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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story that includes the line “Have we met before?”

Posted in Dramatic on Oct 4, 2024

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 141 stories

“The Bench” by Kate Simkins

🏆 Winner of Contest #271

The elderly lady shuffled the few remaining steps to the park bench and sat down, happy to catch her breath and rest for a moment. The autumn sunshine was warm, but the nip in the air made her glad of her warm coat. She placed her handbag neatly on her knee.“Good morning,” said the silver-haired gentleman at the other end of the bench. “Beautiful day.”Elsie smiled. “Yes, it is. Cold, but lovely.”The man folded his newspaper and returned the smile. “I’m George.”“Hello, George. I’m Elsie.” She re-arranged her scarf, her gnarled fingers struggl...

185 comments 185
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“A Thousand First Meetings” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #271

12 October 2024Dear Natasha,Yes, it’s me. Again.Well, I can finally admit it, spill to you the secret I’ve kept buried like a chest of gold for, well, as long as my memory could trace seconds. I should tell you that I keep all the faces I put on to meet you in large, crystal jars of lapis lazuli and lush, brilliant greens, the collection stacked on shelves in an ivory-painted cupboard that almost reaches the ceiling. Each one of them, every perfectly moulded mask of flesh and keratin is labelled in thick crimson card and my chicken scratch p...

54 comments 54
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“The Right Questions” by Tim Kulp

Submitted to Contest #271

"It’s freezing out there, and I have tons of work to do," I say, harsher than I mean. This always happens in my office. My tone sharpens, frustrations simmer, little distractions trigger unreasonable anger. “Sorry,” Nancy says, her voice shrinking to that of a much younger child.This isn’t urgent. No one else cares. But it’s important, and I’ve already waited too long. “But dad, tonight’s the supermoon,” Nancy pleads. Even with my face buried in my monitors, I see her slumping in disappointment. But it’s too dark to see her eyes begging me t...

35 comments 35
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“How I met your mother.” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #271

How I met your mother."Daddy." My four-year-old daughter abandons her Lego creation and leans against my leg. Her boney elbow digs into my groin. Out of self-preservation I lift her up on my lap."What, baby?""Tell me the story again." she demands."Again?" I widen my eye in mock disbelief. Her blond curls, so like her mother's, bounce in affirmation.She was a beacon in the smog of grey business suits that drifted around her on the subway platform. Among these minions, mindlessly scurrying to their dead-end jobs, she embodied the proud strengt...

36 comments 36
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“Night shift” by Stasia Komadinko

Submitted to Contest #271

Andrew's touch was firm and a little rough, just how she liked it. Anna wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her close, and they kissed passionately. They both knew they didn't have much time. The subtle aroma of his aftershave mingled with the crisp, clinical scent of disinfectants in the on-call room. Her fingers traced a path down his neck, light but confident. Andrew paused for a moment, looking into her eyes. She pulled him back in, not in the mood for drawn-out looks. Anna was eager to get down to the nitty-gritty.Then her pho...

15 comments 15
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“Parallel Stories” by Morgan G

Submitted to Contest #271

Trigger warnings: sexual and physical abuse/violence, suicidal thoughts/themesIn a small bookstore filled to the brim with stories and adventures, a woman sat at the back in a beanbag. She was there every day after work, around 4:40 give or take a few minutes, head buried in whatever she had snatched from the shelves. It was a quiet bookstore tucked away at the end of a cobbled street. All the big shops and commercial buildings were located just before that dead-end, so the people who stepped into the bookstore, ‘A Book a Day,’ went the...

10 comments 10
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“The Faces in the Mirror” by C. H.

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #271

Hannah sat in her wheelchair, staring out the window as dusk settled over the world outside. The silhouette of the treetops absorbed the fleeting light of the setting sun. As another day closed, she found her mind wandering back before. The once bustling life of adventure and ambition she had in her twenties felt like a distant dream. In 24 years of MS, she had lost mobility and independence. Now, at fifty, multiple sclerosis had shrunk her world to the size of her home, her broken body, and her wheelchair. The days blurred together, each on...

16 comments 16
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“Football Tryouts” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #271

Brand new saddle shoes and penny loafers clicked across the linoleum checkerboard floor tiles on the first day of the new school year, while the black and white students sat at segregated tables in equally patterned sections in the high school cafeteria.Vats of pale vegetables, alongside mashed potatoes and unnaturally colored meats steamed untouched, while the students pushed trays past them to collect the cookies, apples and cartons of milk. Acne-faced boys told fantastic lies to each other while the girls, in long skirts and cat eye glass...

12 comments 12
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“Wedding Hells ” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #271

It was a romance worthy of a soap opera. Each stars of their own show, Pearl Swinney and Wayne Waxen met at an industry event for actors and agents. Witnesses described their meeting as ‘electric,’ ‘smoldering,’ or ‘like a short circuit.’ That sparks flew was not seen by all as a positive sign. Anywhere outside of Hollywood, what happened between them would be called bizarre. In this town, it was called ‘Wednesday night.’No one denied their passion. They proved inseparable. Seen everywhere holding hands and trailed by paparazzi, everyone kne...

12 comments 12
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“Perfect Strangers” by Sophie Jackson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #271

“Have we met before?”The stranger looked deep into Frederick’s eyes as if willing him to admit they knew each other.“No,” Frederick said, trying to move away.It was cold, the snow had started to sleet down and in his war-torn town there was little to keep a person outside except necessity.“Have we met before?” The man grabbed at his arm and would not allow him to leave.Frederick glanced at the dirt blackened fingers gripping onto his coat sleeve and grimaced with distaste.“No,” he repeated more firmly, though without the heart to get angry w...

12 comments 12
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“The Hart-felt Heroine” by Kate Winchester

Submitted to Contest #271

Officer Rosalie Hart had high ambitions when she graduated from the police academy. Donning her badge like a superhero cape, she was ready for justice. She had the eagerness and excitement of Judy Hopps (Yes, the rabbit from Zootopia) and at twenty-one years old, she knew everything there was to know about life.  Over the years, however, she learned how wrong she had been, and now, at thirty-one, Officer Hart was well aware of how much life still had to teach her. For instance, when her service weapon was placed in her h...

12 comments 12
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“A NIGHT AT THE IMPROV” by Lily Finch

Submitted to Contest #271

Automatic One Cent Vaudeville in Crystal Hall theatre beat all for miles around, and the residents of Oakville would say the same. Townspeople filled the hall nightly to see various shows; each offered unique entertainment for seekers of something engaging after dinner. It made for a lovely formal evening out on the town. Longtime friends from high school, Martha and Jane, married around the same time in the same year and settled down with their out-of-town husbands in Oakville, a town not far from where they grew up. Their husbands wer...

10 comments 10
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“The adulteress ” by Ramesh Matham

Submitted to Contest #271

The adulteress Anwar Rashid flipped open his pocket diary and placed it on the table and carefully kept his pen next to it. “Tell me, sir,” he said. I hunched over the table and drew myself close to him so that he could hear my whisper. “Anwar,” I said in a low voice, “You must understand that this must be done very discreetly. Nobody should get a whiff of what you are doing. Understood?” “Perfectly. Don’t worry.” “Ok. Her name is Aashna. Her husband’s name is...now, what is it?” I searched my memory. Failing, I whip...

9 comments 9
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“The Man in the Trench Coat” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #271

This bright and early morning was no different than any other. As usual, Tessa had chosen to spend it by returning to the same café, situated just four blocks from her lofty flat in West London, and drinking the usual cup of Americano coffee. She sat, for the most part, unnoticed in a corner of cozy café, which was just as she preferred whilst she struggled to pen a continuance of her book on a laptop. The ongoing novel was a mix betwixt fantasy and futuristic genres – the two that had always intrigued her own interests. Her attemp...

8 comments 8
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“The Perfect Anna” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #271

Stacey slammed the door of her flat and headed down the road to the bus stop. The reverberation did nothing to dissipate her anger. Greg hadn't given her the main part in their next play! She had received so much praise for her current role in a modern re-enactment of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. They’d called it Roman and Julia. Stacey knew her lines back to front and inside out. How could Greg pass her over for the lead in the next play? He offered her something else, but what? Probably demoted to the cast! Well, he could stick that ide...

25 comments 25
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Contest #271

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This week's theme: Familiar Strangers with Barnes & Noble Press

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Ended on 23:59 - Oct 11, 2024 EST

Won by Kate Simkins 🏆

Title: The Bench

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