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

“Washed Up” by Bridget Madden

Submitted to Contest #192

Washed Up Her legs felt like jelly as they carried her down to the shore. She felt so numb inside, like someone had scooped out her soul leaving a gaping hole in its wake. Why did the sun have to feel so warm on her skin? Why did the sky have to be so pure and clear like a bright blue quilt? She could hear the people around her, the joyful squeals of children mingling with the cries of the gulls, a dog barking, a car boot slammed shut as a family prepared for a picnic under the bright warm sun. She could see a couple holding hands, a boy ...

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“Paper Butterflies” by S.C. May

Submitted to Contest #192

Whimsy, wallflowers, and Wonderwall. Send me a friend to save me from it all. No longer will I stand to the side. I will run onto the floor of my life and dance a whirl. However, at present, I am a mere flower delivery girl. My days are spent between the florist and seventeen-twenty Wintergreen Street. The rumble of my bicycle over cement mixes with air intoxicatingly sweet. I ring my bell as an announcement to the world that from today onwards I will change. “Always good to see you riding along and ringing your bell, dear girl.” Call...

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“Frankie Fines” by J. Paige Straley

Submitted to Contest #192

Frankie Fines by J. Paige Straley Frankie had made dinner reservations at Alice's favorite Italian place. He was whistling as he walked down the sidewalk but the music stopped when he keyed open the front door. Stuff was missing, and when he went in their bedroom Alice had removed herself. He looked in her dresser. Empty. And the bathroom. Same. There on the bed, where her pillow should have been, was a note: Frankie: I'm tired of being bored all the time and I don't think it'll ch...

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“The Dreamweaver” by George Ypres

Submitted to Contest #192

The Dreamweaver - As Spirits of varying sizes and transparency flitted through the airstream, allowing the gusts to lead them as nature desired, the fields of orange and crimson floras swayed in the breeze. They whirled in perfect harmony, enjoying the vistas of colour and beauty below them. They only stopped when the ginger burn of both suns dropping behind the horizon signalled the end of one cycle till the next, yet even when at rest, their bodies would glow radiant. Daylight beaming down upon their clusters, the Spirits kne...

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“Ache ” by Trinity K

Submitted to Contest #192

TW: mental health discussion and self harm mention.The saying nothing hurts like a broken heart is accurate, especially if one’s heart has been broken their entire life. There are some who are born broken and through the journey of their existence they have to figure out how to piece the world together. When humanity opens their hearts to others, that’s when they are giving themselves the power to hurt.Verity was in agony, and the only thing that was cure was also the poison. Brooklyn knows her better than anyone else, he was connected to he...

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“Lucky” by Reyna Bowden

Submitted to Contest #192

I crank the shower knob to the coldest setting and step in. The frigid stream makes me spew out several curses, but this is how I start my day. Why? Because an ice-cold shower is one of the few things that makes me feel alive anymore. Yes it makes my family jewels shrivel up and retreat into my body, but so does my job. After the shower, I glare at the poor bastard in the mirror, trying to recall the last time I didn’t feel sorry for myself. I had dreams once, but life has a funny way of crapping all over you, and then flushing you down...

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“Vedero” by Freedom Leigh

Submitted to Contest #192

The door was bright with scars as the moon shed its light down on the front of the old apartment building in Detroit, Michigan. Vedero pushed it open and walked into the main room. The floor groaned under his weight. The same groan he’d heard for eleven years. Every time he trod the warped floorboards of this entryway he heard it. It had only gotten louder as the years passed and he grew to be a man.All of life seemed to be that way. An endless cycle of being born and dying. The same things happened over and over again. He wa...

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“An Act of Contrition.” by King Kinama

Submitted to Contest #192

We had tea at two o’clock at the inn down the road from the courthouse as we awaited for the verdict. Two of the lawyers on the case, one for and one against the defendant, were with us. They spoke cordially with each other, and of the defendant they spoke with the same detached disdain. I was at the courthouse doing a confession for one set to hang the following day and there I met with Nzia. We decided to pop in for tea and there the two lawyers came in. They took off their wigs and had beer. ‘You mean to say,’ Nzia asked, ‘that the man ...

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“Brothers-in Arms” by Stephanie Stevens

Submitted to Contest #192

Brothers-in Arms Fresh-faced, with smooth skin and eager eyes, the graduands’ white-covered caps conceal their thoughts. ‘What lies beneath those caps,’ I wondered? ‘Minds full of burning fervency to serve their country, perhaps.’ In their wildest imagining, they could not perceive the hell my generation met. A nightmare of death and destruction like the world had never known and may never know again. It felt like a lifetime ago, but it was only yesterday. In May 1940, when I graduated, we raw ...

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“Family Fugue” by Patricia Merewether

Submitted to Contest #192

"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife."– Kahlil GibranSomeone told me, "Maybe you don't want to know." This might be true, but what could be more traumatic than I imagined? No one in the family will tell me why, but my parents left me with relatives for my first four years.Dad wouldn't talk about it, and Mom said they left me with my paternal grandparents because she and Dad were building a house and couldn't find a place to rent that allowed children. I never believed her, so I'd...

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“To Be or Not to Be” by Kaylynn Manning

Submitted to Contest #192

WARNING: Mentions of self-harm, depression, suicide and Mental health are included in this short story.In life, we all have a choice to make, we all have to pick between two things that are separated by one word (or). A choice that I’m sure everyone has heard of either by word of mouth or through their own soul searching. Two options bubble down to one phrase, ‘To Be or Not to Be’. Now, what does this phrase entail? Well, it could mean a plethora of things but that depends on the living being. ‘To Be or Not to Be’ is not something easily sim...

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“Genie In A Bottle” by Nancy De Beer

Submitted to Contest #192

Once a upon a time I was the most powerful genie in the world and had just been set free, then came Al. He tricked me and trapped me in my bottle. Yes, legend says it’s a lamp, but it’s not my home. My prison is a bottle. The bottle itself is not pretty. From the outside, it looks like an old dirty rum bottle, but inside it’s glamorous, like the sultan’s palace. Lush red, gold cushions are everywhere, all different shapes and sizes, chiffons hanging over my lamps. I lined my walls with a rich purple Moroccan print. And a string of lights jus...

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“Breaking Ties” by Brittany Carpenter

Submitted to Contest #192

My name is Brittany Carpenter, my maiden name is Traxler. You might not think that matters, but when you grow up in a family known for alcoholism, drugs, violence, and jail time, it does. You know that jingle from Cheers, “where everybody knows your name”? That’s what it was like for me growing up. Everyone knew the Traxler’s from the Montgomery area because of those family traits I just mentioned. I just don’t understand where exactly it stemmed from though because my grandparents were great people; loved by their entire community and famil...

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“Day 201” by Emily Hostetter

Submitted to Contest #192

**Sensitive Content Warning** Loss of a child & suicidal thoughts Day 84: Tik tok The clock on the wall mocks me. With every passing second, the darkness grows, weaving its way through my veins until I’m ice cold. I wish I could tell you that I’m better now. After all, it’s been months. But how do you put a time limit on grief? How do you tell someone to “just get over it” when despair runs this deep? Tik tok The microwave beeps at me, and I force myself to remove the twice-reheated coffee. Setting it on the cou...

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“The Nature of Communication” by Karyn Corley

Submitted to Contest #192

Her gaze is guarded during early morning and twilight hours and warm while the sun is full. It follows me from across the fence that separates our properties. I think it’s possible she might be the owner of that acreage in her own right. She is the only one I have seen out on the land, although truthfully, I only have glimpses into the slender slice of garden I see while hanging out my laundry. The bulk of her land seems to flow away from the fence, out of sight from our land or the road that curves away out front. Since the day I was ...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 67 stories

“Washed Up” by Bridget Madden

“Paper Butterflies” by S.C. May

“Frankie Fines” by J. Paige Straley

“The Dreamweaver” by George Ypres

“Ache ” by Trinity K

“Lucky” by Reyna Bowden

“Vedero” by Freedom Leigh

“An Act of Contrition.” by King Kinama

“Brothers-in Arms” by Stephanie Stevens

“Family Fugue” by Patricia Merewether

“To Be or Not to Be” by Kaylynn Manning

“Genie In A Bottle” by Nancy De Beer

“Breaking Ties” by Brittany Carpenter

“Day 201” by Emily Hostetter

“The Nature of Communication” by Karyn Corley

🌟 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

248

Contest entries

144

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: