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Write about a plan that goes wrong, for the better.

Posted in Middle School on Nov 8, 2022

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✍️ 38 stories

The Rosary

Shortlisted for Contest #170 ⭐️

The Rosary It is a wondrous thing when two lives intersect at exactly the right time and place to create a meaningful, fulfilling future, or perhaps at least a wonderful memory. It borders on the miraculous when three lives meet at the same time and place to create that one special moment in time. But one crisp fall evening in this small town, they did. Tommy was a 6th grader at St. Mary’s. Like many young boys, he wasn’t fond of school, but it did present the opportunity to participate in his one passion in life- football. As a “scrub” on...

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A Precious Life

Submitted to Contest #170

“Would you like a free DNA test? It could change your future,” a man asks while handing me a pamphlet as I walk past a shopping mall on the second day of my vacation in Maui. He points at a QR code. "Just register here."I want to grab him and shout some violent threat, and ask if he knows my sister, but he says “have a good day” and walks off before I get the chance.This is because my sister Courtney sent me different versions of that same ad for years after she dropped out of university and disappeared from my life. Then two weeks ago, I re...

33 likes 31 comments 31
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Choices

Submitted to Contest #170

Locals say it's a magnet for drifters but he just calls it home. It’s known as Tornado Alley, but most folks don’t go there to bowl; they go there to drink and forget. The foundation is original, but the building is not; it’s been rebuilt twice, once in 2009 and again in 2014. His small apartment sits just behind the office and has everything a single man needs. It has a comfortable chair positioned right beside a twin bed and in front of a flat screen TV. He has a refrigerator that sometimes has food, but always has beer. There are no ...

32 likes 15 comments 15
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Rebirthing

Submitted to Contest #170

The last thing I remember was trying to buy a bag of chips. I chose a gas station towards the edge of the wrong side of town. Those are safer. They don’t usually have the specialized tech. That’s the hard part about staying alive these days. It’s not getting a chip card, or even a voucher code. You can get those in almost any alley, provided you have something worth trading for. It’s the retinal scanners that you can’t fool. That’s how they can tell. That’s what makes this world Hell for the clones. Governments are really so fragile. It o...

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Rhonda Reschedules

Submitted to Contest #170

Rhonda rescheduled when she lost her alpaca. “I have no idea where she is,” Rhonda explained over the phone, her voice catching with panic after every third word, “Louisa never DOES this. She NEVER runs away. WHAT could she have been thinking?” Marty assured her that they could reschedule. He had nothing on his calendar for the next few months. His cousin was getting married in April, but that was it. The wedding was going to be underwater on one of those new matrimonial submarines that were becoming all the rage with brides. He would ...

28 likes 17 comments 17
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Homemade Wine: A Sestina Story

Shortlisted for Contest #170 ⭐️

Homemade Wine: A Sestina Story by M. S. Mabrito Late on a warm fall afternoon many years ago, I had planned to meet friends behind the abandoned bottle factory and drink as much beer as I possibly could but as I passed my grandfather sitting on our porch drinking a glass of his homemade wine, he intercepted me and began to lecture me about my lack of drive and imagination. I was the only son of his only son and he desperately wanted me to imagine a life beyond what he called, with some contempt and some sadness, the small, unexceptional wo...

26 likes 7 comments 7
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Leo the Flea

Submitted to Contest #170

I can’t undo the zipper! My plan has gone terribly wrong, and now I can't breathe. It all came from me wanting to meet my idol, Lionel Messi. My name is Leo, just like his, except he is Lionel and I am Leonard. We are just alike. His nickname is La Pulga, which is the Spanish word for what my Mom calls me, Flea. She says when I was little I bounced around and was always where she didn’t want me to be. I have to see Leo play, I have to! I didn’t have money for a ticket. But I made a plan. I live right next to the...

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The Plan

Submitted to Contest #170

It is only when looking back, now that I have reached the mature years, that I realise all the sections of my life have contributed to a far superior life plan than I could have chosen.  Apart from the purchase of a house and a pension plan I imagined myself a ‘free spirit’ jumping carelessly from event to event, without thought or care. I little knew all those earlier escapades and adventures were there to prepare me for the sheer joy of my sunset years.  Like most things in my mature years, moving to Asia had been bizarre...

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He Looked Better From A Distance

Submitted to Contest #170

“When at last we meet, we shall talk so soft, the way young lovers do…”“I daresay,” Natalia teased, “you are making eyes at the bard.”“Lia!” Grace whispered furiously. She dropped her gaze and smoothed the fabric of her dress. “Must the entire court hear your babbling?”Lia’s smirk grew wider. “Gray, the entire court can see you staring at each other. He looks more often at you than at his lute.”“Nonsense,” she replied, though a smile tugged at her lips. As if against her will, her eyes wandered back to the slim figure lounging in the midday ...

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Feel the Benefit

Submitted to Contest #170

Eye mask. Lavender spray. Ear plugs. Phone off. All the things I do to avoid you, yet sometimes, somehow, you still sneak in. Usually complaining of how tired you are, failing to note the irony. Then on about how you never get to go anywhere. I remind you that you do not have legs, but you talk over me to tell me how you do not approve of my boyfriend, my hair, my clothes, my weight, my carpet, my job. Which doesn’t matter. None of these things are for you. But I could build a concrete wall and your poison arrows would still corrode it ov...

18 likes 16 comments 16
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A Rolling Change

Submitted to Contest #170

So here I am, the guy everyone knows as the unluckiest kid in town. But not on this night! It’s January of 1980. I am at the skating rink with my friends, Billy, Avis, and the girl of my fourteen-year-old dreams: Lisa. Lisa is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, cheerleader beauty that every guy in school loves. She isn’t very tall, but she is definitely, dynamite in a small package. I have waited a long time to have this night. You see, Lisa and I have had some issues. Okay, I screwed up. Because of a dumb accident involving my three-speed H...

18 likes 4 comments 4
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I Don't Want To

Submitted to Contest #170

Times are tough. I won't deny it. We all have our struggles and most will hide it. Can't breathe anymore just keeping quiet. No need to anyways like a lawyer's client.Money is problematic, it always has been. Hard to get your hands on even if you're asking. I try to be good. I was raised right. Learned what I had to in order to be polite. Stretch patience and bow a head. Work for what you need otherwise you're dead.Hobby set aside working too much. killing a passion eliminates the love. I don't want to but I am desperate. Need income asap if...

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Sly Fox Likes Duck Stew

Submitted to Contest #170

Not long ago, in the Land of Fairytales, lived Mother duck with her seven ducklings. They lived in a pond surrounded by green grass and wildflowers, near Fable Field, where Loki, the unicorn, lived. One morning, when Loki strolled by the pond, one little duckling looked very sad as he waded alone near the bank. "What's wrong, my little duckling friend?" Loki asked. "I want to run away from home," the little duckling answered. “The Land of Fairytales is the best home I’ve ever had. Why do you want to run away?” Loki asked. “My s...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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God had a better plan

Submitted to Contest #170

Soleil had a good life growing up. She had dreams of having the perfect husband, two children, and a house with a white picket fence. She was a cheerleader, she had a good family and she was popular. Soleil also had plans to complete high school, go to college and become a professor. However during her senior year she got pregnant and had a baby boy after high school. With the help of her mom, Zarina, Soleil was able to go on to college. She was living her best life in college and things were going as planned until she went through a bad rel...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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(Almost) Home for the Holidays

Submitted to Contest #170

TW: death.When she’d left for her trip, they had been fighting. It hadn't been a big fight, but they'd been irritated with each other. Her more with him.He always did this. Whenever the holidays came around, it was like some big surprise that her parents would want them to spend the holidays with them. And now that they had little Zia, the ask had become more of a beg. But with her parents being several states away, that meant traveling a small bit to get to them, which seemed to complicate things. At least for Jerry. Every year, bookin...

14 likes 19 comments 19
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