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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Start your story with an ending and work backward toward the beginning.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 25, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 201 stories

“My Childhood Home ” by Deepika Viswanath

Submitted to Contest #89

PRESENT DAY …I looked at my house for the last time. Then I got in my car and drove off silently into the night. TWO MONTHS AGO I was sitting inside my living room, donned in a casual sweater and jeans, looking at the painted walls and the dusty paintings. I wanted to take one last look at them as I turned to the flyers in my hands. The flyers that were responsible for getting my house sold. The pictures of the interior of the house and the exterior flashed before my eyes. So much in life had changed yet the house that was reflect...

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“Unravelling the swiss roll” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #89

I stood in the morgue with a female police officer beside me. The lighting was dim, and the air smelt unpleasantly of chemicals and effluent. In front of us, my husband, Mick, lay wrapped in a white quilted body bag. Or at least, the man lying before us resembled Mick, but whatever was the essence of Mick was gone, literally leaving a corpse. Only his head was visible, his lips were slightly parted, and there was a slight trace of dried blood on this man’s bottom lip. In recent years, I had used electric clippers to trim my husband’s hair. N...

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“Forty years” by Anthony David M

Submitted to Contest #89

Caleb grinned. He was happy to enter the promised land. He went to Hebron to claim it for himself and his family. 80 years old, he was still strong enough to go to war. How did the past forty years go pass? he wondered as his mind went back into the past...                                                &nbsp...

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“Program Sixteen, Attempt Seven” by Claire C

Submitted to Contest #89

The man grabbed my throat as he pinned my body against the pavement. His hand was warm and clammy: uncomfortable, but that was the least of my worries. To my surprise, I didn’t feel my throat constrict, and warily, I sucked in heavy breaths. “What do you want from me?” I rasped. He ignored me, and spoke into a small watch on his free hand. “Program Sixteen, attempt six,” he muttered. “Location: Penn Station. Mark start time as 23:34, 12 seconds. Third log for April 6, 2059.” “I think you got the date wrong,” I said b...

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“Belinda” by Christy Sutton

Submitted to Contest #89

TW: murder “We begin this broadcast with Breaking News. The body of a woman has been found on the Northside of town near Green Cove Park. There is speculation that this case may be connected to three other victims found in the same vicinity over the past eighteen months. Police Chief Alberts will be giving a news conference at 1:00pm and we will, of course, be airing that live. In the meantime, News Channel 4’s own Aileen Bell is on the scene where the latest victim was found. Aileen, with four victims now discovered, are we looking at a dan...

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“Barefoot In The Grass.” by Patricia Green

Submitted to Contest #89

Barefoot in the grass. Paul and Katy stood looking at the large silver plaque they had won, hanging proudly above the fireplace in the family home. Katy loved reading the inscription under their names. “When most flock with the crowd, there are a few who dare to create a path of their own.” Katy still couldn’t believe their luck. It was two weeks earlier when they had won the prestigious award and the $10,000, which had paid off their parent’s mortgage on the farm. They had sprinted to the finish line first and second, fifty yards ahead o...

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“Good Samaritans” by Thompson Emate

Submitted to Contest #89

“How are you doing?” Angela asked. “Am fine,” the lady responded. “After we left yesterday, we were so worried about you that’s why we are back to see you. Isn’t it George?” Holding her close, he replied, “Yeah! Although the doctor assured us you'd be fine. We were still worried about you. Thank God you are indeed OK.” “Is she your daughter?” Angela asked pointing to a girl wearing a white dress with green dots and hair adorned with ribbons. “Yes she is,” the lady replied. “Wow! She is beautiful. Hey, little beauty, what's your name?” A...

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“11 Final Beats” by Jacob Rainey

Submitted to Contest #89

The  hospital  room  was  near  complete  silence.  Nothing,  but  the  rhythmic  snap  of  the  heartbeat  monitor,  provided  an  ease  to  the  quiet.  In  the  dimly  lit  room  a  man  sat,  holding  his  wrinkled  hands  up  to  his  chin.  His  gaze  locked  on  the  small,  frail  woman  lying  in ...

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“MIN OMONDI” by Wendo Kenyanito

Submitted to Contest #89

The best that can be said about it is that it was not right. First of all, the manner of doing it. Secondly, the reason why. I will tell you the reason why it should not have been done the way it was done. But, before that, let me tell you a story. Her story. Min Omondi’s story. Do not mind the frog in my throat. I tell you a tale of love, although I started to tell lies the moment I started to read stories- imaginary stories. Maybe it wasn’t the lies I told; maybe I just talked another language. Anyway, the story I am going to tel...

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“The IPL Specialist” by Sidhartha Mishra

Submitted to Contest #89

Swarup Mishra received the Man of the Series Award for the IPL 14 .He was nicknamed as the IPL Specialist for his all round performance in this season.He was overwhelmed with happiness.He was living in a dream! While giving his interview to a magazine, he recalled his journey! It all started after he played for the Under-19 World Cup.His performance was all-round.He scored runs,took wickets,fielded well,took catches and was the man of the Series in the mega event. India had won the Under-19 World Cup and Swarup was the find of the event! Aft...

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“The man and Winter” by J.R. Hughes

Submitted to Contest #89

I had three friends, I guess after tomorrow I'll have one. A group text between Mark, Winter, and I started blowing up last night while I was driving home from work. I couldn't get to my phone to read what was happening, but the vibrating was starting to exacerbate me. In the five minutes it took me to get from the final stoplight to my parking spot there were twenty-five new messages from Mark and Winter. I stayed in my car while I opened up my phone and looked at the messages from Winter. Mark and I had been the only ones contributing to t...

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“The Searcher” by Maurice Mullen

Submitted to Contest #89

Carl stood in the middle of the dusty road smoking gun in hand staring down at the bloody carcass lying in the road twenty paces in front of him.“How did I end up in this situation again?” He asked himself.The events flashed in his mind scene by scene. He started with image of the 44 slug slamming in to the man’s left breast before the man’s gun cleared leather. He saw the man’s body thrown back by the impact, and the red rose of his wound beginning to bloom before he even hit the ground.Flash! He sees his self standing back to back with the...

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“Forgive Me Not” by Hill De Guarde

Submitted to Contest #89

I am staring at my victim, the huge gash on her neck makes her gurgle her last words. I wonder if she is repenting or praying for divine salvation. Either way, that cannot save her soul now. And I cannot bring myself to care; I have done that to her after all. With the depths of hell that I submerged myself into, pity is long gone in my veins now. I grace her with a smile full of malice then, I end her life.Since my sister had fallen ill and died when I was twelve, I watched over with what’s left of my family—my mother Ester. My mom said tha...

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“Dead Women Tell No Tales” by Sophie Holmes

Submitted to Contest #89

My last breath never felt so easy to take, nor the last glimpse of sunlight over the hill so beautiful. I was falling, floating, flying all at once. My eyes burned with tears but a smile painted on my face nonetheless. This was my end and after all that had happened, I suppose I didn’t mind.  My wrists itched as the rope tightened around them, wrenching my shoulders and my hands behind my back. The knight - who had once been so kind to me - grabbed my forearm roughly and dragged me from my dark, damp cell. I stumbled up the stairs, his...

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“The well-dressed man” by Wizard Oblivion

Submitted to Contest #89

TW: death, implied genocide As I look on to the setting sun and my best friend, stranded all alone on this once inhabited island, there is chaos in my mind that cannot be reigned. After what we’ve been through in the past 24 hours, I can proudly say we can handle probably about anything in this world. How did I get stranded here? It is a question for which I now know the answer. The past 24 hours had started with me and my best friend, Daniel ‘Dee,’ ending up mysteriously on this island ‘Maqui’. The last vague memory I have is of talking wit...

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