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You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been.

Posted in Nonfiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 146 stories

The Hitchhikers

Submitted to Contest #47

You know better than to pick up a hitchhiker. How many stories had you read where the innocent girl picks up a stranger on the side of the road and they turn out to be a murderer, kidnapper, escaped psychiatric patient etc., You get the picture. But this time was different.           You worked late tonight, your shift should have ended two hours ago but you stayed late for a co-worker so she could leave early to tend to her sick child. You work every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as a wa...

85 likes 38 comments 38
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Power trip

Submitted to Contest #47

You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been. It said sunny but it's fucking raining blood, boy! You cleave the gargoyle in half with the help of a mighty blade. Look at that thing; it's fucking huge! It hums in your hands, delighted by the life you keep feeding it. As you slit the throat of an imp, its head rolls beneath your muscular feet. A motherfucking champion, that's what you are! Kicking that stupid face sends it flying in the arms of its youngest. Oh man, you've done it...

57 likes 31 comments 31
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Moonflower

Submitted to Contest #47

You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been. Helen at Times Today said it would be sunny out, and she was usually correct. Right now, however, dark clouds were gathering. Exactly like your mood.It wasn’t fair. Your twin sister didn’t deserve what had happened to her. Even if there were no do-overs and today would have always have been her last day, couldn’t the world have at least made it happier?The first few drops pitter-platter against your lawn. The earth smelled fresh. May...

52 likes 29 comments 29
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You Jump

Submitted to Contest #47

You need to jump. You have to. The sea looks grey and stormy, it's splashing and screaming and yelling. But you can make out a little spot of mundane yellow sand, with a small pearly cove - where you will be safe. You slide your warm hands at the base of the window and slowly pull it up, feeling the ocean winds kissing your face.You cringe as you wipe off the green grime at the tips of your fingers.The bedroom behind you is almost begging you not to leave. You say goodbye to the faded pinstripe couch and the dangling orange lamp. You wave to...

43 likes 31 comments 31
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Under Your Skin

Submitted to Contest #47

You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been. You knew the weather forecast because mother had looked it up. She always had the strong sense that something would go so wrong, especially on important days. She needed to be prepared for every predicament. They had said that it would only be partly cloudy.Yet the world blurred outside, under the glossy cover of the downpour, the narrow ditches at the side road overflowed with dark water. Motorcyclist - possibly friends or family of...

41 likes 31 comments 31
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Precious Cargo

Submitted to Contest #47

More to be desired are they than gold............ sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.        Psalms 19:10 ESVDark clouds fill the sky overhead, you watch the spray battering the water proof covering you are under, it is your window to the heavens. Whether the spray is rain from above or just the ocean washing over the barge you can’t tell. You do know they said it would be a clear and calm crossing, they were wrong. It is cold and cloudy. The waves continuously batter your...

36 likes 4 comments 4
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Treading Water

Submitted to Contest #47

“It was supposed to be a sunny day,” you say to yourself, as the rain lashes against the window which has cracked into a spiderweb. Your voice barely sounds like your own, and you almost don’t recognise it at first — it also has a wavering, trembling quality to it that you don’t particularly like. You say these words to yourself because you are the only one in the room, and possibly the only one left in the whole facility. The precise fate of many of the others is unknown, but you know how a few of them went, oh yes…You feel a judder as the ...

33 likes 2 comments 2
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Going home

Submitted to Contest #47

It’s one of those days.You check the weather forecast again. Not for the first time, you wonder how it’s possible that we can fly to the moon and split the atom but still somehow miss this. No matter how many times you force the website to reload, the little icon next to today still shows a cheerful yellow sun half hidden behind a white cloud. Outside, the rain that isn’t supposed to be here patters down on the roof of the bike shed. That roof leaks, so your bike seat is going to be wet. There’s no way it will clear up in time for you to go ...

29 likes 8 comments 8
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Nightborn 3

Submitted to Contest #47

You smile to yourself, feeling proud. The master will be so pleased with you. He is bound to give you a place by his side in his new kingdom when the end comes if you continue to serve him in this way. And you intend to, with all your being you intend to.The new girl shows promise. She might be terrified and unwilling, but there is a fire in her. And now, a seed too. A new recruit, a new Nightborn, germinating in her womb. Your son. Or perhaps your daughter, you wonder. You’re not sure if you’d rather have a girl or a boy. But it doesn’t mat...

27 likes 14 comments 14
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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Submitted to Contest #47

Swallow Falls is a quiet, serene little island smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. You’ve always thought the island is too small for you. Your ideas are too big, too dreamy, too magnificent. There must be some other place in the world with people like you. Somewhere, laboratories that span miles long are filled with acidic tinctures and sparking machines. Somewhere, your inventions are accepted. The spray-on shoes were thick, hard as diamonds, and incredibly difficult to tear off. That was the first invention. You remembe...

27 likes 9 comments 9
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The Road to Kyoto is Paved With Hope

Submitted to Contest #47

You are sixteen years-old when the weather forecast for the day is wrong. Before, you’ve never cared about if the local meteorologists get it wrong - they can’t always be right all the time, can they? - but you’ve never noticed how much you have to lose, either. In the end, it’s not that much, but it’s everything to you and your older brother. You still have a few days before the weather forecast is wrong though, a few more days to hold onto everything. Today, the weather forecast hadn’t been wrong, far from it, in fact. It’s perfe...

27 likes 9 comments 9
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Listen to the Rhythm

Submitted to Contest #47

You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been.Lavinia was shaking her head, thinking about how meteorology was full of loopholes and disappointments. What you see in the forecast is certainly not what you get every time.You thought you had everything planned perfectly. You watched three days in a row to see what the weather was going to be like, and every day you saw it was supposed to rain on Saturday. It was like it had been written in stone, right? Like one of those petroglyph...

25 likes 10 comments 10
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A Grey Day in the Turquoise House

Submitted to Contest #47

You are not unaware of the irony of it. For years you had been cynical about weather forecasting, and then, a couple of years ago, you wished you had believed them when you were caught on a snowbound road during that weather event they called the Beast from the East, and that had been forecast in advance with warnings duly issued. After that, you became rather less cynical, and took them at their word when they said this weekend (and possibly the week after) would be warm and pleasant with just the hint of a breeze.  &nbs...

24 likes 3 comments 3
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Denim Day

Submitted to Contest #47

You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been. The rain was hitting the dusty glass window with a loud noise. The cloud was so dark; one would think it was midnight instead of six o’clock in the afternoon. A chill ran up your spine. You were expecting a sunny day, not a gloomy one. “I hope you take your coffee black, I have no sugar left.” The old man smiled at you apologetically as he sat across you. You noticed how his yellow teeth were pointed, like those of a vampire. A scar ...

23 likes 14 comments 14
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Run

Submitted to Contest #47

Rays of sun stream in through the windows and delicately brush against your face. You flip the pillow over to the cold side, desperate for a few more minutes of sleep. The honking of horns and squealing of tires ring through your ears and you finally push away the duvet covers to place your feet on the floor. The sharp iciness of the wood springs your eyes open and you tiptoe over to the mirror. Every morning, when you first glance at it, you see a little piece of advice for the day. Yesterday it was ‘take the train home’, which saved you fr...

23 likes 7 comments 7
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