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Someone in the story has a lot of hard lessons to learn.

Posted in Sad on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 35 stories

On Becoming Marcus

Winner of Contest #14 🏆

It was just a week that the capital spent without Marcus. These were long days, in the middle of August, when the stinging sheets of rain left most sane people huddling like hedgehogs underneath the pale white domes of their houses. Petrichor wafted through heavy air. Rich and thick, the scent marked the tail-end of one such shower as Con made his way through the city.Con despised to walk alone. He remembered this now, especially, dragging the wagon of supplies over his shoulders. Had he not lost the horse, he would be at headquarters by now...

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Revenge is smelly - submitted by Margaret Davis

Submitted to Contest #14

This was my last night on my 9 day stretch of the midnight to 8 shift.I didn’t hate the midnight shift like some of my fellow police officers, but I wanted this stretch to end so I could begin my 4 day weekend. I had big plans on my days off and I needed some respite from the sweltering heat typical of Vermont weather in August.At about 11:30 p.m., I pulled into the parking lot on South Winooski Avenue and as always, marveled at the ancient building which had been home to the Burlington Police Department since 1887. So much history...

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A Girl, a Guy, and a God

Submitted to Contest #14

“Muse!” Apoyo laughed. “Get over here!” Stumbling over various thrones of the gods and nearly tipping his serving tray, Muse rushed to his side. “Yes Apoyo?” “I think it’s time for the final test of your internship. Granting the request of a human.” Muse’s eyes light up. “Really?” “Are you sure? Muse is still a kid. He’s not ready to be a full-fledged god.” Permes chuckled tossing back his eminence afro. “Remember last decade, when he set himself on fire trying to make Afrodite’s banana foster? Remember that Afrodite?” Afrodite swirled the g...

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Watch the Company You Keep

Submitted to Contest #14

"You keep playing with fire, you're gonna get burnt"It was something that mama always said to us... It means you keep going back to something that isn't good for you, your feelings are going to be hurt… You keep entertaining negativity or straddling the fence of wanting to please others vs. wanting to move forward in life, and watch just how fast you’ll get burnt out.My mother was queen of “not holding her tongue back”... For anyone!She's older now, so she's not as quick as she used to be… However she just as sassy, maybe even sassier.My mot...

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The Loa Gate

Submitted to Contest #14

“Where am I?”   Theda reached out to her left and pressed her palm flat against a smooth surface. Cold, yes, but dark too. This whole place was dank and dark. Humidity hung in the air like a thunderstorm waiting to break.  “New Orleans.” “You’ve told me nothing  She stared into the shadows and saw the shining white of clean bone. There was a skull, and there was more. Theda could see a plum velvet suit that formed something like the skull’s torso and legs. A top hat did not hide the comp...

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Kidnappers

Submitted to Contest #14

social media platform was my hidding room where I would go and cry out my tears to friends, seeking much more comfort. Many people have fallen into the traps of fake people young people kidnapped, rapped, killed, and their bodies found in sea bed or inside the forests rotten and vultures feasting on the dead flesh. Addiction have always been on my mind addicted to social media that before crystals fell from my eyes, my mind headed to social media. It was like we were attracted to each other like a magnet never letting go. My deepest happin...

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Talk To Me

Submitted to Contest #14

Oliver had been sitting in the attic for an hour now. Yep, definitely just sitting. Not hiding in his room, thinking about how five minutes ago he’d just previously ruined his life. The stillness of the room brought him back to the time before he met Samuel. Without the ghost hanging over his shoulder, his old room was eerily quiet. Quiet except for his thoughts tearing at every brim of his consciousness. They all seemed to yell at him:Why did I do that?Why did I tell them?Why am I so stupid? These thoughts even scared Oliver now. Being told...

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THE MIRROR

Submitted to Contest #14

               THE MIRRORONE FINE SUNDAY MORNING,                                                     Vikram, a 24 years old engineer with a stressful IT job, on eating his breakfast suddenly feels that his life ...

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Brass Monkey

Submitted to Contest #14

I’m going to tell you about the brass monkey. But first, let me tell you about my two childhood buddies, Tommy Boyd, TB, and Clancy Smith. Dad had taken up a new position as foreman with a nearby construction company and TB and Clancy were the first guys I met in Rainbow Falls when we moved into the old brownstone house.They had a strange kind of friendship.Apparently it all started in Junior High; TB had done Clancy a favour by beating up an older kid caught trying to pinch Clancy’s lunch money. TB was like that; he hated unfairness. But th...

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Confusing Episodes

Submitted to Contest #14

Ellie's POVI look at my reflection in the mirror. I pass my hand up my wrist to my shoulder feeling the old scar left behind. The scar began at the center of my left forearm and ended at the top of my shoulder. I try keeping my composure as my pale hands shake uncontrollably. Thoughts racing as they brought back voices that were sweet but painful. Screams... screams... The shakings back..."You have your mother's eyes Ellie! Look you've got emeralds!""Don't ever let anyone ever tell you that your eyes aren't treasures. Got it?"Every time I he...

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Painted

Submitted to Contest #14

As a child my father was always more of a friend than a parent. He would consider a bowl of candy as a full meal; he would let bedtime be whenever our tired bodies could no longer stay awake. We would play video games at odd hours of the night and day and whisper our victories and defeats to avoid awaking my sleeping mothers’ wrath. My father would play games more than cook dinner, he would have petty arguments in which his main persuasion was that he would not be my friend anymore if I so told on him for not doing the dishes or for denting ...

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Poppy Tea

Submitted to Contest #14

He drank his way across the Narrow sea. Which he had thought would make the rough churning waters more hospitable, he was incorrect in that assessment. He had lost count as to how many times he had to wretch in the small bucket that lay in the corner of his small cabin. He tried thinking happy thoughts to make himself feel better, "Maybe going up on deck and getting some from fresh sea air would help". He slowly got up and put on a pair of woolen breeches and light linen shirt.   By the time he reached the ...

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Will She Never Learn?

Submitted to Contest #14

Once there lived a princess. She was the princess of a large and prosperous kingdom, and her name was Alarena. Alarena was beautiful and the most intelligent young woman anyone would ever meet. No one had ever really met her or talked to her fully, but she would always give witty and clever speeches to her father's people whenever the royal family visited the kingdom. However, the princess's personal servants, although they would never dare to tell, knew her real personality and demeanor. Was she ladylike? Elegant? Angelic? Kind? None of the...

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All is well

Submitted to Contest #14

I was busy watching TV when the phone rang. Susheela, my daughter called. “Amma, we are coming there” and my son in law took it from her and continued “to seek your blessings and there is a good news for you”. My joy knew no bounds – as though thousand flower pots were set ablaze at one stroke. The good news from my daughter was long overdue. At last God showered His bountiful mercy upon the couple.Whenever I was a bit worried on her account, my husband used to assure that as per her horoscope, she would be blessed with two kids and hence th...

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The Girl Next Door

Submitted to Contest #14

I can’t help but hate Erica Clearwater. She's impossible, but in a way that only I'm able to see. It feels like I’m the last person alive who isn’t under her spell. She always finds a way to sneak into my mind, even when I’m keeping to myself, walking down the hallway with my head down. Her student council poster jumps from the wall and slides in my way so I have to see her and her crooked nose and freckles.The worst part is that just because I hate her, doesn’t mean I can do anything about it. She’s lived next door my whole l...

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