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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone who feels increasingly irrelevant.

Posted in Sad on Nov 1, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 58 stories

“Safe Space” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #154

“I just feel like nobody cares anymore,” Gavin sighed, leaning his fist under his chin as he sat cross-legged on the sofa. The room was silent except for the gentle hum of the A.C. and the sound of the man’s therapist, Anna, scribbling notes onto her pad. The walls were speckled with paintings of sunflowers and oceans, contrasted only by the abundance of shiny certification papers Anna had proudly amassed. The carpet was plain, the wallpaper was plain, the sofa was plain. The muted color palette was both calming and a bit frustrating. Even A...

62 comments 62
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“A Dance to Remember” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #154

A word of advice, darling: don’t ever love anything or anyone. They’ll only end up shattering your heart, and then they’ll grind the broken bits up into dust, and make bricks out of it, and then they’ll brick you up where they no longer have to look at you.Oh, hush, darling. I know you’re not like them. No, you’re special. You’re my special little guy. You’re the only one I can trust.And it’s not like I was ever unreasonable, you know? All I ever wanted to do was dance, to have a full belly. To have someone that appreciated me, someone that ...

56 comments 56
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“Motherhood: A Timeline” by Zack Powell

Submitted to Contest #154

PrenatalThe first time someone asks when your baby is due, during the middle of your second trimester, is the first time you truly feel motherhood begin. Not when your gums become so tender that a piece of floss can draw a river of blood. Not when your back burns from the burden of your newfound weight. Not even when you wake one night and catch your husband tracing your nascent network of varicose veins with his finger.It isn’t until you’re waiting for your ultrasound in the Radiology department, distracting yourself with the Home and Garde...

22 comments 22
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“The Last Flamingo Portrait of Philip J. Turlington” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #154

Philip J. Turlington was not aware that he had painted his last flamingo.While not exactly a young man, Philip was still a spry sixty-seven. He had no reason to believe that death would arrive at his studio one day and inform him that the final touches he had made to the portrait of a Chilean flamingo would be his last act of creativity on this earth.“But Death,” Philip exclaimed, “You cannot let this be my final flamingo portrait. Why, look at this! It’s trivial! It’s putrid! It’s garbage!”Death had to admit that, yes, the previous flamingo...

22 comments 22
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“Failure to Communicate” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #154

Wednesday Mike, sent 18:07. Read 18:43.             So what’s the latest trend on TikTok? Sarah, sent 18:43. Read 18:58. Where did you go? We’re having dinner. You left me on my own for half an hour! Mike, sent 18:59. Read 18:59.             And it only took you 36 minutes to notice I was gone. What’s trending on TikTok? Sarah, sent 19:00. Read 19:02. What does that have to do with anything? Mike, sent 19:03. Read...

33 comments 33
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“In Absentia” by Caroline Smith

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #154

It’s Jasey’s turn to host book club. The sangria in the pitcher grows warm as the curated landscape of candles thickens the air with the scents of spearmint and watered roses. Her friends sit in the living room and chat around the coffee table. There are eight of them and it’s likely none of them read the book. Sandra chose it and she always picks books featuring infidelity to make herself feel better about being a divorcée.Jasey hesitates to call them her friends, really. She had friends in college and even made some at her first job, at a ...

13 comments 13
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“What Matters Most” by Betty Gilgoff

Submitted to Contest #154

“It isn’t going to happen Miche, so just drop it.” Barry slams his phone down on the table.Charlene’s eyes are wide with concern, “What did mom want?” He just looks at her, considering whether or not to answer.“It’s about Gran’s birthday party, isn’t it?” She persists.“Yes Charlie, if you must know.” Already he’s picking up his phone again, starting to scroll.“You sounded mad,” Charlene pries cautiously.He glances up from his phone and sighs. “They’ve changed it to my night with you, so it isn’t going to work.” Scrolling again, he’s mut...

18 comments 18
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“A Dream Unlived” by BA Eubank

Submitted to Contest #154

The air smelled heavily of rain, but the clouds have yet to release their torment. Lightning crackled across the sky as the trees bent with the wind. She sat on the plastic chair on the covered porch and watched the clouds roll on top of each other. The house was finally quiet after the tornados that were her kids were fast asleep.  She sat there with the one glass of wine she allowed herself. The trees moaning as the wind lashed at them, ripping off leaves and thrashing them in its macabre dance was the only sound. A sigh started in ...

15 comments 15
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“When I Am An Old Woman” by Cindy Strube

Submitted to Contest #154

When I Am An Old Woman Doris and I are having a bit of a tiff. She’s very polite at first, asking me to come in for coffee. I help by carrying the cups, while she reaches for a swirly glass bowl filled with cookies. The style looks like it came from Murano. “Have a seat,” she invites, indicating a Louis XVI chair upholstered with smoky blue brocade. “Oof!” I exclaim involuntarily. The chair is uncomfortable. Its pretty oval back is a smidge too convex, preventing me from leaning back. The seat is hard, and too shallow. “Somethi...

10 comments 10
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“Hey! What About Me?!” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #154

Hey! What About Me?!                                    “I don’t get no respect.” – Rodney DangerfieldThis is nuts. Dark, crowded and wet. I about can’t take it anymore. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Dogs are two months. I could live with that. Or how about mice? Twenty-five days tops! And I have to put up with this for nine months? Life ain’t ...

7 comments 7
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“Ready for Your Dream” by Ren B

Submitted to Contest #154

My agency in West L.A. has vivid posters of wonderlands: the Ganges, Mount Fuji, Madagascar, and Galapagos. Never been to any. The wall behind me holds a gigantic world map with colored pins stuck throughout the planet. A desk in the corner is piled high with traveler’s literature, maps, and brochures. The smell of freshly ground coffee fills the air. I cherish my job; manifesting someone’s dream, by whisking them away to some far-off world. Better than that self-help book you got last month. I admit it; I get lost in my work; I am...

7 comments 7
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“Escape” by Amy Ingram

Submitted to Contest #154

The first time it happened Cassie thought it was a dream, that she must have been asleep, and dreaming. Since that day, now and then, she had felt a similar sensation when she concentrated on Sonny, in the sliding of taut muscle or the shiver of skin under the tickle of a fly. On this sunny summer Saturday, Cassie was sitting in her favourite place in Sonny's paddock, her back against the steel gate and her legs stretched out in front of her, when it happened again. The morning sun was warm on her shoulder and the side of her face, and glint...

6 comments 6
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“Deferred Sentence” by Maxwell MacDonald

Submitted to Contest #154

If you had a pulse you were promoted. Ryan Hament was nothing if not a man who could wake up in the morning with an active, beating pulse. He’d been doing it his entire life. All twenty-eight years. It was a point of pride. Letting his heart beat and not getting in the way of that plump, fleshy life fist clenching and relaxing. Moving the blood along where it needed to go. Never letting too much of it spill out at one time either. That was the trick. Keep the blood on the inside. Once it got ...

9 comments 9
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“When Emotions Took Shape As Words” by Latha Prakash

Submitted to Contest #154

There was a hurricane of activity in the hallway. The atmosphere was exuberant. Ignoring all the frolic, Monika sat at her writing desk and stared at the speck of dust on the window pane, without diverting her gaze even for a second. That tiny speck seemed to take in the myriad eclectic emotions that churned in her heart and created a whirlpool. The paper that lay on the table fluttered in air and made a tapping noise each time in stroked the table. The clock ticked at its pace oblivious to the turmoil in her heart. Her mind was flooded with...

2 comments 2
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“WHO NEEDS A FAMILY ANYWAY?” by Jo Gatenby

Submitted to Contest #154

"Maybe I should run away." Carolyn said, as she hauled herself out of a snowdrift yet again. "This stupid ski trip is the last straw!" That was not a new thought. She stared across at the steeper slopes where the rest of her family gracefully shushed and slalomed, while she was stuck here on the bunny hill. Carolyn snorted. "Baby hill is more like it." Her mother, Ellen, grinned and called something Carolyn couldn't hear, and her older brothers and sisters laughed in response. She blinked away tears. "I guess they ARE just as happy without...

4 comments 4
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Contest #154

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Ended on 23:59 - Jul 15, 2022 EST

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Title: Moonlight and Madness

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