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Start your story with a metaphor about human nature.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 109 stories

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Winner of Contest #102 🏆

I saw a tree and thought of you, or rather, thought of the way you see trees. I remembered when we walked through the Ramble in Central Park, a wild place in the center of a place wilder still, resplendent and emerald in the early summer sun. You stopped suddenly when you saw it. I remember how you cocked your head in appreciation, a tendril of hair escaped from behind your ear. You brushed it back with an unconscious hand. “There it is,” you said, with such earnest excitement that I couldn’t help but feel I was missing something exception...

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Cielo Azul (Blue Sky)

Submitted to Contest #102

Cielo Azul A short story by Mackenzie Littledale 7/15/2021 word count 1628  “What do you mean, the blue sky is an illusion?” my mother asked, shock writ large on her face,  hand poised on the door handle of the passenger side of my car. Her sheer terror scared me for a second. I thought she might get out of my car, so I had to ameliorate the situation. I was happy to explain, sure she’d grasp my meaning and praise my intellect. “I mean, when you look at earth from space, there is no blue sky. You can see straight through the ai...

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The Thaw

Shortlisted for Contest #102 ⭐️

Sorrow is like snow.Cold molecules that fall from the sky.And flow into your soul. Then slowly melt and dissipate,Only to return and chill you again. And again. From Canada,A cold front had migrated south,Leaving the earth under a soft quilt of snow. It was the edge of seasons,Near the end of winter.Around two on a Sunday afternoon.The sun had warmed the land and the pavement was dry,But it was still icy in the shadows and you had to keep an eye out.I was on a two-lane road, a winding route mostly empty of travelers this time of ye...

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It started with Three: An Empath, A Seer, and the legendary Oracle

Submitted to Contest #102

Humans are like machines creating an endless pattern that in turn becomes our life, much like the code that bind machines. Like those machines people fall into their old ways and settle into becoming just another part of the background. The endless drone of life becoming something else Entirely shielding us from what we are supposed to see. That shield leaves us with a false sense of reality. Things are not always as they seem. Especially in an old town full of mystery and death.       The first rule of coming b...

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Dan & Alice Talk in a Car

Submitted to Contest #102

There is no truth more assured than the ability of those you love to reveal the most inconvenient things at the most inconvenient times.  This was what Daniel thought looking over at his passenger, as a swift breeze held the side of his car. What small cracks that happened to be in the old model were found with ease by the frankly impertinent temperature. He'd made sure that Alice bundled up for this trip in preparation for the season's cold, badgering her for a good month remembering the near yearly climate shock. While he was expect...

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Misadventures of an Introvert

Submitted to Contest #102

Caution: Language Inspired by true events       One morning I noticed a fledgling sitting in a bird’s nest outside of my window, chirping his lungs out with his wings spread. He seemed to peep over the edge of the nest, trying to garner the courage to try out his wings. He reminded me of myself. Trying to gather the nerve to leave the nest of my comfort zone, spread my wings, and fly. I guess that’s what led me to make what turned out to be a poor decision. I took the exit that led to Brooke’s apartment and s...

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Alternate Realities

Submitted to Contest #102

“They are mindless reeds, drifting wherever wind guides them. They can grow under artificial sunlight if they believe it is real. What is real?-- they are not sure. And if we claim to have the answers, they’ll drift like lost sheep into our fence, put down their scythes and live in the world their brains have cultivated unbeknownst to them”     -Only Chance Application, Page 70, Chapter 10  Xin was close, very close. The hum of old baseboard heating in the beach home vibrated with contempt, desire, a special secr...

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Ping Pong Balls

Submitted to Contest #102

Life is a ping pong game. The table is the earth and humans are the balls placed upon the table. The paddles are the unseeable forces that control everything, emotions, motivations, desire. We, humans, are the balls because we are controlled by our emotions, our desires and yet we go places. We bounce around and around, back and forth. We are unpredictable. We change direction, we are never satisfied and always moving because that is human nature.  Esther was very much that ball. She bounced around and around. England, China, and New y...

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Perfidious Paramour

Submitted to Contest #102

CW: mental abuse, child murder We are merely ants who believe the world to be ours. But surely no ant would ever hurt its own kind to portray its view of reality. Then why do we humans step over each other for our desire to be seen better than those around us?   The story that I am about to tell you is of a girl and a boy, of a man and a woman, of love and hate. Their names are not important to the tale.    A lot of places to choose from but I choose the start:            ...

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Chess Game of Life

Submitted to Contest #102

The timeworn man abandoned his empty coffee cup and scooped the chess pieces off the end table and into a cloth bag. Picking up the brown and tan checkered game board, Adam headed up the stairs to his granddaughter’s bedroom. As he climbed, he couldn’t quite tune out the daytime news anchors’ daft drivel.“Like I’ve always said, life is like a game of chess…I don’t know how to play,” one bubble-head tittered.A second anchor cackled, “Oh dear, I thought you were going to say life is a game of chess that you will probably lose!”Thankfully their...

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I'm starting this story with a metaphor about human nature.

Submitted to Contest #102

A metaphor for human nature... Hmm. What is a metaphor. Hold on. Let me google. God, years of University has wrecked my brain cells. It's only been one year-ish so far. 'A metaphor is a figure of speech', well I know that. 'in which a word or phrase' this is boring... blah blah okay figurative language.... that's the same thing as figure of speech but I'll let it slide. I remember in Primary school, my English teacher who was also my Math teacher who was also my Social Studies and Science teacher, said that it's a figure of speech without ...

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Number Nine

Submitted to Contest #102

“How many times will curiosity kill the cat before the cat stops being curious?” The old man asked. Wrinkled skin dripped down his face, webbed and dry. Age spots grew like mold on his cheeks, chin, and forehead. They seemed to grow larger as I stared at him, transfixed. Unable to avert my gaze. It wasn’t fear that held my eyes but curiosity. Yes, he had hit the nail on the head. The hammer was blunt. “Nine, I suppose,” I replied, my voice crackling through the speaker system of my helmet. “Nine, heh,” The old man laughed. A w...

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The story so far

Submitted to Contest #102

The phoenix was a brilliant mythological bird. Legends say that it was as large as an eagle, with scarlet and gold plumage. More beautiful than any other creature, with a cry more melodious than any other sound. Only one phoenix existed at any time. And it was very long-lived, having a life span of no less than five hundred years. But as its end approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest then set it on fire and was consumed by the flames. From the ashes, miraculously rose a new phoenix. The point I am trying to make: At some point in time, th...

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Mother's wrath

Submitted to Contest #102

MOTHER'S WRATH Richard!!!!," I heard my mother calling me with so much venom in her voice I remained in my hiding place. "Where is this idiot, bastard, scallywag?" Still I remanded in hiding. Then I heard footsteps. They were my mother's . I began to shiver. I knew what to expect when she catch me. Instant and merciless punishment. I had broken one of her ceramic cups while washing the mountainful of plates I have been washing for over an hour. The footsteps got closer. I shivered. My heart began to beat in a sporadic pattern. My pulse incre...

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We Are Nature

Submitted to Contest #102

Humans are nature. We are violent and cruel, but we can also be strong, loving, and free. *** Present Day A Forest in Illinois A mourning dove sits in a tree. She glances around the forest. It is peak mating season, and she sees two males on the ground, fighting each other. She wishes she could tell them to stop, but she cannot.  The dove watches them fight, and the bigger one pecks the smaller one on his neck, bloodying him.  How odd, that since the males were born with testosterone and she with estrogen, that the male...

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