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Set your story in a world where contacting the dead is as easy as making a phone call.

Posted in Halloween on Oct 20, 2023

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✍️ 35 stories

Phoning Melinda

Submitted to Contest #221

The line is one block deep by the time I arrive. I always tell myself I’ll get to the shop early, but life intervenes with burnt toast or my landlord banging on my door asking about back rent. Sure enough, I don’t get to Marty’s until after eleven, and there it is--the line. “How’s it moving today,” I ask the woman in front of me. She gives me half a glance before taking another drag of her cigarette. Her coat is too thick for autumn weather, and her shoes look like they’ve been sewn back together once or twice. “Slow,” she says, “Ev...

54 likes 35 comments 35
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Just a Call Away

Submitted to Contest #221

Her best friend is horrified when she tells her the news.“Jenny!” Aria exclaims, “You- you can not be serious right now?!”Jenny rolls her bottom lip between her teeth. She knew Aria would react that way. Hell, it would’ve been odd if she didn’t. If the roles were reversed, Jenny probably would have reacted the same way, if not with more screaming and a couple dozen curse words.“Jenny, please,” Aria continues; Jenny swallows against a tight throat, “Please tell me you’re joking.”Her silence is answer enough. Her best ...

32 likes 17 comments 17
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Purgo Inc.

Shortlisted for Contest #221 ⭐️

"Thank you for contacting Purgo, where we keep memories alive! Your call is very important to us and your loved one. We are currently experiencing longer than average wait times. Please hold, or if you know your parties extension you may dial it at anytime."Smooth jazz erupted after the automated message."If I didn't know better, I'd think I'm the one that is in hell," Logan removed his glasses and massaged his forehead with his fingers. When his father passed, he called every week after Mass. It was a fresh wound that was difficult to navig...

30 likes 20 comments 20
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Crystal Visions

Submitted to Contest #221

I always wondered why people say, “you can’t go home again.” , when I have quite literally flown from Florida back to New Jersey every October for the past ten years. Home. Right? Oh, I do believe I just epiphanized the meaning. Home is never the same after you leave. Everything changes, sometimes evolving, often devolving, but surely altering continually whether we like it or not. Home became a place that held memories of a time when home meant so much more than an address. Still, the friends I left behind were always welcoming, comforting ...

29 likes 22 comments 22
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Shopping For Jesus

Submitted to Contest #221

“Shalla-bakka-laba-kalla-bekka-lala-do. With the power of the lord, Jesus Christ, I relay his message of hope, love, and prosperity to you all here tonight. Praise the Lord!”“Why are we here, Granddad?”“Considering where we are, Tommo; that’s a bit of an existential question, ain’t it?”“No, why are we here at a tv evangelist’s… whatever this is?”“…He is here with you tonight and has a special message that he wants to pass on. His arms are open wide to welcome you into the bosom of paradise.”“This, is called a revival meeting, Tommo. And him ...

29 likes 33 comments 33
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Eternal Unrest

Submitted to Contest #221

I screamed as I fell through the floor of paradise for the 5th time that week. Once again, I landed in my old office, to see my replacement standing next to my old desk holding a candle that dripped bright red wax onto the floor. You'd think that by attempt number 5 she'd have thought of a candle holder that caught the wax, but she kept re-assuring me this would be the last time. Maybe at that point she actually believed it. "What is it THIS time, Dolores?" "Okay, no need to take that tone. You're dead, it's not like you have anything be...

19 likes 5 comments 5
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Beyond Chat

Submitted to Contest #221

Derek had never been in a waiting room like the one at Beyond Chat’s research and training facility. Projected simulations of lush green rainforests interspersed with cascading waterfalls and trickling streams made it impossible to identify physical boundaries. Birds of all shapes and sizes undulated between the ceiling and the floor. The glittery slipstreams left behind in their flightpath were the only evidence of their true nature. Derek looked up in wonder as they danced gently in the air in time with the soft pipe music that echoed into...

19 likes 7 comments 7
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Call Me Margaret.

Submitted to Contest #221

For as long as I can remember, my name has been Theresa. I had never had a reason to question this until tonight when Mom called me Margaret. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it until I ask, “Margaret?” And she answers, “I meant Margaret -- Theresa!”  It hangs between us as we stand across from each other in between the kitchen and the dining room, still posed from the conversation we had been having. My eyebrows furrow slightly, lips mouthing the name again; Mom’s eyebrows rise slightly, lips parting in exasperation.  ...

14 likes 9 comments 9
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Afterlife's Top Fixer

Submitted to Contest #221

I hate it when people I know die.It’s enough of an issue to deal with the unreasonable demands and whims of those deadweights I already have on my hands, but every new bastard that kicks the can and gets to enjoy their eternal vacation is just another chore for me. My mother was right when she used to say I was a wimp, needed to learn to say no, and stop letting people walk all over me. Well, she still says it. All the damn time, in fact, and entirely too much to tolerate. Good thing the old hag had a bad imagination and is terrible at haunt...

12 likes 3 comments 3
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The Dead Zone

Submitted to Contest #221

Michael Horowitz prided himself on never paying for anything if he could get it for free, but this time got more than he bargained for.Michael stopped short at larceny, or so he thought, as he’d convinced himself that Internet pirating wasn’t theft. He loved to read, and justified downloading e-books from torrent sites on the basis that greedy publishers overpriced books; he wouldn’t know if the book was worth buying until he’d finished it; the publishers ripped off the authors anyway; and it wasn’t like stealing a physical book from a books...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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Is there anybody there?

Submitted to Contest #221

When Madam Lapinsky first founded The Ethereal Phone Company (or EPiC as the later conglomerate came to be known whilst she was living in the lap of luxury on her private yacht) it was just a con. She had always made a reasonably comfortable living from the vulnerable and deluded by rapping on tables and ectoplasmic manifestation, but when A I came on the scene she hit on the idea of getting the technology to actually ‘speak’ for the dead through the medium of the telephone.  For the sake of appearances (cell phones somehow detracting...

11 likes 7 comments 7
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Dead Line

Submitted to Contest #221

Iconic world events scorch themselves into our memories, like branding scars that never seem to fade, even with stretches of time. Everybody remembers what they were doing when they saw planes crashing into the twin towers on a T.V screen - where they stood and who they were with. People certainly remembered the life-changing day the dead made contact with the living world. Simon remembered every detail of it. It was the day that ended it all for him, the day that reunited him with his beloved Sarah. It was an overcast Tuesday afternoon, on ...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Body, Mind, Spirit.

Submitted to Contest #221

The living listen to the dead about as well as the dead listen to the living. Sometimes, as in my case, the communication channels become even more challenging. When the living seek to communicate with the dead, they only hear what echoes remain in their minds. When the dead try to communicate with the living, their whispers are like the wind, flowing unnoticed. I, on the other hand, remain between these states. My body may lie beneath the ground in a state adjacent to death, and my untethered spirit howls for mercy in the darkness. My ...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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Dead Talks

Submitted to Contest #221

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Dead Talks. For those who don’t know me, my name is Tod Morte. I am head of research and development for Fantasmafono, your modern-day telecommunication company for those beyond the realm.  I assume everybody here remembers who Thomas Alva Edison was. He was born on February eleventh and October eighteenth, one hundred years ago today. Many referred to him as the Wizard of Menlo Park. He was the inventor of the light bulb, the phonograph, the electric pen, and advances of the battery. Many of his...

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To Hear Mom Again

Submitted to Contest #221

Losing your mom at a young age is hard for anyone. She kissed you and held you for several years, and you learned she was the one to go to when you got your knee scraped and your face wet with tears because it hurt so much. It took a little while for you to understand she was family and that she was supposed to be in your early life. Then you find out it’s a lie, and mothers can definitely leave you for whatever reason.  When she’s dead, now there’s someone else you have to go to for your scraped knees and their words of encouragement,...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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