock on Tom's bedside table began to ring at just the right decibel level to wake him up, but not so high that it might hurt his ear drums. As Tom reached over to turn the alarm off, his wife next to him, Sue, began to stir and come awake. There was an absolute abundance of sunlight pouring in from their second-floor bedroom, illuminating the nicely kept bedroom. Tom and Sue both rolled onto their sides and faced each other and smiled, Tom gave Sue a very modest kiss on the cheek and climbed ...

19 likes 2 comments 2
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A Walk in The Park

Submitted to Contest #135

It was early morning. Mavis was walking her terrier dog Billy in the park. Quite unexpectedly, Billy began pulling on the lead and dragging Mavis toward some thick bushes. She hung on tightly, struggling to control him, but he dragged her nearer and nearer the overgrown shrubs. She almost ended up falling over in them.“Stop it Billy. Whatever has got into you this morning.”Suddenly, Mavis lifted her hand to her mouth to smother a scream. There, among the dead leaves, empty cans of beer and sweet wrappers, was what looked like the side of som...

17 likes 11 comments 11
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Closing the Doors on Craven Ridge

Submitted to Contest #135

As the sun’s morning rays permeated the little southwestern American town that had once stood strong against a vast army over a decade ago, the reflections of red and pink in the low clouds portended evil tidings to come. An old, slightly wrinkled, man took off his hat, as was the custom when entering a church, and took a seat in the back row pew to listen to the townsfolk debate. His cotton shirt and denim pants were caked with dust driven by the desert winds, some of which settled on the wood bench where he sat. For many hours he just list...

17 likes 5 comments 5
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Polar Bear

Submitted to Contest #135

          Trigger warning: rape           Bruno was beginning to think it was time to leave Quiverton.            Quiverton had been founded a century and half ago in a secluded valley by an eccentric religious sect of extreme pacifists. They did not simply believe in nonviolence and passive resistance to evil. They actively retreated from any conflict whatsoever. As time went on the relig...

16 likes 5 comments 5
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A Grave Departure

Submitted to Contest #135

There are more of them now. They linger in the shadows, a sad, unavoidable consequence of the plague that has decimated our numbers. Misery draws them, and the sickly-sweet stench of dead beckons from the mass graves. They barely look different from the corpses they feed upon- sallow skin, teeth rotten and black. Or so I’m told- I’ve only ever seen them from a distance. No one dares draw near, terrified of the pestilence they may carry.   These ghouls are carrion vultures.  They emerge when night cools the ai...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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The Song of Death and Glory

Submitted to Contest #135

The gentle bite of a morning spring wind came over the hill, sending gray banners fluttering like wisps of cloud bound to the earth and yearning to return to the azure sky. On this particular morning, the sun rose with clarity not seen since the autumn, though the residents of Andolens looked upon it with dull eyes, tending to their tasks with mellow movements. These people were of northern descent, so their hair was a mixture of red and pale gold, and their eyes were piercing, especially when contrasted with their pale skin. Some people had...

14 likes 5 comments 5
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" Bravery is an act, not a mere utterance"

Submitted to Contest #135

Quote: "A Coward's Courage is in his tongue"- Edmund Burke.CW: Contains scene of bloody Elements and gun violence.Growing up in a town where stories of Heroes are upheld in high esteem, and going forward to telling it to the younger generation was one of the best moment of my childhood life. I used to seat with my dad outside our spacious compound while he made the fire, adding bunches of dried sticks to keep the fire going, while telling me stories of great men and women who by their courageous act have brought a change into their respectiv...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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Feebletown

Submitted to Contest #135

Although they knocked five times, all I did was sweat and tremble. We hadn’t had a visitor in over six years. In the town of Feebletown, people never knocked on doors. Since what happened to Freda, nobody has done nothing. Oh, Lord. The stranger just asked if anyone was home. From my place on the floor, I peered over the couch and squinted through the space between the blinds, hard enough to cause a headache. Why would someone ever need such a large backpack? “Hello?” The stranger called again. With one eye open, I prayed for them to leav...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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Cowards Among Us

Submitted to Contest #135

It was nearing midnight when I huddled close to my cousins in the dark of the room, looking up at my sister, Aniya’s, penlight lit face as she told us a story of people who camped out in the woods on a full moon, never to return to recount the tale themselves.She lowered her voice to a whisper as she leaned in and we mirrored her, wanting to know what the sole survivor of that hellish night had said before he wandered off, never to be seen again “Hell is empty, all the devils a’– RRRAAHHHH!”. The jump scare had us screaming at the top of our...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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A Bad Day for Business

Submitted to Contest #135

Little Benny Rambler, all out of breath, crashed through the tree line of the old Anderson lot. They still called it that, even though old Anderson was ten years dead. Benny doubled over, braced himself against his knees, and tried to catch his breath. He caught sight of his family’s farmhouse, squat and wide and so small from this distance. And he heard voices, not too far. There were three adults crossing the field – his family’s field – and they all had guns. And one had a cowboy hat, so that was probably Sheriff Laner. “Hey!” Benny call...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Be Brave With Me

Submitted to Contest #135

By the summer of Magnolia Hawthorn’s nineteenth birthday, she’d come to understand that “quiet” oftentimes was polite talk for “cowardly.” Maggie, as everyone called her, was born in a small town, the one-horse type, bookended by cow fields, with a stoplight in the middle, and a rumor mill taller than the old water tower. As a child, she’d played in creeks in the sun and caught fireflies in the moonlight, freer than a bird. Her youth had been nothing but peaceful. The trouble with growing up is one day your eyes focus and you realize you’ve ...

13 likes 3 comments 3
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