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People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.

Posted in Mystery on Apr 5, 2024

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✍️ 41 stories

Too-Cute Eclipse

Submitted to Contest #245

Too-Cute EclipseRussell paced. Held the phone close to his face. Pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes as he felt the tension rise.“He's a grown man. He'll be alright. I'll do what I can but it could take all night.”“.............”“I know, I know, I KNOW. I can't be there, you know.”“..............”“I have a job. I have a life. I can't drop everything.”“.............”“I'll talk to him. It's all I can do. I'm too far away.”“.............”“What's that you say?”“.............. ..................... ..................... .................

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A Silent Night at Last

Submitted to Contest #245

Knock, knockHello, are you awake? May I come in?Yes, sorry, shhh…I know. I’ll speak quietly. I promise I won’t wake the baby. He’s a tiny thing, isn’t he?I, um, well, I traveled a long way to be here. I’m glad I didn’t miss it. The star, you know. It gave it away. Been watching that star now for weeks, since it appeared in the east. Well, OK, Melchior has. He hogs the telescope, but you know it’s so bright now we don’t need to use a telescope anymore, so I’ve been watching it every night.Oh, here, this is for you. I know, I know, it’s not mu...

28 likes 27 comments 27
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BROMO ECLIPSE

Submitted to Contest #245

**The Banters are back and Martha’s not happy about that eclipse!**Martha, is something wrong? You seem really out of it tonight. Did I upset you in some way that I don’t know about?No, Matthew. It’s not you…Phew. Glad to hear that. It usually is me. Well, since I’m lousy at reading minds, especially yours, what’s up?Oh I’m just BROMO today.BROMO? You need a Bromo? I’m not sure we have any. Want me to check?No Matthew. You’re thinking of Bromo Seltzer and it hasn’t been available in the US since 1975 because one of the ingredients was consid...

21 likes 26 comments 26
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BONES

Submitted to Contest #245

Flush-cheeked, gravid Rebecca Bradford extended her right arm behind her, swatting at the air, reaching for something to support her bulging body while cradling her sacred vessel with her left. With a relay of faith, she shut her eyes and fell back onto the plush sofa. Her husband, Tom, shouted, “TIMBER!” Just before she landed. The impact caused a tuft of air to poof him off the cushions a meter while Rebecca sank onto the sofa like a submerged submarine. She grimaced and rolled her eyes at his time-insensitive joke. Tom then swooped down a...

19 likes 7 comments 7
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The Fading Light

Submitted to Contest #245

Dylan had been walking steadily uphill for what felt like days. It had, in fact, been 3 hours and 37 minutes, a climb he’d completed many times in his life.He was lost.Or simply exhausted, he couldn’t tell anymore. Nothing around him made sense, he had started to notice this feeling come over him more often on his hikes. Since turning 50 his mind couldn’t keep up with his body and the exhaustion would go straight to his head. He had lived in these hills his whole life, losing his way wasn’t something Dylan did, but now as he looked up throug...

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Moon Eyes

Submitted to Contest #245

Moon Eyes Mark gathered his equipment excitedly into.his leather bag, while his partner,  Andrea, grabbed the laptops, the telescope and other equipment and loaded the van. Both Mark and Andrea were grad students who had apparently stumbled upon something significant during their tracking duties at the observatory.  Unfortunately, when they reported the data to their supervisor, their conclusions were dismissed and they were reassigned to another project.  Mark was ready to let it go, but Andrea was far more headstrong and e...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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A Tale of Two Realities

Submitted to Contest #245

In the hushed murmurs of a sleepy East Texas town, authors gathered, eyes skyward, as the celestial dance between the Devil Comet and a once-in-a-lifetime total eclipse promised to grace their corner of the world.Their expectations included a short duration of four minutes and twenty seconds where darkness enveloped them, followed by a day brimming with the exchange of captivating stories among their kindred tribe.A feeling of unease engulfed Clyde, sending a cold shiver down his spine, foreshadowing that the day would deviate significantly ...

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Emerald Nightfall

Submitted to Contest #245

You can tell when it's coming.  Sunset brings on a strange vibration even that the sylvan creatures feel.  The birds change the mood of their twilight songs to a more somber melody.  We hillfolk know all the signs of this rare phenomenon that is coming at night fall when the clouds float like ancient spirits and a wave of rich emerald bathes the rocky landscape.   It is the night of their return and woe to those who do not heed the coming of the Emerald Nightfall.  Some of the creatures start to howl or screech ...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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The Night of the Red Falling

Submitted to Contest #245

Blood Falls are a natural phenomenon that normally occurs in very cold places such as Antarctica. But there is one Blood Fall on a mountain in Central Europe that starts flowing only once a century, when the amount of salt in water is increased by a factor of one hundred so that the melting point of ice is lower which allows water to flow even when it’s below 0 °C. People know the scientific story behind the Blood Fall and that it is iron that gives it its signature colour. What they cannot explain, however, is how it comes to that sali...

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The Night the Sky Fell

Submitted to Contest #245

CharlotteWhen Charlotte was 11 years old, she met a boy named Jimmy by the lake. Jimmy had blond hair and blue eyes, and a smile that was as bright as the sun. He was carrying a stick with a fishing line and a hook attached to it. It was not a fishing rod, as those were expensive, for the families who owned the boats docked by the larger lake over in town. The big lake people lived here year round, had winterized homes and generators for the months where the entire town was buried underneath three feet of snow. The people at Smoke Rise Campg...

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Don’t Look

Submitted to Contest #245

“I say there’s nothing dangerous about it... can’t be worse than looking into the sun. All that happens when you do that is you get a little burn and some eye floaters.” The two boys sat outside Kenny’s house. They reclined in lawn chairs, seated around a crackling bonfire. Kenny took a drag from his cigarette. He squinted at Bobby, who’d brought forth this new strand of conversation. “You sayin’ lookin’ at the eclipse can’t be worse than lookin’ at the sun?” Bobby took a gulp from his beer can—one of the six that Kenny had taken from his pa...

12 likes 3 comments 3
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The Grave Diggers' Karma

Submitted to Contest #245

Warning: Contains mention of a death.Archie Duchesne irritated the shit out of me and probably did so to every person he met. And true to form, his body turned up during the biggest event our little horticulture group had ever hosted, thus grabbing the attention that should have gone to our greatest achievement.Our group’s unique hybrid Corpse Flower was blooming. The Grave Diggers, as we called ourselves, had been cultivating this strain for nearly a century. Not the current members, of course, but our group had been breeding these delightf...

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A Family Tradition in the Sky

Submitted to Contest #245

Ralph’s grandfather Jack had long been his hero. More than anything else, he liked to hear of his grandfather’s research when he was at university. Before he retired, Jack had been a high school science teacher, and his area of greatest interest had been astronomy. It still was. His literally stellar research essay that had earned him his Bachelor of Science and the enduring respect of his professors at university, had been on the subject of astronomy, with an emphasis on comets. Grandfather Jack had a special relationshi...

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The Legends of Maclaughlin Lake

Submitted to Contest #245

As the big day approached, excitement about the pending total eclipse of the sun was building. It was early April, and several of our neighbors were heading South to get closer to the path where the moon would be directly between the Earth and the sun. That was not in my mom and stepdad’s plans, however. Nolly and Rob headed North to MacLaughlin Lake, where our family-owned cabin was located. It was time to de-winterize the cabin and get it ready for the beginning of fishing season. MacLaughlin Lake has been in the family for nearly one...

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The Incident

Submitted to Contest #245

Oakvale was the type of town in the middle of nowhere with a church on every corner and a cracking main street filled with potholes. The type of town where everybody knew their neighbor and their neighbor knew everybody. And it was all I had known for the first eighteen years of my life. Up until after the incident.It started as a cold spring morning: the air hung crisp, and soft tendrils of mist wove through slumbering trees. The glass of the passenger seat window cooled the flush of my cheek. My fever was finally waning—for the past f...

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