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Write a story that involves eavesdropping.

Posted in Fluff on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 34 stories

Ceiling/Floor

Submitted to Contest #119

Jason had heard it from his father, who probably heard it from his grandfather or someone else in the family that he never met: “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.” Maybe he really did not understand the meaning of that completely – is it about levels, achievement, success, he thought? No, he was not sure, but he was entertained by what he was hearing. And it all came to him just above his head. He had lived in the Gormand Towers building for a year now as a student and had noticed certain acoustic problems in the space. His apartment...

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My Grocery Store Hobby

Shortlisted for Contest #119 ⭐️

Caution: Sexual references.On a recent morning, I was pushing my cart through the aisles of WeShop, a large grocery store near my home, and overheard a conversation between two employees who were stocking the shelves. One of them said: “The boss told me to be on the lookout for customers who are loitering.”The other replied: “Who cares how much time customers spend in the store? Aren’t longer visits better for sales?” The first replied: “Not necessarily. The boss thinks that some of them are waiting for an aisle to empty out. They ...

40 likes 36 comments 36
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Bloody Steel

Submitted to Contest #119

More blood.“Wake up you little shit!” A fat fist pounded on Aaron’s rickety door.Aaron’s eyes sprung open, sticky with exhaustion. The first trickling of morning light leaked through threadbare curtains. Aaron had overslept again. He jolted from slumber, and scrambled for a rag of a shirt. Panicked heartbeats mixed with Mr. Hubbard’s meaty knocking. When the door finally opened, a furious swollen red face stared down a thick nose at Aaron, standing two heads above him.“I’m sorry Mr. Hubbard. I was….” Aaron felt his hair tighten in an iron gr...

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Until Owen

Submitted to Contest #119

She was falling asleep. Again. These graveyard shifts pulling overtime were brutal. Sofie was beginning to question if earning that extra pay was worth it when her eyelids were drooping on the freeway as she headed home to her too-tiny, one-bedroom apartment. She really wanted to save for a decent down payment on a house, but at what cost? Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the hospital was short on ER nurses. To help keep any nurse working longer hours, they’d converted a larger r...

22 likes 15 comments 15
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Grocery List

Submitted to Contest #119

“Hey, look at them,” Justin points with his right hand, the one not holding the cigarette, at the couple walking through the black sliding door. “They’re a new couple.” he squints at the red headed man and woman with the chestnut braid down her back.  “How can you tell?” I ask as I sit up straighter, pulling my sweatshirt around my shoulders. Then I notice she’s in the middle of a laugh, looking at the man like he hung the sun, moon, and the stars. “Oh, that’s how.” He takes a final drag of his cigarette, “Come on.” He stubs it out. I...

21 likes 9 comments 9
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Observer

Submitted to Contest #119

Not everyone could be an Observer. It was a heartless job: she would be deployed wherever they thought she would be needed, and no matter what happened, she would do exactly what her job title said. Observe. Hauntings, demon sightings, cryptic sightings, possessions—she’d only been at it for about a decade, but she’d already seen enough to last her a lifetime.  People of her profession had also reached the status of urban legend. Watchers (a more accurate title, in Annie’s opinion), Men in Black (she particularly resented this title; ...

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The Beginning and End of Sheba

Submitted to Contest #119

Sheba (Excerpt) “Bitsy” is what they used to call me. In first grade, I was almost the same size as the other kids. We were equals back then. Man, how things have changed. I stopped growing at ten years old. No one questioned it; it was a family trait. My mom is four foot eight and so is her sister. They told me I was lucky to reach four foot ten and I believed them. “Lucky” has different meanings to different people. Kids are cruel, but I never let the teasing get to me. I had a couple of besties who didn’t care if I was four feet ta...

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Cocked Eyes. Opened Ears

Submitted to Contest #119

 Washing the dishes had never been so difficult for Melissa. Not so much because of the washing itself, but because she yearned to know what her husband and his old med school friend were talking about way down the hallway, in the living room. As she sprayed the last of the bubbles down the drain, she wrestled with her feelings. Did she dare to tiptoe down the hall, stay out of sight, and listen? She cringed at the idea of eavesdropping… at first. But her need to understand what was going on with her husband, what was truly going on w...

14 likes 19 comments 19
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Lessons Learned

Submitted to Contest #119

                               Lessons Learned A sunny November afternoon found me sitting on a brick bench that encircled a fountain on university grounds; I was starving and realized I couldn’t have concentrated on the psychology lecture I was meant to be in, there was too much running through my mind as it was. I was looking through my insulated bag for something edible when I overhea...

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Hear No Evil

Submitted to Contest #119

Jackson Marriott knew he’d messed up from the moment he saw the police car erratically mount the curb outside No. 7, narrowly missing this morning’s pile of bin bags that sat lazily in the front drive. His hand trembled as he used his middle finger to nervously push the bridge of his coke bottle glasses further up his nose. He blinked and his bottom eyelid twitched. With his jowly face pressed up against the glass of his living room window, Jackson knew he was no better than all the other busybodies on the street who were currently doing the...

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The 417

Submitted to Contest #119

The number 417 is more crowded than usual this morning. I move down the aisle, then flop down as the bus lurches forwards. The raised seat over the rear wheels is a bit lean on legroom but it is good for people watching. I like to guess people’s professions as they board the bus. Actor or accountant? Social worker or salesperson? I will never find out, of course. But that’s not the point. All of a sudden, I am old in the official sense of the word. State pension, free bus pass, concessions. The last time I felt like this was when I hit mid...

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Frosty Friday

Submitted to Contest #119

It was seven PM in the evening. It was damp and dreary with a slight hint of a chill in the air. Strolling into his favorite local eatery a somewhat upscale steakhouse, Frank’s Lounge and Bar situated on the shores of the marina, Remington requested of the hostess to be seated at the booth in the corner away from the maddening crowd so he could console himself in self pity after a horrible week ending as he said to himself a frosty Friday.            A single man being divorced now for ...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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The End of the Day

Submitted to Contest #119

All of her life Mrs. Fletcher had an almost pathological fear of missing the train to work. She had worked in the same office doing the same thing for over 20 years. She could not be late today of all days, her final day. Each day before work she would wake up four hours early and get out of bed and summon the butler, Charles, who would in turn summon the cook, Julie, who would rush into the kitchen to cook Mrs. Fletcher’s breakfast.  Each morning was the same breakfast. Julie would cook two eggs over easy, cut up exactly two and a half...

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The words that feed me

Submitted to Contest #119

Trigger warning for mentions of suicide and some derogatory words The only way I can find satisfaction is by listening to others through these thin walls. Depending on the tone, words, and emotion I could feel full and satisfied for days. I would wait for a long time often to hear such mouth-watering words. Until the new residents moved in.  The new house owners, a pair of siblings, a brother, and a sister, seem to be much happier than the last couple that kept me fed. “I can’t believe we got this place for so cheap.” This was so...

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Family Holiday Politics

Submitted to Contest #119

You read to the girls before bed, it's your turn, and anyway it's nice to get the opportunity to as you don't get to see Ava very often. She's your cousin's daughter and lives in Canada. The two girls have tucked themselves up in a makeshift bed on the pull-out sofa, they've zipped their sleeping bags together to make one giant one, and they are giddy. When you finish the book they don't seem any sleepier, but you kiss them goodnight, switch off the light and leave, then you sit on the stairs just outside the room. You hear the excited low...

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