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Write a story about someone forced out of their home.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 54 stories

Guava

Shortlisted for Contest #137 ⭐️

Dear daughter,  The day my mother died, I was relieved. I sat in her living room, watching the guavas fall from the tree, rotting in the grass, oozing that sweet juice. Flies swarming over the bruised green fruit, the pungent guava scent wafting through the house. I closed the window.  My mother had a garden. Carefully crafted she would say, but to me, it looked like pure chaos. Madness. She always said to me, it is important to remember why you planted a seed. And when you plant that seed, offer it up to the gods.  She ...

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The Sound

Submitted to Contest #137

There it was, that awful screeching.              Has it been two hours already? I must have dozed off, understandable since I don’t sleep much these days. I sit up from my chair. I put the fire out and close the chimney. I move sluggish through the empty dark corridors of the mansion. I’m not even looking where I walk as I’ve done this over and over again, once every two hours for as long as I could remember. Searching for the screeching. It only lasts three minutes. It’s...

33 likes 15 comments 15
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Ouroboros

Shortlisted for Contest #137 ⭐️

Ava parked in the dark space between streetlights, under the shadow of a tree. She looked across the road at her sister’s house and saw the light spilling from the bare kitchen window, casting a ghostly rectangle across the lawn.“Just act like everything is normal,” she’d said to Annemarie. “Make him something nice for dinner and crush a sleeping pill into it. Make sure he has a whiskey with it.”Don’t you remember, she could have added.She left the ignition running and the vapor from the exhaust floated like mist around the car. Hands ready ...

33 likes 27 comments 27
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The Rabbi's Lament

Submitted to Contest #137

15th of August 2005, in the Gaza Strip.Two Israeli paratroopers jogged down a dirt road, and protesters rabbled around the bend. A short, thin, but vicious warrior, Lavi walked off the road. He settled down on a flat gray rock and checked his M16. The other paratrooper Ariel stood and stared, with his hollow green eyes, at Lavi.“Why do you check it so much?” Ariel asked. “M16s they are always working.”“I have my reasons,” Lavi said.“What reasons?”“Today’s reason? I’m stalling.”“Why?” Ariel asked.“Because I don’t want to do this.” Two methodi...

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Cutting Tension

Submitted to Contest #137

The fire in the hearth crackled. Awkward introductions had been made. At the head of the table, Sir Danielle Longbow was enjoying the dizzying strength of the beer. Her brown eyes met her mother’s and the mirth on Alexandra’s face fell away.             “How did you meet?” Rose Fletcher asked, pointing from Danielle to Lupita Smith.             “We killed some monsters in the prison. You must have heard the story?” Lupita s...

22 likes 29 comments 29
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When the sky shone blue

Submitted to Contest #137

Wednesday 14th March 1945 Will it ever end? The suffering, the pain. Will life ever return to what it once was? Will the sun ever shine on a land so peaceful and green? Will Papa ever come home to us? I don’t know. We don’t know. Mrs. Woźniak gave me this empty notebook, she told me to write in it, that it will help pass the time. Although, I am unsure if I like it. It is chilly today. The ice is skittering across the floor like translucent snakes riding the wind. The blizzard hisses and wails through the narrow gaps by the ceil...

17 likes 1 comment 1
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The Tree in the Backyard of a House on Russet Street

Submitted to Contest #137

I stacked my dad’s books in the doorway of his office, pretending to build a brick wall. His office should be sealed off, anyway. No one else belongs here on Russet Street, in our house. I blew some dust off the bookshelf, the part where I’d carved my name with a butter knife 13 years ago. When my dad found the carving, he called me an asshole and told me if I were going to carve my name into his beautiful, reclaimed wood shelf, I could at least spell it right. I’d forgotten the ‘e’ in Davey. Besides me and mom, my dad loved only two other...

17 likes 9 comments 9
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Roommates

Submitted to Contest #137

I had just entered that in-between phase of sleep and wakefulness when my cell phone rang. Normally I shut it off before going to bed because of this very reason but I fell asleep watching a video. Damn near gave me a heart attack because the phone was close to my ear and the ringtone is a voice telling me to answer it. The fact that my best friend is the only one who has that ringtone saved my phone from getting flung across the room. Fully awake, I answered it and tapped on the speaker.“What’s wrong Luka?” There was a long pause befor...

16 likes 3 comments 3
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Under the Gazebo

Submitted to Contest #137

Trigger warning: strong language; physical violence, gore, or abuse; suicide or self-harm.I can make out a few vigilant silhouettes behind the neighbours' curtains, trailing me—a stranger—as I pull the keys out from my travel backpack. Some things never change in the suburbs. The lock resists for a second but then turns and, once again, I step onto the garden walk. After so many years, I’m finally home again.They haven't bothered to change the locks. I imagine mother continually nagging father to change them or, at the very least, call someo...

15 likes 0 comments 0
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Summoned

Submitted to Contest #137

Content warning: There are a couple of instances of foul language in this story. *** The roaring fire eased the aching in Gerrod’s old knees as he stretched out in the soft, plump armchair. I could get used to this, he thought as he watched the orange flames dance merrily in the hearth. He removed the leather-bound tome from his lap and deposited it on the table. “The First Age Conquests of Emperor Gordos by Scholar First Class Vayo Chen” had Gerrod’s eyelids drooping. History had become his passion since he’d retired, but this particula...

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Does the Cap and Gown Make Me Grown?

Submitted to Contest #137

She stood there, a can of soda clutched in her hand. The bathroom was the only place in the house where she could be alone. The condensation from the drink was cold, making her hands freeze. It was a good feeling. The cold kept her from getting stuck in her own head. She leaned over the sink, taking a tentative sip in the hopes it would keep herself from getting sick. It didn’t work.            The noise from the party bled through the doors. Her party. Her graduation party. Amy sat the ...

15 likes 2 comments 2
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Rise of Nightbreeze

Submitted to Contest #137

It started with a hum. The dawn was coming, and she thought it would be the perfect chance to practice her newest creation. A simple hum. One simple gesture. A way with sound, a wave of fingers, and an ember floated down to the earth below her feet. Lighting the grass on fire before being snuffed out by her bare foot. She giggled at the sting before she hummed again, focusing on her fingers and watching as more embers rained down from her fingers. Littering the ground like fresh rain, sizzling on the dewdrops. But it did not sizzle one emb...

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The Primrose Park Gambit

Submitted to Contest #137

Wilbur Blane learned that he would become homeless while he was teaching his grandson how to play chess. They were in the Community Common Room in the apartment building he’d lived in for the last twenty-five years. Francine, one of young ladies in the complex’s office, pushed through the double doors with brightly coloured printouts in one hand and a box of thumbtacks in the other and headed straight for the giant bulletin board. “What’s wrong, Francine?” Wilbur asked. “Nothing.”“You’re lying, Francine.”As a retired homi...

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Crossing the Shaky Bridge

Submitted to Contest #137

   “Father was on another one of his great mysteries in Nigeria when he found me. Our country is quite beautiful. It is known for its elephants, buffalo, and forest monkeys of all kinds. But it is most known for its Bigisu Arabica coffee. This is how our community and farmers support themselves.”     Nanny listened very carefully, for Alora rarely spoke of how she been forced to leave her country or how she had become adopted by the man they called Father.      “When ...

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The Removal of Rosalie

Submitted to Contest #137

Rosalie's fondest dream was marrying her high school sweetheart and starting a family. Faced with the prospect of the Vietnam War draft potentially separating their intertwined hearts, a simple ceremony at their local community center linked their loving souls legally. Against all odds, he returned to her after two long years, battle scars tucked deep within his psyche. They started their family in Georgia military housing, but eventually saved enough to load their meager belongings into a rusty station wagon, trekking from the sweltering so...

12 likes 7 comments 7
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