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Write about someone losing their lucky charm.

Posted in Mystery on Jan 6, 2023

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✍️ 24 stories

For Ruby

Shortlisted for Contest #180 ⭐️

If you are reading this, then you must want to know what happened. I’ll try to explain, so you can understand.This is a story which could have gone many ways, but it went this way.It began at a house. The house was very beautiful. It was large and white and had pillars either side of the front door, more like some monument than a home. There were strings of lights hanging from the trees, moons in a moonless night.I stood with Isabella at the end of the driveway, which was wide and long and edged with squared off hedges. I’d never been inside...

40 likes 32 comments 32
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Lucky

Submitted to Contest #180

Bogart was sure this was the Sherwood Crime Family. They were known for making these sorts of statements. Then again, the Sherwoods now had an honest thing going with their frozen yogurt stands, and nobody had attached a felony to them in over nine years. Ah, but old habits die hard. Bogart’s mother, Tibbity (may she rest in peace), always told him that a wronged skunk never forgets. A raccoon, maybe, because eventually they’d want to get back to their trash, but a skunk? Nah, you ticked off a skunk and you were going to smell that odor arou...

38 likes 23 comments 23
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3AM

Submitted to Contest #180

Love has more trials than tunnels on an ant farm. An emotion so pure, like a nerve sworn to cause no harm. An enclosure of the unknown. Fear of separation is a pain like a broken bone. No visions of us killing joy like a pulled-out tooth. Minds can't be tamed, just altered as we evolve away from youth. I'm more sorry than I am satisfied with life. Hating myself to death, crying all night. Listening to the chirping of the birds but forgetting where I live. Kindness is death if you tap da wrong bitch. Shattered and lost. Devotion took off....

29 likes 12 comments 12
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Supermoon

Shortlisted for Contest #180 ⭐️

“So in a weird way the pandemic made me realize that, like, I should be in social media marketing instead of nursing.” “Yeah, totally,” said Charles, his hand fidgeting in spasms in his pocket.  “Once I was out of lockdown, I wanted to go right to the middle of it all - New York, you know.”  Jenn took a sip of her rosé and hummed softly, looking around at the flowers and purple wallpaper appreciatively.  “Hm, this place is so cute. How’d you pick it?” “I’ve brought some other friends here,” Charles said; his mind bla...

27 likes 6 comments 6
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The Visitor

Shortlisted for Contest #180 ⭐️

The owl was dead on the balcony. A thick cloud of fog had settled over the estate, and between the drops of rain, Lionel could see the cluster of white and brown feathers being flattened, wet and lifeless, to the marble. His heart beat dully in his chest, what felt like an eternity between thumps.  There was no wind, no gusts or breezes to ruffle the creature’s wings or feathers and create the illusion of life. No, the beautiful barn owl with countless shades of red and brown and white with large, deep black eyes Lionel had come to lo...

19 likes 4 comments 4
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A Series of Unfortunate Events

Submitted to Contest #180

It was approximately 9:00 pm when I finally pulled into my driveway after a long day of work and dinner with my coworkers. Today had been a good day. It was nice to go out and to top it off, my project that I had been working on for over five weeks was ready to present. I sat in the car for a few moments holding my keys in hand. As I was thinking about the day’s events, I gazed at the white rabbit’s foot my sister had given to me a few years ago. The keychain showed many signs of wear and tear, but I had always felt like it was my good luc...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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STOP ROCKIN' THE DICE

Submitted to Contest #180

** WARNING: Story contains alcohol abuse and profanity. *** * *Ralston Casperelli rolled heavily, flounced really, onto his side with a groan, becoming even more entangled in his sweaty sheets. Within seconds it was clear that was a mistake.  The room not only began to spin, it ping-ponged around in his head as if searching for a way out. He rolled back to his hot spot, becoming dislodged from what sheet cover he’d barely managed the first time. Now he was completely without cover but neither cared nor dared do a thi...

16 likes 16 comments 16
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My luck—it's running out!

Submitted to Contest #180

I lost my lucky charm last night. Well, technically, I didn’t lose it… it was taken from me. But I’m a man who believes in accountability, and if I allowed someone to take my lucky charm, then I really actually lost it, didn't I? It makes me cringe just thinking about it. Things were going so well! I’d been standing, far more relaxed than those around me, beside the roulette table. I mean, what better way to test your luck than on one of the most luck-based activities around, right?...

16 likes 9 comments 9
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Circling the Drain

Submitted to Contest #180

My normal morning shower took on an unordinary significance with a quickness when the typewriter charm on my necklace fell off the chain, circled the drain and then went down it before I could do so much as a thing. I heard a subtle but simultaneously deafening ping as it landed on the glazed porcelain tiles, looked down in just enough time to see it disappear. “Well, I really hope that’s not going to be a sign for something,” I thought, knowing there was no way I was going to get it back, even though I did squat down, nude, in a basebal...

15 likes 2 comments 2
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Grandmother's Amulet

Submitted to Contest #180

Rufus sat at the long table - already decorated for the holy day with dim candles and a few pewter statues of possums laboring - and stared down at his plate of roast vegetables and nuts. He knew that this was the moment he had been waiting for: the moment he could finally share his dream with his family. He took in a breath and tapped his glass goblet. "I know you all think I'm crazy," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "But I want to be an adventurer.” There were murmurs and sighs, but Rufus continued. “I want to see the world and ...

15 likes 0 comments 0
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Luck or Lore?

Submitted to Contest #180

I sat teetering on a thick phone book, the booster chairs of the fifties at my Grandma's kitchen table while Mom and Grandma sorted through a dusty old hat box. As I drank milk and ate a cookie, Grandma pulled something from the box and placed it in front of me. I was so horrified that I jumped and ended up shooting milk from my nose and spilling the rest up the sleeve of my dress and onto the table. Mom sprang up and saved me from sliding off the phone book. My cookie fell, and Spam, Grandma's dog of many colors, caught it. "What w...

15 likes 9 comments 9
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The Apocalypse Charm

Submitted to Contest #180

The door to the tavern bursts open. BOOM!  Every manner of creature and human or half-breed alike fixated on the source. My name is Ushor, and my life will never be the same. "Have you seen him?" says an upset young nixie. Oh, she was beautiful. I'd never seen someone so elegantly concerned as if the world was going to end yet not look like hell froze over. Of course, I'd never seen a nixie either on account that they kept to themselves and rarely were ever seen in towns or villages. Nixies weren't a favorable term but a slur for t...

14 likes 1 comment 1
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Bob, Warren, and the Rabbit's Foot

Submitted to Contest #180

            BOB, WARREN, AND THE RABBIT’S FOOTWarren came through the door of his apartment like a man on a mission. He threw his keys on the hall table and stomped across the room to his office chair. Disgusted, he slammed his briefcase on the desk and kicked off his brown laced shoes, then held his head in both hands.“What have I done with you, what have I done!”Bob, Warren’s Maine Coon cat sauntered over and sat across from Warren on the arm of the living room couch.&nb...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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The Game is a Foot

Submitted to Contest #180

The Game is a Foot    By Laura McCluskey , Jan. 8, 2023      Harvey was born to hop. Due to an unavoidable birth defect, he only had one foot. So, he hopped. Everywhere. He hopped to the school, he hopped to the store, he hopped to the park, he hopped to his grandmothers and even hopped to his doctor appointments. Arriving at Dr. W.R. Iamlate's office, Harvey was always greeted with the same salutation.     "Good day, Master Harvey! Is this the day you will opt for a cane and stop...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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The City of Ambition

Submitted to Contest #180

*Warning: Swearing, Sexual Theme, & Physical Violence* Forgive me if this is not tagged correctly, this is my first time posting ------------------------ “Panda! Where is that girl?!” Even without being in the studio, I can hear the director’s shouting from inside. My friend shakes her head, looking directly at me. “Hell of a time to get stage fright, kid. This interview means everything to us. He’s not going to be happy,” my friend, Bella, says. Inside that studio, I know that Jameson and the rest of the corporate spies sit in ...

14 likes 1 comment 1
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