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Write about two solo travelers who keep bumping into each other in the most unexpected of places.

Posted in Romance on Nov 4, 2022

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✍️ 21 stories

Time And Again

Submitted to Contest #171

It took all of...oh, forty seconds, give or take, for Jen to peel herself from the security guard's stilted flirtation, tuck the bag of smoke bombs under a bench near the entrance, pull the fake watch onto her wrist, slip into a side hallway to tear off the outer skirts of her gown, trip the fire alarms, and return to the ballroom.  She wove her way through the baffled partygoers in their various 21st-century ideas of "ballgowns". None cast more than a glance in her direction, most too busy cramming for the door as alarms overhead procl...

23 likes 5 comments 5
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The Fox and the Bear.

Submitted to Contest #171

I remember the first time I saw her with a sharp, vivid fondness. I was on the train on my way to a job interview at just 20 years old. At one of the stops, she climbed on. She was wearing a royal blue dress with golden yellow sunflowers on it, which I would later learn were her favorites. Her beautiful chocolate skin glowed with a type of intense energy which I had never experienced before. The way her curly hair bounced up and down against her shoulders with every step, mimicked the beat of my beating heart, which was pounding in my chest ...

18 likes 2 comments 2
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Seneca has a Date

Submitted to Contest #171

He who spares the wicked injures the good. Seneca – ancient Roman philosopher JUNE 13, 2011 Seneca stared out of the window of the train, calculating how fast the train was moving. It was an easy calculation to make since the telephone poles were exactly 88 feet apart. This mental activity palled after the ten seconds it took to work this out. Her dad came to mind after this; he was always good at mental math, even if he was a terrible person. This thought led her to Ned Chalmers, the man she had killed three days ago. He had been a terr...

17 likes 14 comments 14
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Daffodils: Twice Trampled

Submitted to Contest #171

Time is not an arrow, it’s an incomprehensible line that curves smoothly in some places and bends sharply at others. There are intervals where it moves slowly at first and then accelerates to catch up to itself. Time is fickle, it doesn’t like to do the same thing over and over. Sometimes it darts onward into the future, sometimes it curls and burrows into the present, and sometimes it loops back and intersects itself in the past. Sometimes it rides alongside itself asymptotically, getting arbitrarily close but never reaching itself. Other t...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Have You Met Me?

Submitted to Contest #171

Between gigs, I found myself in a foreign country, free to discover what I’d never seen. Enjoying the sounds and smells of an urban marketplace, I sampled exotic food at different stalls. The people were friendly. They smiled while describing their wares. But I didn’t know the language. It sounded like chatter. I spotted a fellow American approaching. His head bobbed over the sea of humanity. I often encountered countrymen when traveling abroad. Careful to avoid fast friendships, I’d found developing trust demands an investment of time. But...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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A Taste of Home

Submitted to Contest #171

     He had not expected to meet another human at an ammonia bar on an ice-ball moon near the galactic core.She had purposely gone to this remote, silicon-based place to avoid meeting other humans.              They didn’t even see each other at first, with their environment suits hiding their figures enough to blend into the crowd of large, shaggy people that called this place – both moon and dark circular tavern - home. He was ushered towards her...

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Headstrong, Heartbroken, Hopeful

Submitted to Contest #171

Taking a bike trip on the unforgiving mountain roads in winter was for the headstrong, or the heartbroken.Capt. Sanjay Singh stepped out of his cozy company commander’s hut in Fukché. Sepoy Tshering, his buddy, tagged along with a duffle bag that had canned food, winter clothing, and a sleeping bag.They met Subedar Asif Ali and two more sepoys, outside the compound wall on which the regimental emblem- an ibex with ‘SCOUTS’, and Julé were painted in deep maroon. The three gave a snappy salute as the captain approached them. Subedar Asif Ali h...

13 likes 7 comments 7
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I Found Myself in Paris

Submitted to Contest #171

  I found myself in Paris after a whirlwind of drama back home. I was free and so damn happy. Warm winds blew my hair as I walked along the famous lock bridge. I stopped in the middle and looked out at the layers of buildings, roads and water around me. Just as I looked up, a pair of blue eyes caught mine as he passed by. My heart jumped in my chest. With a lock still in my hand, I followed him with my eyes. He looked back after a few steps and gifted me with a second glimpse of those radiant eyes.  I walked on, I wanted to s...

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The Snap Back

Submitted to Contest #171

I’m a Time Traveler. I don’t possess any particularly exceptional abilities and I’m not sent on an extraordinary mission to an end of saving the future or achieving a greater good. I started as a Time Traveler, like many others before me, because I have money–a lot of it. Money, and a keen interest in major historical battles that I have the privilege of witnessing first-hand.  I started traveling years ago, and since then, I’ve seen it all. The Battles of the Bulge, Gettysburg, Stalingrad, the Somme. I could see other events–in fact, ...

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The Dead Sea

Submitted to Contest #171

An infectious smile. A mischievous grin. Kind, gracious eyes.  The man who passed by seemed to possess all the wonderful things, that silently spoke of his undeniable charisma. I couldn’t help it as my head turned and followed, when he held open the large brass door for me to exit while he entered. Another guest. I watched, through the windows, as he approached the hotel reception. It became clear my estimation of his character was not confined to imagination. The young receptionist gazed upwardly, with the same eyes of enchantment th...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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Stray Predators

Submitted to Contest #171

I couldn’t stop thinking about the looks on their faces, and I never forget a face. My body count is thirty-two. Thirty-two faces I’ll never forget. They don’t haunt me or torment me like some other poor souls. No, these faces only gently greet me as I drift away to sleep every night. I’ve heard some of my co-workers say they saw fear in the eyes of their targets, and that fear haunts them forever. Not me. I only remember the blankness in their gaze as the life leaves their bodies. That’s what I see every night, the hollow shell of a job...

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The Quarterly Report

Submitted to Contest #171

Autumn. Blood orange leaves flowed down the mountainside. Sunset yellow oaks waved like ocean water, twirling to reveal the hidden green branches below; the last of their kind. The season’s turning below mocked the blue sky above, which still conjured clouds of summer rain. If the world was flipped upside-down, it’d look like a sunset sea.Like the sky, a pair of piercing blue rebel eyes looked out across the expanse. Cal, a man of twenty-four years, was doing his best to accept the loss of ninety-degree greenery. The orange reflection in his...

8 likes 4 comments 4
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Not Another Rainbow

Submitted to Contest #171

Costa Rica “Miss, Miss!” The guide whispered, jumping in front of Jen’s lens, ruining the perfect photo she was about to take. Naturally, as soon as he moved, the toucan with a donut in its beak flew off. Cursing silently, Jen looked up. She’d joined this tour group after being told by her agent that it would be good to have a local take her around. So far she’d just gotten a lot of nonsense. “Yes?” Jen was aware she sounded angry as she stood from her squat. It had been the best shot she’d seen so far. The guide seemed to realize his er...

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Paris

Submitted to Contest #171

“Pleasure,” I answer, smiling widely as I answer the custom’s agent at Charles De Gaulle airport.  I’m back in Paris and I feel as though every bit of weight is off my shoulders for the first time in over a decade.  With my passport stamped and my bags collected, I make my way to the RER.  Scratch that, the longer distance metro line in Paris isn’t called the RER anymore.  I make a mental note to look up the new name again in case I ever have to ask for directions.  I approach the automatic t...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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SYNCHRONICITIES ATTRACT

Submitted to Contest #171

    Buckus could have sworn he witnessed spells of synchronicity in his travels throughout the star systems in the Confederation.  Not every disembarkation under a new sun was like this, but enough visitations from the same face among quadrillions was worthy to raise an eyebrow or two.  He was a sole traveler, a salesman by trade, offering devices to occupy the ennui of long-distance rovers, journeymen and soldiers; just switch it on and watch those extended voyages through all those grueling light years become sated...

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