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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story that spans a month during which everything changes.

Posted in Sad on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 131 stories

“The Wind” by Katelyn Harnisch

Submitted to Contest #89

The wind had picked up in September. It was usually abhorrent but this season was more unsettling than usual. The farmers in this dusty, remote town were struggling with the weather and the absence of moisture in the air made everything more difficult than even the most fervent veterans were ready to put up with. This was the crop season, and hops and barley were their end-all and be-all, their bread-and-butter. This was their life-blood; the thing that kept this town one step above the other cookie cutter, midwest towns that surrounded them...

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“Stardust” by William John Locke

Submitted to Contest #89

I didn’t mean to kill her. There was just something about the way the light hit her face from the window that fateful morning, her skin a shade away from blending in with the harsh white of the stiff sheets in which she was tucked that said, “enough is enough”, and I knew that I couldn’t go on doing it any longer. Of course, there is little to say for myself in defense, as I have done unspeakable acts in the name of both peace and science, but I hope that I may, at the very least, convey the purpose behind my resulting actions and acquir...

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“True Motherhood” by Vijayalakshmi Sugumaran

Submitted to Contest #89

True Motherhood. It is day 42. GeeVee has been expecting it. Happy or sad, many women express it through their tears. In her case, tears of worry have now turned into tears of joy. She has skipped her bloody menstrual days and there is good news. Yes! She is pregnant. Pregnant 3 years after she got married to the man of her love. She is now entering into motherhood and she is crying out of happiness, when she saw the 2 ‘pink streaks’ in the UPT kit She is living in the Indian society where child bearing is marked as a successful living for...

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“A Troubled Gift” by Sasha Senaratne

Submitted to Contest #89

TW: abuse I held my gun and aimed. The target sat with a newspaper in her lap—she had no clue. Red hair covered her face and blocked her view. I've got you now. With soft feet, I crept closer. “Bam!” Pretend bullets flew into the living room; one hit Mommy, others smashed into the sofa.   “You’re dead, Mommy, you’re dead!” Mommy looked up from her newspaper with big eyes, then held her chest. She fell to the floor and rolled around, before going still.   I sneaked to her, still pointing my gun-shaped hands. “Mommy?”   She jump...

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“Harmony” by Jim Corinthians

Submitted to Contest #89

The weather was nice, food was plentiful, and life was peaceful. Of course, this could not last.  It happened slowly, at first, so no one even knew what was happening.  First, one of our great hunters slipped and broke his ankle. It wasn’t even during a hunt, he was just bathing himself in the river and slipped on a wet rock. It wasn’t serious, he was definitely going to live, but it was going to stop him from hunting for a few months. We still had food and plenty of hunters. His wife proved herself to be quite the natural,...

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“March 2020 Diary” by MicKayla Blodgett

Submitted to Contest #89

*WARNING* This is my ACTUAL diary from March 2020. There are very vulgar language and extremely sensitive topics. PLEASE do not read if you are easily triggered or quickly offended! March 19, 2020 I ran away from home today. I just couldn’t take it anymore. My once partially functional family thrown into darkness and chaos by my alcoholic, drug-abusing, pedophilic father. I shouldn’t even call him that. My sperm donor. Sent to jail on 4 different federal charges; one for abusing my siblings and me, one for giving alcohol to my 15-year-old...

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“A Happy Family” by LeighAnne Ferreol

Submitted to Contest #89

Penelope’s First Day Home: Seth insisted on carrying everything into the house. He looked more like some lumbering luggage monster than a new dad, but maybe this is how new dads are supposed to look. He fumbled with the lock on the apartment for a minute before the door swung open. He dumped the bags at the doorway and turned towards me, smiling. “M’ladies,” he said, gesturing grandly for us to come inside.  I smiled and rolled my eyes. I looked down at Penelope, sleeping in her carrier. It was the only thing he let me carry and I th...

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“The Boy Who Committed Suicide ” by Naina Tak

Submitted to Contest #89

It was the day of my result. Once again it was the same. I FAILED. No, I was not disheartened. Heartless people don’t get disheartened. Till last night, a wounded, broken heart was there but today’s result didn’t let it exist. I had to do something. After killing my heart ,it was occupying my mind now. I was unable to breathe. I wanted to be out of it. I went to my grandmother’s room. She was sleeping. Slowly, I picked up the tablets and came back to my room. One sleeping pill for each reason – so I started. Fell in love – one Proposed to he...

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“How the Gods stole Christmas ” by Aruna Bassie

Submitted to Contest #89

How the Gods stole Christmas....... Before there was a warmth trapped within the coldness at the end of each and every year  After there isn’t any amount of blankets or comforter to give any comfort since you’re not longer physically here  The lights no longer shine as bright as they use to and that glimmer they hold that once upon a time I believed to be magic in the air has now turned into a reflection of all the endless tears  from the first day of the last month I use to sit up at night making so many wishes yet somehow ...

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“Metamorphosis” by Chris D

Submitted to Contest #89

It stops here, today. Freya doesn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps. The only thing they'll share is those blue eyes and a name, because her mother was narcissistic enough to name her child after herself. She claims they're named after the goddess of love and fertility, who she prayed to when she struggled to get pregnant. Said that God wasn't taking her requests. Did she ever bother to consider him saying no was his way of responding? That maybe she wasn't cut out for parenting? She didn't want a child, she wanted a puppet. A clone...

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“DEAR MAMA” by Wendo Kenyanito

Submitted to Contest #89

Dear Mama, Yes, take me for instance. I sometimes ask myself: why should a silly happening. . . a girl’s and a boy’s school affair. . . why should such a thing affect one’s life? You know such affairs- Papa used to talk about them- a gift of a pencil, a stolen sweet, love letters copied from books. . . all ending the same way. . . teardrops on paper circled with x-x kisses. Maybe Papa was right: a lot of words is poison: a few words are sugar. Later, I was to see cases of sugar words turning out to poison. . . Now this boy mama. His name...

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“One night” by Timothy Ngome

Submitted to Contest #89

One night, he couldn’t sleep. It was one of those days when he was absolutely tired but sleep won’t come. He resorted, naturally, to what was expected of him- to overtly analyzing every life decision he ever made that had led him here, to this cold hard bed with only a really thin blanket to warm him against the bone-chilling cold. As he lay restless in bed, his thoughts led him in a whirlwind. How he wished he had gathered up the nerve to just bear his heart. The regrets, the failures, the missteps all met him in the whirlwind tour. As he l...

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“Fallout” by Moon Mason

Submitted to Contest #89

Day 1, March 12 The screams of innocent souls ring in my brain. The dust has yet to settle and the war has just begun. Grey concrete stained red beneath me. An hour after the blast and the shrieks have not subsided. My arms are weak, but I drag myself across the room. Towards my mom. Like me, she's sprawled out on the floor. When it happened the windows of the shop burst. Hot air blasted us backwards and off of our feet. We hit the ground. Hard. I heard her groan out in pain, but there was little I could do to help her. A moment after my he...

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“Maya, My First Love” by The Wonder Mom

Submitted to Contest #89

              chapter-1Maya was extra cheery that day, in fact she was in the good mood from last couple of days. She resigned from her position, as a Book store manager and now looking for new opportunities. She told everyone she was just bored but nobody knew the truth. The book store was not doing well, so the owner decided to lay off some employees. But it was so sudden that nobody got the time to find a new job before they leave this place. One of maya’s colleagu...

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“A TARDY MUSHROOM” by Rachel Sidambi

Submitted to Contest #89

Mutiti closed the door behind her. The loneliness hit her as she leaned onto the door. All that could be heard was the buzz of the refrigerator. On and on it went without repulsion. “If only I will be as enduring,” she thought. All the reassuring voices that had been playing on and on in her head were muted. She had searched for the one face she needed to see among the myriads that approached her. No. It wasn’t there. Tears welled up as she stared at the increasingly blurred motion of black hats, black coats, and bouquets of pink flowe...

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