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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

Posted in General on Jul 21, 2021

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✍️ 219 stories

“Shovels and Knives” by Amelia Bowen

I found you digging holes again the other day. What it is you’re digging for is beyond me. A lot of things you say and do are beyond me. Things like the time you renamed the cat after seven years of Snowflake. He’s still learning to respond to that. Another time you threw a glass at the floor when I forgot to substitute pinto for black beans in the dinner I was making. You renamed me, then, too. An awful, ugly name that had me bending low to catch the acid before it fell out of my throat.The holes you dig are deep. And wide. And ju...

55 comments 55
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“[redacted]” by Alex Sultan

TW: attempted murder Everybody always called in sick on the holidays. Clara drew back on her cigarette and let the poison fill her lungs. She waited in her car, one hand against the revolver in her lap, the other tapping on the steering wheel. The lamplight across the street would soon illuminate the time traveler, and she would kill him. Snow drifted down in light waves. It would be the first time in her career that she worked on a redacted case—assigned right to her at that. Her partner had called in sick o...

18 comments 18
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“Help Wanted” by Clinton Ernest Murphy

Two dogs, barking incessantly at every neighbor passing by their respective black wrought iron fences, drove me insane. My faded blue front door creaked on its rusty hinges as I stepped out onto my front stoop. The faded concrete steps, which led down to the street, were tinged green and had chips in various places. “Shut up you stupid mongrels!” They both turned their muzzles toward me and continued barking while drool flew from the mouth of the large black one. The short brown and grey miki’s body flew into the air and back toward the g...

11 comments 11
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“Tricky Twins” by Henry Vinicio Valerio Madriz

The day both brothers were born was not a regular one, it was a tricky day for their mother; in fact, she didn’t see it coming… Their biological father met their mother at a party long ago; a party in which alcohol was the official drink and drugs were the official food. You know, the kind of party people who lack self-love or pa...

17 comments 17
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“The Sack Lady And The Sin Tree ” by K. Antonio

My nana says I got to be a good boy, or she’ll have the sack lady take me off her hands. Nana will let her in our house, serve me up on a silver platter like a roasted loin and let her haul me away to god knows where, the same place where Judas lost his boots, someplace far, far away. They say she knows magic, the black kind used in conjunction with the devil, and that with a snap of her fingers, she’ll shrink you and stuff you in her bag with the other boys and girls who only know how to misbehave and give their mamas, papas and nanas te...

13 comments 13
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“Fear the hoodie” by J D Hernandez

A typical Californian Suburban neighborhood was filled with the usual merriment as July weekend rolled around. Sparklers in every hand and sprites in the adults. It was the American dream and now one notice the stranger. The person who stood out of place. Watching. Waiting. The only one who even noticed him was little Suzie Green. She had noticed the man an hour ago. First the man had been in her best friend Angelica’s house. Then he had been at old man Cook’s yard, blending into the crowd. The odd thing was never once did he take off his...

2 comments 2
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“Once bitten, twice camera shy ” by Moon Lion

Our neighbourhood was a rarity in the modern world. In an era where people hid from their neighbours, and had more virtual friends than physical ones, our neighbourhood remained tight.Partially it was because of my mom and dad. When they had newly arrived as immigrants, they set on a carefully constructed campaign to win over neighbours.They threw huge Halloween parties, hung lights for every holiday and festival, and sent me -back when I was cute, mind you- to all our neighbours' houses with an armful ...

6 comments 6
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“The Light Sleeper” by Maha Shalaby

 It was boring! A boring evening as usual! Nothing was interesting after that long working day full of arguments and fights, which negatively affected my temper. I laid down on the bed stretching my arms reaching the old wooden bed back; my shoulder clicked announcing the urge of joining a yoga class, but actually, instead of moving, I closed my eyes for a moment, or that what I thought. A moment.My brain had dipped into sleep, but I didn’t feel that I was actually sleeping; people who knew me, knew quite well that ...

10 comments 10
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“We Are the Odd and the Weary” by Zz Entwistle

"She's the strangest child in town," the adults said. "I heard she talks to herself," the children said. "We don't know what to do with her," the teachers said.Willow O'Connor was, undeniably, odd. People said that she wouldn't respond to her name, and mumbled things others wouldn't understand. Rumors were passed around about her like food at a table, the others consuming these words but never questioning how the food was made or at what cost.Willow was never given a seat at this table, but she wouldn't...

8 comments 8
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“The woman under the streetlight” by Keya Jadav

“Please don’t do it! Please, I am begging you. I said I am sorry. I know it was my fault but we can make it even. If we try we can talk it out. Listen to me, Maria. Noo! Maria!” I screamed as I saw the bewildered woman jump from the tenth floor of our apartment in front of my naked eyes.  Her cold stare, honey melted eyes found me sitting upright clutching the cotton sheets staring at the old town clock with bo...

3 comments 3
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“BIRD AND RIVER” by Theresa Anna

Each evening, the old woman put a box on her doorstep. The next morning, the box was gone.Gene and Cynthia watched from the attic window, because the attic was really the only place with a broad view of the neighbor’s property. The silver sky faded to black as night set in, shadows sprawling across the overgrown grass and weed infested sidewalk.“Do you think she’s a spy?” Gene asked Cynthia, squinting his face so that his freckles bunched up inside his cheeks. One of his glasses, p...

24 comments 24 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Hot Head: Infinite Evil ” by Daniel R. Hayes

(Content Warning: Blood, gore.) In the womb of Gemstone City, a mysterious and evil figure festers like a rotting virus in the heart of every neighborhood. The Soul Collector has returned to claim the souls of every living creature at Satan’s request. Not one to give second chances, Satan saw great potential in The Collector to wrangle in more souls than his trusted companion - ...

12 comments 12
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“The Snail Collector” by H L Mc Quaid

How long have I known Steve? I first noticed him when he stopped without warning in the middle of the sidewalk and I nearly doused him with my almond-milk cappuccino. He was barefoot, wearing tattered jeans and a grimy oversized winter coat.He was clearly a tramp, a bum, a vagrant, a hobo. Yes I know the PC police would no doubt frown at my description and insist I use ‘unhoused person’ or some such nonsense. Anyway, he was doubled over, staring intently at something on the ground. A piece of food perhaps, or a...

16 comments 16
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“The Gray Green House Just Down the Street ” by Brittany Weaver

They say it’s haunted—the gray green house just down the street. For thirty-two years I’ve watched that house. We all have—my grandmother, my mother, and me. We have seen families and bachelors, divorcees and old maids, first loves and broken hearts all enter the gray green house just down the street. They enter ignorantly, but they leave…changed. They leave haunted.The Cohen family—that poor man Jasper and his frail wife Amelia—they didn’t last but a week. They moved into the cursed house on the night of the twelfth, with absolute...

6 comments 6
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“Someday...” by ☠️฿ⱤɆ₵₭ł₦ ₦ØⱤ₮ⱧⱤɄ₱😎

“Howdy ya do, partner?” said the old homeless man off the side of the road.“I’m fine, thank you. Now scram. You disgust me.” Said the twenty five year old billionaire sitting in his very own special limo.“Can I please have one small donation? I am very poor and could really use just a dollar. “Not in a million years. Now please go away and deal with your terrible life.” He said as he drove away, rolling up his window while putting his five hundred dollar sunglasses on his tan face.I walked off the...

6 comments 6
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