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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

“Jesus Lies ” by Derric Perez

Submitted to Contest #161

“Those shoes look a little big for you. Do you know your size? I can help you find a better fit.”The young boy’s face brightened with a glow of humor. “These aren’t for me,” he said with a half-smile. “They’re for my grandpa.”       The cashier softened and smiled, pleasantly surprised by this dutiful and considerate boy. “That’s really nice of you,” he says. “I’m sure your grandpa really appreciates you taking the walk for him. It’s not easy to get around sometimes for grandmas and grandpas. I remember my gra...

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“Falling snow” by Dean Wathen

Submitted to Contest #161

Have you ever noticed how when snow falls it seems like everything around you is deafeningly quiet? Like the whole world slows down and there’s no sound. You can’t hear your breathing, or your heart beat. It has a sense of beauty around it really, how soft and delicate each and every snowflake is, yet it’s ice cold. As I was flying through the air my body felt weightless, and my hair was floating as if I were under water. Completely helpless I was. The front end of my truck nosediving into the culvert head on. My phone levitating in the cab ...

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“Rainbow Electric” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #161

Tears that roll in panic down a child’s makeup-layered face create great rivulets that are not unnoticed by hot sound stage lights and cameras. Deposited from both corners and the center of the iris, the tears eventually unite creating virtual crevices on the child’s face that require a buff up by an annoyed, overworked and underpaid studio makeup artist named Hazel who thinks, You shouldn’t be here.             Of course, Hazel would never say that to her, a paunchy little girl of ...

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“The Hospital” by Zoë Ricard

Submitted to Contest #161

Some time ago, Julie’s mum put a clipping from the New Yorker on her kitchen wall. It was a man answering the door to Death, and the caption read 'Just as I was getting my life together.’ Julie feels that more right now than at any other time in her life. This has to be some sort of sick joke. How is it possible that her mum, who had fought so hard to live for the past couple of years and had made it quite literally through hell – finally coming out on the other side stronger and more self-assured than ever – could be felled by a disease she...

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“Letters to My Loved Ones” by Havana Summer

Submitted to Contest #161

Dear Mommy, Why did you have to go? On all the days, of all the years, of all the generations. Sometimes I still hear the splashing of the coffee machine, now deserted, showering your “Best Mom Ever” coffee cup, sometimes I still smell your Gingham perfume. I wondered a lot about that night. All my teenage questions jumbled up into a hot mess, like when the confetti cannon fires and you can’t get all the confetti out of your hair for a while. My questions stuck like that confetti. Where were you going so late at night? These bells of...

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“Stagnant Dreams” by Melissa SA

Submitted to Contest #161

TW: This story contains sensitive content such as Sexual violence, Mental health, Substance abuse, Physical violence or abuse, and Suicide."It's tea time, and maybe I will have a biscuit or two, but first I must hurry up with myskincare routine; there is nothing like starting the mornings, pampering yourself and doing what you like." Annie said. “Waah waah,” a baby cried.Since I was little, I find myself daydreaming about me being someone else, living the life of someone else who could be me if I didn't have the parents that I have. It ...

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“Fairies Live Forever” by Amanda G

Submitted to Contest #161

**THIS STORY CONTAINS MATERIAL RE: HIV/AIDS** She was mature, albeit 8 years old. Her father died and her mother had left her. It didn’t seem she could handle the commitment of a sick child or even the emotional demands of being a mother at all. A single mother at that. Sure, Shay hadn’t had it easy but what about her daughter? Grandma Pat was who Jess sat with, as she waited in the packed children’s emergency room. “Thank god for good healthcare here in Canada,” Pat muttered to Jess. You could smell the vomit off the child’s swe...

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“How Volcanoes Form” by Derrick Behm

Submitted to Contest #161

My grandfather used to tell me, “All the burden you carry in this world is like holding a bunch of stones. At some point you'll be buried beneath the weight." He would tell this to me everyday, and finally end our conversations saying, "You might as well carry the whole damn realm." Grandpa never made since to me when I was growing up. He made even less sense after my father "inherited" the family business. Mom would talk about our grandparents. Somedays it sounded as though she was defending them. Trying to explain the different era they g...

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“LAND OF DROUGHT” by Paul Blackburn

Submitted to Contest #161

LAND OF DROUGHT  PART I Rays of bright orange light cut through the pitch black home of the Daniels’ family, their glow lining the cracks of shut curtains. On the stovetop, one lonely kettle catches a ray of sun peering through the window above, emboldened by the refracting power of glass. The shine off of the stainless steel pot grows dangerously bright, and soon the water leftover from yesterday’s coffee begins to steam. The house thermometer’s red ethanol has risen up just shy of its maximum.  One hundred and twenty-two de...

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“Planted Blood” by Random Person

Submitted to Contest #161

I'm scared.Of course I am but I'm cold too.Five minutes ago, when an officer came in to ask me if I wanted some water or coffee or anything, I declined, my teeth chattering and body shaking. I'm sure he noticed, but he didn't say anything and neither did I."What you say can and will be used against you in the court of law." I hadn't been arrested, but I'd seen a number of movies enough to know that the same principle would apply here.The door opens and the same woman who brought me in enters. She's wearing a blazer, probably a padded one: I ...

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“Point Man” by Jim Holley

Submitted to Contest #161

Point man     Billy was getting nervous. This was his 5th time being the point man for his platoon, and he wondered if his time was running out. He would consider himself now, a seasoned Viet-Nam combat veteran.     Being point man on a patrol was the most dangerous position of all on a recon mission. He was only 18 years old but old beyond his years. He thought now he knew all the Viet Cog tricks. Billy’s job was to alert the patrol of an impending ambush. He would be looking for any movemen...

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“She Was Born a Girl” by Joann Massmann

Submitted to Contest #161

She Was Born a Girlby Joann C. MassmannLet’s get something straight from the beginning . . . In today’s world, “I Was Born a Girl” is a title that might conjure up some gender-confusion issues, but that’s not the case. My mother is now 97 years old and sadly lives with dementia. Before her mind completely disintegrates, I want to share her story of growing up in rural Illinois during a time when girls were not valued, except for those jobs that sustained the boys and the men in the family and the farm.My mother was the third child born in 19...

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“Madame Desrosiers’s Flower Shop” by Elaine March

Submitted to Contest #161

CW: Contains mentions of dismemberment. The crush of bodies pressed in on Julia from all sides, threatening to sweep her down the city streets on and on forever like a leaf in a current.  It could be worse she thought, negotiating around another puddle and nearly crashing into a man with a leather briefcase. The smell of wet pavement was better than the odor of sickness that infiltrated every nook of their flat. Likewise the light patter of rain was musical compared to her mother’s wet coughing.  She rounded the corner and c...

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“The Girl Who Would Be Queen” by Anna-Marie Hayward

Submitted to Contest #161

Crown Princess Irun of Edessa was embroidering tablecloths with her handmaidens when she learned that her twin brother Henfrey and king of Edessa had been blinded.It came in the form of a letter delivered by a messenger bird from Literra, the kingdom that Henfrey had recently traveled to for a state visit.Irun was laughing at a story Jevelyn was telling the group involving a cousin of hers and a hive of angry bees he accidentally stirred when the doors to the drawing room opened and one of her guards stationed outside poked his head in.“Your...

7 comments 7
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“Times of Needed Faith” by Nyxlan Marigold

Submitted to Contest #161

DISCLAMER: This story contains the following:Substance Abuse, Physical Violence, Suicided, Bad Mental Health, and Parental Abuse"You don't understand!" I was screaming overtop of the television in the old rundown building I was supposed to call "My Home""I don't care. Get out of my hair you little brat!""You have to care! Their YOUR children! You need to know the importance of this!" I stomped over to the TV and unplugged it."Listen to me!""What are you doing! I was watching that!" He grabbed the bottle he had and took another chug from it, ...

1 comment 1
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