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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story that ends with one character waiting for the arrival of another.

Posted in Kids on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 199 stories

“Outlasting Autumn” by Aliza Thomas

Submitted to Contest #42

The leaves were already browned when I whispered my goodbyes. A uniform and a small square of paper labeled by the Selective Service and signed in the precious, curling cursive of my lover. I inhaled the strong scent of earth and tobacco in his strong embrace and exhaled to the emptiness of my own arms. Grasping at the air to find that I felt nothing else at all. I closed the brand new, wooden door and drifted towards the window. And as I stood in the midst of my most bitter parting in this world, I could never tell whether the numbness I fe...

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“My mail Ordered Bride” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #42

I’ve been a bachelor for too long now at 41 years of age in 2020. I’m employed as a Public Relations Specialist earning more than $62,000 a year. I also have three laundromats that I owned and operate at full capacity. I’m finding it more and more difficult to get married in hopes  of finding an American woman who won’t more than likely eventually fall in love with another woman. I guesstimate with the feminist movement, women's liberation, Susan B. Anthony, female emancipation, women's rights, post feminism, womanism, Elizabeth Cady St...

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“M-U-R-D-E-R” by Maria Makeever

Submitted to Contest #42

He was a beautiful baby boy. Perfect, some might even say. We didn’t even clip his penis, every inch of him was perfection. I wouldn’t let a soul come near my son with those penis-snipping shears, or whatever archaic tool they were bound to use. His mother was indifferent, but I knew. I knew that he was complete and whole and didn’t need to be tampered with. The first time I held Jack, his hand grabbed mine, urgently, like he needed to tell me something. His eyes went wide and I whispered, “What is it?”, letting the words slip softly in...

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“Nightmares” by Anne Troutman

Submitted to Contest #42

Nightmares               The darkened hall seemed to have no end. Lungs burning, legs aching, and there is only the sound of silence. I tried to scream, but no sound escaped my mouth.               “You can’t keep running forever!” That voice made my blood run cold and was the only thing that was able to break through the chilling silence. I turned around to see a man cloaked in black, his hood...

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“Little Patience” by Jakub Grefkowicz

Submitted to Contest #42

A lonely fly frantically buzzes across the entire cafe. Even the sounds of nu-jazz and heated conversations can't keep Chris from focusing on it. He doesn't like bugs, as most people do, but loud and annoying ones get on his nerves more than any. Attentively tracking their movement and waiting for the chance to finally shut them up is one of the few ways in which he's willing to waste his time.He doesn't have anything better to do, after all. The man finds sitting on his smartphone in social spaces crass, and a cafe usually isn't the place t...

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“An Empty Goodbye” by Kaylee COOK

Submitted to Contest #42

It was an early July evening in Harney county, The summer of 1941 and the day America declared it's independence. It was the month were lots of joy and pride was spread. Evenings warm and romantic. July was the month were small town folk come together and celebrate the Red, White, and Blue. They were the kind of nights that were priceless. Harvey May had taken quite a liking to those warm July nights. She was only 18 that summer and was as gorgeous as ever. The boys in her town drooled over a gal like herself but Harvey May found no interest...

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“The Letter” by Mia Tuttle

Submitted to Contest #42

Issac,The field was white that spring, I remember it well. It was my favorite thing about that old house, the field that ran on forever in the distance. I used to love to run in it, the sun warm on my cheeks. But that one year sun just never seemed to come. I had never seen anything like it the winter just kept raging on, and just when you expected to wake up and find the fields ready for harvest that beautiful golden amber, the white covered it again.  The winter coats had been packed away on one of the colds' false leaves. We sto...

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“ZODIAC SIGNS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #42

Meena observed that her mother was late in returning home. Yet another day of late coming, long waiting. Of late she had been coming home late. Mithun, her brother, comforted her. ‘After all, she was working hard for our sake and we needed to empathise with her and not pester her when she returns home.’ “We do not know about her workload at her office. At home also she is working for us without complaining. Have you ever seen her fretting or getting angry with us? There could be some reason for her to come late. Don’t worry. She had taken ca...

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“The Good and the Best” by J. H. Wollum

Submitted to Contest #42

Anthony sighed and leaned heavily against his worn, wooden cane. It had to be here somewhere in the mess of boxes.  “Christmas ornaments… books to donate…” Anthony read the box titles as he walked deeper into the dark basement closet. Finally, his eyes landed on a box marked “Anthony’s Memories” with Meg’s precise, neat handwriting. He used to tease her about her need to label everything from the leftovers in the freezer to the plants in the garden, but today it came in handy.  His stomach clenched as a tear welled up in his e...

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“Free Will” by S S

Submitted to Contest #42

When he was younger, my wings carried me to wherever the wind pointed. He was too young to understand me then: he struggled with the concept of choices.I was always perched high above the floor, dumb and unknowing as he was. There was a day when I watched children play in the living room. The clutter of plates and drifting scents excited me. I shouted, but no one bothers me. I’m merely another sound they would hear when the house is unbearably quiet or when they’re trying to focus.The boy of the house turns around. He looks beyond me, to whe...

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“Waiting” by Emma Crawford

Submitted to Contest #42

“My little brother is probably still alive.” Eda replied, after placing a cup of tea down in front of me. “We were lucky, because the college we went to had an underground shelter. It was made for a nuclear attack, but it worked for this, too.” I took a sip of the tea- Red Oolong. She eased herself into the chair across from me, leaning her cane against the table.     “Why didn’t you go in?” I asked, looking at the puckered red scars that spread across her face and down her neck, disappearing beneath her clothes. &nb...

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“The Boy at 7-Eleven” by Cat Sparkles

Submitted to Contest #42

I rounded the corner of the street where 7-Eleven was at, peeking through the glass panels furtively. He was standing at the cashier. There were no customers, and he was drumming his fingers on the counter, glancing around with a bored expression on his face. His eyes suddenly flittered up to mine before I could hide myself.My face was red with embarrassment as I darted away and leaned against the wall. Of course, like the last two times, I had no business at 7-Eleven. I’d already bought more than a week’s supply of junk food and soda, ...

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“Friday” by Chuck Waldron

Submitted to Contest #42

    Friday, May 9, 1980 Amy listened to a fish crow outside her window, a distinctive bird call familiar to anyone living in Sarasota. Tourists called it the uh-uh bird. Sun filtering through inexpensive curtains formed an illusion of lace. She didn’t need an alarm clock today. She closed her eyes and smiled, thinking about Harry. Friday, ninth of May, she thought.  At long last. I hope he’s not angry with me. What will he say?Will he be angry, the question like an arrow piercing her excitement? Sitting in the doctor...

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“Together” by Gertrude Appiah

Submitted to Contest #42

She sat all alone on the terrace. Her dad had locked her mum inside today too. They always quarreled about the same thing. She never understood anything, not even after her brother had patiently told her what their folk’s problems had been. 'Does daddy love mom?' she wondered, looking down and watching her tiny legs swing where the wind blew, 'Does he love us at all?' she let down her tears. Every day was like this, either her mom got locked up inside her own room while her dad went to visit her aunt, or he beat them and forbade them fo...

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“Mikey ” by Sonora Johnson

Submitted to Contest #42

It’s been 4 days since we last spoke.    The first thing I remember about seeing you was your curly hair. It’s rare to see people with hair like mine. Immediately I realized how sweet you looked. You wouldn’t disappoint. You sat right next to me and for the rest of the night we couldn’t stop talking. It was so easy with you. I told you too much. I called you Mike even though you were introduced to me as Mikey. I was drinking but not as drunk as our friends. Some of it is hazed over but the feeling is clear. You amazed me ...

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