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Write about a casual act of bravery.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 46 stories

Home of the Brave

Winner of Contest #135 🏆

A mom’s job is never truly finished—Elise knew this instinctively when her son was born. For at least the hundredth time, she sat next to his bed in that chair mending his quilt. There was no way of knowing, the day she bought it at a flea market, that it would become her son’s most valued possession. To call it a quilt stretched the definition as it was nothing more than a thousand pieces of oddly shaped swatches stitched together, layer after layer, until the whole of it was thick enough to hold in the warmth of a small boy's bod...

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The Front Line

Submitted to Contest #135

Bohdan Kozak had lived on the outskirts of Kyiv all his life and he’d seen Russian tanks trundle past his front door before. Thirty-five years ago, his house had trembled on its foundations as dozens of heavy old Soviet T-62’s retreated East to Moscow. He could still recall the thunderous approach and the sulphurous fumes left in their wake. His wife, Oxana, had compared them to a flight of cantankerous dragons suffering from acute halitosis. They’d laughed at the time and brushed off their home’s minor structural damage as one of life’s unf...

38 likes 22 comments 22
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The girls chose Hawaii

Submitted to Contest #135

*Warning: mention of cancer in storyMy daughter and I sat on the hard bench. She was in her sophomore year of high school, yet she still held my hand as we sat there together. We were both lost in our own thoughts. Watching. Staring. Fascinated by the two girls in front of us who were moving so gracefully. They wore simple black dresses that seemed to make their dance appear ever more elegant as they moved to the music. I couldn’t tell you the tune. It was melancholy and peaceful and sweet. Just like the girls who were dancing. One of the gi...

30 likes 43 comments 43
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All Roads Lead to Trouble

Submitted to Contest #135

Laura gnawed on her bottom lip. She knew better than to take the creepy, pothole-riddled, old highway. But she was already late getting home, and the dark, empty road would cut ten minutes off her travel time.Alone in her car, she could still hear her mother's voice rasping in her ear. "Come straight home after work. No dilly-dallying! And stay off that highway, young lady. That way leads to trouble."In truth, the old highway eventually led to the city, with its trendy bistros, clubs, bright lights, music, and laughing, happy people—all the ...

25 likes 17 comments 17
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Pay Back

Submitted to Contest #135

Standing in the cafeteria line to pay, Sally Little hid her face when she saw the young man standing nearby. She couldn’t chance his recognizing her. She had no doubt who he was, though she hadn’t seen him for over a decade. The panic attacks had finally subsided, but she’d never forgotten Creech. Now, her nightmare stood almost in reach of her. There was no mistaking his hulking physique, and the same red hair. Even back then, at thirteen years old, he’d been bigger than many men. Who else could it be? His size wasn’t what disturbed her. A...

23 likes 5 comments 5
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Oskar

Shortlisted for Contest #135 ⭐️

OskarThe smiles of the small crowd on the street disappeared faster than the people who hurried away from the boys in the brown outfits. Yelling profanities despite the presence of children who’d been enjoying the man’s show, they kicked his table over before they set to kicking the man to the ground and then kicking him more. The tools of his trade, the rings, the cups, the case, weren’t so badly hurt as the man seeming to claw his way through the sidewalk to safety. He crawled to the gutter – thank goodness the rained had flushed the rubbi...

21 likes 5 comments 5
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Born

Submitted to Contest #135

It’s dark in here. A massive expanse of what feels like pure nothingness and yet a strangely calming sense of what is to come. It is dark here. Full of nothingness and a wasteland brimming with fear. This state of being lasts for what seems like an eternity; although, what is time in a place like this? This feeling keeps me on edge for what feels like forever. I have no concept of time. My existence continues unnoticed with waves of motion sending me here and there without care or concern of my self. These waves support me. They take me w...

17 likes 12 comments 12
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The Flower Strikes Back

Submitted to Contest #135

It felt good to grab the last succulent out of my locker. It’s finally cleared out. Another school year is in the past. Next year will be my last year of secondary and I was glad of it. With a wistful sigh, I turned the small potted plant over in my hands. I touched a finger to the soil and got a rush when its energy ran through me. I prepared to tuck it into the allocated slot in my bag when it was smacked out of my hand.  My eyes widened as the pot shattered, dirt skittering across the floor. Luckily my succulent was intact, but the...

17 likes 8 comments 8
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Ardor

Submitted to Contest #135

The low-level ranger padded softly through the woods on mocassin feet carrying a cedar bow hand-carved by his grandfather, the only gift his grandfather had ever given him. He slung a quiver of arrows, with fletching made from hawk feathers, over his left shoulder. Moving quietly through late autumn leaves, he hoped to take the small band traveling through the valley by surprise. They weren't quiet. They argued among themselves as they ambled along the shallow creek. The ranger took cover behind a large oak and slipped an arrow from the quiv...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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LITTLE DOG TO THE RESCUE

Submitted to Contest #135

   It was a long, hot Labor Day weekend. The signs had been posted all over town. On telephone poles and trees located nearest the roadways, the message was the same. It was a plea for help. “Missing: Shih Tzu dog: Needs medication. Last seen on King Arthur Drive. If found…” and the contact information. The photo was of a black and white dog with an energetic, happy face.    Amy signed after she finished stapling up the last poster. Geiser, the missing dog, had become her beloved pet just several weeks ago. Back...

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Jesus' First Motorcycle

Submitted to Contest #135

Peter, Andrew, Jesus, and I are sitting in one of those new eateries that have popped up like mushrooms after a rainstorm and Andrew remarks that it looks like Judith was hanging out with Abimelech.Peter takes a piece of the bread and says nothing more than: "It's good bread.""What's so good about this bread?" I ask, and he replies, "Nothing. But it's good. Taste!" and he pours some wine into my glass.“Judith, what did you say about her?" he asks his brother. "I saw her with that guy," Andrew says. "And what else do we know?" Peter...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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Ice Girl

Submitted to Contest #135

Mariana shivers in her Shawn Mendes hoodie as she slowly makes her way down the electric stairs. Though she does not dare to look down at first, when she finally does, she sees the other skaters who are at the rink below glide, jump, and spin effortlessly. She thinks she is going to be sick. She still feels her mother’s steely glance on her shoulder blades as it followed her out of the car and into the mall. At the time, all Mariana could feel was apprehension, but she misses it now. It would make what she’s about to do harder. Onc...

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TAKE ME INSTEAD OF HER (Fiction) Feb 2022

Submitted to Contest #135

TAKE ME INSTEAD OF HER (Fiction) Feb 2022 “This is a hold up! Everybody down on the floor!” Screamed the three masked men. All of us quickly lay facedown and I for one, started saying my prayers and hoping that no one would get hurt, that the robbers would remain calm. I knew that sometimes for no reason they shot people who had not resisted or caused any problems. My heart was racing. I tried to calm myself. I knew they would not stay in the bank long. That might mean I had just minutes to live. ...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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The Little Dancer

Submitted to Contest #135

That’s my little sister Reyna over there, but I call her ReyRey. My mom says it’s easier for me to say “ReyRey” than it is to say “Reyna.” That doesn’t make sense to me, and I just like to say ReyRey better, but that’s what mom says. Do you see her with the white and blue dress on? Yeah, that’s ReyRey with her black hair pulled back into a ponytail. And that’s my cousin Ligaya next to her in the yellow dress. No, not that one, the one with the white ribbons in her dark brown hair, dressed in the yellow ducky dre...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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The Monkey Tree

Submitted to Contest #135

The Monkey Tree   By Cal Kirby         Sonny Pigpen was a smelly, bratty kid and made the life of the neighborhood kids miserable, most of the time it was me in misery. His real name was Sebastian Pignall, but his nickname was Sonny and everyone called him, behind his back, Sonny Pigpen. “Leslie, Vivian, Clark, come home now,” our mother yelled from the front steps of our house, half a block away. Our mother was a real star-crazed, unrequited love of acting, early-thirties mother of three pr...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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