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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story that starts by establishing its setting in a different time period — without explicitly stating what that period is.

Posted in Historical Fiction on Jul 16, 2021

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✍️ 114 stories

“Isla of the Sea: A Beginning...Part of It” by Kristine Murdock

Submitted to Contest #44

“Isla, look at me.” I obeyed. “Run. Run as fast as you can. Don’t wait for us. If we’re fine we’ll fly the crest from the ship. If not…” my mother’s voice trailed off in desperation. “You know what to do. You gather from the groves, the bushes. Protect the spring and watch for the shellfish.” I nodded, tears coming to my eyes. “Mama… I don’t want you to go.” “I know, darling.” she took my face in her hands. “But you’re brave, beautiful, and resourceful. I know I do not misplace my trust when I leave you and you to take care of your grandfath...

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“why did i only name one character” by Derek Brown

Submitted to Contest #44

Little droplets bounced off, scattering into the air, tossed from the foot falls of her seasoned leather boots. Rain waterslided down her burlap trench coat, clustering around [in] the folds then dripping off, like a slow motion bombing raid. The wind blustered her hat off her head, but she tried to catch it, like a drunk dog after a bone, nearly tripping over her own feet. She was unable to catch it as it took wing and spiralled towards her steadily approaching shadow. Her quickly matting hair trailed behind her, shoulder length in a variet...

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“The Courtship of Princess Chantal-Luisa” by Angela Morrissey

Submitted to Contest #44

Crown Princess Chantal-Luisa was escorted by her father down the stairs of their palace to the large ballroom with walls of gold and rubies and crystal chandeliers hanging from the bright and brilliant ceiling. Other royalty were in attendance and they bowed and curtsied before the princess and her father King Hans-Georg II before the father and daughter started to waltz in the middle of the room. It was Princess Chantal-Luisa’s coming of age event and everyone was there to see her including potential suitors. The blonde, snow princess was d...

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“The End” by Casper McWilliam

Submitted to Contest #44

At the end of the world, I stand with my back to the setting sun and my feet in the ocean, watching the last of the lands wash under the tide as the night creeps in. God isn’t here; they left about an hour ago when the sky had fallen, leaving me to say a last few goodbyes before it’s all over.   “Why?” the people had asked me. “Why now?”   “The time has come,” was my answer. I find it best to remain neutral in this sort of situation.   They cried and wallowed at my feet, begging, pleading, sobbing into my robes, shrieking, “Pl...

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“All the Lonely People ” by M. Montoya

Submitted to Contest #44

A dense fog hung in the ground, uneasily suspended in the chilly air of the morn. The lampposts cast an eerie yellow glow on the wet streets just before a humble little chapel, which sat on a quiet avenue. The sky was a deep milky blue. At six o’clock precisely, a low bell shook the town with its reverberation, purging the silence and disrupting the toiled, the peaceful, and the meaningless slumbers. Some scarce souls continued their rests, though they were just minutes from rising unwillingly. In a shack of a home, down a lonely road w...

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“The Run” by Elizabeth Sacks

Submitted to Contest #44

I ran through the streets with my head down. There was not another soul to be seen, but the sounds of guns and tanks said otherwise. My heart pounded, head spun, legs shook, hands dripped in sweat, and my long, red hair was only kept out my face by the wind of my speed. I had to get to the general store. I just had to. People would die if I didn’t… If I didn’t make it before 4 PM this day.Cars were scarce. Anything with a motor would get blasted in two seconds. Bikes were warped from the debris of toppled buildings. Even if I could find one,...

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“A Boys Dream” by Ella Jane

Submitted to Contest #44

The sun is beating down on me. I am sweating up a storm. Papa wont let me go with the other kids until the work is done. Keeping up with the land takes a lot of hands. Papa says I can’t go to school. Papa says that learning those words won’t keep a family fed. So hear I am chasing the cattle around. I don’t mind putting in the hard day work. After all it is how we eat. Sometimes I just lay in the prairie and close my eyes. I can still see the sun and the sky. I dream I am flying with the birds.  “Boy what are you over there doing!” papa...

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“Death to Genesis” by Tolu Adeosun

Submitted to Contest #44

Thump thump thump. This foul beast, this Angel of death who was ready to take me to a place of no return had reached the second floor. My face grows pale. In a quiet, traumatic pool of darkness, I sit quietly- no silently, and await the horrid destiny that lays beyond my closet door. I never sought for this day to arrive so soon, I never sought for death to roam the halls of my own house looking for the victim it hath been sent to claim. My body is filled with alcohol, still, I think clearly. My heart is filled with panic. This January ...

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“Dead or Missing” by Book Worm

Submitted to Contest #44

This was the year when everyone huddled around family or community radio sets to listen to names of those who were dead or had gone missing in the riots. Like every evening, the special radio bulletin began with the names of those who had died in the riots. Labhayaram, 35, son of Gainda Ram, Lahore; Bhannaram, 45, son of Fakirchand; Pyarelal,40, son of Lainaram, Lyallpur; Jagga,25, son of Gurmail Singh, Rawalpindi; Veera,16, daughter of Madanlal, Mianwali; Meshi, 8, son of Lalchand, Montgomery; Hakim Tarachand, 80, son of Bhairamal, Jha...

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“At the End of Empire” by Ariadne Isoton

Submitted to Contest #44

The screams meant the siege had ended, and the sacking had begun. Like a storm that had been waiting weeks to break, it fell upon us. When we heard the screams in the distance — whether of people or horses, I couldn’t tell — we rushed to tell the mistress. All of us, women and children, crowded into the cellar. It was mostly empty. There were no more cured meats, and only one sack of grain left. My boy was small and thin. He made noises, so I held my hand over his mouth until he was quiet. The master had grimly taken his sword out ...

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“The Lady of the Manor” by Jasmine Johnson

Submitted to Contest #44

I looked at the reflection in the mirror, but the face that stared back at me surely was not my own, nor had I seen my own in quite some time. This girl in the mirror, she was pale, almost sickly so, with rosy pink lips, seemingly fuller than my own. Her hair was neatly pulled back, and I lifted my fingers to trace the braids that wrapped to the back of her head. I looked at her petite frame and a waist so thin I wondered how she ate. My hands fell to my side, and I followed the outline of my own body. Though my waist curved inward, it was t...

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“A Doomed Dream ” by Eric Olson

Submitted to Contest #44

It was a rather horrible day. It was raining, but it wasn’t one of those nice rainy days, where the rain fell almost like a mist and made the plants and flowers happy. Where the clouds would eventually part to let the warm sun create a rainbow that reflected on the wet leaves and grass. No. It was a horrible rainy day, where the raindrops were large and heavy and battered the flowers, and hammered upon the old wooden rooftops to the point where one couldn’t even hear the rumbling thunder that was equally as loud. The water quickly overflowed...

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“08:31 One Day in the Life of Arnold Clockmann ” by MARK TRIMBOLI

Submitted to Contest #44

In a large, sunny parlour room of a stately retirement home there stands an ornate antique Grandfather clock. Its dulled ivory face reads 08:29. At its base sits a wooden crate filled with old toys. Atop the pile is sprawled a small tin man; a burnished bob-watch fills its chest. Several aged residents in the room sit in over-stuffed armchairs or propped up in wheelchairs. Some stare at a muted tele-screen splashing grotesque images against the wall, others out into space. Slanted shafts of early sunlight filter into the room. The residents ...

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“Once upon a time” by M.Zubair Alam

Submitted to Contest #44

                 ‘Sara where did you keep my coat? It’s been thirty minutes, I am unable to find it.’ Dan is becoming old as does his memory; he often forgets his own things after putting them up somewhere. ‘You are always slipping away from your mind the place of your own things after keeping them by yourself. You had probably put it in the suitcase under the bed after wearing when it was rained last time.’ Sara gets exasperated with such forgetful temperam...

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“Times Re~written” by Sam Womack

Submitted to Contest #44

You know, there are days, where you wonder? Is there a reason my hair has to be so big and my make up so white? Why can't I wear pants instead of this huge dress with multiple layers? I wonder about it all the time. I get told all the time, "It is just how it is done." Yes, I know I am a woman and in this time I can't change what has been as long as it has been. So, instead I write everything down. History may change but, for me I can change it in my own way. I will tell how I would change things in my everyday life. How, you may think?, I w...

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