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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone going to extreme lengths to return an overdue library book.

Posted in High School on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 131 stories

“The Overdue Book” by Elizabeth Davis

Submitted to Contest #91

This is going to be a great four-day weekend Larry thought as he finished filling his backpack with cutoffs, t-shirts, and swim trunks. Flying was a lot easier when you didn’t have luggage to check. He looked around his bedroom one last time and had the feeling he was forgetting something. He mentally ran through his list: socks, underwear, shaving kit, cutoffs, t-shirts, swim trunks, sandals, one good pair of slacks, one polo shirt, loafers. Oh, well, whatever it was must not be important. He saw the cab turn onto his street from his win...

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“The Old World” by Evan Anderson

Submitted to Contest #91

Moody sighed as he stared down the barrels of the 3 guns pointed at his chest from the other vessel - He didn’t have time to deal with these poor starving fools. The radiation sickness would likely kill him in less than a month. He could probably make it to the port before his legs stopped working, but he couldn’t afford any more delays. The first pirate leapt over the gunwale of Moody’s depressing little sailboat and pressed his pistol directly into the chest of the grizzled old man, motioning for the other two to board and search the cab...

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“Overdue” by Beth Aylin

Submitted to Contest #91

“Two weeks,” is what the librarian had snarled to Violet at the checkout counter. Violet had nodded and quickly shoved the book in her bag, running out of the library and going to soccer practice. She hadn’t started reading the book when she remembered it was nearly overdue. There was no way Violet was letting one of her books be overdue.  She'd always been scared of that librarian. Usually, librarians had soft smiles and warm personalities, but this one always shot Violet with withering glares before she even thought of making a sound...

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“The Book Heist ” by Gracie Farrar

Submitted to Contest #91

Agent Hatch looked for his target. The library wasn’t packed, so it wouldn’t be difficult to spot her. The place had brown walls, brown carpet, and brown shelves. Agent Hatch stood out with his large frame, causing the librarian to eye him for the last half hour. He was glad he picked up a book on his way to the small brown table in the middle of the room. The librarian couldn’t get onto his ass for loitering. Agent Hatch usually enjoyed libraries, the smell of paper and dust, the quietness, but with the silence and the suspense, and the fa...

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“Chasing the Ring Thief” by Hill De Guarde

Submitted to Contest #91

He has a penchant for collecting rare items. But I never thought he'd be after me.I wake up, catching my breath. The neon red digits show it is already 7:15 A.M, Friday, April 30, 2021. I am shaking my head, trying to force out sleepiness in my systems.A myriad of books is cluttering up the corner of the room. But I do not pay attention to most of them. My eyes are only glued to that upended, ancient-looking book a few inches next to me.I mentally calculated the days passed since I was gone. The night I was reading that book was after hell w...

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“Past Due” by N.M. Stech

Submitted to Contest #91

“Closed: NO TRESPASSING!“ I stood facing the faded red letters on the front door of the corpse of the Sparta Library, and considered what to do next. On the off chance there happened to be someone, anyone, still working in the building, I gave a few hard knocks. No response. No surprise. I knew it was a long shot from the condition of the building. The blue roof was starting to chip and peel, the pathway was strewn with litter, and the grass was threatening to overtake the small brass butterfly statues in the front lawn...

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“Calculations” by J.C. Martin

Submitted to Contest #91

Jillian has never broken a rule. Not intentionally of course. She has proudly tattled on every potential friend and ratted out every likely enemy from kindergarten to her current literature college courses. Who needs playmates when teachers adore you? Today, however, Jillian was very close to breaking a rule and she couldn’t shrug the heavy blanket of guilt that came with knowing it was her own fault. Jillian was about to be in possession of an overdue book. She had very good reasons for the three renewals of the thick book filled with chi...

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“The Great Library Caper” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #91

 - The Great Library Caper Suzanne Marsh “No, I am not going to take you to the library, you knew when those books were due. Your choice is return them and pay the fine out of your allowance.” Some choice I thought. I was not going to pay a fine to the crumby library, I would be paying Miss Higginbottom’s salary; that simply would not do. I began to think of ways to sneak the books back into the library without getting caught. Miss Higginbottom would find them on the shelves and think it a mistake. The more I thought about it the more...

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“The Twist” by Conor Thackray

Submitted to Contest #91

“Let’s pretend, just for a minute, that I believe everything you say,” Officer Scott Wilde began, pushing the evidence bag toward Nikolaus as he edged about uncomfortably in his plastic chair. “The whole story, from the beginning. What is so special about this.” The clear wrapper of the bag chuckled as he pressed it and Nikolaus flinched before speaking. “It’s too complicated and…” He paused before continuing, “Outlandish for you to understand. If I tried to tell you even half the story, you’ll either loose interest or try to get me sectione...

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“The Late Fee ” by A.J. Constantino

Submitted to Contest #91

A notice came in the mail today. My parents are the first to read it. I watch as my father collects the mail and shuffles it somberly in his hands. Once he arrives at the overdue library book reminder his eyes seem to lose what little hazel remains. Maybe it’s solely in my imagination but it seems like every time he reads the notice it evaporates in his mind. He has this blank stare as if the letter is transparent. My mother notices his expression and softly takes it from his hands. She walks to the file cabinet and pulls open one of the oak...

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“The Item” by Anthony Smith

Submitted to Contest #91

It began in the dog days. A blistering noon sun scorched the earth as he struggled with his pack, unwieldy and burdensome. Though painstaking, it was necessary to protect the item lionized by his peers, experts in their fields. The journey was long and formidable, but he was vehement he must return it to its rightful place; it would be a noble action, it would be just. He had discovered the item underneath a long-forsaken pile of ancient and discarded manuscripts and devices. How it went unnoticed for so many eons confused and wounded him, b...

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“The library called” by Mduduzi Mbiza

Submitted to Contest #91

“zzzzzzzzzz” “zzzzzzzzzz” He’s woken up by the sudden vibrations of his phone under the pillow. He feels drugged in his sleep; he was up all night catching up on the last season of Game of Thrones – he missed all episodes as they premiered. His eyelids were shut, he tried to fight them up while he searched for his phone under the pillow – his hand hovered for a few seconds until he located it. He managed to get one eye opened. At first, he thought it was the phone’s alarm waking him up but he vividly remembered switching it off last n...

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“BECOMING A HERO” by Vanessa Lombard

Submitted to Contest #91

'Game over' the screen flashes and the console plays the losing chime. Adam stares blankly at the screen, he lost again. He's been spending the last two weeks on this game, unable to win. If he could just defeat that dragon, he could rescue the princess and win the kingdom. He could be the hero of the story. Adam isn't a very active boy and he doesn't have many friends. In fact, at school he is quite lonely, but in his own world, he can be a brave knight who fights ferocious dragons, or he can be a wise wizard  casting complex spells ...

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“The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Time Travel and the Multiverse” by Jayde Trilo

Submitted to Contest #91

Sarah was manning the front desk of the library when the zombie-killer walked in. In truth the person probably wasn’t a zombie-killer; the library windows took up an entire wall, and there was no sign of the chaos and bloodshed expected of a zombie apocalypse outside. There was a small part of Sarah that wished there was a zombie apocalypse though. Then she’d be able to march into the backroom where Dena, her manager, was playing Candy Crush and say “look, zombies. Guess it wasn’t a waste of time me borrowing all those zombie stories last we...

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“The Returned” by Borris Robert

Submitted to Contest #91

The library book sat quietly among my rations, a silent passenger in the new world. All the same, it screamed at me. I tried to gently remind myself that no one could possibly care if the book went overdue, because there was no one left alive to care. Such norms had died out with humanity. That proved a futile effort when I was immediately struck by the obvious retort. I was alive. I would care.Introspection didn't help.Although I was perfectly comfortable scavenging from the carrion of pharmacies and supermarkets, the book had somehow morph...

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