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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who has to rely on the hospitality of strangers.

Posted in Fluff on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 97 stories

“Spare a Room?” by Lynn Penny

Submitted to Contest #96

It was his job to protect her.From the day the doctors confirmed the pregnancy, he knew that he had a newfound purpose in life. Watching her grow from a tipsy toddler to a grown woman made the greatest and worst moments of his life. It was great because he got to watch his beautiful daughter blossom into the woman she was today.Worst because now he was tormented, chained down just to watch a monster peel the petals off.******George knew something was off when he heard his daughter giggling from the front of the motel. Mere hours ago, she was...

39 comments 39
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“Andromeda” by KED KED

Submitted to Contest #96

I could feel him anxiously fretting about downstairs, waiting while I finished packing up my mom’s small, portable telescope. I had my own, of course.  Undoubtedly an upgraded version with a stellar digital camera. But for this trip, the sentimentality of using my late mother’s battered and beloved gear just felt so appropriate.  “You’ll be okay, Andy.” A forced declaration instead of an agitated question.A father, a forlorn figurehead, trying his honest best to reassure us both. I smiled up at him, my...

56 comments 56
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“The Surface level kindness of Living Strangers” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #96

Bodies walk through the huddled remains of a strangers town, the people, of varying repute amongst themselves hide in the remains of what used to be a courthouse.  Whatever leaders they had have failed them, and a new voice has taken center stage, she doesn’t have a name to him, but he’s thankful as she whispers encouragement. “You take it then? Good dear. You might be ripe-uncouth, but you’ve got sticks an’ stones.” as she leads the quickening hands of a local. He’s a stranger among strangers, and he doesn’t understand a word. The wo...

8 comments 8
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“Blue Bates' Bed and Breakfast” by Ruth Porritt

Submitted to Contest #96

The pain was intense. As my driver pulled into the gravel driveway, I adjusted my position and winced. "Is everything alright, Miss Daniels?" said my driver, Weston. "Yes," I said. "I'm fine." Weston sighed. "Very good, miss. What time shall I pick you up tomorrow?" "I'll call you," I said, as I slammed the car door with my good arm. As I carefully made my way up the drive, I saw a white farmhouse with black shutters. I heard the front door slam, and a woman in her sixties jogged up to me and pulled my overnight bag out of my good ha...

14 comments 14
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“Starbucks for Zombies” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #96

The bell rang once, then twice as the woman opened and then slammed the door shut. She looked around behind her wildly, all while maintaining a death grip on the handle. Her hair, pulled back into a ponytail, was frazzled; she wore athletic clothes, and a trickle of blood leaked down from the hem of her shorts. The people in the coffee shop stared at her. They were a motley crew: a high school student studying for exams, a businessman waiting for his order, an aspiring screenwriter with a laptop, a couple of teenage girls, a few employees, a...

1 comment 1
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“The Tale Of Deimos The Wine Merchant” by Ben Hulme

Submitted to Contest #96

The sun sat high in the cloudless spring sky, rays illuminating the green leaves above, hanging low across the track, branches drooping. Kastor reached up from the back of the cart to grab one, his mother, Melina pulled him back down, holding her hands firmly around his waist.   ‘You’ll fall, be careful,’ said Melina, wondering how on earth he had survived these past eight years. Deimos, sat at the cart's front turned and smiled,   ‘What’s the boy doing now?’ he called.  ‘You keep those eyes on th...

9 comments 9
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“Sojourners” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #96

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”Hebrews 13:2It had been exactly one year, and if her mission had gone perfectly to plan, Lieutenant Barbara Brooks would be arriving with Captain Noah Wilder at Waypoint Tranquility on Luna. Instead, she was stranded on Mars with no companions, no comestibles, and no confidence for her salvation.The plan had been to traverse the distance between Earth’s moon and the Red Planet in five to six months and drop off the habitat modules along with ...

8 comments 8
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“But for the Grace, of Grace” by Carson Craig

Submitted to Contest #96

The fog was so thick that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. My head and the hole in my shoulder was excruciatingly painful. I'd been shot before but not like this, never like this. Sitting in the saddle, with my one good arm and blood oozing down my face, I managed to tie myself tight. I had to get help. I could feel myself slipping, falling, losing my grip. The good book said that death rides a pale horse, or was it a pale rider on a horse and his name was death. I can’t remember anymore; it was so long ago. I have to get help, so...

13 comments 13
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“home of the brave” by Ellie Yu

Submitted to Contest #96

//tw: racismThere are only three words running through my head as I shuffle toward my bathroom: hair, teeth, face.My feet are bare as I flit down the hallway, barely making contact with the dirty carpet. Recently, this house has felt stifling, faintly reminiscent of a loudly distant aunt who demands a hug and holds on for far too long. When I look up at the dingy walls, the cloudy windows, I feel my lungs squeezing. Or maybe that’s the constant knot of anxiety in my stomach, tied tightly enough that it sits there like a rock all day, every d...

18 comments 18
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“Prophecy” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #96

It was a time of Kings and Queens. Of full harvests and lavish parties. And, most importantly, of magic, abundantly. Or at least to my story. My mother was always proud of me, even when I broke something. My father, on the other hand, never wanted to see me doing anything other than housework with my physical two hands. Living in two different worlds was more comfortable than living my father’s standards of a daughter, at least until a sickness hit our small village.     Mother and Father came home from the market, and by...

6 comments 6
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“You Are....Not Welcome” by Lulis Stare

Submitted to Contest #96

I knock on the mahogany door, the last remnants of their holiday spirit in flickering light bulbs buried in slush, and plaster on a charming smile, dimples armed and ready. The uniform is rough against my skin and I adjust the white, starched sleeves of my button-up, shifting the bible to one arm. Clearing my throat, I straighten my back and tidy my tie, but it seems no one is planning on greeting me.But, that's fine.Oftentimes, I have to ring the doorbell multiple times. However, in the end, someone always comes out due to my persisten...

6 comments 6
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“A Lonely Patch of Trees” by Monica June

Submitted to Contest #96

Vance had been to many towns in his life, but never one quite like this.  Everyone was nice, of course. He was a stranger to them but they treated him like one of their own. Unlike most places he’d visited, there was never a shortage of places to stay. Vance supposed that's why he’d been here longer, even if something about it there seemed off.  He’d been there for three weeks now, and the townsfolk decided that he should stay with a new family every week. So today, he was going to stay with an old widow named Mrs. Crawner. ...

13 comments 13
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“The New World” by Writers Block

Submitted to Contest #96

Circa August 1500 Bon Voyage towards the New World. My immediate family waved goodbye to my extended family, and then we boarded the ship, New Hope. Due to crowded conditions, we were limited in our belongings to bring with us. Besides our clothing and books, we were allowed some tools and cookware. Once on the ship, my family and I scrambled to find seats. We could here the anchor being lifted from the water, and shortly New Hope began to move forward. People huddled together, full of anticipation of the voyage. Young children voiced thei...

6 comments 6
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“Last I Looked” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #96

When I found Amos Bunk, he was a mess. I don’t know what happened exactly, he wouldn’t say. I think he is one of those people, who only find the good in people. And we all know where that leads. It took me nearly an hour to get him to tell me his name. He kept apologizing for having appeared to have been beaten to within an eye lash of death. He looked normal to me in most every way, except he was short. I don’t think he was much over four feet tall, but he appeared much taller. There was just something abo...

2 comments 2
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“What if Snow White Didn’t Eat the Apple?” by Amuelle Aguilar

Submitted to Contest #96

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Dried leaves crashed under Snow White’s bare feet. Her breathing was labored, her hair was messy and her legs were sore as she ran through the woods. The scent of wet soil hit her nose. A group of vultures hissed as they flew above, creating creepy bird-shaped shadows in front of the red moon. In the distance, the wolves started to howl. Snow White remembered from the books she read that wolves howl after a kill, making her imagine of a dead man’s body being feasted by a pack of w...

8 comments 8
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