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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

Posted in General on Apr 2, 2021

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✍️ 83 stories

“It’s All Worth It In The End” by Roshna Rusiniya

After glancing longingly at the beach wallpaper on the screen one more time, I shut down my laptop. As I leaned back in the chair, sipping the lukewarm coffee-my eyes grew heavy with exhaustion. I stared at the half-organized clutter on my desk, reminding me of my action-packed day. What a day it was!It started off normally, just like any other Monday morning- answering phone ...

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“Up Ahead” by Elliott Laurence

Do you believe this? Traffic creeping along at two miles an hour. It’s thirty minutes from my exit at sixty-five miles an hour as is, and all five lanes are blocked. Are we seriously being rerouted to Highway 675? I’ve never been this way on 675. And, I’m low on gas. Something told me to get gas earlier in the week. Now with every minute passing⎯and still moving at two miles an hour⎯the dashboard gas meter is warning me.

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“Taking Orders” by Riley Cross

My first cup of the day is ready. It’s a decaf skinny vanilla latte drowning in milk with a dusting of cinnamon. I glance at the door while trying to create a mocha-colored heart against the backdrop of milky foam.She smiles at my artistic attempts. Every morning at 5:45, she strolls into the lobby and stops at the Coffee Express counter, waiting with a sense of urgency that rivals my most caffeine-crazed customers. Even on the days when she is in a rush for her elevator ride, she never skips her latte ritual...

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“Home is her rescue story” by Rebecca Lee

“The Same Old, Same Old,” Dani Williams stood at the bottom of the stairwell leading up to the front door of the log cabin building. There were rocking chairs lining the front, and big green ferns hung from hooks screwed into the awnings above a rail.She was reading the sign above the stairwell. “The Same Old, Same Old, Simple Cooking and Living.” There weren’t but three vehicles in the paved parking lot - one was the business vehicle w...

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“My Life, No?” by Tim Maddox

I glance to the right at the clock on my desk. Half past five, and I've been here since six. I’ve been running all over the plant for a week, trading time between a whole line being installed, an overhead conveyor going in, and a half dozen different companies trying to fit their work around each other. Another called a day ago and moved their install back two weeks. I have a schedule to keep, my manager wants to cut that time in half, and all my guys are stressed. My life,...

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“After Work” by Mia Hunter

The first time I walked into my ad agency life, I was greeted by the strong smell of coffee mixed with cigar smoke and orange essence. It was, up until that moment, one of the oddest combinations of smells I had ever smelt in my lifetime of smelling.But eh, it doesn’t matter, right? I had a job; the most sought after luxury in this time of high unemployment, made worse with a handful of acute inflation.Or so I thought… As any working slave would understand; I got a JOB. I find thi...

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“The Pickpocket” by Juliet Martin

The pickpocket danced down the road, drunk on his riches. He was the Pied Piper of paraphernalia. He came to his usual spot and brought himself a stop on the rough tarmac of the pavement. It was beginning to get dark. A single streetlight had sprung on with a low twang and now it glowed uncertainly, like a conspicuous singleton at a party. The two parallel rows of houses were obscured by greyish dimness that hung in front of your eyes and defied you to try to blink it away. The stre...

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“I'll Be Home in Five” by Unknown User

I sigh, putting the key into my run-down car and opening the door. It had been a long day at work, and I wanted nothing more than to go home and see my cats.BUZZ BUZZI look down at my phone: Two missed calls from Rob. I turn on the ignition.‘Hey babe, just got in the car, what’s up?’ I send, setting my phone beside me and pulling out of the parking lot.

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“A Painted Gull ” by Dustin Softman

Antony Brook of TemperYahealth Ltd put down the phone on his company’s most reliable first-aid trainer and let out a sigh of contentment. ‘Debbs nailed it again, finished up in Pambula without a hitch. Knew she’d make all 35’. Antony’s nonchalant exhilaration was matched similarly by his remaining colleagues spread out in varying degrees of lassitude as they raised a Friday beer in the name of Debbs’ perfect streak. At 5.35 the handful of TemperYahealth employees still at work threw back the dregs of their stubbies and slowly weaved their...

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“Light at the End of the Trudge” by Deborah Mercer

Leah didn’t in the least mind being expected to do some work in order to get her benefit money. It seemed fair enough. And she knew that volunteering at the Hospice Shop was a cushy number. She didn’t really mind the walk to and from the shop from her house on the outskirts of town, and if the weather really was atrocious, or she was feeling a bit under the weather, she could take the money for a cab from petty cash, though she always had to get a receipt (or at any rate, a note of it on one of their lit...

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“What A Day” by Aisha Hashmi

3:00 P.M.   Geez, would the day end already? Pam was hot, tired and hungry. She had not eaten all day, and missed her husband, kids and cat. She couldn’t get out of here fast enough , and it was only 3. Seriously, she had enough of being here in the call center. The people in the cubicles beside her both talked too loud, and she had to repeatedly ask the customer on her line to repeat herself. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Roberts. I understand that you want to return the set of towels. We ...

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“The Problem with Kids” by Cory Pines

“Thank you so much, Harp, I owe you one,” Lillian said as she danced around her desk trying to get all her papers together.   “Yeah, yeah, yeah, just make sure you don’t stay too late,” I told her. It was almost seven and she still wasn’t done getting everything ready for the big meeting tomorrow. I had stayed back to help her the best that I could, but I didn’t work in her department.  She had to finish it up, but her son, Asher, got out of soccer practice in thirty minutes and I agreed to pick him up on my w...

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“Working Clock” by Felicity Edwards

I kept looking at the clock, but it ticked so slowly I am sure my employer has a special mechanism attached so they can screen more work out of us. At last, it reached 5 o’clock, with a speed no one thought I would be capable of achieving my coat was on and I headed out the door. Friday at last, now two whole days to myself, well not really, because I will have my little dog with me too. Tomorrow we would have to make that visit to the solicitor. Going home used to be a quick dash. Now I needed to call into the lady lo...

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“Home is Where the Heart is” by Mel Kheios

4:50 PMWhat time is it? Damn; ten more minutes. Can't wait to get the hell out of here... I'll bet Hanzo is glad it's almost time to go home. Too bad Jesse's still on that business trip; Hanzo's suffocating without him. How long has it been? Two minutes; Jesus Christ. Hurry up, Time; I want to go home before my ass of a boss decides it's worth overtime pay to keep me busy. Thank God i...

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“In the blink of an eye. ” by Peace Nakiyemba

‘It’s the WindDown Hour, bringing you your favourite songs as you head back home. Drive safely as we keep you company,’ the car radio blared. She was tired. That’s what you get for working hard at your job but having tasted unemployment, she wouldn’t have it any other way. And yet she was tired. She drove a little afraid of blinking, because she was sure all the sleep hiding behind her eyelids would overwhelm her as she drove home. She’ll enjoy the weekend and call in sick on Monday so that she can prolong the weekend a little mo...

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