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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story where a character has to take on heavy responsibilities (perhaps beyond their age).

Posted in Kids on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 48 stories

“Burden Of Command” by M B

Submitted to Contest #161

Lieutenant Davic Sphinx had forgotten how uncomfortable his service dress uniform was as he made his way through the huge star cruiser to the captain’s office. It was a uniform only for looking nice in and for anal higher ups to nitpick: Dark blue, brass buttons, too-shiny shoes and, to top it all off, a white wheel cap carried beneath his left arm. Over his left breast pocket were the ribbons he had earned and over his right, his surname: Sphinx.  He wondered why the ship's captain had called him to his office. Through the winding ...

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“Where The Spirit Horses Drink” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #161

Where The Spirit Horses Drink By Johanna Lor Rain Parry ---- this story is based on true events, and real experiences. She could hear them drumming for those praying in the lodge...the heart-beat rhythm reminding her of the thousands of tears that drip slowly into the red earth from the eyes of those who have seen too much. A trail of prayers trickled upward from the fire in front of the sweat lodge. The swirling smoke spiraled, threadlike towards the sky. Life had always been hard in the sacred land. There is always a price to pay fo...

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“On Our Own” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #161

           Tammy sat silently as she watched over her younger brother and sister. They were huddled together for warmth beneath the East Street bridge inside their makeshift home made from a refrigerator box that they found on the side of the road.            Tammy, her little brother, Jacob, and the youngest, Abigail, ran away from home three hours earlier. The atmosphere of their home was that of fear. Their mother, Helena, had bee...

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“A Hard Day's Work” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #161

(There are mentions of incestual abuse, as well as sexual situations)Her feet dragged as she climbed the stairs in her ugly waitress shoes. The uniform she wore was too baggy and long, but it satisfied what her boss wanted. Sighing, she stuck her key in the door.As the decrepit door swung into the dingy apartment, she wasn’t surprised to see toys all over the floor. Obviously, the talk she had with Pinky hadn’t been heard. But her bed was calling, along with the knowledge that an alarm would wake her at five-thirty the next morning.Oh wait –...

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“Going On A Treasure Hunt” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #161

Angela opens her eyes to bright light.  She looks over at the single bed next to her, Johnny and Pricilla, her young siblings, are nearly on top of one another, blanket up to their chins.  Angela breathes out and watches her breath turn to fog in front of her.  The fire must have gone out in the middle of the night.  Angela’s pink puffy coat, her only coat, lays across her as an extra layer while she sleeps and she puts it on, sits up, and stretches out her arms.  Her mother bought it for her two years ago, for her...

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“Raising Arlo” by Sarah Glass

Submitted to Contest #161

TW: Substance and physical abuse I'll never forget the sound of my little brother crying in the middle of the night. I groggily sit up, blinking against the dark until my eyes land on the night light across from my bed. Arlo's cries intensify, urging me to slide off my bed and hurry to the crib close by. Searching with my feet, I soon find the step stool and stand on it so I can lower the crib rail. Leaning over, I scoop him up as carefully as I can and hold his flailing body close to me. His hiccupped cries quiet for a moment, but I know ...

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“Button Eyes” by Alec Fernandez

Submitted to Contest #161

Sitting on the highest shelf in Lucy’s room, coated in dust, was Billy. Lonely and forgotten, worn and dirty, He sat. It had been nearly six years since Lucy had taken him on an adventure. He had sat on this shelf for every hour and every minute of those six long years. Waiting, hoping, he sat. Of course, he was a teddy bear, after all, what else could he do? His stuffing was falling out and his threads were hanging. The scars of past rips and tears sewn slowly untangling themselves. His bright red button eye had faded and the other had fall...

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“Add a spoon of water to a bucket of oil, mix well and run ” by Leon Moss

Submitted to Contest #161

So. Here I am, 15 years old, sitting at the head of a table which is occupied by 11 men ranging in age from old through elderly and onto tottery old-age. There are also 3 officials from government offices. They are all looking at me and waiting for my answer. They all look nervous, as though there are millions of dollars at stake. Which there are. It’s a strange story and it will make better reading as a fairy-tale than it will in real life. Except for those dollars, of course. I read a lot. I’m at the local library twice a week and on e...

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“CSS 102” by Kurtis Leong

Submitted to Contest #161

CSS 102 A boy and his father, two walked down a hallway. A son and his dad, tiny fingers latched onto his loose grip. Innocence and experience, frail expression. Responsibility and burden. At just fifteen years of age, my father became known as "The Researcher" by everybody in the Submokitna. They called him a prodigy, a heaven-sent entity that toyed with medicine and science as if they were nothing more than one plus one, a true god-child. What made him so renowned was his discovery of the Tariksia, an aspect of the world now dubbed in...

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“The Beginning of Writing” by Nicole Noemí Román Bonilla

Submitted to Contest #161

It was 7:45 in the morning, and I was already late for school. I only had fifteen minutes left to arrive, but it always took me around thirty minutes to walk there. The reason why I woke up so late was that my little brother Adrian was in a painful tummy ache all night, and, I was the one taking care of him. Our mom was already passed out on the couch, and I didn’t even want to know what she had for drinks that evening. Not that I ever want to know what she’s always up to when she goes out. I went to bed at 3 in the morning to find healthy...

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“Below Zero” by Hope Haggerty

Submitted to Contest #161

The shovel made a sickening thud, as it came into contact with flesh. Daniel gagged at the odor of death and reeled backwards. You'd think he would be used to the smell by now. He covered his mouth and nose with his thick, homespun winter scarf, but nothing could keep out that stench. Damn, but it permeated everything! Maybe you never got used to it, he thought, but then maybe you weren’t supposed to? His father would say that was just his moral compass kicking in, good and strong, as it ought to be. Lately though, he wasn’t sure i...

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“The Unintentional Seed” by Greg Madden

Submitted to Contest #161

I grew up 3 miles west of Muscatine, Iowa. Most people have never heard of Muscatine and have no clue where it's at until they're told it's 200 hundred miles west of Chicago. I never met my grandparents. What little I know is from stories my dad told me. My grandparents, Jesse and Mary Mason, owned a 100-acre farm in the 1930s. Jesse Mason grew up in Harlan, Kentucky, with 3 older brothers. He quit school at 15 to work in the coal mines alongside his brothers and father.  Jesse and 2 of his brothers, Bill and John, volunteered for the ...

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“Reloj” by Soledad Alfaro-Allah

Submitted to Contest #161

Reloj  “Can you afford that?” The calories, The pounds, The time, The money.  The time The money The time  The money  The time  The money  The time  The time  I sit in the train station pew staring at the giant schedule board  4:00  4:30  4:45  Outbound, Uptown.  Late,  On time Red Green Red  Green.  Train fair: 3.75 one way. Selena worked over time last week and now Medicaid won’t cover it. Tip out should be at least $10 cash, and that’ll get me...

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“A Dying Rose for the Devil” by Lily (formerly RG Mara) Del

Submitted to Contest #161

“Life is full of shit you don’t want to do, Rosie.” This was my mother’s central credo and self-imposed prison sentence. It was true, of course, but the problem was she made it seem like that was all life could ever be. One dutiful, shitty thing after another with no room for pleasure or creativity. Joy or celebration. Love. To her, life was a cycle of rage and regret, of broken mirror bad luck and big, red devils waiting up ahead at every crossroads. To me, too. For a long, long time. The first day she said she wanted to die was fil...

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“Young girl, you'll be an excellent mother” by Marysa Stevens

Submitted to Contest #161

Sensitive warnings// forced birth, teen pregnancy, abortion, teen sexual activity, rape “Honey, help me move this against the window.” I lift one side of the white metal crib and scoot it to my left, waiting for her to do the same on her end. “Won’t it be cold here?” She asks. “The windows are well-insulated, and the flannel jammies are cozy. He’ll be okay.” “What else do we have to do? I wanna meet Emma at the movies at three.” “The onesies are in the dryer; they’ll need to be folded and tucked away in the dresser. We need more free...

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