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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone making a seemingly inconsequential decision, which goes on to have important consequences.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 156 stories

“The Shot” by Gary Crawford

THE SHOT Sarge: Look. There he is. The sentry. He keeps coming in and out, looking around. He doesn’t see us. When he comes out again, we can just pop him and take him out. Private: Easy as shooting fish in a barrel. S: You ever shoot fish in a barrel? P: No, it’s just a dumb old saying that means how easy it is. <...

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“An Accident ” by Galen Micheal

“What do you wanna do?” asked Jerry, as he lay on the porch, watching a dog chase a cat. “I don’t know. What do you?” asked Brian. There was a pause as both boys considered their options. “We could watch TV,” said Brian. Jerry shook his head. “There’s nothing good on.” He had spent most of the summer lazing in front of the TV and had memorized when his favorite shows were on. “I gu...

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“Grateful Dead” by Nadia Rodberg

  I danced with Elvis! On the cold snowy New Year’s Eve of the 1962, I indulged in my first musical intercourse with an American- made tape. Through the impossible to resist Elvis’s beat I could hear the diabolical roar of dancing audience! Elvis, o, sweet Elvis, at this moment I could walk to you from Russia barefoot on the new snow. Thank God for small favors, I could grew up in the blessed USA and become a gr...

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“Why I Want a Wife” by Babika Goel

Few events are inevitable, I guess. So when Mr Patel died his neighbours said it was the news of elopement of his only daughter with a Parsi boy that drew him to his untoward death. No one talked about how his deteriorating health had been for the last few months. No one talked of how stressful his work had become and no one talked of how finding a suitor for his daughter had become an impossible task.And then I heard that slow pitched old haggard voice- “Fate got him”.Confused, I looked at her and asked, “Why to blame fate,...

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“The Flowers on Her Nightstand ” by Zoe Agu

I can't bring myself to crawl into bed. She bought the sheets, the comforter, and the pillows that I hate. She slept on the side by the window, she said she liked to watch the cars pass by. The bed is empty without her, emptier than I thought it would be. There's a dip in the mattress where her body should be lying in, a small imprint molded to her scrawny legs and curved hips. Flowers sit on her nightstand. She b...

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“One Small Choice” by John Steckley

One Small Choice A Choice is Made So I’m was driving home from work on a Friday afternoon before the May long weekend. The driving was bad—inch forward, stop, inch forward stop. Gerald from work was in the car right ahead of me. He had his headphones on, and he was smoking one cigarette after another. I didn’t hang out with him any longer at breaks, as I had quit smoking – doctor’s s...

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“All Peachy” by Iona Cottle

This is going to be the biggest day of my life. So far, that is. In a year or so – if all goes right today – there’ll be an even bigger day, but for now this is the day. I’ve made all the choices I can. Now it’s all down to her to make the ‘right’ choice. As Aaisha and I walk to the train station I do everything I can to play it cool. I joke at everything, pointing out the colours of the c...

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“Velvet Runs Deeper Than Blood” by Vivek Collur

Clo had been by Colt’s side her whole life. She was stitched up in the Himalayas from the finest cashmere and red velvet, and was gifted to Colt when he was born. She was large enough that she could be used even when he’d grown into an adult. Colt loved and treasured her, often bragging to his friends - “Hah! What do YOUR rugs have on mine? Clo’s like a dry, fluffy cloud!”. When he grew into a teenager, she was the only ...

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“His Uncle” by Boris Schwetz

  When Ulysses was in the sixth grade at ten years, he was popular with the students and teachers at the William Taft Grammar School. He was smart, outgoing, and friendly. A charmer, he had taught himself several foreign languages and would talk to the house cleaning staff in Spanish. He spoke only French to the French teacher. Most of the kids wanted to sit with him at lunchtime.  In November, ...

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“María-Teresa” by Mark Wilson

[ 6:57am - September, 2001 | Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC ]"But I don't want to go to school today! Why should I be forced to do things that I just don't want to do? It's absurd! It's... counterintuitive!" she would declare, throwing the crisp woolen blanket over her head in protest. "They hate me. They all hate me, and I hate them all back!" she pouted, feeling her eyes begin to burn and swell. Her arms defiantly crossing her chest now, shielding her soul. Thoughts of Emily Dickinson fueling unsee...

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“One Choice” by Alya Kaikuahine

Warning: Sorta suicidal thoughts, death, murderIt wasn’t my fault. And yet, here I was anyway. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? I honestly didn’t know anymore. I stopped counting after a week. I stared at the wall. White, like everything else in this infernal place. Even the food was white. I guess it was supposed to make the prisoners go so crazy they didn’t try anything bad. But, they already assumed I was crazy, so I guess it didn't really matter to them. Of course I wasn’t. I had just been in the wrong place at t...

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“when did i?” by Francis Daisy

“Ba-da-ba-ba-baaa…I’m lovin’ it”. I’m glad someone’s loving it. But at our house,  no one’s loving it. We are alone in the living room. The TV drowns out any opportunity to talk about the weather, the recent spike in flu, what to have for dinner, or any words at all. It is commercials for erectile dysfunction or allergy season or cell phone plans with unlimited data that carry on in the background of our lives. ...

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“This is Everything I Voluntarily Decided Inconsequentially” by Drei Etsocal

Laziness. How would you counter something like that? Should you do a mind over matter thing? Should you zap it with a lightsaber in your head or turn it off like a switch? Indolence is an outright unimportant decision. It should have been but...it's just so hard to not get pulled through in that. (The things I'd be saying are just in my opinion. What's mine is just ...

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“The Morning Saga” by Ola Hotchpotch

As far as I am concerned,Indian summers have only one speciality- mangoes🍋. When summers come and I feel the uncomfortable perspiration trickling down my body,I think of luscious mangoes.Another glory of summers for me is the bell ( wood apple) tree in our garden. The ripe bell fruits are not only delicious to eat but also beneficial. The Bell tree bears fruit twice in a year so I can't call it a summer speciality.Once upon a time in a not so far pastour garden had lots of fragrant , little white jasmine fl...

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“Bloody bond” by Lomi Willow

Blood... There was blood all around the place... The place was wrecked and tattered bodies lay across the floor... The weapons beside them marred with their blood and that of their enemies. A young man rushed in. His armor and clothes torn and his skin full of cuts and bruises. For a second he froze at the sight "No..." He dropped his sword and ran over to a couple. "Please... Please... Tell me I'm not to...

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