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Write about someone grappling with an insecurity.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 37 stories

Imposter syndrome

Submitted to Contest #114

When an idea forms, good or bad, it consumes you. And you can spend your entire existence working towards it. Training, practising, preparing. You feel confident. You feel like you can be the best. The Greatest of All Time. The GOAT.Then comes the day where you have to put it all on show and yourealise one thing: You know absolutely nothing.All that training, all those scenarios. It means nothing when youaren’t in front of the audience. Training with your best friend. Working withfamily. Testing out your act. They all laugh and say it’s grea...

26 likes 15 comments 15
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The Girl with No Face

Submitted to Contest #114

CW: bullying, goreJia Si Ya started off with all the facial features a normal human would have. Two years, one mouth, two eyes and a nose. She was a normal sort of girl growing up in China. Quiet, artistic, most importantly, her grades are always among the top three in her class. She was left alone to her own devices, because you simply don’t mess with a girl who has good grades in China. The teachers would be on her side. She’s not close to most of her classmates but they look at her with some jealousy, but that was plenty made up by t...

24 likes 8 comments 8
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In My Ears

Submitted to Contest #114

“In My Ears” by Elizabeth FenleyEreshkigal is whispering in my ear again. I shake my head and flap my hands flutily around my ears. “No, no, no.”“Bats attacking you again, Darcy?”Gregg with two stupid ggs grin at me and laughs. He’s an asshole, and his teeth smell like cockroaches. I ignore him.“Gregg, that’s enough,” Nurse Ratched tells him. “That’s not productive in group. Darcy, is something wrong?”I shake my head—a “No” shake this time, not a “Get out of my head!” shake. I don’t like to talk in group. I don’t like to talk to people ...

19 likes 8 comments 8
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Confess, And Be Consumed

Submitted to Contest #114

The door before her was simple yet elegant, its edges sure, the ornamentation carved into the ebon surface maddeningly intricate in a way that even the most prodigious crafter would struggle to emulate. A curve of smooth, polished brass made its handle, matching the hinges and keyhole; mechanisms of such meticulous design that never would they perform their functions to anything less than the peak of their capabilities, a sentiment echoed by the rest of the Moonswath estate. Her father would settle for nothing less than perfection. It was n...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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Tentacles

Submitted to Contest #114

I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a right arm.I have a tentacle instead of a riI’m supposed to write it ten times but my left hand starts shaking so I can’t hold the pen steady and the back of my head is buzzing and I have to do deep breaths like Dr. Spinoza showed me. In for four counts, out for five. In...

15 likes 3 comments 3
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Rocky Shore

Submitted to Contest #114

      “You want to get out of here?” Hunter asks.           My head feels light and slightly hazy from the orange flavored beers I’ve been consuming. A part of me longs to stay because I know our friend, Chase, won’t come with us if we leave. It’s hard to tell sometimes how much Chase even likes us and there’s an odd comfort in that. It’s what I expect, and it keeps me in my familiar role of constantly seeking approval. A part of me also wants to leave. Part...

14 likes 6 comments 6
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Emma's Gift

Submitted to Contest #114

Emma’s Gift I had no believable excuse for saying no, so I agreed to teach a summer school class for high school freshmen. The announcement came out in the Spring/Summer issue of the City Civic Arts Newsletter:   ’Scapes: Land and Sea. Learn to draw the world around us. For young artists interested in taking their drawing to a higher level. Explore a variety of subjects, developing an understanding of form, composition, line, light/shadow, perspective, and color. Tuition: $20 + $15 supply fee due at first class. Starts July 5...

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Close Call

Submitted to Contest #114

 We’ve all heard the old saying that ” It’s always Greener on the other Side ”; everyone keeps secretly wishing with envy to acquire somebody else’s perceived comfortable situation where supposedly a better life is upheld. It always seems somebody else is enjoying a more exciting, tranquil, accessible accommodating and suitable social status, but unfortunately all of these opportunistic venues will never guarantee any valid humanist protection, long-term security nor any such peace of mind.  With no absolute exception, everythin...

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What Is and What Never Was

Submitted to Contest #114

(Excerpt) Kim August 27, 2009 Fredericton, New Brunswick Today is harder than most. It would have been my child’s 21st birthday. I guess it is her birthday. They never revealed her gender, never let me see her but in my heart, I always knew she was a girl. To me, she’s Cassandra. I celebrate in private with a banana cupcake. Since giving her up, I always imagine the things she would love, cupcakes being one of them. I was a good kid. My grades were above average, my two best friends, Cece and Terri were the type who obeyed rules, never...

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The Haunted Man

Submitted to Contest #114

A man wanted to know where his creator lied so he could ask him why he would want to hide. The man was mortified because he didn’t know why. He looked for him in the usual spots; behind a boulder, under the rocks. He went inside a cave and even at the believers house they made but couldn’t find the one they call all. He sat to think where to go, where to start, but not for long as the answer metamorphosed easily enough yet dubious to decompose...  He jumped, reaching as high as he could to the sky, proclaiming, “The answer is...

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Tom's Techno Talk

Submitted to Contest #114

Tom’s Techno Talk  Tom could communicate well with other people through the computer or even on the phone (never with Facetime). But when it came to making public presentations, he was hopeless, and he knew it only too well. Tom was aware that sometimes at conferences with multiple presenters at the same time, people who went to his talk did not do so just for the information that he presented as much as for a laugh at the way that he screwed up his presentation, counting up the times he said such things as ‘what I really m...

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Everyone else

Submitted to Contest #114

Everyone Else  Me and my boyfriend Trent have never really seen eye to eye. For some reason, it always seems like I'm drawn to people that are the exact opposite of me.   "I cannot stress enough how good you look in that dress, Abby" Trent said to me after looking up from his phone for a split second.  "You mean it?" I always ask him that after every compliment knowing I'll get the same response each time.  "Of course, I mean it. If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say it."  "Yeah, I know I know...." I said whil...

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"Past the Point of No Return"

Submitted to Contest #114

“You should be a model.” A grin spreads across Drake's face. He takes his skating partner's hand in his, assuming the starting position. Their fingers tangle together in a way that can only happen during practices and performances. His hand slips around her back, mimicking the start of a tango, el paseo. He’s held women before, but the bond he has with her asks more of him. In other affairs, he was able to escape but this one is different. He wondered while performing if they were just that, performing, or if something else was happening. Ae...

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The Dreamer

Submitted to Contest #114

Chewed fingernails sit in a pile next to his keyboard. Daniel slowly gnaws down on the corner edge of his pinky. A napkin spotted with blood is crumpled up on his lap awaiting its next dab. He sits there chomping on what’s left of the pinky nail until he eventually strikes blood. Only then, does he remove the ends of his finger from his mouth and wrap it in the napkin. Daniel sits at the counter most evenings and unsuccessfully treads the stormy waters of anxiety that fill his head. The bottoms of his feet are tingling from swinging errati...

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Monologue

Submitted to Contest #114

TW: self harm“Blood is sticky. A viscous crimson fluid. Regardless of the bleeder it looks the same. It is the ultimate leveler of playing fields. Strip the skin off the bone and voila’ …. red, gelatinous liquid. Blood doesn’t care about skin pigment: Brown, ivory, dark, light, …. Whether the body is young or old. It all looks the same in the phlebotomist’s needle. When I cut myself, I bleed red. I sit in the corner of my dimly lit room and filet bracelet scars around my wrists and scrape diagonal stripes along my forearm.  Th...

10 likes 3 comments 3
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