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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone who sees a black cat cross their path... for the tenth time that day.

Posted in Mystery on Nov 7, 2019

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✍️ 40 stories

“Queen Cymbeline” by Zilla Babbitt

🏆 Winner of Contest #13

The island reeked of fish; scattered guts and oozing blank eyes littered the black beaches, and the mountains smelled of bubbling, potting fish intestines. The sky was continually dark with the smoke from the fires beneath the cauldrons, and the water had a thin film of scales and oil, all in the bays and quaysides round the island. In the deepsea around the island, the fish that were still alive avoided the inlets and told tales among their young that a bloodthirsty monster lived on the isle, with a mouthful of snatching teeth poised to tak...

68 comments 68
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“A New Life” by Cam Croz

Submitted to Contest #13

I never thought that the most important day of my life would turn out like this…A trip to the store.A friend.A wig.A party.Some food.More friends.And most importantly... a cat.But before any of that, it was just me. Me, alone. In my house. --- To anybody else, It would have been just like any other day in the world, but for me, it was more than that.  For me, it was the start of a new life.  New house. New neighborhood. New school. New everything. From this point on, everything would be different. I’d never lived in such ...

7 comments 7
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“The Curse of the Black Cat” by Lily Kingston

Submitted to Contest #13

“Dude, that’s like the tenth black cat that’s crossed your path today.” Delun noted. “So, what? It doesn’t mean anything.” I replied carefree. “It’s bad luck.” “Dude, can we really not do this now? I have a hot lunch date. It’s the first time we’re meeting in person.” “Do what?” He asked innocently. I scoffed. “Last month, you were trying to convince me I had the curse of Egypt and released several dozen pounds of locus in my house. And now, a black cat curse. Why are you switching it up now?” “It’s spŏŏky season.” “Come on, Delun. You don’t...

1 comment 1
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“A black cat in a dark room” by Agathe Burrier

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #13

It was a slender, graceful animal, with large green eyes and a small pink tongue in its triangular-shaped face. It was grooming itself when I turned the corner, delivering soft, measured licks onto its shining fur. But none of that mattered: it was a cat, and it was black. That only was important.I do not believe in coincidences. Right as I was making my way past him, the cat got up and crossed my path, all smooth motion and unstoppable omen of the providence. It did not even trouble me that much; sometimes bad luck is just that, a black cat...

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“One Time Too Many” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #13

“It just happened again.” I look up from the delivery schedule I’m studying and glance at my coworker. “What?” Josh stares back at me, a frown wrinkling his brow. “I saw another cat. Another black one.” He gestures out through the windshield of the truck. “Scampered across the street right in front of me as I was coming back from the drop-off.” I glance in the indicated direction, but all I can see is the rain, sheeting down out of an overcast sky, coming down so hard that it nearly hides the building that line the street. “Okay. And that’s ...

2 comments 2
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“Coincidence?” by Sue M

Submitted to Contest #13

Coincidence? All I heard was, “… going to die…”Beads of sweat erupted and slowly trickled down my body. All I could see was a coffin being lowered into the ground and a cardinal watching from his perch in a maple tree. As I stood up, the doctor handed me an envelope before I could escape into what was left of the afternoon. It was August 17th, two weeks before my 36th birthday. I didn’t even know if I was going to make it that long. Either way, I had a lot to think about, so I tucked the envelope into my back pocket and hustled dow...

4 comments 4
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“Fear” by Mushroom (flammulina Velutipes)

Submitted to Contest #13

You could call me superstitious, but you’d only be half right. Certainly I believe that broken mirrors and umbrellas indoors and crossing under ladders and black cats causes bad luck, just like four leaf clovers and burning incense and rabbit’s feet causes good luck. And yet, it isn’t the actual thing that causes it. It’s the symbolism of it. So yes, I’m superstitious, but for good reason. ~ Fear is a powerful fuel. Fear of death keeps us constantly building a legacy so we can survive in people’s memories. Fear of pain keeps us from tak...

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“Black Feline” by AL Paradiso

Submitted to Contest #13

It always gets worse, or at least more frequent, on Halloween. It began twenty years ago, just before the first anniversary of her passing on 11/3/1998. I was with her for her last breath. She used the last of her strength to make her way to me and lied down at my feet. That was the last time she put her trust in me instead of finding shelter to die, just as her mom did five years earlier. She routinely trusted me above all others and above her own natural instincts. What was different, was that she growled at me for the first time in her ...

5 comments 5
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“A Pinch Into Reality” by Cool Creations

Submitted to Contest #13

A Pinch Into Reality                 The world is spinning. I can’t think. I can’t see. I can’t breathe. I’m cold. I’m hot. Or maybe somewhere in-between.  I gulp for air, yet nothing comes. I panic and try again and again. Breath. Nothing. Breath. Nothing. I close my eyes and wait. I wait for a sign that it’s ok. That I’m ok. That the world is ok. That I can think, and breath. Feel a sense of consolation. When my eyes open again, I see a black cat with...

3 comments 3
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“The Cat Came Back” by Debra Caples

Submitted to Contest #13

Bittie had always loved animals. She’d grown up on a farm in Kansas with cows, goats, a mule, rabbits. There’d been lots of dogs and lots of barn cats during her growing up. Years back, in her second hometown of Pawkuntsy, Ohio, she’d taken a puppy to the vet after it was hit by a car. Not able to afford to have it fixed up, she’d had it put down. Days later she’d gotten a thank you note from her office and an invitation to make her the first stop for veterinarian needs. Enclosed had been a sweet poem about The Rainbow Bridge, where you meet...

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“George's Lucky Night” by Mark Newman

Submitted to Contest #13

George came to work at the lab. He was very nervous for a number of reasons. First it was his first night on the job. Second it happened to be Halloween. And if that wasn't bad enough, George was extremely superstitious.He reported to the guards control room. He met his supervisor. And he was assigned to Rebecca, a seasoned and heavy set woman. She grinned at him. And cracked her knuckles in her fist as if she were imagining crushing his head. But George was fearful for a completely different reason. Rebecca was wearing a brooch with a symbo...

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“Anomaly, Utah” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #13

ANOMALY, UTAHBy Andrew Paul GrellBy this point in her marriage to Jacob, Cordelia Rigdon knew enough not to wish her husband good luck as he got ready for work on this busiest of days for him. There were the lectures on why actors tell each other to ‘break a leg,’ why the French say, ‘step in shit,’ and why the Jews warn against Ayin Ha Rah, the evil eye:“Darling, love of my life, I make my living because people believe in bad luck ten times stronger than they believe in good luck,” was a typical conclusion to a lecture, which may have ...

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“A misfortune becomes fortune” by Nameera Sheikh

Submitted to Contest #13

This is a story about a person named Mrs. Hem and her husband Mr. Hem who used to live with their 2 children in a village named Clinton . The people of Clinton are very superstitious and ardent believer of hallucination and they are guided in all these stuffs by the village pastor. Mrs hem is no exception among them , even she is above them in all these things. The couple used to earn their livelihood by selling dairy products and milk obtained from their 3 cows. The couple aspires to own a barn along with 15- 20 cows. And for that they are...

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“Black Cat and Hattie” by Michelle Cook

Submitted to Contest #13

Hattie Jacques, they’d called her at school. After a fat, olden days actress. “Can you touch your toes, Hattie?” The skinny, mean girls would say.“Can you see your toes?” Jenna was the skinniest and meanest of the gang. Her sharp fingers were made for slapping faces.Hattie wasn’t that fat. Still, her thighs wobbled too much as she ambled towards the campus bus stop through the autumn drizzle.She’d planned to leave it all behind when she moved to Fulchester College. Granted, it was a twenty-mile commute on two stinky buses, but it was a ...

1 comment 1
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“THE REAPER” by Varun Balodi

Submitted to Contest #13

It was the cat again. It was the door first and then when he was climbing the bus, and over and over, he had been seeing it everywhere he went. This was the tenth time that the cat had appeared. Stephen did not believe in superstitions or the paranormal, but this was creeping him out. Every time that he saw the black cat, his heart skipped a beat.It had green eyes, and a dark black fur, coating her skin.Stephen was in the cafe right now. And the black cat...was sitting beside thedoor, staring at him. Uncomfortably, Stephen left a five-dollar...

0 comments 0
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Ended on 23:59 - Nov 01, 2019 EST

Won by Zilla Babbitt 🏆

Title: Queen Cymbeline

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