"It was just here!" you shout, frantically searching your pockets for the missing thing.

Posted in Funny on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 31 stories

“The Opal of My Eye” by Bree Kokiri

Submitted to Contest #18

“Navia Rio… help… Navia Rio PLEASE HELP US” The screams echo but I can’t find their source. I’m running, but I’m so out of breath, and this forest seems endless. “I’m here!” I scream into the nothing. “Where are you?” What are you? I think. It doesn’t matter. I’m close… I clutch the opal around my neck. It’s glowing so brightly it’s illuminating my path. “Sálvanos a todos!” The voices call back in a desperately plea. I’m frantically scraping through the brush, trying to do just that, save them all, when I am hit over the head. A man wit...

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“Persephone's Coin” by Natasha Arnold

Submitted to Contest #18

Huddled beside a radiator at the cinema, there were only two things on your mind: Joaquin Phoenix and a taxi cab. Your hands scurried in your pockets, pushing past the lint and left over nibbles of cookie dough. It always seemed like you had just the right amount of change. There was just enough change to get you a taxi to Grand Central Station, where you could take the Q32 to Harlem. And there maybe, just maybe, some bright-eyed Harlem girl would take interest in you and bring you inside. Harlem girls were always the pursuers. You’re ...

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“If Only Three Months Earlier” by Kate Strong

Submitted to Contest #18

“It was just here!” I said again, fighting back the tears that threatened to overflow my eyes. I reached a shaking hand down into my white lab coat pocket and closed my eyes while hoping for the feel of cold glass meeting my fingertips.The crisp touch of the sterilized lab coat pocket was what my fingers slid against and nothing more. Swallowing the hard lump that was rising in my throat, I forced my eyes open and stepped back over to where I had been sitting at my desk which housed several microscopes. For more than three hours on end, I ha...

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“A Child's Scribble” by Linda Herskovic

Submitted to Contest #18

My niece was waiting anxiously and impatiently for me to give her the folded note. She remembered the paper; she was about 4 when she gave it to him but she remembered. I was surprised that she did. I didn’t remember it although I was there too.“Goddamn it. It was just here!” I shouted, frantically searching my pockets for the missing thing. I couldn’t imagine where it was. I was a chronic checker and had felt the small paper about a hundred times on the bus. But maybe that one time, that last time, it fell out of my pocket and it was on the...

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“Isabella is Gone” by Daniel Brown

Submitted to Contest #18

“It was just here!” I must have scrounged around in my coat, pants, and jacket pockets for two minutes pulling out my: keys, stray border collie hairs from my the last house I hit for the day, a packet of unused gum, tiny phone book/agenda book, broken sports watch I need to get fixed and a random ballpoint pen. “It has to be here somewhere.” The sole picture I have with Isabella is the one I’m turning the house upside down to find. It’s the one where we’re as high as paper lanterns on a Ferris wheel in a theme park that closed down fiv...

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“A Near Escape” by Annony Mous

Submitted to Contest #18

Immanuel ben-Lazar had finally made it. He was standing on the wharf on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, waiting to step foot on a ship that would bring him to America. He had been trying to escape Israel for years and an opportunity had ultimately arisen. A friend had told him about a trader who smuggled immigration passes into Saudi Arabia. That was a dangerous place for Jews, but he and his family had made it through after a few miniscule trials.Immanuel's wife, Leah, his young son, Elizar, and his sixteen-year-old daughter Rebecca were...

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“The Reliable One” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #18

Every office has its cast of characters. Not all of them in every office, of course, and there are some hybrids, and some come, and some go, but there are a few you can more or less rely on. The innovator – the person who says, “I know this sounds like a silly idea,” but is convinced in their own mind it isn’t, and it usually turns out to be a very good one. The joker – and they can be a mixed blessing, but for every groan they cause, there’s a relief at a lightening of the mood. The mother or father figure, who is by no ...

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“Breathe” by Anna Kubiak

Submitted to Contest #18

I recline in my seat, gazing at the once in a lifetime view out my window. Everything is fine. As normal as it can be while orbiting earth on the way to Mars. The impact is harsh and sudden. The ship is knocked off course. I’m thrown from my seat, my head crashing onto the table in front of me. White stars overtake my vision and pain shoots through my head. The lights go out. My heart beats fast. My air comes rapidly, too rapidly. The computer screen is beeping, flashing a blindingly bright red light a...

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“Lost Letter” by Connor Abate

Submitted to Contest #18

The young boy sat down at his desk in the midst of the crisp autumn night. His hand trembled ever so slightly as he reached for a black pen out from the mug on his desk and the dark blue spiral notebook from the drawer. Tears began to prick his eyes as he flipped open the notebook, starting to write a letter that was addressed to no one in particular. "Dear to whoever may be unfortunate enough to come across this," the letter started. With an intake of breath and slow shaky exhale, he began to write his message; his final message. "I, Dylan ...

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“Missing in Time” by Cathryn Grossenbacher

Submitted to Contest #18

My hand slipped inside my pocket, grasping for the button that had been there only moments before. I was met with an emptiness, nothing in my pocket. Panic set across my face as my eyes scanned the ground around me in search for the missing button. "Oh god... Oh god! Where did it go? Please lord, just let me find it!" I exclaimed, drawing attention to myself. The eyes of the surrounding villagers on me. I could hear their whispers rippling through the crowd. If I didn't find that button I would be stuck here. I could not let that happen. I ...

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“Stalling for Time” by Sarcastic Kate

Submitted to Contest #18

There’s easily 300 faces staring at me right now as I fumble nervously but discreetly through my empty pants pockets. At what point am I allowed to let the panic show?“The ring?” the preacher asks again, looking me in the eye as if eye contact is either going to anoint me with a miracle or by the grace of God dole out a lightning bolt to strike me for my transgression; either way, I can see I need to do something about this little, uhm, situation, and fast. “The ring!” I shout, stalling for time, “is the uh, the symbol of love. The lov...

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“The Smoke” by Melody Davidson

Submitted to Contest #18

The clouds were lower today, lower than they had ever been. Whatever The Agency had done this time was working. The smoke wasn’t normal smoke. It was thick enough to cut through; strong enough to kill. The town was falling before my eyes. People were coughing and dying without notice. Maybe, this once, The Agency had won.“You,” a harsh, whispering voice said from behind. I turned around and saw Jeff, the town’s crazy man.“Me?” I answered.“Yes, you c’m ’ere!” I walked into his bashed up house and he gestured for me to sit in a chair.“You need...

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“The empty pocket that saved my life” by Alice Guile

Submitted to Contest #18

Blake had everyone fooled at the start. Even my friends thought he was great. We were 18 year old sixth formers and he was studying medicine at Oxford University. Oxford. I used to love telling people that. I cringe when I think of myself at our family’s big Christmas party, telling every single relative that asked how I was that I was very well and that I was dating a lovely future doctor from Oxford University. I was so naïve, I can barely believe that I thought cleverness would make someone a good person. I didn’t think really.Things star...

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“Sunshine Likes To Hide” by Rosaline Hope

Submitted to Contest #18

I'm a poet. That feels so weird to say, but its true. Well, kind of. I write and save all these works of mine on a small flash drive. Like, I assume, the average poet-to-be, I was up at 3 AM again and thinking about my latest poem. Sunshine hidesWhen shadows nearBut Sunshine biteswho holds it dear I wish my life were a poem. Thats, secretly, what this is about. Sunshine represents the dreams I have. I hold them dear, but the moment real life comes, they disappear. Haha. That rhym...

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“The Awkward Date (a short story) ” by Eve Burks

Submitted to Contest #18

Pilar pulled her car into the parking lot, circled it a couple times looking for a closer spot. It must be busy tonight, she thought as she kept her eyes peeled for any empty spaces. Her palms were sweaty, and she could feel her heart fluttering as she drove. A car was pulling out two spaces from the front door. She shifted gears and backed up so they could get out, then waited for five minutes while the driver made a ten-point turn before exiting onto the street. She carefully parked herself and flipped the ignition off, pulling the keys ou...

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"It was just here!" you shout, frantically searching your pockets for the missing thing.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 31 stories

“The Opal of My Eye” by Bree Kokiri

“Persephone's Coin” by Natasha Arnold

“If Only Three Months Earlier” by Kate Strong

“A Child's Scribble” by Linda Herskovic

“Isabella is Gone” by Daniel Brown

“A Near Escape” by Annony Mous

“The Reliable One” by Deborah Mercer

“Breathe” by Anna Kubiak

“Lost Letter” by Connor Abate

“Missing in Time” by Cathryn Grossenbacher

“Stalling for Time” by Sarcastic Kate

“The Smoke” by Melody Davidson

“The empty pocket that saved my life” by Alice Guile

“Sunshine Likes To Hide” by Rosaline Hope

“The Awkward Date (a short story) ” by Eve Burks

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a character who buys a secondhand coat and then discovers something in the pocket.

Your fingers tensed around the object in your pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

Write a story about someone cleaning out their attic. They find an old piece of clothing, and inside of its pocket is an old keepsake.

Write a story about a very skilled pickpocket.

Contest #18

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

291

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: