Start or end your story with a character noticing the beauty in something they've seen hundreds of times.

Posted in Fluff on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 74 stories

“The Storm Watcher” by Sarah L

Submitted to Contest #106

Maeve kicked off hard from the observatory rooftop, her braid whipping as she rose higher. Her hands and knees, stiff with an enchanted lining, gripped the handle of her broom as the ground disappeared beneath her. It wasn’t until the earth became divided into green and brown tiles and the air took on a deeper chill that she slowed, allowing a small smile as she surveyed the skies. Blue, blue, blue as far as she could see. Her sister, who had joined a sea coven, often remarked how big and empty the sky seemed. Like the ocean in its end...

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“The Memorial” by A. Smoak

Submitted to Contest #106

TW: mild horror, gore I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the cold. Five years working here and I still can’t stop the shivering that dances up my arms. I suppose it’s just my size or maybe I need more iron... more layers, more something. The preparation room is small and as cold as a tundra. My station is exactly as I left it, and standing by my next project is my supervisor John. He was reading a file and snapped his head up when I entered the room. He places the file on the counter and ducks out with a tight smil...

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“The Lilac Bush” by Mark Baxter

Submitted to Contest #106

Being an only child is hard. Your parents are learning on the job. There are no siblings to blame for things. Being born blind adds another dimension to the experience. Still, it’s not as hard as you might think. When you’re a child, miracles are still possible. Imagination is still the key component in determining what you believe you can accomplish. Your world is not yet bounded by what others think you can, or cannot do. My parents were firm believers in the power of education. As a result, I was sent to public school a year ahead of ...

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“Kirschen” by Kevin Schenk

Submitted to Contest #106

The groceries were once again not fastened. I should not have put them up. I should have put them behind the seat. Now they are only waiting for one small braking maneuver to throw everything overboard, possible even some milk up my neck. It isn't like I already get enough regurgitated milk on my chest, or anywhere else for that matter. I look over to the little time-demon that gives me so much joy. A second too long I stare at him and notice that the car in front of me stopped. I jerk the car to a stop and the bag in the back falls over. A ...

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“Truly Alive” by Abigail Campbell

Submitted to Contest #106

Panic surrounded Brielle as she flew down her apartment stairs and burst from the door at the bottom. She was so late for work. If only she hadn’t stayed up most of the night binge-watching her favorite detective show, she might have woken up earlier. She had promised herself she would never do that again, but it was always ‘one more episode.’ She would be lucky to keep her intern job at this rate. The parking lot was crowded with old-beat-up cars of every size. Brielle was loo...

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“Phases” by Benny Regalbuto

Submitted to Contest #106

As always, Kellem didn’t once break eye contact with Hoskins as he received his daily lashes. To my master’s credit, Kellem thought, gritting his teeth as the whip dug into his skin, he never breaks eye contact with me, either. Locked in this agonizing stare down more times than he could count—and he couldn’t count—Kellem had come to know every facet of Hoskins’s eyes as intimately as he’d come to know the fields he planted. They were gray—not the gray nebula of storm clouds, nor the gray sheen of new steel. More like… the gray of a wolf’s ...

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“The Transporter” by Michelle Gregory

Submitted to Contest #106

I get up bright and early on a Saturday morning, like I’ve done a thousand times before, and before I do anything else, I check the messenger chat on my I-phone to see if we are on schedule, or if anything has changed. It appears we are right on schedule. I pad across the floor to the kitchen, seeking out that life-giving machine, universally known as the coffee pot, and flip the switch. I let my dogs out of the back door, and while I am outside with them, I also fill the birdfeeder. I enjoy watching the little finches who come to ...

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“The Veins Inside” by Ava Angeleski

Submitted to Contest #106

The veins inside but not the blood. The water’s surface but not its depths. A sky in summer but not at night. The blue flame but not it’s smoke. These were the things Ursa thought of when she stared into the alluring eyes beneath her. She removed her gloves to trace over the cheekbone, gliding across the pale jaw. The skin was colder than the snowflakes around her. The eyes never flinched. Though swirled within the iris’, there were touches of hazel brown softly arching through the vibrant blues. “Anný,” Ursa sighed, “Elskan mín.” ...

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“Her Eyes” by Destinee Soto

Submitted to Contest #106

The bell rings, and everyone rushes out of the school building. Except me, I was the only one that was stuck in detention. At least I thought I was. I look over as I hear the doors slam open, and jump at the echoing sound. Then she walks in. That girl, the one who makes my heart skip beats when I see her. She looks at me and our eyes meet, it seems as if the whole world slowed down when I catch a glimpse of her eyes. Her glare is intense, but it doesn't matter to me, those eyes are the reason why I fell so hard for her. "Willy, Leo, take you...

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“Her Sense of Beauty” by Noelle C. Lee

Submitted to Contest #106

Morning arrives. Sunlight spots a fracture in which it can poke through the blue and white linen curtains. It highlights several bottles of prescribed medications atop a painted white nightstand. A carafe of water within reach, with the flowered glass fitting over the carafe’s top. From my garden, I place freshly picked red roses in a mason jar and tie a red satin ribbon in a bow, around its center. Will she notice? Probably not. All that I do has been for her, but it soothes my discomfort and offers her an opportunity to feel the beaut...

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“St Mary's” by Susy G

Submitted to Contest #106

Today, I've wandered into a small inner-city suburb, one I've driven through a hundred times to get to the nearest Tesco, and as I finally lift my attention away from the document on my phone screen, I turn to see a church. In a moment of quiet, the breeze rustling through my jacket, I slow my walking pace. It’s more peaceful than I remembered. Living in a city is a dreary business, or so I've always believed. True, the lights are always on, music always brash, drivers always angry, but there is something intangibly chilling about how the ...

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“FACING THE RAIN” by Day Parker

Submitted to Contest #106

FACING THE RAIN By Day Parker Another summer day in Florida. It is August, the hottest month of the year and the wettest month of the year. It's raining again. Every day or almost every day about four o'clock we get a couple inches of rain. It is constant but refreshing and cools the 90 degree temperatures. The rain is clear but visible. It does nothing more than fall from the sky. It hits the ground and soaks into it. When the earth has had enough, the rain forms little puddles around the yard, edges of the streets, cracks and cre...

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“Cappuccino” by Anna Dunworth

Submitted to Contest #106

The swirl of the cappuccino milk might be beautiful, she thought to herself, the idea vaguely penetrating through the fog of morning. Maybe in a different lifetime, she could stop to appreciate it. As it was, there was no mental room for anything outside of her morning routine: robotic by necessity, dulled and monotone. She drifted through the kitchen, feeling slow but moving fast, fueled by the dull adrenaline of an unknown amount of limited time. Absently, she wondered if she had ever considered the milk in her cappuccino, other than sh...

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“Crossroads” by Sofia M

Submitted to Contest #106

Crossroads The window that I had sometimes looked out of for years, while constantly dreaming of a life beyond the hill our apartment stood on, faced a crossroads. Before today, it never held any special significance for me—well, not in the way Mom saw it. But today, I thought I saw a shade of what Mom had found mesmerizing about the crossroads when she used to stare out of the window for hours and hours, and I, in turn, stared at her. Mom saw in the crossroads a microcosm of life. She thought that she could see lives overlapping and inter...

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“Dragonfly” by Abigail Wilson

Submitted to Contest #106

The child sat on the lap of a woman on a metal chair by the door. Small as the child was, she filled the reception with her boisterous racket while being held tightly by the middle-aged carer. I was taken aback by the scene. I literally took two steps back from the child out of fear and silently chastised myself when her tear-filled eyes fell on me. The building, not meant to be permanent and barely held together by paint over rotting plywood, was a respite centre for autistic children run by a charity. I didn’t know that before yeste...

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Start or end your story with a character noticing the beauty in something they've seen hundreds of times.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 74 stories

“The Storm Watcher” by Sarah L

“The Memorial” by A. Smoak

“The Lilac Bush” by Mark Baxter

“Kirschen” by Kevin Schenk

“Truly Alive” by Abigail Campbell

“Phases” by Benny Regalbuto

“The Transporter” by Michelle Gregory

“The Veins Inside” by Ava Angeleski

“Her Eyes” by Destinee Soto

“Her Sense of Beauty” by Noelle C. Lee

“St Mary's” by Susy G

“FACING THE RAIN” by Day Parker

“Cappuccino” by Anna Dunworth

“Crossroads” by Sofia M

“Dragonfly” by Abigail Wilson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who’s known to be a cynic, but secretly romanticizes everything.

A mundane ability suddenly becomes a superpower. Write about someone or something affected by this.

Write a story about a character who takes nothing for granted.

Write a story about a character who’s secretly nobility.

Contest #106

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

153

Contest entries

206

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: