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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Start your story with a character staring at a picture they don’t remember taking.

Posted in Mystery on Mar 29, 2024

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✍️ 72 stories

“SHADOWS OF MEMORY: THE PICTURE OF ME” by Darvico Ulmeli

Submitted to Contest #244

Rarely do I allow myself the opportunity to journey back into the labyrinthine corridors of my childhood. Memories lurk like sharp-edged shadows, threatening to pierce the fragile armor encasing my heart. The mere whisper of that propels me into an abyss of raw vulnerability, my senses inundated with the echoes of bygone sorrows. Have my tear-stained trials over the years been enough, staining the canvas of my existence with the remnants of unshed grief? Haven’t I cried all the tears? How much more do I need to endure?Childhood—a realm meant...

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“The Photograph” by Edd Baker

Submitted to Contest #244

CW: Language and some sexualityThe Seattle rain and ashen clouds that had accosted the rainy city denizens the past three days had finally let up, like the story of Noah a dove landing on Dan Porter's penthouse window ledge as if beckoning that the storm was over. Sunlight streamed in like flood water, and there was no need to turn on light as the bedroom was fully illuminated.It was a Monday, which Dan much like everybody else despised, but he would be remiss to not admit the improved weather hoisted his usual dower mood a bit. He looked ov...

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“Forgotten Photo” by Claire Donnelly

Submitted to Contest #244

“This is it?” asks Donald.   With a deep sigh, Julia responded, “Yep, that’s it. I won $20,000 on top of it being put up on the billboard. It should only run for a couple of weeks. It was just a marketing scheme to draw attention to the gallery I guess.”   “And you don’t remember entering the contest?”   “Donald, I don’t even remember taking it.”  The couple stood 12 stories below the newest advertisement for the City’s art gallery, staring at it inquisitively. Both searched every aspect of the contorted pi...

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“A Royal Photographer” by Luv Lubker

Submitted to Contest #244

Livadia, Crimea, October 1874 “Here it is!” Affie took his fiancée’s hand as he found the picture he had been searching for. It was a picture he had taken nearly ten years ago, during a passing visit to his sister. There had been nothing about that visit to make it particularly memorable, and yet now, the picture meant so much. He could not take his eyes off the face which appeared next to his own so very youthful one – the same sweet face which was now so very close to his. Marie bent over the album to study the picture as well, her cheek b...

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“Sea of Life” by Laura Dvoran

Submitted to Contest #244

Today started like any other day, except there was something that continued to bother me. I was Spring cleaning my bedroom and came across an old photo album taken years ago, and I zeroed in on one particular photo I don't recall taking.It showed a picture of me standing in front of the ocean which I have never in my life visited and the views were amazing. The sky overhead was the most vivid blue I have ever seen along with a few puffy clouds in addition to the glorious color of the sea which seemed almost an aqua marine in color. The magni...

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“The Sandor Effect” by Dr. Stephen A Salaka

Submitted to Contest #244

The world tilts with every throb of my pulse, a discordant beat against the maddening silence. The Sandor Effect – a delusion spawned in the suffocating darkness of my workroom, or the first tremor before reality itself shatters? Truth, an intoxicating poison, burns my throat even as I crave another taste. Old friends, family... their voices recede, blurred murmurs lost to the relentless drumbeat of unanswered questions. What is the cost of knowing? My sanity? My life? Worth isn't found in the soft cage of comfort; it's forged in the crucibl...

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“Forgot but not Forgiven” by Kathy Frizzell

Submitted to Contest #244

Plot, the clue causes the discovery and execution of an assigned task, which entails the destruction of a photograph, whose capture he has no memory of. In probable friendship, between a Griffin and a Blood-Hunter. The event is set in motion by a scandalous incident involving “Crowley” and “Dusty.”Oh, and there’s a unexpected turn of events! “Rusty,” a twin, will have a major part in the story’s development.Note: A twin, named Rusty, {Lamassu,} traits are: mature, intelligent willed, mysterious, proud, jealous, Cold-Hearted, and brave. The s...

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“REMEMBERING BELLA” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #244

I stare at this picture constantly. Day after day. Night after night trying to remember who the girl in the picture is. I'm the girl in the blue dress or so I'm told. The girl in the red dress I don't recognize. I don't remember this picture at all. I don't remember taking this picture. Memories are a dime a dozen. One in a million. More precious than gold. Everyone in the world remembers who they are, their families and their friends. They remember their childhood. All those memories are right there in their heads. My memories come in flash...

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“In a Parallel Universe it Was Meant to Be” by Stephen Laviera

Submitted to Contest #244

In the story goes over a a miscarriage. Apologies to the reader if this upsets you.All the feelings, of all the memories began flowing at once from the scent of Brooklyn, my home. I cut across the street as one. To the other side of 21st. As I stepped back onto the sidewalk I felt my energy shift. Looking to my left I realized. I was at the front entrance to The Fiesta Building. Where I grew up. Hearing the wind come up through the tunnel to the back. Speechless as the memories calmed my eye site. Eddy holding the door open. While he, m...

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“Down memory lane” by Paul Simpkin

Submitted to Contest #244

I couldn’t remember taking this particular photo but I must have done. I suppose it was about 50 years old. This all came about when I was clearing out a cardboard box of old school stuff under my bed. I had been meaning to do this for ages but had kept putting it off. The dusty old box was full of school reports, exercise books, programmes from school plays and a few photos.The photo was black and white. I suppose you could say that it was a sort of selfie. Nowadays we have mobile phones and you can easily take a proper selfie but then you ...

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“The picture from the past” by Sissi Tursi

Submitted to Contest #244

On this hot, salty and boring night, with the lapping of the waves in the background, a light breeze and an echo of motorbikes like a distant hum, the indecent and uselessly romantic moonlight is absurdly guilty of finding me alone, sitting on the floor on the cold tiles of the terrace of the one that was once my parents' house.With my eyes burning and the cigarette doing the same between my fingers, regardless of the beauty that surrounds me, I browse without curiosity through the stories of acquaintances on Instagram and a familiar image s...

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“Bonfire” by Bri Heron

Submitted to Contest #244

When was this? I stared at the blurry photo of myself, sitting next to Andy in a sticky booth in a bar I’ve been to a thousand times. Why don’t I remember this? Could’ve been drunk based on how many empty beer cans were on the table but why do I not remember Andy either?  Flash forward to the beginning of the night… I didn’t even want to go to this bonfire tonight. Not sure why though. I wasn’t feeling particularly antisocial or anything, and despite the long week I wasn’t necessarily tired, but something in my bones told me I shouldn’t...

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“Stolen Memories” by Christine Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #244

Leaning heavily on the kitchen table, Emma held her phone in one hand and an icepack against her forehead with the other. Staring down at a picture of herself, arm-in-arm dancing with someone. Her eyes were drawn to this tall, dark-haired, clean-shaven and smartly dressed stranger. In the background, a party is well underway, with people dancing, drinks and lights flashing. What the hell? She flicked onto the next photo; she was sitting in the dark drinking a cocktail with the same guy. Her pulse started to beat...

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“Memories and Faded Pictures” by Porsche Jay

Submitted to Contest #244

The strange man stared at Lorraine as she shakily took the picture from his hand. His hazel eyes scared her, the hurt peeking behind the seething anger. She tried to steady her breath long enough to take her eyes off his face and look at the photo trembling in her fingers. Lorraine exhaled, lowered her eyes to study the smiling couple. She saw the strange man, his hazel eyes twinkling with love instead of swimming in hate. He was dressed in a full tuxedo with tails, his now unruly hair, freshly cut low, diamond earring shining in h...

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“Out of Focus” by Isaac Sim

Submitted to Contest #244

I stare at the photo in front of me. Clear as day, printed in film in an age where everything’s always kept on the cloud. Clearly, this photo is important to me. The woman in the centre of the frame is my wife, my beautiful, beautiful wife. Her strawberry blonde hair, smile brimming with happiness and those lovely almond eyes that faintly reflected my smitten face. I know this, but only from the context. And I need to think about this, because I can’t remember ever taking this photo. Panic and dread curl their long, gnarled fingers around my...

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