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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

You live in a neighborhood where lots of people go out of town for the holidays. But lately, this has been resulting in an increased number of break-ins.

Posted in Holiday on Sep 10, 2020

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✍️ 23 stories

“One Last Job” by Laura Besley

Submitted to Contest #21

The arrhythmic thudding of my running feet is almost as loud as the thundering of my heart. I taste blood, adrenaline. Just gotta keep going. Over the fence, down the alleyway and I’ll be away from the top of the village where the large houses are too far apart to give me cover. I can hear him gaining on me. ‘Oi,’ he shouts. Looking over my shoulder, I twist slightly too far and a firework of pain shoots up my knee. That’s game over for me. Hands up in the air, I stop, and wait for a different kind of explosion.It’s Christmas Eve. When my mu...

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“Christmas Nightmare” by Angela Coffey

Submitted to Contest #21

Bang! I hit my head against the steering wheel again. The stress was kicking in and you’re fired was ringing through my head. Who does that man think he is firing me and especially right before Christmas. The worst part is I have to tell Kimber that we can’t afford Christmas.  This year was so hard. Our oldest daughter who is just five had to have heart surgery back in June. Her heart was not pumping blood properly. We noticed that she was getting pale but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. Then one day she collapsed as she walk...

2 comments 2
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“Damn! What a lovely holiday.” by Govinda Chaddha

Submitted to Contest #21

December in Motton was a chilly, shivering month. Slough of cold, snow-draped wind gusted dangerously, leaving a blurry, misty ambiance. The road was sheathed with a three-inch high snow floor, deserted, suffused with blobs of faint streetlights that tried to accentuate the obscured beauty of the town. The time was edging past seven-thirty in the evening when Richard Wayne dawdled through the snow-filled road, puffing out a white-blanketed air of disgruntlement. He was clad in a heavy, dark hoodie, and his face was barely perceivable in the ...

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“Good Neighbor” by Emma Lee

Submitted to Contest #21

Prairie Lee’s shapely bald head shone high on the second story of the grey house in the cul-de-sac. He watched the Johnsons scurry out of their home, pack their luggage in the back of their white Honda CRV, and drive away with laughter trailing behind their open windows.Next were the Morrisons. Like bride and groom, the grey-haired couple linked arms and walked down their front steps. Donning trench-coats and scarves, and with an air of royalty, they drove off into darkness on a dusty black sedan.Then it was the Irish man, who, in a top hat ...

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“The Holiday Intruder” by Shaneka Murphy

Submitted to Contest #21

"Your due date is December 28," said Mr. Jenkins, the town librarian as he handed me the newly checked out book with his rough, worn hands that had their own story to tell. "You'll love this one," he said with a bit of excitement. He stood about 6'-3" with a broad, stately stature that made me wonder why he'd ever considered being a librarian rather than an athlete or a fitness instructor. His hands were covered with scars, some quite a few years old, some much newer. Often I'd wanted to inquire about them, but didn't wan...

2 comments 2
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“Seasons Greetings” by Michael Guido

Submitted to Contest #21

Part 1: Snowball Fight Rounding the corner of the house, I spot his little, red, dog eared, hat poking up from the mound roughly 30 feet away. I scoop up a pile of wet snow, perfect for packing snowballs, and begin plotting my malicious plan of attack as I wait. Everything goes silent…  It’s so quiet you can hear the snow falling in gentle pats. The sky is a frosty light blue. The dark pine trees are bundled in a thick blanket of snow, making them look as if they were planted that way. The houses are caked in festive green and red light...

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“Christmas Time” by J C

Submitted to Contest #21

In the small town of Gaze, everyone knew everyone. It was a sweet town where there was never any crime. People often didn’t lock their doors when they went to bed because they didn’t have any worries. Some would go on our vacation still without bother to lock their homes. It was such a perfect place to live, but it took a great deal to be accepted into such a high quality town. Not only was it beautiful, but it was very costly. Very. Which made the homes the perfect ones to break into. With only days before Christmas, I knew most of the town...

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“Loosening Marley's chains” by Linda Hallstrom

Submitted to Contest #21

J.E. Marley had been angry for 70 years – ever since he realized that his mother had named him after two characters in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Jacob Ebenezer Marley. The chain-bound ghost and the bitter old man.Jacob rarely let anyone know his given name, being careful to list himself always and only as “J.E.” But, somehow, the opening scenes of A Christmas Carol infused his character. Even in grade school, he appeared sullen and unfriendly.Raised by a single mother, he was frequently home alone, left to carry out adult tasks.A care...

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“The Happy Break-ins” by Joanne Phanh

Submitted to Contest #21

You live in a neighborhood where lots of people go out of town for the holidays. But lately, this has been resulting in an increased number of break-ins.   The Happy Break-ins     We live on Sky view lane reason it is called Sky view is because it's very high up on a mountain and we can see the view below and the sky fells touchable above. It's beautiful scenery with Majestic trees glistening in the ice and the snow with the Bells ringing below in The Valley at Christmas time.  Let me fill you in on the neighbor...

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“The Monks who knew no walls,they broke-in , that's all !” by Yashwant Lokare

Submitted to Contest #21

A chill ran down his spine. He was on his feet instantly and listened. He could swear He heard footsteps. He took torch in one hand and his rifle in other. He had hardly reached the door when the footsteps suddenly stopped . He stopped too and listened. Then cautiously he tiptoed over the bedroom threshold ; looked right and as he turned to look left, he gave a start from sudden appearance of someone only few feet away who also started at his sudden appearance and nearly shrieked,  “Daddy , what do you think are...

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“The Strangest Sound” by Hannah Grace

Submitted to Contest #21

I startled out of my half-asleep daze, vaguely registering the creaking noise that came from outside my room. I squinted at the too-bright computer screen in front of me, blinking as my eyes protested. The rational part of my brain told me to turn the lights on. I kept them off, staring at the computer screen and willing myself to finish the essay that was due in… I checked the time, and my eyes widened. Five hours.I covered my face with my hands, letting out a sound that was a half-groan, a half-scream, and a half really stressed sigh. I wa...

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“If you'd have stayed home this wouldn't have happened...” by Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #21

It was a small town by all standards, but felt larger, I guess because it was a suburb of a fairly large metropolis. The recorded name of the town bears no significance to my story and therefore warrants no mention; more importantly, the town was known to its inhabitants simply as Transplant Village (ironically enough, the moniker had nothing to do with a resident’s liver surgery 6 years past).Transplant Village was home to the hundreds of contractors and laborers (and their respective families) who came to the area to rebuild after the...

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“House Sitting” by August Palewood

Submitted to Contest #21

December 23rdOnly for a few days he said. The small box on top was starting to shift on one side but you managed to balance it out. The grocery bags in your other hand were a hindrance on its own. Despite all that you tried to open the door. The keyhole was all scratched out but that unsteady shivering hand finally managed to unlock the damn door. You kick it closed as you enter, a punishment for its disobedience. After all it had been through, maybe it had a right to be?Only a few more moments and the eyes would’ve adjusted, but you couldn’...

2 comments 2
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“Way up High” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #21

Why is it, that sitting in our own lounges or bedrooms with the lights on in the small hours, we look across the road and tell ourselves that there is comfort in the lighted rooms of others? That our three o’clock on a winter morning electric glare signifies worry, but that the light opposite signifies hope?     Does the same apply, “on steroids” (to use one of those phrases that had come into the language so quickly that the originality has been wrung out of it with remorseless rapidity) to Christmas lights?&nb...

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“Neighbourhood Watch” by Barbara Eustace

Submitted to Contest #21

“Who’s that?” Tessa wondered when the doorbell went. Eric said nothing. He was deep into his paper checking the racing results. Tessa went out of their small living room and towards the front door, where Eric could hear her talking to someone. There was the sound of the door being closed, the safety chain being taken off and the door opening again. “Eric,” she said a moment later as she came back in the living room, “it’s the police. There’s been another burglary. They want to know if we’ve seen anything.”E...

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