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You thought he was dead, but there he is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you.

Posted in Mystery on Jul 15, 2021

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✍️ 411 stories

A Very, Very Dark Green

Submitted to Contest #52

“Who did you meet, Babe?”“My ex.” My fiancee replies, flashing his beautiful smile, along with the lovely dimples on his cheeks.I thought Bella died? Or he had a girlfriend after Bella?As curiosity fills me, I turn my head, trying to have a peek on whomever he is talking about. Watching my action, he lets out a chuckle. “Don’t be jealous. She already died a long time ago.”So it was Bella.---Bella was a girl that I hated.Back in high school, she had shoulder-length, wavy red hair that was beautifully paired with her dark brown eyes. I remembe...

203 likes 306 comments 306
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Hello, Weirdness, My Old Friend

Submitted to Contest #52

“Bye! Thanks for the flowers!”  The bell on the door rang cheerfully as I flung myself out of the flower shop, Flower Power. But I felt anything but cheerful. I felt sad, depressed, and frankly, a bit sorry for myself. I know, I know, self-pity is never good. But here’s the thing: People die. I knew that since I was 2. 14 years of knowing people kick the bucket some time in their life. So it’s no surprise that at one point, your best friend and mom are going to die. Here’s the other thing: your mom usually dies when you’re 5...

167 likes 76 comments 76
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Hope

Submitted to Contest #52

we seek for hope.but it died long long ago.so we knowthat it hasn’t just disappearedof its own accordnowe killed it.murdered it in cold blooddragged its lifeless bodyout of our livesand buried it under the mound of dirtthat we call life.but for some reasonwe still search for it. we still mount the podiums and tell the people who follow usthat there is a hope.right?as ifwe hadn’t killed it years ago.so now we run in circles.try to jump over the hurdlesthat were placed in our wayby the lies we told ourselves.attempt to...

149 likes 76 comments 76
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All The Things We Should Have Said

Submitted to Contest #52

The moral of the story is that you never fall for who you’re supposed to.To you, the one who took everything that was once mine, the one I’m still learning to forgive.People want to be good, but the world we live in won’t let them. You were the one who taught me that. You told me to learn to give people second chances because everyone deserved to feel loved.You called me a pathological liar once. You were right; I am but, so are you.You taught me that family is the most important thing but, I didn’t understand that until I didn’t have you gu...

135 likes 46 comments 46
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Pretty Lies

Submitted to Contest #52

Hear that? It's the sound of a breaking heart.I stare at my phone and my eyes burn with tears as I read his text.haha yea i was with her last night...srry bout that I don't even care anymore, right? Tears stain my cheeks and redness spreads through my face. Automatically, I get my answer. I do care.He could have been anywhere else but he chose&n...

114 likes 55 comments 55
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Separate Neighborhoods

Submitted to Contest #52

August 15th, Wednesday9:45 PM1923You lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Your mind flashes back to Bakari, as the burly white men drag him down the dark road. Tears slide down your pale cheeks, remembering how he cried out your name in his husky voice. *****“Are you sure nobody will see us here?” You asked Bakari after you had walked up to him. He didn’t respond.   For days, both of you had met up in the same place: a graveyard. The stones on the graves looked like they would tip over at any moment if a gentle breeze...

103 likes 129 comments 129
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In The Weeds

Submitted to Contest #52

'One of the hardest things you will ever have to do, my dear, is to grieve the loss of a person who is still alive.’- Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle ☉I thought you were dead. This the first thought that crosses my mind when I catch sight of you crossing the street with your head bowed from an invisible weight of a gilded crown and a rubbery smile that stretches all the way from here to India. You’re supposed to be dead, aren’t you?I almost didn’t see you at first. It’s too dark out, and it’s easy for me to trap myself in the four cor...

94 likes 79 comments 79
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Chased by an Unavoidable Face

Submitted to Contest #52

You would think that crying myself to sleep almost every night this past year because I feel utterly lonely would make me question my way of doing things. Alas, I am still as stubborn as I was many years ago when my mother pointed out that I was going to, one day, be where I am today. But where am I, exactly? Why do I so often feel like I am being misconceived and mistreated? Might it be that I am not as good of a person as I think I am? I am no saint and never have been one. However, does that give consent to all my past mistakes to retalia...

92 likes 59 comments 59
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In The Walls

Submitted to Contest #52

Note: I know the prompt mentions we have to meet the guy in the street but we’re not telling anybody that I cheated and put him in the walls instead. Don’t ask, just read. The hidden eyes and hidden faces of his past haunted him far beyond the painted walls of a place some would call his “sanctuary.” Others would call it the place of his awakening. Some would give it the simplistic name of a house, a home. But it was known to him as a living hell. Right after his parents tragically passed in a hit and run biking accident, Gerald found his ...

71 likes 26 comments 26
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Complete

Submitted to Contest #52

"Gray! Over here!"I whipped around to find Rose calling out to me. I smiled. She was the best sister I could have ever asked for."You have been a completely different person ever since you started college. You know that, don't you?" I laughed. She skipped towards me by the lockers."I only know that I am the sole genius existing in this world," she said childishly, turning up her nose. I shook my head. "Yeah, milady. Now, if Her Highness is done with her self-praise speech, may she please notice that this servant of hers is starving?"She deli...

71 likes 12 comments 12
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Five Stages

Submitted to Contest #52

The first time you see him, you’re on your way to his funeral. Your black car, driven by someone you don’t know, follows the hearse, which is driven by someone else you don’t know. One thing you’ve found in the last few weeks is that there are a lot of new people to interact with in a time where you have never wanted anything more than to be left alone. He is standing on the corner, on the last turn before the cemetery. He looks the way he did when you last saw him, when you had to identify his body. His limbs are at the wrong angle, ba...

70 likes 72 comments 72
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Funerals, Fakery, And Fish n’ Chips

Submitted to Contest #52

There is silence, punctuated only by the sounds of people crying. Samuel is gone, and there is nobody left now to hug me. I look down to see that Sam’s mother has gripped my wrist in one hand, and is silently sobbing into a handkerchief. I squeeze her hand, but how can I comfort anyone when I feel so lost?During the funeral, I stare aimlessly at the ground as I process what had happened twelve days ago. Twelve days earlier:“Excuse me,” says a woman in the restaurant, “is this seat taken?”“Yes, it is,” I say immediately, placing my hand ...

68 likes 51 comments 51
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Here's to Julian

Submitted to Contest #52

are you deadare you deaddid you fall and hit your headare you deadare you deadcan you never leave your bedare you deadare you deaddid you hear what I just saidor are your eyelids brokenare your toenails rottingare youdeaddeaddeadNeedless to say, the teacher did not appreciate my song. In fact, she didn't like it so much that she picked her whole desk up, stepped towards me, threw the desk out our fourth story classroom window and said, "Get out."I said, "Will I be dead, dead, dead if I don't?"And she promptly threw an eraser at me. It bounce...

66 likes 29 comments 29
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Who Killed Sally Evans?

Submitted to Contest #52

“Wait, I am not sure I understand. You saw her?”“I saw her.”A beat.“Be serious.”“I am. Do I look like I am lying?”His eyes burned with righteous indignation.“You think you saw her, then.”“I am not crazy.”“You never know.”A sharp intake of breath.“You have never not believed me before.”“You have never said anything this unbelievable before.”I stood up. This was going nowhere.“Wait! We can go there together! We can see her! Maybe she will be –”“We can’t see dead people, Sam.”Stare.Defiance.I knew him well enough. I only believe what I see, and...

64 likes 55 comments 55
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Into the Oblivion

Submitted to Contest #52

10:45 amSoftware Firm, Twenty-fourth floor,Torre Eurosky, Rome,Italy.For the first time in my life, I breathed a sigh of relief. Life as a software developer was very hectic. My workplace had never expanded beyond a couple of square feet; it was restricted within plywood walls and contained a timber desk and a soft, leathery chair (a cubicle, to be exact). I was given an outmoded computer with separate monitor, keyboard and a box-like vociferous CPU that made a maddening, rattling sound. The only thing I could flawlessly do was type some gib...

62 likes 27 comments 27
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