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Write a story about strangers becoming friends, or friends becoming strangers.

Posted in Fluff on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 262 stories

A Dog Named Shark

Submitted to Contest #96

Years ago, when I still lived in East Hampton, New York, I met a neighbor. As we got to know each other we began to socialize with one another on a regular basis over the summer. What began as borrowed cups of sugar, flour, or coffee, turned into occasional drinks at each other’s homes, and eventually grew to invitations to our neighborly backyard barbeques. As she accepted my first cookout invite, she asked, “Do you mind if my dog comes too?” “Of course not: To be honest with you, I get along with dogs and cats better than I do with most h...

147 likes 59 comments 59
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Things We Do In The Rain

Submitted to Contest #96

Mama always said that you could tell what type of person someone was by looking at their positive or negative outlook to rain. She said the people not worth my time were the ones who dashed from point A to point B with their collars upturned and their hats pulled low. The ones who scowled at the gray sky as if it personally offended them were the ones who most likely didn’t appreciate the little things in life. But she said those to look out for were the ones who danced in the rain. Those who lived and loved with their entire being...

88 likes 35 comments 35
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The Cycle

Submitted to Contest #96

With every ticking of the clock, hoots could be heard more distinctly from exceptionally restless voices of crickets and katydids, but unfortunately, Andriette was very busy to notice that. The last candy left in the house finally went down the gullet of Andriette, and now after an hour of extensive staring at the packet of candy while simultaneously gazing at the TV; her eyeballs were free to look around.  In search of something else to eat, her eyes caught a creepy-looking thing placed just beside the shopping bag her mother bought ...

87 likes 36 comments 36
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One Last Dance

Submitted to Contest #96

(Content Warning: Suicide contemplation.) In the mornings I like to jog through the bustling city not knowing if it will be my last time. It’s kind of exciting if you think about it. I’m in my mid-thirties, and the possibilities for catastrophes are endless. I could get hit by a speeding car, get run over by a bike messenger, or I could fall down into the sewers and get eaten by the overgrown rats. Those are just environmental accidents, don’t get me started on the endless hazards my vivid imagination can come up with.  When ...

56 likes 39 comments 39
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My Jules

Submitted to Contest #96

He’s looking straight at me. Straight through me. It has been three months, and still I can’t get used to the feeling of being invisible. The only thing keeping me grounded to reality is Jules. My Jules. Jules with the round cheeks and big blue eyes. Jules who always has something to tell me, something to feed me, something to remind me that I do exist. Jules is my very best friend. Jules is my only friend. Jules is the only one who can see me. “Jules, honey,” he says. This man is her father. He is kind to her, but he does not...

54 likes 11 comments 11
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Snowy Memories

Submitted to Contest #96

Tom’s digital alarm clock radio went off due to a this-early-morning car accident that he didn’t know about. Tom was working late at home last night (he couldn’t finish some documentation at work); consequently, he went to bed feeling extremely exhausted. A fearless driver stupidly challenged Nature and ended up crashing his car against a utility pole; as a result, its power transformer simply exploded. Tom’s deep sleep didn’t allow him to hear all the skirmish caused by this collision: some curious neighbors having theories about it an...

47 likes 3 comments 3
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Hello and goodbye

Submitted to Contest #96

She was the only person in the train station at 3:30 pm and all of that seemed so weird to me. That was the busiest train station in the country how could it be so empty at this hour?  The train to Aviemore would leave at 3:55 pm on line two, and I was so happy to see my family and friends again that I could not stop smiling and gasping. I was at St. Andrews University, but most of my time was spent in Edinburgh, where I met my boyfriend during a party weekend. Unfortunately, he could not join me on this trip to Aviemore due to the fina...

45 likes 9 comments 9
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No. 37

Submitted to Contest #96

December 15th, 1987. Sherry and I met again today. We discussed the road trip across the country we are planning for in January. The heat will be quite intense this year, according to the weather scientists. Sherry asked me if it was okay for me to be missing work in the lab most of the month. I had to laugh at her naïveté. Regardless, we would be departing Perth on the 5th. She’s already begun packing; she is so excited. As am I. “Jacob,” she said to me, “this is probably the most exciting time of our lives! Nothing is going to come even c...

44 likes 8 comments 8
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Stranger Danger

Submitted to Contest #96

“Can I have a double cheeseburger, animal style?” I said to the waiter. “Sure thing.” the waiter said back to me.“Give some extra ketchup on there too, will ya?” I said.By that time Henry the waiter was gone in the diner kitchen. Twenty minutes later, Henry came back with my food and I quickly scarfed it down. I looked at my watch and realized I was late for middle school. I sprinted out the door, only leaving a few dollars on the table, when the burger actually cost nine dollars. I was just about to make it through the d...

39 likes 3 comments 3
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Weren't meant to be

Submitted to Contest #96

My grandmother once told me:" Lemme tel'ya a secret baby girl. Always be mindful and carefree. Most important, be gentle and polite to everyone. You never know what life's gonna bring to you. Our most important ones now were once strangers." But as I look at you now walking past to me without a glance, I realize she forgot to tell me how hurtful things turn out when those strangers you let enter your life as they are pleased, those you let your thoughts be with, minding if they are okay, those you innocently begin to care for, to give impo...

35 likes 7 comments 7
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For Lina

Submitted to Contest #96

In retrospect, I really did not think that she would have become such a huge part of my life. I don't know why it happened but all I can say is that I'm glad it did.  It's funny how the littlest things tend to have the biggest impact on our lives. I've noticed how as time goes on, people never tend to separate the significant moments from the insignificant. But to me, and to her, we were the most significant people in each other's lives. It started in eight grade, I was so intimidated by everything. School hasn't exactly been a “saf...

35 likes 2 comments 2
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A Saturday in October

Submitted to Contest #96

She appeared on my front step at 4:38 a.m. on a Saturday in October, dark hair a wild mess of tangles that mimicked the fury of the black autumn wind that raged around the house.Raindrops slipped like tears from the shoulders of her leather jacket, glistening under the suspicious glare of the porch light. Her hands hung limp at her sides. Her bottom lip, slashed and lopsided in a plump pout, quivered. Her fierce eyes bled a blooming nest of blue and purple. They grazed my face and down my neck to the scars on my collarbone. I tugged my ...

33 likes 10 comments 10
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La Bibliothèque

Submitted to Contest #96

There is a place that is significant to every person, a place that they know as home; For Jonathan’s mother it was her flower bed; she sewed her own comfort along with the seeds, tended to the bruising of her heart with the gentle drops of a copper watering can. For his father, it was his armchair, gaze distorted by the bottom of a brown beer bottle, washing his sorrows down with whatever alcohol he could get his greasy hands on. For his brother it was his car; his companion, his partner for running away from reality when Jonathan refused to...

28 likes 4 comments 4
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The Dark Knight

Submitted to Contest #96

A shadow of a figure was running in the dark. All around were tall trees, and only a small fraction of the moon’s rays got through the canopy. The ground was a black void with no difference between the dirt and the tree roots.  A pack of wolves howled in the distance. With every gust of wind, the tree branches and leaves banged and rustled like a toddler playing with pots and pans. Under all of that was a low mumble, rhythmic like a drum cadence but ghostly in origin. The figure trips. "Eli?" The scene quakes. “Eli!” The moon disappeare...

28 likes 7 comments 7
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The four of us

Submitted to Contest #96

“Well, I was sent away. Just like the other kids.”, said Ajay to the interviewer, “It was the floods. They became more frequent. My parents lost whatever little savings they had to those floods. I don’t know whether they didn’t have the money to bring me up or they didn’t have the money to come along but, they sent me away.” “I was about 11 years old. It was the summer of 2051”- It was pouring down heavily. There were people running in a hurry everywhere on the train station. “It’s going to be okay, Ajay”, said Shivani , her tears indi...

28 likes 5 comments 5
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