Write a story in which the same line recurs three times.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 163 stories

“My Diantha” by Akra Carras

Submitted to Contest #101

The train wheels beat incessantly against the tracks as they passed over them, the repetitive clicking echoing the scenery beyond the crystal clear windows, where trees passed by in a blur of green that never ceased. In the same way, the pocket watch in my hand continued, time ticking by with each click of the wheels, each tree we passed. And far behind, dark hair, billowing dress, soleful eyes watching as the engine pulled me away from the station, one hand holding a hat and windswept ribbons to her head. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. For...

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“Mornings Are My Safe Space” by Dominique InBleu

Submitted to Contest #101

Mornings are my safe space. It makes me feel important to open the lecture hall’s windows as early as possible, to clean the white-boards, to take my first-row seat, and to work when I know everyone else is sleeping. Useful, responsible, organized. The work takes me beyond my austere fashion, beyond my plaid skirts and earthy coat, beyond my fountain pens and reading glasses and braided bun. It makes me feel real. The silence is calming. The constant shifting of the light’s hues reminds me of the passing of time. There are birds chirping, ca...

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“Yes” by Pamela Zero

Submitted to Contest #101

Wess trundled into the room, all four legs stomping firmly on the ground, sticklike torso whirring around, a dozen arms flailing. The small eyes dotting its arms blinked randomly. “Thank you for coming,” said its fellow librarian, Urtless. “I’m at a complete loss. She’s so lovely, and I’m, well…” He looked down at his own boring bipedal form. “Do we know her exact date of birth?” asked Wess. “Perhaps we can examine historical and cultural events during her childhood. this will allow you subjects for conversation." “...

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“The playful pattern of a fate in the mirror of a glossa” by Rodica Niculescu

Submitted to Contest #101

Time goes by, time comes along, All is old, and all is new; What is right and what is wrong, You must think and ask of you; “Glossa”, by Mihai Eminescu (1883), The chirping of birds is so sound in the peace of the morning. Freedom-thirsty dogs bark at the woods’ shadows in the woods surrounding his house. Their voice is only a sound sent back bay from the trees’ bark. His home set on a mountain slope, each morning looks with sleepy windows to the sunrise from behind the ridge, and each evening admires the calm of the king Sun wh...

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“The balloon” by Mariana Del Rosal

Submitted to Contest #101

That afternoon, Janet made sure the bathroom door was closed before sitting on the toilet. She was alone at home, but her mother or her sister could come in any second now. They thought she was at the office, but that morning she had to call in sick because of nausea. She opened the packaged she had bought at a drugstore far from home (just in case) and she tried to pee, which took some more time than usual. Finally, after two endless minutes, she looked at the plastic strip again. There it was: two clear blue lines. It was the second time s...

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“Darkest before the dawn.” by Erin Suess

Submitted to Contest #101

April 15, 2017. It is always darkest before the dawn. River could still hear her grandfather’s words as she quietly stepped out of the front door 15 minutes before the sun was to rise. She was out here specifically to watch the sunrise. A moment she and her grandfather use to enjoy together. With his passing two weeks ago, she wanted to start to make this a tradition for herself. It didn’t need to be every day, but she wanted to continue the act of watching the sunrise and remembering the good moments of life. This is what she and her grandf...

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“Sacrosanct Siesta” by Anthony David M

Submitted to Contest #101

"My afternoon siesta is too sacrosanct to be broken," said Selma as she picked up her insistent cell phone, "I should have put it in silent mode, I suppose" &nb...

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“The Poison of Love” by Bella Cole

Submitted to Contest #101

Some words should only be said in the most intimate of times. Times when both parties will remember the words forever, letting the memory dance as they fall asleep. For both Zamira and Kavvan, words haven’t passed that meet that degree. Both have lived a life of pure direction, with no affection or love insight. Zamira was a captain of one of the most infamous ships. She had found the land by accident while trying to find the lost city of Atlantis. When they landed here, she had promised to stay for a week. As they explored this unkno...

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“The Opposite Side of The Street” by Gary Thurgood

Submitted to Contest #101

TW: suicide “I’m fine,” Jeremy said, and I knew he was lying. For my benefit, most likely, though I can’t understand why. We were painfully young and inexperienced then, and who knows why young people do what they do. He was drying his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt, hunched on the cold stone porch of his childhood home. He was shivering, despite the hot July night. I was sitting there beside him, my hand on his shoulder. I couldn’t move, thinking that if I stayed there long enough, touching him, some of his pain would seep through into ...

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“Amber Waves” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #101

A single bead of sweat rolled down Zeke’s soiled forehead as he hammered a rivet into the side of the silo. He dropped his hammer into the dirt and ran his hand over the curved aluminum siding. Zeke let out a long exhale.When he was in his twenties, Zeke loved to correct people over the classification of wheat. The setup was simple. Whenever Zeke was at a party and people got to making small talk about what they did, he mentioned that he designed grain elevators. Someone would pontificate, “Wheat is a type of grass,” to which Zeke would reto...

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“Face Me at the River Ocean” by Hadiya Rudolfo

Submitted to Contest #101

My best friend’s older brother hates me, but you cannot tell by looking at him. Even now, as we cruise through the hills beyond the city, he makes no effort to be outwardly mean. “When is Jazz supposed to be back?” He fiddles with the radio. “Last day in August, I think.” “UGH.” The guttural sound sinks me deep into the Jeep’s front passenger sea...

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“These words has lost its meaning” by Bernadette Kiewiet

Submitted to Contest #101

These words have lost its meaning, let’s start a brand-new story now …”, boomed from somebody’s radio somewhere on the Cape Flats, far below Table Mountain’s slopes. Sixty-year-old Gudrun jerked her head away from the sound and pushed her opened palms against her ears. The song taunted her, because it echoed the torture of her past, and the present, where a vicious circle paved her life back to hell. It drained her to an empty shell. ” I will love, cherish and take care of you until the day I die…” he had promised her. In the ivory wedding d...

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“How Swift Charger Did Not Win the Yacht Regatta” by Justin Rogers

Submitted to Contest #101

John Green, semi-retired owner and part-time proprietor of Green’s Convenience settled back in his chair and tried not to let the reporter understand just how much he was enjoying himself. “That’s a great question,” he said, failing completely. “We’ve been here since the beginning, my daddy before me, and truth to tell John Jr. mostly runs the place now, but I’ve been sitting here the best part of my life. I seen everything.” He nodded towards the picture window of Green’s Convenience. The store was on a slight rise across the street from ...

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“Where You Run” by Audre Elgar Frank

Submitted to Contest #101

Alice-Where do you go when you run? Do you sprout wings from your forearms and kiss the sun with their colorful array?Do you remember that day? The sky was a collage of turbid dishwater pasted in scraps with the occasional streak of still-wet opaque Elmer’s Glue peeking through. Scattered silver glitter zigzagged, static from the TV screen when you couldn’t connect to a channel. It buzzed into focus when you dialed the knob a centimeter clockwise and a helicopter fizzed like the ZotZs Surie mailed you in that year that was a mine hiding unde...

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“My Name is Rachel Neele” by Jaimie B

Submitted to Contest #101

“My name is Rachel Neele.” There is a reservation under that name so they take me up to my room. It was a long day today, I think. I cannot remember any of it; it must have been long. I peel my clothes off of me and climb into the shower. I am shaky on my legs, I need to hold myself up by holding the walls and the door of the shower. This headache is getting worse. I clean my hair. The water that washes down the drain is tinged red. Did I dye my hair like that? I try to think, but I find that there are few thoug...

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Write a story in which the same line recurs three times.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 163 stories

“My Diantha” by Akra Carras

“Mornings Are My Safe Space” by Dominique InBleu

“Yes” by Pamela Zero

“The playful pattern of a fate in the mirror of a glossa” by Rodica Niculescu

“The balloon” by Mariana Del Rosal

“Darkest before the dawn.” by Erin Suess

“Sacrosanct Siesta” by Anthony David M

“The Poison of Love” by Bella Cole

“The Opposite Side of The Street” by Gary Thurgood

“Amber Waves” by Mike Garrigan

“Face Me at the River Ocean” by Hadiya Rudolfo

“These words has lost its meaning” by Bernadette Kiewiet

“How Swift Charger Did Not Win the Yacht Regatta” by Justin Rogers

“Where You Run” by Audre Elgar Frank

“My Name is Rachel Neele” by Jaimie B

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character doing something they’ve done hundreds of times — only this time, it’s taken on a new meaning.

Write a story about a character who fails to understand something until they have the full context.

Write a story about a character who always repeats themselves.

Write a story that involves a reflection in a mirror.

Contest #101

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

728

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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