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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✍️ 412 stories

“A Day Into Forever” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #52

Sylvie lay on the edge of her father's cherry red '67 Ford pick up truck. The gleaming metal radiated the coolness of the night onto her chilled legs and arms. She stared at the constellations above her, they had an eerie heavenly beauty that only stars beheld. The sky was bigger than the deepest ocean, and in Sylvie's eyes it was more beautiful too. Some celestial bodies were dimmed, others discharging light almost too bright to look at, and she enjoyed all of them. "Time to be getting yourself to bed." A rough man's voice sounded f...

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“Coloring Outside the Box” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #52

I thought you were dead, but here you are, right in front of me on the street, smiling at me. Now what will I do? For those of you who don’t know me, I am thirtyish, a woman with a career and lots of other interests. Those interests were probably the cause of everything. Yes, I blame them. They are the little people who climb up onto my shoulders or swim in my head, saying, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to do… to try… to go…? That’s one of the ways they seduce me, because in some ways I’m a rather impulsive person. I can f...

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“Ghost Flower” by Roselle Storm

Submitted to Contest #52

I stopped right in my tracks, feeling like someone had just reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. “E-Ethan?” My voice trembled and I shook my head vigorously, backing away from the ghost in front of me. “No, no, no. That’s impossible.” “Is it really?” I choked on a sob as his rich voice filled my ears exactly the same as before. “I promised I’ll always be by your side.” I covered my mouth, tears now freely falling. “B-but how? I watched you die! You bled out in my arms! I had your blood on my-” Warm arms wrapped around me, ...

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“Till Death do us Part” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #52

Susan dropped her purse, grocery bags, dog leash, and her jaw. Earthly possessions and her orange Pomeranian were completely obliterated from her mind by the impossible scene displayed before her. A dead man walking. “Hello, Susan,” the man said and smiled. “You’re looking good. Been dieting?” Susan, a woman who had considered herself as a new person and had moved on with her life, felt the equivalent of receiving a smack to the face by life, reality, and karma at the same time. The man she thought she would never see again, the man who was ...

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“They Would Be Alright!” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #52

(You thought she was dead, but there she is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you.)Waking slowly he pushed at the edges of sleep wishing he could sink back down into the nothingness. He reached out as he did each morning to feel the warmness of his wife beside him. His confused emotions almost sent him back under the blankets to search again for sleep, part of him just wished for it all to be over but he knew he must get up and get them moving.Groaning softly, trying to hide the pain and stiffness he felt,...

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“Twenty two years, three months and eight days” by Alwyn McNamara

Submitted to Contest #52

Where should I start? Do I just start talking or do you ask questions? I've never done anything like this before."Let's start by telling me about yourself. It says here you're an only child?"Yes. Well, I haven't always been an only child. What I mean to say is, I am not an only child. Once, I had a brother. He was an older brother. The sort of older brother who didn't really have much time for his younger sister because he was too busy doing his own thing. I have vauge memories of him but most of those, I think, have come from stories other ...

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“A few grave truths” by Peace Nakiyemba

Submitted to Contest #52

You are not usually superstitious but your horoscope for the day said you are going to meet someone from your past and you have walked around with that expectation, staring intently into stranger’s faces and taking your time on your walks around the campus so that you don’t lose your date with fate. Before you see who destiny has in store for you, you fantasize over who it could be. It could be Fatima, you were best friends all through your primary school and you had made those matching bracelets that said Best Friends Forever. You don’...

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“Phone” by Sanjida Sultana

Submitted to Contest #52

Evening time, I was coming from hospital seeing my relative. Thinking about the day I was walking through the street. Suddenly I heard a call from behind. Hearing the sound and recognising it, I got scared. But immediately I looked back and became astonished. I was seeing her which was not possible then. But she was smiling in front of me. It was College orientation day, I had no interest in boring speeches. So went to the last bench and sat there. Once I went there, I saw a little fatty girl was busy over phone sitting there but...

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“Love, Leila” by Geneva Savage

Submitted to Contest #52

I watched him.I watched him shovel away snow. I watched him break into the hard, frozen earth. I watched his hands bleed with the effort. I didn't offer him help. Let him bleed, I thought. She had bled for him. Gone … for him. Maybe he was thinking the same thing because, even though his blood dripped off him and painted the melting snow a bright crimson, he kept pounding into the earth. Like he could change something. Like the harder he tried, the deeper he went, the number he felt, the closer he'd get to her. Like he could save her if only...

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“Dead Men Tell Many Tales...” by 🌮 Kao Crimsonstar 🌮

Submitted to Contest #52

Have you ever felt pain? I don't know you, but I do know pain, and my best guess is that you haven't. Consider yourself blessed by all the gods in heaven and hell if you die without ever experiencing pain. Pain isn't cool, or anything that you can boast about. It's not like breaking a leg, and being able to say "Yo, look at me! I'm SO cool, I broke a leg!" Pain is an evil king. The ruler of the worst dystopian place that exists. The face of your worst nightmares. What's the one thing those scenarios I listed above have in common? Yo...

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“It Can't Be” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #52

Chester Butterfield spent Saturday afternoon with his 4-year-old son, Jacob like he did every Saturday. Chester’s wife had been brutally murdered less than a year ago, and these visits to the park were Chester’s way to continue with some normalcy since the funeral. “Push me on the swing Daddy!”, little Jacob called out with his arms raised high into the air. “I want to go REALLY high!”, he exclaimed excitedly. &...

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“The Smiling Devil” by David Abu Bonsrah

Submitted to Contest #52

I gladly stood in front of the mirror having a look at the bride I was about to be. David kept calling and my little brother Henry just didn't seem to stop disturbing me. Amidst all of this was Aunty Laura, the human who didn't seem to fit on earth, giving me archaic methods of putting on my own gown. Finally, with the help of Aunty Laura, she covered my face with the long veil she had bought all the way from the east for my wedding to David. Dad cried as he watched me walk to him in my wedding gown. I was glowing white and just couldn't thi...

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“The Memorial” by Genevieve Taylor

Submitted to Contest #52

The way the streets are packed full of people sweating in the summer sun reminds me of the battlefield, where we had been pushed so close together that when a soldier fell, their corpse landed on whoever was next to them. I’ve had trouble with crowds since then, but I am here today by necessity. Today is the memorial. It was Marcia’s idea to honor the dead, and she planned the whole thing, picking the venue, the caterers, even the flowers. That was before we realized her wound was infected, before she started rotting from the i...

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“Brother Knows Best” by Jupiter Moon

Submitted to Contest #52

I woke up to a loud banging outside my apartment window. I checked the time and saw that it was four in the morning. My heart started racing when I saw the date displayed on my phone June 20th, 2020. It had been exactly eight years since my brother’s death. For the last eight years on this day at this exact time I would wake up. I tried going back to sleep, but to no avail. I went to get a glass of water and my two dogs were standing by the door crying to be let out. I went up to my room to find some pants and put on my shoes.When I opened t...

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“Personal Bubble” by Nico K

Submitted to Contest #52

Much Madness is divinest Sense - To a discerning Eye - Much Sense - the starkest Madness - ’Tis the Majority In this, as all, prevail - Assent - and you are sane - Demur - you’re straightway dangerous - And handled with a Chain - -Emily Dickinson I really thought it would be okay. It’s a lie the human mind tells us to reassure ourselves of positive future, prospering inspiration, and most importantly, joy. It’s a lie necessary to be told in order for the human mind not to go mad. I’d merrily went along with that lie for the last coupl...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 412 stories

“A Day Into Forever” by Elaina Goodnough

“Coloring Outside the Box” by Kathleen March

“Ghost Flower” by Roselle Storm

“Till Death do us Part” by Harken Void

“They Would Be Alright!” by P. Jean

“Twenty two years, three months and eight days” by Alwyn McNamara

“A few grave truths” by Peace Nakiyemba

“Phone” by Sanjida Sultana

“Love, Leila” by Geneva Savage

“Dead Men Tell Many Tales...” by 🌮 Kao Crimsonstar 🌮

“It Can't Be” by Greg Gillis

“The Smiling Devil” by David Abu Bonsrah

“The Memorial” by Genevieve Taylor

“Brother Knows Best” by Jupiter Moon

“Personal Bubble” by Nico K

🌟 Similar prompts

Twenty minutes before you are about to get married, you find your mother and your fiancé kissing passionately.

Every year, one person is sent to the moon. This year, though you hid in terror, it is your turn to enter the rocket.

"Come with us,” two burly men in gray suits say, grabbing you by the arm and handcuffing you. “You know what you did.” But you have no idea.

You are the only one in the supermarket during a blizzard. Feeling creeped out, you decide to leave, when suddenly you find a baby abandoned on the floor.

Contest #52

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

958

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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