Write about someone stuck in an endless cycle who finally manages to break free.

Posted in Fiction on Mar 31, 2023

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✍️ 67 stories

“Strawberry Jam Under the Sea” by Aeris Walker

🏆 Winner of Contest #192

I am swimming, thrusting my arms through golden water—golden like oil. The water grows thick and syrupy, then it pulls me under. I’m in a bottle, glass sloping above me. Someone tilts and pours, and I slide onto a pan, palms burning from the heat. I slip and roll in the slick spill. Steam rises off my wet hair. Then I am smothered under the sticky weight of raw meat. “Mommy, can I sleep with you?”The voice startles me, a breathy whisper in the dark. Then it comes again.“Please? I had a bad dream.” Jack’s lisped dweem melts my heart, and I ca...

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“First Rule of Time Travel” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #192

By far the worst thing about time travel is saving Hitler’s life. Now don’t you yell at me, Monica – in my defence, I am saving him from myself. Earlier I did kill him first so that’s got to count for something, right? Well, it turned out to be a bad idea because I ended up breaking reality. Just a smidge. You can’t really hold it against me, because you didn’t exactly train me for this. But I can fix it. I step through the time portal onto the roof of the Hotel Kaiserhof, in Berlin of 1932, and I see myself – my earlier self – by the edge. ...

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“How to Kill Someone after You're Dead” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #192

I didn’t know my murderer, and he didn’t know me. Carl Bronson was his name. He killed me with a 2021 Ford Mustang. The man was drunk and ran a red light, going at a speed not meant for city streets. The impact was terrific. I felt intense pain and I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t. All I could do was groan weakly and suffer; fortunately, the pain quickly dissipated. A sort of dull euphoria overtook me, a washing away of pain, replaced by a tiredness and sleepiness that felt soothing and natural. And then…permanent oblivion. Or so I thoug...

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“Kill the Messenger” by Geir Westrul

Submitted to Contest #192

"Sweetie, look, this was just delivered. It's from ...," my wife reads the card while unboxing the birthday present, peeling off red gift wrapping, "... your Aunt Salomé." "That's nice — wait, Aunt Salomé? But — " The red gift wrapping blooms into an orange fireball. The shockwave pushes me, shoves me, throws me hard into the wall. The screams from my wife's birthday-party guests are muffled, as if I'm submerged in water, deep below the surface. Aunt Salomé. Only I know that 'she' is not real. 'Aunt Salom...

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“The Cove” by Joe Sauers

Submitted to Contest #192

Catching sight of a silfrix flock, some twenty-thousand strong, passing overhead on a cloudlessly clear day like today, can, without warning, take one’s breath; snatching it away, to the verge of faint. Their deep yellow plumage against vibrant blue sky arrests the soul as would a lover’s desirous gaze. With the sun at their side as it now resides, shadow play across the burly fowl as they fly is a feast for the eyes. Their elegant, forward sweeping wings carry them along, alternately extending and drawn to, revealing flashes of sapphire, az...

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“Monotony” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #192

Ridin’ around in my automobile. Tryin’ not to fall asleep at the wheel. Round and round and round I go. Where I’ll land nobody knows.Caught in a spin cycle. Spinning my wheels. Never any end in sight. Think I’m getting ahead then some guy on a steel horse passes me by. Heck, the rate I’m going even that construction guy pushing the wheelbarrow is catching up to me.Endless, I’m tellin’ ya. Hopeless. I put in my paces, smile at the faceless faces hiding under haute hats all so I can chase that elusive money bag, pick up my salary and get on th...

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“George's New Life” by Bernie Rhodes

Submitted to Contest #192

George stared at the pink slip his foreman handed him and each crew member, stating they would be laid off at the end of the day. George was forty-six years old and had worked at a rock quarry in Stone City since he was sixteen. The quarry would be closing permanently. He dreaded going home to tell his wife, Edith, a temperamental woman. At the end of their final shift, some of his coworkers met at the Hairy Goat Saloon. George hesitated to join them, but he didn’t particularly want ...

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“DEATH WITHOUT END” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #192

**WARNING** Contains themes of violence; disturbing images.Amen. That’s how it always begins. I say a silent prayer, then lean over to kiss Brad, my husband, good night. Before I can turn around to turn off the light, Brad takes my face in his hands, looks deeply into my eyes, and then kisses me, fully and deliberately. We haven’t made love since the baby.Something grips me in that moment. I hadn’t known how it would be, had become timid and slightly removed, anxious around my husband. Now, recognizing the urge...

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“Grandfather Clock” by Nona Yobis

Submitted to Contest #192

I cleaned the grandfather clock today, just as she asked. I polished the frame and wiped the glass door. I dusted the pendulum and the weights,and used the step ladder to dust the top, too, making sure to check every square inch of its surfaces for potential filth. But it wasn’t enough. It’s never enough for her. “Now the pendulum’s crooked, what did you do?” “How did you miss that smudge right there?” “I asked you to do one simple task…” I swear if it weren’t for the oxygen tank and the cancer engulfing her insides, she’d stand right ...

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“Words by Fives ” by Darya Silman

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #192

I liked to learn words by fives: Jerry, Perry, scary, betterment, elephant. 'An elephant! Look, look!' I shouted in excitement. A elephant, a child of twilight, slowly plodded between bare trees across the road. Its tusks were not white as I saw in movies about animals but more like unhealthy grey. One tusk's end was broken. Elephant's eyes didn't look bright. They were dull as the tires of cars that passed beneath my window. I looked back toward the bathroom. There were no familiar sounds. I climbed from the stool and walked to th...

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“The Rescue” by Stevie Burges

Submitted to Contest #192

‘Oh look, here she comes. Look at the way she waves to ‘mummy’. Do you think she’s quite normal?’ The girls stood at the street corner in their school uniforms hitched, pulled, and twisted to try and make them look appealing, sexy and fashionable. They stood around looking at her as she ran past them in her little girl’s dress, too neat, too clean, with her beautiful, youthful skin and short shiny hair. The girls, treading on their cigarette butts, with their spotty complexions and long dull-looking hair, uncombed and...

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“Ghost Writer” by Crissie Dittrich

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #192

Bridget was clearing the table when his phone chimed. She did her best not to react and busied herself brushing non-existent crumbs from the placemat. Matthew didn’t notice. He never noticed anymore. He sheepishly palmed his phone and made an exaggerated yawning motion, acting as if he wasn’t struggling with every second he couldn’t look at the phone. She knew it was killing him not to jump from the table. She savored that time, moving slowly, brushing every last invisible, non-existent crumb. As Bridget walke...

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“The fisherman's witches” by Susana Sela

Submitted to Contest #192

She stares down at her hands, the lines like cracks in glass that seem to stretch on forever, reminding her of the bleak eternity she faces. The chill fills her bones and her breath turns to fog as she makes her way through the kitchen, standing over the stove to bring forth a spark of warmth to revive her dying soul. Though so many years have passed, age fails to linger on her as if time stands still in its attempt to keep her youthful beauty alive. She drudges through her chores, feeling the weight of all those years pressing against her s...

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“Devoted to Your Service” by R. S. Writes

Submitted to Contest #192

At 1:25 a.m. Walter boarded the huffing and puffing train. He threw his lone duffel bag overhead and collapsed onto the seat, swearing under his breath to never return to Moniville ever again. As the train lazily gathered speed, Moniville and its six-thousand houses disappeared from his view, but the memory would remain for many years. He felt so stupid; a snort of disbelief escaped him while the other unsuspecting passengers slept on.You might not find what happened to him so enraging or humiliating, but Walter’s soul was left diminish...

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“The Hanging Clock Of Change” by Deborah Cabral

Submitted to Contest #192

I have been stuck in this endless cycle for as long as I can remember. Every day feels the same, every action is predictable and monotonous. I wake up at 6:00 am, eat the same breakfast, take the same route to work, and come back home by 7:00 pm. I don't have any friends, don't go out much, and my social life seems non-existent. It's like I'm living in a loop, where time is just a meaningless concept. At first, it didn't bother me much. I had convinced myself that routine was necessary for success and that following a set pattern would lea...

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Contest #192

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Title: Strawberry Jam Under the Sea

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Write about someone stuck in an endless cycle who finally manages to break free.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 67 stories

“Strawberry Jam Under the Sea” by Aeris Walker

“First Rule of Time Travel” by Michał Przywara

“How to Kill Someone after You're Dead” by Delbert Griffith

“Kill the Messenger” by Geir Westrul

“The Cove” by Joe Sauers

“Monotony” by Mary Bendickson

“George's New Life” by Bernie Rhodes

“DEATH WITHOUT END” by Susan Catucci

“Grandfather Clock” by Nona Yobis

“Words by Fives ” by Darya Silman

“The Rescue” by Stevie Burges

“Ghost Writer” by Crissie Dittrich

“The fisherman's witches” by Susana Sela

“Devoted to Your Service” by R. S. Writes

“The Hanging Clock Of Change” by Deborah Cabral

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone finding a treasure in an unexpected place.

Set your story at an antique roadshow.

Write a story about someone trying to reinvent themselves after spending a long time in a rut.

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

Contest #192

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

249

Contest entries

144

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: