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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write your story from the perspective of an outsider watching something or someone change.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 45 stories

“Social Pariah ” by Kaylee Aleece

Submitted to Contest #118

The line outside the luxurious country club is long, but thankfully I am only a few people away from the intimidating bouncers. They hold foreboding clipboards with lists of appropriate names. I have waited ten minutes to get to this point. The trio of older women in front of me are complaining of wasting time, but I use the time to prepare myself mentally. I rehearse my story. I am running through my lines as if the card is in my hands. My name is Lilly Summers. I know he is in there. In my deepest heart of hearts, with every inch of my sou...

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“When the leaf falls” by Eva Aliss

Submitted to Contest #118

From above I watch, I long to be holding her. Touching her. How it pains me to see her break down, crying in the bathroom and ripping up her food in the cafeteria. Next week marks a year since I passed away and my granddaughter Lizzie is in agony. I can’t help myself but blame myself for the sleepless nights and the awful bursts of anger. Everything piles onto of everything else and it’s suffocating me, and her. Lizzie: I gaze out the window at the eruption of vibrant colours that present themselves. Fall is my favourite; it always ...

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“A Hard Pill to Swallow ” by Adaeze Nkwocha

Submitted to Contest #118

Trigger warning: allusions to sexual assault, kidnapping, muggingDon’t shoot the messenger, it wasn’t my idea to begin with. I was forced to go along on the ride but I admit it wasn’t our first go-around. We had done this plenty of times before with a lot more unsuspecting people. So in a way, she can’t really blame herself. She was forced into this game just like I was. It didn’t always start out this way. The four us use to be real cool. We would hang out all day and have dreams of the life we wanted, visions of the future. I guess those d...

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“This is Lame” by Daniel Roueche

Submitted to Contest #118

“What’s this about? I ask Shawn.“I can’t explain. Just follow me,” he says. We walk out to the alley behind my dad’s restaurant. It smells like grease and rotten vegetables and cat feces. A pleasant combination.“But why out here?” I complain.“We need privacy.”“We could literally go anywhere else.” “Will you stop? We’re already here. Deal with it,” he says. “I promise it’ll be worth it.” I sigh. This is typical Shawn behavior. Overly excited about everything. I’m almost positive it won’t be worth it. Shawn has a way of aggrandizing ...

3 comments 3
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“Thalassophobia” by Raihan Kibria

Submitted to Contest #118

Carter held his wife’s hand and gently pulled her across the beach towards the incoming waves. The tropical sun was shining brightly, and the sea’s soothing sounds filled the air. Her skin, already pale from too much time spent indoors, was now stark white from the thick layer of sunscreen she’d applied. "That’s it, slow and steady. We don’t need to go far today, just wet your feet a little bit," he said. Gracie gave a tiny, quiet whimper but followed along. "Does it get deeper quickly?" she said with her eyes fixed on the gently lapping wav...

3 comments 3
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“The Unexpected Fugitive” by John Brannon

Submitted to Contest #118

The setting sun shining through the shop window causes William to squint. He is standing in line, shifting uncomfortably from one foot and then the other foot. William did not usually patronize coffee shops, but he was desperate.  He desperately needed a wifi connection.  The shop was surprisingly crowded. William sniffed and dabbed his nose with a napkin. His small gesture turned heads and brought all the conversations around him to a stop for a split second, but the ebb and flow immediately returned. The card scann...

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“I Will Remember You” by Dell Bell

Submitted to Contest #118

(CW: Language) Mama was crying. Everyone was crying. Outside was loud but inside was louder. It sounded like the movies Sister used to watch during Halloween. Yelling and sobbing and trembling. All the types of sadness.  No one moved from their homes on the ground. I guess they thought if they got up they’d be back outside. We all just huddled there in little bundles, shivering to the beat of grief.  I tried to look around more, to see if I could find anyone I knew, to see if I could find Father and Sister, but Mama pushed me...

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“Rat Poison” by Harlow Jones

Submitted to Contest #118

That rat has a nose piercing. The next one has pink hair. The one crawling out of the sewer has a back tattoo of an oak tree. I hate this alley, crowded yet empty of people. I shouldn’t even be here, but I can turn back at any point. I stuff my hands into my pockets. My shoulders meet my ears, and my shoes don’t leave the ground. I slide down this shortcut, sure to make no casualties during my commute. Last year, the Free party abolished the death penalty. However, the Prudents insisted they needed a policy in its place. Five months of pris...

2 comments 2
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“The Butterfly” by Emma Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #118

       It had been five days since the incident. Five whole days and yet, it seemed as if it was yesterday. It was a quiet afternoon; I was laying on the couch and watching television with my cat. Suddenly, screaming erupted. I can still hear her screams echoing across the apartment hallway. The terrifying sobs of someone fighting for their life. The crashing of various items being thrown. She was crying out for help and asking him to stop. I looked out my window, but their blinds were shut tight. Thankfull...

4 comments 4
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“He's Not As He Appears To Be” by Janis Van Meter

Submitted to Contest #118

My name is Bella Borelli. I am a female CPA in the firm of Brady and Smith, Certified Public Accountants. I am the only female CPA in the firm. There are, however, other female employees.  I am lucky to work for two great partners. Patrick Brady and Joel Smith. Patrick is married with two children. Sadly, Joel is a recent widower. His wife, Naomi had passed away two years ago from a lengthy illness. They did not have any children. I had just recently ended up a 5-year relationship with Mike M...

2 comments 2
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“Full Moon” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #118

AnnaBella, a fifteen year old girl who has lived in Moon Falls Bay her entire life. She loves everything about Moon Falls Bay, but there is one thing that terrifies AnnaBella and the community of Moon Falls Bay and that is the legend that always comes true. Fall has begun which means the first full moon is about to come out. When this happens something terrifying lurks in the mountains of Moon Falls Bay, but the problem is nobody knows what it is and they want to keep it that way,. The people are afraid of what is out there. AnnaBella is...

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“The Wakening 'Switch'” by Dan Brady

Submitted to Contest #118

The Wakening ‘Switch’ By Dan Brady The string attached to the spine was longer than a foot. “This is the largest piece I’ve ever had to use,” Justine Donegal said as she removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her desktop, askew with scattered pieces of twine, and tiny cut-out fragments of colored paper, looked more like the result of the rage of a tiny tempest. Miniature scissors, tweezers, and a bottle of Elmer's glue leaned against the base of a fly-tying vise with a magnifying glass attached. Erin Keagan, Donegal’s new...

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“The Voiceless Song Bird” by Marcia H.

Submitted to Contest #118

The old weathered bench in the backyard of my grandmother had been there as long as I can remember. I remember playing hide and seek with my sister and cousins with me hiding under the bench curled up in a ball thinking I had become invisible and nobody could see me. I imagine that is the feeling that my mom feels now, invisible. I sat down on the bench and gazed up at the tall plum tree that was right in front of the bench. My grandmother hated that tree. She hated it mostly because the plums would fall on the ground and we would trample ov...

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“Once in a Long, Long While...” by Philip Dmitriev

Submitted to Contest #118

Raindrops pounded on the window. It was early morning. A cloudy morning.I wokeHalf asleepPitch dark… pitch darkI woke up again, but why? Oh yes, the rain woke me up. That sad rain. He's just bored in the loneliness of this gray day. A day that is no different from any other day. Sad and gloomy.Morning.I think because of the gloom that lives here with me, I can no longer see what is on the other side of the room.Is it hard for me to breathe?No, it's not hard. I was able to get up yesterday, I even managed to get through yesterday. It was like...

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“Life changing” by Guido Francisco Manzano Garcia

Submitted to Contest #118

Life ChangingAnd I cannot believe what I am seeing, since we think we will always have what we felt we earned with our actions, our words, and still, I cannot stand watching her leave.Now that I recall, I can see her changing, that lovely stare, the way I was her everything, and turned to nothing but despise.Was it as I overwhelmed with job stuff? Was it because playing my games distracted me so I would not drown myself in despair?I was there for her, when no one wanted to, I was. How can someone change so sudden? Shall I really blame her? N...

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🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with “Today’s the day I change.”

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Write about a character, animal or human, who is reborn as something totally different.

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Your character picks up a fallen leaf and can’t believe what they discover underneath it. What happens next?

Fall – 38 stories

Set your story during a sudden change of season.

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