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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone who’s trying to accomplish a task that used to be easy but is now made complicated by a pandemic.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 80 stories

“KILLER DISEASE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #84

Murugan was frantically looking for some helpers. In another ten days his vast rice field would be ready for harvest. If could not arrange for people to harvest, the entire labour spent in these last five months would be a total loss. What about the monetary loss! How was he going to repay the loan taken from the bank? More than anything else, just to be a silent witness for the terrible loss occurring right in front of him would be a mental torture. He was not ready for it. He must do something than helplessly watching it perish. He just co...

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“The Life I Promised You” by Saba Rashidian

Submitted to Contest #84

“To Noor-e jaan-e man hasti[1].” She could still hear him whispering these words into her ear, holding her tight to his chest, running his fingers through her dark brown locks. Earlier that night, as the Imam had finally announced them husband and wife, the loudest echo in her head was the sound of her own heart, beating so wild that any cheering or loud Afghan folk songs seemed almost faded. But now, as she was laying in his embrace, the only sound she could hear was the beating of his heart. In her mind, she silently prayed to Allah, as...

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“The Girl Who Lived” by Bianca Bourgault

Submitted to Contest #84

"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be." The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Oh the horror! To use an opening line belonging to someone else. I should be ashamed. I learned that opening one's essay with a quote or definition weakens the writing. I was sixteen and taking a pretest of the Advanced Placement English exam for high schoolers looking to gain college credit by scoring a 3 or above. I don't remember what the quote that I...

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“I'm hungry” by John Miller

Submitted to Contest #84

I'm hungry            "I'm hungry," was the first thought Alicia Blue thought upon waking.            It was her first thought when she awoke, lately, and her last thought before going to sleep. "It didn't used to be this difficult to feed," she thought, rising out of her coffin as the sun sank below the horizon.            Two years ago, Blue moved to this small community, picki...

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“Crik-Cunk, The Unwanted Guest” by Susan Vance

Submitted to Contest #84

When did I first start hearing strange sounds at night? That’s an easy enough question to answer. I hear strange sounds every night! If you mean the devilish sights and sounds that drove me from my previous apartment, well… Those I heard in the early hours of July 17, 2020, the last night I was caught unaware by the things that go bump in the night. Then, as now, I was working remotely as a web designer. It was still relatively early in the pandemic. The mandatory lockdown order had been lifted, but we still weren’t sure whether masks we...

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“C.O.M.E.O.U.T: Coming Out of My Ease With an Oddly Unusual Tragedy” by Naimur Rahman

Submitted to Contest #84

For eleven months I’ve been locked in my home. The reason? Imminent death of course. School got canceled and at first, I was like, this is the best day of my life. I could play games, watch movies, skip class all I wanted- at least that’s what I imagined.Soon the reality hit and I realized it was anything but the best. I couldn’t go out with my friends, I couldn’t meet my relatives and I couldn’t even get out of the house. My studies were making progress all right, in the backward direction that is.Things weren’t looking so good. At this poi...

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“Virus Attack” by Stone Burn

Submitted to Contest #84

A group of 33 men were crawling under a small narrow tunnel. It was very dirty and wet. If it rained anymore then the tunnels would be flooded. Each man knew it was a race against time. They all had camouflage hats in their pockets to match their uniforms. General Dalton who was leading the group yelled at them in a big booming voice to keep going. It echoed throughout the whole tunnel. They had one long rope tied on each man's waist. Dalton wanted to make sure he did not lose any men. Dalton ran his hand through his wet red hair. His blue e...

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“Peaches and Shotguns” by MATTHEW ANDERSON

Submitted to Contest #84

Wham! Wham! Wham! John drove the hammer on to the nail with more strength in each hit than the last. This was the third board that John had nailed across his door, and he had much more to do. His entire home consisted of two doors; One of the back and one for the front. Many different windows, and many holes in the roof that he had been meaning to patch up. John never considered himself a very fortunate man. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He had just barely read in the papers that a plague had come to the city. This plague had swept...

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“Easy” by Evan Schoettle

Submitted to Contest #84

​“EASY” And once again, morning. I had an alarm set, always and always the same time. Once again though, it never rang. I was always, or I should say, usually always up before the sound. Up before neighbors, up before birds chirping, and up before the sun. It was kind of a godsend that I never heard the alarm even if it was an hour early. More peaceful this way. There was no panic, and there was no question. So, up 34 minutes before my alarm. I knew perfectly the day, what my day would be, what had to be done in the day...

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“Thoughtless” by Jennifer Russell

Submitted to Contest #84

So this is how it started.  The end of the world.  Not the literal end, we’re still around in some way or form. It’s just not like it used to be. Not many of us coherent ones left either, that I know of at least. We don’t know exactly how many have become ‘Thoughtless’, but I’m sure a good chunk of the world has turned by now. The last news coverage that I can remember had a map of the world; everywhere was yellow, which was moderate contamination. Then the red. Red was the heaviest concentration of EPS, felt like Mc...

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“Breaking the Mask ” by Jonathan Shephard

Submitted to Contest #84

How was he breathing in that thing? Sam watched as her boyfriend walked effortlessly on the treadmill in the gym. His delicious caramel skin never even broke a sweat as his long yet strong arms swung freely on the infinite track. His gray baggy sweatpants and red shirt were beginning to perspire, but he had no trouble breathing. Only if everyone could that. Sam pushed out her bottom lip. “Show off much?”  “Huh?” Her boyfriend asked.   “How do you work out like that without suffocating?” Sam asked. The brown man ...

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“"MISTY CREEK"” by Kristofer Ted Navarro

Submitted to Contest #84

       Gregory’s heart sinks as the sun slowly disappears behind the distant mountains. He sits atop his shiny mahogany coffin, biting his long perfect fingernails and contemplating life eternal, looking gloomy in his black shirt and black joggers. He’s been sleeping all day for nearly a week now. The night used to be his world, his adventure, his territory. This place used to be ripe with countless tourists roaming around the mountains and forest, checking out the wildlife, willingly stepping into danger a...

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“The first day of school” by Mariana Del Rosal

Submitted to Contest #84

March, 1st, 2020Today is the first day of school! (1) My kids are excited, especially Dana, who is almost 7 years old and is starting her second grade. She already knows her classmates and has spent the last week of her summer holidays deciding on whether she should sit next to Casey or next to Luke. Last night, she helped me set the school uniform and I prepared her a delicious lunchbox: a meatball sub, a big, whole apple, and just a bottle of water, as they give her juice at school. My youngest is 3 years old, and though Harry is not as aw...

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“The Plumber” by Francine Maeey

Submitted to Contest #84

"I'm sorry, sir. There's no cash assistance left for you. Maybe you can comeback for tomorrow", the staff said. The poor father, wearing a torn facemask choses to leave. He sat sadly on the big rock. A tear drop stains his cheek, realizing that he can't be able to buy food for his family again. The father tries to count on his fingers the days when he started to wait early with their local government just for the cash assistance. It's been a week since the first day. He frowned sadly and tries to fix himself.He was starting to walk when...

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“Back of the Bus” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #84

“You’ll have to move to the back of the bus.” “Why do I have to go to the back, when all these other people are sitting up her in the front?” There it was again. Like head ache you get from those newfangled blue headlights, so they can see better at night, but blind everyone else. I’ve been driving a bus for most of the past twenty years. I said most of, because the disease came, and everything shut down. People were told to stay home or die. Course some of the people thought it was a joke of some kind, so they kept taki...

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