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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone telling their family they won’t be continuing the long-standing family business.

Posted in Sad on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 175 stories

“Rat King” by Jordan T

Submitted to Contest #69

“Hey rat eater, I’m over here.” Hance lounged on a crate in the alley next to his uncle’s shoe store. With a heavy sigh, Alabar walked over. “Haven’t you gotten tired of the rat eater joke yet? I’m guessing it was funny to you about seven years ago.” Hance shifted into a sitting position. “Nah, never gets old. Plus, it makes you whine, so at least I get some entertainment out of it.” Alabar slid down the wall next to the crate and let his net drop to the ground. “You know,” he said, “that we don’t eat rats.” “Hey, how do I know that,” replie...

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“"Fateful Encounter" ” by Faith Mwale

Submitted to Contest #69

“Joel stood up and was about to leave the reserved room at the Payee restaurant, when suddenly a loud sound of a glass crack interrupted his movement. Turning back to find his mother on the floor with the juice spilled on the floor beside her.”It’s around 2018, when Joel was announced to be the upcoming successor of the family business by his 65 yrs. old grandfather. Mixed emotions filtered around Mr. Bake’s living room, where all the family members were present. Joel stood there with a very surprised expression on his face, as if he wasn’t...

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“The freezer” by Cliff M.

Submitted to Contest #69

The dark hallway seemed as long as it was eerie. Even though it was a small New York cramped apartment, it seemed like it stretched like a fashion show walkway, but with an audience of old family photos, that only showed a little glimpse of innocence now lost. It shouldn't have been disturbing, it was Luca's childhood home after all, it was the place where he was first taken to from the hospital after his birth and has been his metaphorical nest for his entire life and the way things are going who knows how long he will still be there. The s...

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“Heart to hearts ” by Oluwapelumi Adewole

Submitted to Contest #69

It was the morning of my eighteenth birthday, it was still dawn, and my lantern shone dimly; the kerosene must have been exhausted for the wick burned poorly. On my bed were several papers and sheet of my many drawings. I loved to draw outlines of buildings and some isometric shapes could be seen boldly on the sheets which were sprawled on the bed. Some of them were already rumpled . I packed them neatly in a file I had always kept my drawings in It . It was peculiar. The cockerel croaked loudly while I made my way down the street to iy...

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“After They've Seen Paree” by Chuck Waldron

Submitted to Contest #69

“What possessed you to buy that old cruddy diary,” her friend asked as they walked to the car? “That’s why I like to browse thrift shops,” Ashley answered. “Why? This diary only cost twenty-five cents, and who knows, it might be interesting.” Ashley was never sure what there was about the old diary. Later that night, sitting with a glass of wine, she let the pages open randomly and began reading. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ December 14, 1954 What do they want from me? Today. I have to do it today. I know it. I’ve run out of options, tim...

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“Gin without tonic” by Ayub Mbugua

Submitted to Contest #69

Olupayi is 35 years old and looks much taller than his 173cm, thanks to his lean frame. Had he been born in Las Vegas, he might have been a bantam weight boxing champion.  His face is a midnight hue that cracks to reveal an unlikely perfect set of white teeth when he smiles. Close up, one can see that his hands are calloused and his rough fingers bent. The veins on his sinewy forearms stand out like so many chords hidden under the deeply tanned African skin.  His face tells a few hundred stories, and the smile lines running down hi...

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“Difficult Differences ” by Bhisham Charak

Submitted to Contest #69

My father is a big man, he works hard and earn good and have social respect and also wants me to became a successful man but I've didn't want to do what he does, I didn't became a CEO of his company and I want became a writer that does that much money still that is what I wanted to be.I didn't have the courage tell my father, I was quite frightened by my father as he was strict my mother was no slouch either she might be benevolent most of times but when she is bad is bad , My sister is also academic overachiever is in one of the top college...

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“Not A Killer Daughter” by Jane Lansing

Submitted to Contest #69

The body in front of me breathes in and out. Slow and steady. A knife is poised to strike. The moonlight glints on its iron surface. I can see my face in the reflection on the shining metal. It doesn’t look as scared as I feel. It is the cold mask I was taught to keep in place at all times. I lift the knife over my head and bring it down. The sleeping figures' eyes flash open and I see who they really are. I cry out. I am panting. The door creaks open, and my mother and father walk through. I used to admire them. Especially my mother. B...

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“The Last Book Printer” by Katariina Ruuska

Submitted to Contest #69

Marvin stared at the coffee table next to him in his office at his book printing company, processing the words he'd just heard. The icing on the cake that said “After all, tomorrow is another day” – the last line of the novel Gone with the Wind – was melting, the balloons that had been shoved into the back corner with a few champagne bottles looked dusty and half-deflated, and the “Happy Retirement” banner hanging sadly from the ceiling cast a literal and figurative shadow over them. The colorful party supplies that just half an hour ago had...

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“Face Reality” by Heather Ann Martinez

Submitted to Contest #69

Face Reality By Heather Ann Martinez So, you could say my best friend Marcus and I couldn’t wait for the summer. We loved swimming, canoeing and surfing reality TV shows. We even applied to be on a couple of them. We didn’t get in, but at least we tried. We did land a couple of roles as extras in two television series that were filming in our town. We have actually been on the set at the same time with our reality TV crushes. It is that memory that keeps me going day after day stocking shelves and sweeping floors for my family’s g...

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“Write about someone telling their family they won’t be continuing the long-standing family business.” by Sanjay Lamba

Submitted to Contest #69

Mehranpur is a big village, situated near a national highway and about hundred kilometres away from the national capital. There are small and big farmers in the village. Being proximity to the capital, Mehranpur has mostly pucca houses and concrete roads, better drinking water facilities, a Degree College etc.Due to proximity to metropolis and increasing urbanisation day by day, land prices are skyrocketed in the adjoining areas. Mehranpur too is affected by this land development.Due to increased urbanisation, character of this village has a...

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“Curiosity” by Sara Blanch

Submitted to Contest #69

It was embarrasing enough that Eve was one of the very few mer people that could not go onto land. This unfortunate trait of hers meant that while her classmates were off exploring the nations above the ocean she was stuck looking at the same scenery day in and day out. Whilst her siblings came home from these excursions with various human artefacts and stories of up above, all she did all day was embrace the fact that she was confined to her watery world for life. Of course, to only add to her embarrasment, her family's business had to be s...

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“The Tragic End?” by Anonymous Stories

Submitted to Contest #69

What happened?said the father.After a pause of few more seconds he again repeated in a panic voice "tell me James what are you talking about?".James was sitting in his chamber with just one light on,keeping the room almost dark,his father was totally audible to him,but the warm tears rolling down his cheeks hindered him from uttering a single word,except the word "hello" at the very beginning of the conversation.          James pulled out the handkerchief from his pocket and tried to wipe his tea...

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“THE BLUNT FAMILY TRADITION” by Dolapo Omoleme

Submitted to Contest #69

The Blunts had occupied the top echelon of society for many generations. They had gradually built their immense wealth over decades, all the while cementing strong ties to the political class, broadening their influence over the economic elite, and building an aura of mystery around their family. The family’s rise to power began with Dexter Blunt, a butcher who owned a ramshackle butchery in Brixton, the poorest district of the nation’s capital. His clientele were made up of blue-collar workers who were prone to making purchases on credit ...

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“RICKSHAWPULLER” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #69

Vinodini was reading the newspaper which highlighted a news item. A teaseller’s girl had cracked and got through Punjab Civil Services examination with hi-fi ranks. Vinodini was not so greatly impressed by that news. She thought it was somewhat degrading the values of girls’ ability as if girls could not achieve anything substantial. What was the need for a small victory of a girl to be unduly glorified as though she had moved mountains? A girl passing out in Civil Services was not something unusual. She thought of herself. “So, what! Even I...

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