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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story inspired by the phrase “Back to square one.”

Posted in Narrative on Apr 14, 2023

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 81 stories

“The Idiom Archipelago” by RJ Holmquist

🏆 Winner of Contest #194

Day 1: The Sundering SeasWelcome to The Pudding, my little ship hung with true blue sails. She is bravely buoyant upon the sundering sea as she bears me questing for proofs among the Isles of Idiom. Aboard there is a crew of only me and my beagle Salty. I steer the ship on the heaving waves and Salty listens to my meanderings, understanding my moods with his plaintive eyes. You are here too, though you understand much less and exist only in the corners of my reveries.I am charting these waters and the isles they swaddle. I am good with a pen...

131 comments 131
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“Empty Nest” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #194

Rosie wilted against the cool bathroom tiles, her head spinning and stomach aching. She had just finished heaving its contents into the toilet. With deep, slow breaths, she hoisted herself from the floor and washed her face in the sink, splashing the cool water on the back of her neck. Today was the day, and her stomach threatened to heave again just thinking about it.Allie was moving out.After living for eighteen years under her mother’s roof, Allie had declared a month ago that she had found a share house near her university, and she would...

46 comments 46
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“Place to Place” by Corey Melin

Submitted to Contest #194

      Nathaniel strolled the dirt path until he came to the village. Before he stepped forth into the dwelling, he saw the inhabitants and how they acted among each other.            “This village will do well,” he muttered.            He continued forth, checking out the places the people either resided in or they did business from. Places built of mud and brick. Others of wood that were either board or log...

26 comments 26
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“HOPSCOTCH” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #194

***Trigger warning: violence; child sexual abuse, mental health***“Life is a game of hopscotch,” she tells Emily, her 20-year-old granddaughter. Emily is ebullient, bursting with excitement over landing her first job. Grandma’s thrilled for her, but the pain in her back is so severe she’s struggling to keep smiling. Visits from her daughters or Emily, or whoever’s left of her diminishing circle of friends are so few and far between these days that she really needs Emily’s youthful exuberance to brighten her day and ease the loneliness o...

69 comments 69
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“The Exchanger of Wishes” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #194

Ian Dovecombe reached into the tepid waters of the mall’s fountain and scooped up another handful of coins. For ten years he’d been living like a beast, like half a man, but this haul would finally overturn his fortunes. He knew a guy, Warren, who could help him for a steep price. Not the coins – the wishes on them. “Hey!” a mall security guard shouted, from down one of the wings. Most of the place was abandoned at eight PM and those few people who were still there dutifully ignored Ian and the guard, lowering their heads. Ian didn’t spare h...

36 comments 36
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“A Field Sown with Grief Mines” by Anne Shillingsburg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #194

CW: Child loss.I shifted my weight a little to straighten an uncomfortable fold in the plastic against my skin. With my fingertip I could feel where it left a crease in the skin at the meeting of my thigh and private regions. Thinking the words “private regions” pushed a mirthless snicker through my nose: as if anything is private.“What is it?” Jacob asked, pulling back a little and tilting the laptop to a dangerous angle. If the nurse came in, she’d tell him to get off the bed, but we had to get this done and side-by-side looking at the cho...

47 comments 47
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“Action heroes are easy” by Amy Arora

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #194

There are fourteen minutes before the bomb explodes. Greg Powers, bomb disposal expert and all-round man, is kneeling before it, talking urgently to his superiors via the device in his ear. Beside him stands a woman, who shows her anxiety by shaking her long auburn hair back and forth. Her clothes are too tight but her body is so bodacious that it doesn’t matter. At thirteen minutes, she begins to sweat, but only in the sexy places. Powers reaches forward. His proposal is unlikely, improbable, but he’s the expert in his field. He’s been ...

22 comments 22
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“And the snow fell forever.” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #194

What are you fussing about, kiddo? Pops sighed as I rubbed my ski gloves together. He proffered me a shovel and his icy breath hovered between us like a question mark. I thought you loved the snow, he said and chuckled when I forced a weary smile. We’d been shifting snow for over two weeks and the white flakes had descended on our town like the dry skin from a giant’s eczematic scalp.   It was fun on the first day when the snow gathered around the windows and settled in the front garden. It wasn’t deep enough to stop the schoo...

18 comments 18
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“Rob of Rust” by Cassandra Fan

Submitted to Contest #194

A mother and an infant sit at the edge of the fountain, watching intricate streams and waterfalls cascading across the white marble in pure silence. Across the way, a group of teenagers stand, whispering softly to maintain the peace. Surrounding them are ever more, flowing in every direction, crossing the core of the world on course to their next destination. Today, as every other day, they have come from across the towering vibrant city, past the holographic screens and platinum skyscrapers to gather at center square to, if just for a momen...

6 comments 6
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“GET BACK, JACK” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #194

**WARNING** Comedic religious themes, mild cursing.* * *Jack wanted out. He wagered he’d been in Purgatory longer than he’d been alive, hadn’t really gotten much out of either experience, and felt ready just to move on.Purgatory, for Jack, consisted of AA meetings, sensitivity training, and weekly counseling sessions. All this was deemed necessary because Jack, when alive, had displayed little regard for women, even less for the rest of mankind, and possessed an unbridled passion for food and drink. He’d died fat, drunk and al...

22 comments 22
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“The Manicure” by Mackenzie Littledale

Submitted to Contest #194

In honor of the memory of dearly departed friends from Twitter’s writing community, Dawn Hosmer, Laila Doncaster, and Scott Bebe. I unlocked the front door and burst into the living room. “Laila!” I called out, barely acknowledging the tempting food aromas coming from the kitchen. “You can’t believe how this jerk almost hit me on the highway. Like he didn’t even see me.” “Hi, Mom!” She poked her head full of caramel-colored plaits around the corner. “Are you okay? I hope you like dinner.” The hightop counter was set with two plates of ...

14 comments 14
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“A Blank Page” by Ian James

Submitted to Contest #194

Heavenly eyes watch this human's stance,My soul meanders, seeking a chance.In aiding his journey, I'll find my way,To the luminous path of heaven's display.***Zack slammed shut his laptop in frustration, the backspace button worn down from hours of typing and deleting. His editor-in-chief had torn apart his recent works, leaving him in despair. To heighten his anxiety, something was clearly amiss with his radio. As if taunting his inability to write, Ramona's ballad "The Blank Page" resounded on a ceaseless loop. He switched off the radio, h...

2 comments 2
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“The Girl Who Returned” by Timothy Frazier

Submitted to Contest #194

I was told, once, I cannot remember by who, that the luckiest thing that could happen to us is to die old amongst family and friends. Whoever told me that was right. A long time ago, I was a high school senior with no plans for life after graduation, only a list of maybes and didn't-wants swirling in my head. Now, at two hundred and thirty-seven years old, I was the greatest hero this world had ever known. I've slain dragons, ruled a kingdom and faced the Unspeakable Evil. Who could say they've lived such a life? How many on earth cou...

4 comments 4
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“Seed Crystal” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #194

Ian needed an entry point for his story. No portal, no story.The sun shone through his window, creating a bright trapezoid on his floor. Dust drifted through the beam. The house was quiet.All he needed was a simple dust mote on which his story’s beautiful snow flake could form. He could pick any one.‘Always to the dust returning.’Ian never called it ‘writer’s block.’ ‘That’s a faulty understanding of the problem.’ Ian felt he needed to find this story’s crystalizing agent. With enough research and life experience he could conjure a story on ...

8 comments 8
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“Beyond the Fear: A Love Story of Hope and Survival” by Lauren Foster

Submitted to Contest #194

Michele's heart pounded relentlessly against her chest, her breath shallow as she stared at the gleaming linoleum floors. The sterile smell of disinfectant invaded her senses, reminding her of the last time she had been in this exact spot. Just over a year ago, she had first received the shattering news of her tumor. The thought that she might be back at square one was both frightening and infuriating. It felt as if the universe was playing a cruel, twisted joke on her. Despite the countless obstacles she had faced since her initial diagno...

3 comments 3
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Contest #194

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Idiomatic

$250

Prize money

213

Contest entries

118

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 21, 2023 EST

Won by RJ Holmquist 🏆

Title: The Idiom Archipelago

View details

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