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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about a character who’s lost.

Posted in Narrative on Nov 29, 2024

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 74 stories

“Orla's Song” by Amanda Stogsdill

Submitted to Contest #279

Orla's SongThe underwater cavern was alive and bustling that star-filled night. The merfolk were preparing for their annual festival to celebrate another peaceful year. It would begin with music and dancing, followed by a feast. In the small town, people were busy, too. In the era of computers and movie streaming, they were bored; tired of the mundane, craving excitement of any kind. Both worlds were unaware how soon they would collide.The submarine was decked out for the celebration. "Welcome everyone. Let's begin." Queen Minerva smiled ser...

2 comments 2
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“Oak” by Chaos Möp

Submitted to Contest #279

The sun rose about wide fields and mighty trees, drawing spots of golden light onto the dark green leaves. The great Treetops swayed in a slight breeze, causing the leaves to rustle. The birds sung to great the rising sun, and somewhere hidden beyond the tree line a small stream wound its way through the trunks, its murmuring water whispering of hidden springs, refreshing coolness and distant shores. Another sound joined the forest edges quiet Melody.It was the sound of someone singing to themselves rather nervously, not once hitting a singl...

2 comments 2
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“The Playground” by Carson Lupton

Submitted to Contest #279

The Playground I don't remember much about my childhood. The first third or so of my existence is shrouded in a haze occasionally broken up by flashes and flickers of remembrance, small hardly-anythings that barely illuminate the darkness of forgetfulness. But there is one thing I remember with crystal clarity, that I continue to treasure; when I first met my best friend. We met at a playground in an older part of town, an area once wealthy but had long since fallen on hard times and had been left almost completely abandoned. Empty houses an...

1 comment 1
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“being” by Elifnur Ilgaz

Submitted to Contest #279

(Implied sa, implied abuse , mental health) What is my purpose in the life? Why I was born? To help? To protect? To fight? To help the artist-or kill the muse. How could I just let things be when one of my greatest fear is leaving this world without being able to change anything? How would I just want to be “someone” in the world without even trying?How even I am supposed to fulfill my purpose if I cant even find peace with the conflicts in myself.Will I always be too much? Too emotional , too soft , too calm , too wild , too kind , too weir...

5 comments 5
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“Losses” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #279

Wilfred woke up one morning to a boiling sea of change. This was very disconcerting. He had recently entered the fifty second year of his life, and any damp feeling as he surfaced into the day left him feeling ashamed and inadequate. Even his night sweats disturbed him, perpetuating the anxiety from which they came. He lay there for a moment before he checked his watch, phone and wallet. For good measure, he gently and unobtrusively patted the mattress around him. The numeracy of his age was often a myth, but occasionally he had a nauseating...

6 comments 6
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“Seasons” by Cheyenne Spicer

Submitted to Contest #279

Warning for language and firearms. Finn stepped out of his car, adjusting his backpack. He had double checked that it was filled with all the essentials he’d need for his trip: water, food, a tent, sleeping bag, a lighter, a small portable charger, and a flashlight. He checked his belt to make sure his gun and knife were safely secured. He had planned for a three-day camping trip to his favorite spot. The top of Whistling Rock. Finn had found that it was rare that people ventured to this certain location in the dead of winter, making it a pe...

2 comments 2
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“Tears in the Darkness” by Brittany Jung

Submitted to Contest #279

Huddled in the corner of a dank, stone cell, the young girl's shoulders quivered as sobs wracked her slight frame. The coarse fabric of her tattered dress clung to her skin, stained with the crimson that still trickled from a gash on her temple. Each breath was a struggle against despair, every exhale a whisper of dust from the floor beneath her. The heavy footfalls outside her prison grew louder before coming to an abrupt stop at her door. There was a pause, the soft clinking of metal, and then the screech of a small slot opening at the bas...

3 comments 3
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“The recipe” by Soham Saha

Submitted to Contest #279

“I got the recipe when I spent almost ten years stuck in nineteenth century India. You won’t even last ten days.” Archana said, her eyes locked on mine. She had just two shots of her special kala-khatta cocktail, but sounded very drunk. “Yeah, sure. A patriarchal system. No restrictions on drugs. It would be so.. hard.” I said sarcastically. “Just give me the recipe.” “Guess it,” she said with a wink. “It has lemon, yogurt, cannabis extract, kombucha, and cinnamon…definitely cinnamon,” I said.  “Eww… not even close.” She said, laughing....

2 comments 2
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“Forget Me Not” by Anna Kate Matheson

Submitted to Contest #279

Forget Me Not By Anna Kate MathesonI knew this call was coming but I didn’t think it would be today. On a Saturday when the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. I was with her yesterday- she didn’t know who I was but that wasn’t unusual. Her room was bare; when she first moved to the centre I’d brought a photo of me, my brother Eddie and Dad. Not to stir her memory- as the doctors told me time and time again: ‘Your mother is not going to remember.’ I just needed to know she had faces of the ones she loved around her. Faces ...

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“Lost” by Rachel Young

Submitted to Contest #279

I would be lying if I said I looked into her eyes as I talked. I tried but I couldn't quite do it. Instead my gaze rested just above, maybe in line with her eyebrows, just an illusion of eye contact."What happened?" she asked again and still I couldn't tell her. There were a lot of things I couldn't do that day. Eye contact and telling the truth were right up there.I knew there would be sadness in her eyes if I dared to look. Maybe not just sadness, maybe devastation, I couldn't face that look, that hurt, the magnitude of it. I dropped my ga...

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“Lost” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #279

Can you find what you’re looking for if you don’t know what you lost?Ewan pondered this and many other questions as he walked among the ash trees.Sometimes, he felt lost in a sea of non-reflective mirrors because every tree seemed the same, each bare of leaves, their gray limbs upheld in a silent dance as they viewed his progress or lack of it. Because they did watch him. He was as sure of that as if he caught the glisten of eyes.That was ridiculous, of course. Sometimes he wondered about his mental capacity to make sense of his situati...

2 comments 2
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“Lost to the world” by Lou Jayne

Submitted to Contest #279

Lost to the World PrologueLost to the world is a post nuclear blast monologue told by one girl, Trudy and her point of view.It could be triggering in many ways but is meant in a lighthearted, thought provoking way, of a world we currently live in and the aftermath that could be.  20/06/2119. 11.11am Flash! The End.  *** Hello, is anyone there? Oh I think I see you, though you can no longer see me. Well I mean technically you can still see me floating around and about, maybe on your shoulder or the floor, but there is still a lot...

2 comments 2
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“Mind Fuckery: A Survival Guide for the Seriously Duped For women over 50, married for over 20 years. This one’s for you.” by Michelle Ayres

Submitted to Contest #279

So, what exactly is mind-fuckery? Imagine your brain being tossed into a spin cycle, set to gaslight, manipulate, repeat. It’s a toxic cocktail of long term gaslighting, emotional blackmail, pathological lies, and a healthy dose of crazymaking behavior, shaken not stirred. Mind fuckery doesn’t just hurt your heart; it takes aim at your sanity, leaving you doubting your reality, your worth, and your ability to ever trust again. It all started with a “family meeting.” My husband at the time let’s call him “J the Cheater” (because jerk fee...

2 comments 2
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“Extirpation ” by Craig Shaw

Submitted to Contest #279

It's only been two hours since the smoke covered everything, turning midday into dusk. It doesn't look like our world anymore. The sunlight barely visible through this damned covering. A blanket of light hovers beyond the smoke, merging through it to ground level but unable to penetrate. Those few hours now seem an eternity. I and my sister Helen; we came to the city for a girls day out. A treat for her to get over that messy divorce, a break from her despair and with neither of us having friends we've been mostly inseparable since that poi...

4 comments 4
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“Lost in Love, Drowning in My Tears” by Pete Gautchier

Submitted to Contest #279

Prompt: Write a story about a character who is lost. Second Prompt: Follow a character who is looking for someone or something Lost in Love, Drowning in My Tears There was a warm feeling running across my face.  When I opened my eyes, I was temporarily blinded by the sunlight poking through the tattered curtains draped across my window.  When I gained some sort of consciousness, I could not recall who or where I was. I lifted myself off the cot I had been on, fumbling across the room to the mirror that hung on...

2 comments 2
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