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Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 122 stories

there’s plenty of fish in the graveyard; there's plenty of ghosts in the sea

Shortlisted for Contest #98 ⭐️

The Winterlands at night are freezing at best and lethal at worst, so of course they’re making Leif go on a Quest during the second sort, when half of his village’s population have beards beset by icicles and the other half are nursing a frostbitten toe in front of a blazing bonfire.“You bear the gift of the Walrus Belly,” reassures Torsten as he heaves at the oars, threading their rickety little boat through frigid saltwater. By the amber luminescence of a lantern powered by whale blubber, Leif watches his companion’s breath mist into the n...

85 likes 86 comments 86
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Borne From Blood

Submitted to Contest #98

Trigger warning: Mention of rape, suicide and abortion Ruilan never thought she would ever reach a point in her life where she was meditating on a river. It was very cultivator-like of her. Surrounded by the fresh fragrance of bamboo leaves, and the gentle lapping of the river, she was beginning to understand why her parents – the great leaders of the Jia Sect of Yunhe – always meditated; it was good for the qi. “Lan’yi!” She had been so deep in her meditation that such a voice was enough to startle the rickety boat into almost tipping i...

40 likes 39 comments 39
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A Life of Regrets, Passed Down

Shortlisted for Contest #98 ⭐️

I watched my son from the back of the boat. He looked so much older up there, behind a wheel. The others were talking, their few voices mixing with the sloshing of the current against the hull, and I let their words beat riddled rhythms into my ears. The driver, my son, gently nudged the wheel, expertly following the turn. His large hand was splayed, long lines erupting, and hardy veins shoot like roots through fertile dirt. We passed evenly between the flooded green banks. Crickets and assorted birds symphonize, growing the chorus of our vo...

38 likes 4 comments 4
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The Journey

Submitted to Contest #98

Jasper felt a little disoriented. Although he was laying down and his eyes were closed, for the life of him he couldn’t remember going to sleep.  There was a gentle, calming rocking that felt nothing like any bed he'd ever slept in. He was also so completely comfortable that he almost didn’t want to open his eyes.Curiosity got the better of him. The first thing he noticed, after his eyes had adjusted to the unexpected sunlight, was the unfamiliarity of his surroundings. Both to his left and right were the smooth curved wooden ...

37 likes 21 comments 21
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broken branches of the family tree

Submitted to Contest #98

Luca blows out a long breath, relaxes his shoulders and leans against the bench's backrest as the ferry pulls away from the Everett City pier. Astrid sits next to him, her curly red hair whipping across a freckled face, her nose buried in a tattered copy of The Peanut Butter Falcon. In front of them, Bobby, his brown hands gripping the side of the boat as the waves rock the deck. He insisted on wearing a life jacket, even after Luca told him that only kids had to put them on. The straps Luca had to loosen to fit over Bobby's belly flap in th...

36 likes 29 comments 29
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The Rapids

Submitted to Contest #98

“I can’t wait to go tubing in the river today!” I said to my friend, Julia.  “I know! I’m super excited!” She said back to me.  I hated waiting so long in the car, but we finally got to the place after a long 3 hour drive.  I loved going tubing because I got to feel the water on my arms and legs. I have loved being in the water since I was 2.  I learned to swim when I was one and a half years old. We went down to the river with our tubes and our wet bags for food,water, and phones.  When we got in it felt nice an...

33 likes 3 comments 3
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Barges

Shortlisted for Contest #98 ⭐️

The clouds tell stories. The clouds tell the past. I can see it all now. Lying on my back, barely conscious as we move forwards, cutting through hidden tributaries. Some of these we made ourselves. They afford camouflage, which gives us surprise, which gives us advantage. Shadows pass across my face. Occasionally, the sun intrudes. Such is its way. I swat my arm and it leaves me be. Another gnat. I watch the sky pass above. The clouds tell the future. And why not? The old man says we’re river folk. That’s the phrase he uses. I don’t know...

29 likes 5 comments 5
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Rainfall

Submitted to Contest #98

Trigger Warning: Contemplation of Suicide. (And also swearing) The night air chilled my skin. The downpour forced the trench coat to wrap around me like the cold hands of death grasping at my soul. Gusts of wind spat rain at my face in periodic breaths. The wind’s exhales dared to snatch my fedora off my head. I checked my holster one more time and twisted relief washed over me as I found the pistol safe next to my chest. A single bullet was loaded. “They may have my badge, but not my gun.” The words sounded weak coming from my old lungs....

28 likes 2 comments 2
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The River and the Snake

Submitted to Contest #98

Roana sits on the hard, dirty ground, her white dress getting assaulted by mud. The air smells like grime and fish, a smell that has entered her nose every day. She doesn’t even know why she comes to this dump every day. Maybe it’s to take her mind off of the past. Maybe it’s because of what happened one year ago. That moment definitely tied deep roots to this place. She sighed, looking at the sky. Its bright blue, creamy clouds swimming through the sky, the sun boasting off its power. She returns her eyes to the murky water, trying to cle...

24 likes 4 comments 4
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The River's Edge ⭐

Submitted to Contest #98

I don’t know why I turned around.I should have continued trudging along the riverbank, my trainers becoming filthier with each step as the mud squelched over them, and my head bent against the wind, and never looked back.But the scream that echoed through the valley, causing nesting birds to flutter into the sky, squawking, seemed to sink into my bones. It was as if it was my own scream that I heard, which of course was impossible. And who knows what I was going to do.I could see the smoke in the distance, curling into the sky and I knew, I ...

24 likes 9 comments 9
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The Ash-Silver River

Submitted to Contest #98

The ash-silver river is rippling in the wind tonight. Soft ripples that bring me peace and comfort and happiness. They drift me away from my thoughts and worries and pull me to a brighter place. A nicer place. A place that’s been my destination for this whole ride. When I’m riding down the ash-silver river, I think of you as the person you are alive, the bright, loving, selfless man. Always wearing your baggy, dirty green jeans and growing your chocolatey-brown hair all the way out to your waist. Doing anything you can to help society, help...

22 likes 27 comments 27
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Just Keep Rollin’ Along…

Submitted to Contest #98

I was walking along the Androscoggin River with a companion, someone very close to me. Our conversation flowed, keeping with the river current from Lewiston, Lisbon, Lisbon Falls. Our words rode the waves. This was where we had both grown up, although not together nor at the same time, nor even in same generation. We were different, yet close.Our feet were walking on the riverbed. We played with the ragged pebbles as well as the smooth ones. We were going with the flow of the river that is born over the Maine state line, in a faraway place c...

21 likes 9 comments 9
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The First Step

Submitted to Contest #98

TW: suicide The First Step   Lata woke up with a smile. The morning was bright. And why not? It was the morning of their wedding anniversary. Surely, she thought, on this special day Rahul would come out of his obsession with the Spiritual, and be a normal human, a normal husband. But will he? Lata thought of that fateful boat ride on the mighty Ganga river five years ago which had changed the entire tenor of their married life. #   Lata and Rahul had been married for twenty years now. The first fifteen years of their mar...

21 likes 2 comments 2
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The Magic Window

Submitted to Contest #98

His friends tried to include him as best they could, but this only made him feel more depressed, because they were the ones making the effort to drag this morbid, succories husk out of his own little world, when it was him who should be making the effort. Why should they have to put up with him, me, he thought, and though they would eventually give up the ghost, leaving him content that they no longer felt him burdening them, he would arrive home to contemplate with disdain the way in which he felt left out, out of touch, disconnected, misun...

20 likes 2 comments 2
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Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches

Submitted to Contest #98

My canoe feels like it glides through the water a little easier today. The sun is warm on my face but it’s not too hot out. All I can hear is my paddle creating ripples in the water, the hum of katydids, and the sweet songs of wood thrushes overhead. What I love most about this river is how it winds through the woods and the marshes and gives you a sense that a whole new world could be waiting around every curve. Maybe that’s what I need. A whole new world, I mean.Lunch is peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I thought the idea of mixing pea...

20 likes 4 comments 4
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