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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone rediscovering something old they thought they’d lost.

Posted in Fiction on Mar 31, 2023

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✍️ 67 stories

“Moving Mum” by Howard Halsall

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #192

It had taken them six months of gentle persuasion to convince mum to leave the house she’d lived in for sixty years and relocate to a nursing home on the other side of town. Mum’s Victorian villa with its three floors of generously proportioned rooms had become too large for her to manage. It was a cluttered arcade, displaying keepsakes collected over a lifetime and way beyond her powers to keep clean. It would be unkind if I described mum as a hoarder, but there were knickknacks and oddments littering every horizontal surface and she’d ador...

50 comments 50
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“Lost Kisses” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #192

The first indication that this was not an ordinary day came when Dad called me to ‘come here’, lead and harness jingling in his hand. The harness means ‘car’, but ‘car’ can mean many things. Some are good, like ‘beach’, and ‘park’, and ‘home’. Some are not good, like ‘vet’, and ‘bath’, and… ‘vet’. But ‘vet’ is not all bad, they give treato’s for the goodest doggos. I’m always the goodest doggo. I’ve never bitten the vet lady, even when she sticks the coldest thing up my… well, never mind!However, today we do not go t...

38 comments 38
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“A Different Type of Air” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #192

It happened practically overnight. The Disaster, mother called it. Apocalypse, father said. My brother called it Ruination, but he always was a drama queen. And me? I didn’t call it anything until seven years later. Now I call it Salvation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amy was not a person who woke up with anything approaching grace. She felt that alarm clocks were her personal enemies, and rising before 10:00 A.M. should be illegal and immoral. It was now 4:30 A.M.; the desire to smash the digital monster whining at her was barely subdued. Again. ...

29 comments 29
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“Myrtle's Return” by S Garnett

Submitted to Contest #192

The family dachshund sat on Rory’s lap hoping for a bite of hamburger.  They always grilled on the deck once the weather got nice. It was a hot May evening and the boy’s limbs were tired from swimming in the pond and playing in the mud with Myrtle, who was the greatest dog that he had ever laid eyes on. That weekend he would put her in the basket of his bike and they would go to the town park. She would sit and watch as he played baseball with his friends. Sometimes she would run after a foul ball and come back proudly with it. Scotty t...

11 comments 11
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“One of these Knights” by Darryl Roberts

Submitted to Contest #192

***language warning***“Just sign here and you’re ready to go sir.” the hotel clerk said. The elderly man took the proffered pen and with a firm, steady hand wrote ‘G.A. Wayne’The clerk glanced down, “Ok, Mr Wayne, will you be paying cash or credit?”“It’s just Wayne these days.” The man’s voice was deep and sonorous, worthy of a Shakespearean actor. He removed a clip of bills from his jacket. “And cash.”“Thank you, sir.” The clerk handed over a keycard. It’s floor number 3 suite 9. And enjoy your stay at the Park Grand.”Wayne nodded and heade...

16 comments 16
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“The Vaduz Wallet Brigade” by KT George

Submitted to Contest #192

Have you ever lost your wallet while on vacation in a foreign country and thought, “Welp, I hope whoever finds it has a gas! Now, where is the local consulate office?” Yeah, me neither. I mean, I did lose my wallet on vacation in a foreign country, but the words coming from my mouth were not those of hope for the persons who discovered it. They were more like phrases that would make a sailor blush, mixed in with some sobbing and uncontrolled bouts of hysteria.  Twenty years ago, I took a gap year in college and decided that backpacking...

9 comments 9
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“Ted” by Leila Shahtahmasebi

Submitted to Contest #192

As she entered the second-hand store, Lucy coughed. A cloud of dust engulfed her face, a sign perhaps of limited customers. She coughed again, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Are you alright, dear?" The old man behind the counter gazed at her with concerned eyes. Lucy nodded, stifling a sneeze. "Have a good browse, and if you need help with anything just let me know." The man's eyes were warm and gentle. "Thank you," Lucy smiled. She stood for a moment, drinking in the quirky little shop. The third one that day. She was amazed at how m...

3 comments 3
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“Life after death” by Jesse-Lee Carden Rowe

Submitted to Contest #192

Al Truman was, by all accounts, an ordinary man. A plump but pretty wife, two kids of slightly above-average intelligence, and a neat house in the suburbs were the backdrop of a life that he found mostly pleasant. He had an okay job, an okay car, an okay group of friends and an okay sex life. Most days, he felt okay. Today was not one of those days. It all went to shit when his hairy neighbor, Hector Hargrove, called him outside to lecture him about his garbage can being left out. His god-forsaken garbage can! The spittle flying from hi...

3 comments 3
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“FINDERS KEEPERS” by Mary Jo Maguire

Submitted to Contest #192

The wobbly ceiling fan tossed Grandmama, Aunt Harriet and Mama’s words around as they sat talking excitedly in our screened-in porch. I watched them from my favorite hiding spot outside, among the bushes. I have heard lots of funny things from grown-ups who sat in our screened-in porch and talked, words I was told not to say and all sorts of stuff about President Truman.Today Grandmama and Aunt Harriet were here because they just got back from Great Aunt Ida’s funeral in another town in Oklahoma. They came over to tell Mama about all the rel...

5 comments 5
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“Bell-Bottomed Teflon” by Katy Dream

Submitted to Contest #192

I did not know my mom was cool or tough. In fact, I only recently came to realize that. It was one of those hot, lazy days towards the end of the summer. My sister Mandy and I were absorbing the air conditioner. It was too hot to swim in tepid water at the public pool and too hot to go outside. Mandy was lazing on the couch channel surfing. I was curled up with a book in the recliner. We could hear our mom digging around upstairs in the attic…why she decided to go up there when it is so hot, we will never know. But we also know that once...

10 comments 10
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“Under the debris ” by Amy May

Submitted to Contest #192

Trepidation swarmed over her body like a hive of killer wasps. " Just one more little step" her logical mind whispered to her soothingly " You can do this, you've already survived so much!!". That one little step would take her back in time yet at that same moment would slap her metaphorical face with the harsh reality of the present moment. She hadn't been back to this house since her childhood and with this long awaited reuinion there was also longing of what could have been. As her size 6 Adidas sneakers stepped over the threshold and ont...

19 comments 19
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“Lost and Found” by Jennifer Fremon

Submitted to Contest #192

The hardest thing about divorce for Ana wasn’t that she was ending her ten year relationship with Mikael. No, the thing that was the most frustrating, the thing that was currently keeping her up at night, was all of the stuff.  “Literally,” Ana said to her best friend Isabelle, over coffee and French toast on Saturday morning. “It is literally keeping me up at night. Like I was up until 2am last night cleaning out a closet.” Isa laughed. “Ten years is a long time,” she replied. “That’s a lot of Amazon packages.” Ana agreed. Mikael...

4 comments 4
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“The Moments We Find In Between ” by Racheal Pelter

Submitted to Contest #192

Ellie was tiptoeing around Ryan as he finished up what seemed like an important conversation. She figured it was his work, it wasn’t unlike them to bug him on the weekends, especially when it most certainly could wait until Monday. It didn’t bother her, he knew when he should and shouldn’t answer, plus it was sexy to hear him talk like a businessman. She was far behind him in terms of getting ready, which she took to as having no right to dictate how he spent his time. She had gotten dressed but still had to finish her hair, and it was ...

4 comments 4
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“The Temptation of Mark” by Josh Shawv

Submitted to Contest #192

(Contains different aspects of faith, may not be suitable for all religions) Mark was always fascinated by the supernatural. As a child, he would stay up late watching horror movies and reading books about ghosts and demons. He was convinced that the world was filled with dark forces that were just waiting to take over. But as he grew older, Mark began to distance himself from those beliefs. He became more rational and scientific, as rejecting the idea of supernatural forces and embracing a materialist worldview. He believed that every...

2 comments 2
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“Attic Treasures” by Victoria Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #192

Lily unlocked the back door of the thrift store using a key that didn’t belong to her. She glanced up and down the alley. All clear. She turned the creaky handle and slipped inside, which was dark and smelled like dust and banana peels. By cell phone flashlight, she could make out the hulking trash bins, stacks of flattened boxes, and brooms conspiring in the corner. Anxiously, she looped a strand of hair over her ear, smoothing it as she tiptoed inside. She knew exactly where she was going; in fact, she could see the hat, its outline drawn ...

1 comment 1
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