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

Posted in Narrative on Apr 14, 2023

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✍️ 81 stories

“When the Dust Settles” by Jessie B Taylor

Submitted to Contest #194

Jennie looked over at the scale on her bathroom floor. It was over by the trash bin. She noticed a layer of dust now covering the glass top. She knew it was time to dust it off and face the number. She was already beating herself up for the number she knew would be reflected, she only hoped it wouldn’t be higher. Jennie could usually determine her weight by the way her clothes fit, especially how t-shirts hugged her belly differently, or how her jeans felt tighter on her thighs even though the stretch denim allowed for breathability. Jennie ...

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“Hopscotch” by Nicole Winchester

Submitted to Contest #194

Those damned kids were on his damned property again. Wesley Fellows lifted his aging, creaking body out of his armchair and muted his favorite news program, interrupting the newscaster’s particularly heated argument against putting litter boxes in elementary school bathrooms. The armchair left an imprint of his body molded into it as he stood. Dust danced through the sheets of Saturday sunlight cutting through his dark living room, one whose furnishings hadn’t changed much since the early nineties. He leaned close to his window and poked o...

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“Back to Square One ” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #194

Back to Square OneShe taught everyone who desired to learn… anything using needles. My mother loved to sew and embroider because of her. Crocheting was our thing. Grandma Rainey’s favorite saying was, “Get back to square one.” It makes sense that her only published book be named Back to Square One. Not only did she sew, do needlepoint and crochet, but she was the “Knitting Queen.” She was so knowledgeable about the subject of yarns. If someone came to Grammy with questions about how to get started, she’d ask up to five questions:1) &nbs...

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“Containment” by Bryan Brady

Submitted to Contest #194

“Wait. I’m concerned what you heard was: ‘they have no military’. What I said was ‘they currently have zero militarized presence.’ Do you understand the difference, Emissary?” I shifted my weight awkwardly between all four of my back feet as I checked the translator on my ear to make sure it was working correctly. Diplomacy had never been a strong suit of mine–it was one of the many reasons I’d been stationed out here in the black to begin with—and I was unused to dealing with someone of Emissary Krellik’s high station. Not to mention a spec...

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“Project Dawn” by Grant Jahn

Submitted to Contest #194

Space outside the window is a particularly dead shade of black. He wanted to time the rotation of the station so that Earth would appear to rise in his and Lacey’s window. It’s something that he had asked Lacey, but she told him it would be best if they didn’t see it rise. She said it made her sad. Her opinion was and is the only one that matters. Everyone else besides them is dead.“And It’s another day, Desmond Bradley.” His personalized alarm chimes backdropped by deep and ambient synth. As close to a beautiful sunrise as he’ll get. “Curre...

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“A New Chapter” by Michaela Gallien

Submitted to Contest #194

She stared down at the ring on her finger and tried to fight off tears. A box sat in the seat next to her filled with personal belongings. The Uber driver dabbed beads of sweat on his forehead in the front seat. When their eyes met, he gave her a smile. “You should smile you know; frowning takes years off your life.” She sighed, “Yeah, well, I lost years of my life to a compan...

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“Idiomatic Beginnings” by Jill Piantedosi

Submitted to Contest #194

Bella couldn’t believe that it was already October and her mid-term grades would be due in a couple of days. She sat watching the leaves fall and kiss the earth, trying to shift her perspective. The trees had a way of making their peace, while teaching her how to let go. She glanced into her brief case and eyeballed the stack of papers she had to tackle. Teaching had its rewards, but it could also be isolating and lonely. The pandemic and remote teaching had created a distant loneliness that had left its mark. As Bella spread her papers acro...

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“Reset” by Emily Bequette

Submitted to Contest #194

CW: mental health, grief, substance abuse, vague suicidal ideation A rat in a maze. More like a woman kidnapped, drugged, and mind uploaded into a video game of ever-shifting rules. Clary had always hated games. She’d hardly ever won bingo. And staring at the maze walls, their pixelated barriers, that loathing only intensified. But what choice did she have when offered that business card in the dingiest bar this city could offer? Unopened mail littered her kitchen counter, red stamps glaring. A second pink-slip had been pinned to...

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“Nine” by Mike Creese

Submitted to Contest #194

NINE It is nine o’clock, and Mirek has closed doors for goose bumps. Business is brisk (thank you, Andrew Scott, Westminster Language School). Many people (Andrew Scott) think it is not nice what we do next, but for us it is most important thing. Some people have not enough to worry about, but that does not mean they must worry for me. **** I am writing at kitchen table. Tomáŝ leans over me. “What do you write?” “Nothing,” but his face begins to sulk, so I say, “An essay.” “Why do you write in English?” Tomáŝ does not know English. I ...

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“Open House” by Georgie Popovitch

Submitted to Contest #194

(a piece from a larger work) SPILLED MILK “It’s too late to worry over spilled milk.” OPEN HOUSE The late model Mercedes Benz glides smoothly up to the gate, the heavy stone pillars on either side standing sentinel. A security guard dressed in crisp clothing and sheltered from a punishing sun steps out of his air-conditioned office, a twelve-by-twelve foot cubicle with a small desk, executive chair, mini fridge, and a small bathroom with all the necessary amenities. He smiles when he sees who has arrived, pushes a button outside of his smal...

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“In The Court” by Braelyn Robinson

Submitted to Contest #194

Summer. The grand prize at the end of every child's rat race, known as the dreaded beast known as elementary school.Full of plastic, the gum on the underside of chairs, and the complex social hierarchy known as third grade. Shuffling from room to room, the mundanity of the routine ruins you. Then the final bell rings, and summer begins. Summer brings the freedom of doing whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want. Of course, that's the ideal. In reality, Mum keeps you where she can see; the school rules still stand.Too bad the on...

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“One Squared” by S.N. Beale

Submitted to Contest #194

Back to square one. What else is new? But I don't want to approach this negatively. I want to change or continue to change. Pivot. How do I do that, is the question? How do I not fall into the same old responses and reactions? How do I learn? If I'm not being taught in a manner in which I can retain and reuse. How do I make a repeated lesson worth the effort to process and complete it; without returning to square one. I know what the phrase means, but I am getting frustrated by the intent of all words in general now. That can't be a good thi...

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“Zero Four, Zero Four, Twenty-four.” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #194

It was the fourth day of the fourth month of the year 2024. I would soon be turning 74, and as I approached that landmark, I began to reminisce about the years I had wandered this planet I called home.I occasionally visited a time many years before. It was not a time I like to remember and I was grateful that as the years passed, the memories had become softer, and a little bit more gentle. I still approached cautiously for there were days when the images filled my brain with ugliness that spilled down throughout the veins and arte...

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“One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” by Miriam Anderson

Submitted to Contest #194

Month 3He was close. So close to moving by himself. But then he fell again, ripping open old lacerations and adding new damage to the nerves, and I watch as my months of care and hardwork disappear with the re-stitching of the wounds and the doctors telling me that there is nothing else to be done. Both legs are now useless. A wheelchair is the only way he will ever move.I sit down heavily in the hospital chair, the sterile, empty walls staring back at me as tears creep down my cheeks. Cheeks that are now wrinkled and lined with stress and b...

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“Lost and Found” by Noelle Botany

Submitted to Contest #194

Unpaved, dirt roads grew legs in four different directions as if they were trying to run from one another. Waves of untrimmed, wild grass roamed the boarders of the roads with little patches of purple-yellow flowers that contained the strength to push on. The beating sun faded a sign that stood alone with the white letters spelling out; "Santa Rosa, population, 16,531." Crackling, mechanical sound of tires approaching from afar disturbed the natives of the land. Dust settled from the mechanical creature th...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 81 stories

“When the Dust Settles” by Jessie B Taylor

“Hopscotch” by Nicole Winchester

“Back to Square One ” by Kimberly Walker

“Containment” by Bryan Brady

“Project Dawn” by Grant Jahn

“A New Chapter” by Michaela Gallien

“Idiomatic Beginnings” by Jill Piantedosi

“Reset” by Emily Bequette

“Nine” by Mike Creese

“Open House” by Georgie Popovitch

“In The Court” by Braelyn Robinson

“One Squared” by S.N. Beale

“Zero Four, Zero Four, Twenty-four.” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

“One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” by Miriam Anderson

“Lost and Found” by Noelle Botany

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story inspired by the phrase “It’s hardly brain surgery.”

Write a story inspired by the phrase “I’ll eat my hat.”

Write a story inspired by the phrase “The short end of the stick.”

Write a story inspired by the phrase “The plot thickens.”

Contest #194

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

213

Contest entries

118

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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