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Center your story around something that doesn’t go according to plan.

Posted in Short Story on May 2, 2025

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✍️ 135 stories

Valuable Resources

Submitted to Contest #301

“It’s not that complicated, kid. Just run in grab the bag and run out.” He said this so matter of fact in his gruff voice. His wrinkled face relaxed into an expression of careless annoyance as he attempted to downplay the risk of the plan. “Okay… then why don’t you do it?” I meant it to sound more biting, yet the quivering fear took the hostility out of the tone. My eyes were scanning the motionless huddles that lay on the other side of the dust covered window. I barely registered his deep rattling sigh, the damage from years of smoking ciga...

38 likes 3 comments 3
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Ocean Tsunami Surge Carries Away the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #301

White sails glided through the marine layer and into the bay.The promise of a peaceful anchorage beckoned. The 1800s wooden ship under square canvas sails waltzed over the waves like a sleek, beautiful woman.She was the mythical vessel known as the Destiny's Dreams on her world voyages.The sea reflected the sun's sparkle. The air caressed the skin with a light, warm touch. The ship settled at anchor with sounds of happy ripples on the water.But unseen rhythms of the sea were bringing changes.Soon the day turned into chaos.Earlier that mornin...

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Children of Prometheus

Submitted to Contest #301

Samira Ortiz’s alarm pulsed gently from the wall in its friendly pre-recorded monotone.“Good morning, Samira Ortiz. It is 0700 on Graduation Day. Congratulations! Prometheus celebrates all our student’s of Cohort 91. Today's projected surface viability: 0.7%. Remember, excellence is engineered.”She opened her eyes to the pale light of Prometheus's morning cycle and took a slow steady breath. Today was the day her name would be etched into the community's legacy. Her speech was already memorized, her uniform already pressed, and her posture, ...

33 likes 16 comments 16
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The name for the boy!

Submitted to Contest #301

There was a spider spinning its web in a dusty corner of the ceiling of a hospital waiting room, somewhere, some place in the world one day. Not having the vision of a human being, let’s imagine the spider looks down, his arachnid attention would be drawn most certainly to the shiny bald head of Mr. McCreath, Walter Bannockburn Burns McCreath. A bald head from above looks entirely different, and this one shone like polished alabaster, a reddish peach alabaster. It shone like a beacon and reflected the ceiling’s neon lights; it was easy to se...

29 likes 17 comments 17
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Plans Change

Submitted to Contest #301

Plans Change The diligent guard circled the enclosure making sure everything was secure. He could go off duty at peace. He arrived at his home and silently padded across the green lawn to the back door and let himself in. Entering the bedroom he readied himself to crawl into the comfortable bed and cozied up to the sleeping beauty already there. She instinctively encircled him with her arm and cuddled closer. All was right in his world.Dawn broke rosy and warm over the picturesque hill country of Texas. The sleeping beauty languidly stretche...

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Oscar and Harry

Submitted to Contest #301

Oscar and Harry had been friends since their first day at school. Four-year-old Harry was afflicted by runny nostrils which gave him two permanent snot slicks on his upper lip. For some years he bore the nickname ‘Eleven.’ Oscar turned up clinging to his mother’s skirts and wearing a full-face helmet, an unaccountable disguise which went on for the entire first term. When he returned after the autumn break, no one knew who he was.And so it came about that Eleven and Evel Knievel formed their unbreakable bond.Well, the years turn. Nowadays, a...

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What’s your dream?

Submitted to Contest #301

Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.Gloria SteinemAs a rather unworldly fourteen-year-old growing up in the small town of Bude, North Cornwall, and attending some fairly sheltered schools including a convent school with actual nuns alive and kicking (with an emphasis on the kicking) my mind was absolutely blown the summer I watched Pretty Woman. I was a week into my nine weeklong stretch of the summer holidays and bored out of my mind. I’d already worked...

22 likes 8 comments 8
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Losing My Lorazepam

Submitted to Contest #301

Anna Kate was the family’s wildcard—the kind of woman who’d driven to Myrtle Beach to “find herself” and came back with a dragon tattoo, a bad hangover, and a story about a romance so disastrous it could be a country song. Yet, she had been mom’s favorite, go figure. Jessica thought about her unpredictable sister as she drove to meet her at the convention center. Driving into the holy city, Jessica was reminded Charleston wasn’t really her Charleston anymore. Since the snowbirds started crawling down I-95, like possums fleeing a storm surge,...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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Arlo and the Fallen Tree

Submitted to Contest #301

As soon as Arlo’s feet hit the wood chipped trail, he took off running. He couldn’t wait to get to the Exploration Area. He was planning to make a cake in the mud kitchen, same as he did every Wednesday afternoon. He would mix dirt and water from the pond to create the perfect batter. His mom even let him bring a stick of chalk with, so he could add sprinkles to his cake.Arlo ran as fast as he could, never slowing down, not even once. When he turned left toward the clearing, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. Arlo ran back to h...

15 likes 3 comments 3
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Frozen(ish)

Submitted to Contest #301

**Part 2 in the Pajamalist™ Investigation series**The elevator at CryoCore descended with the enthusiasm of a narcoleptic sloth. Seventeen floors down, I adjusted my business-casual disguise: khaki skirt bought from a thrift store that smelled of mothballs and the kind of regret usually reserved for aging boy band members, blazer with shoulder pads wide enough to land small aircraft, and a name badge proclaiming "Dr. Harmony Bliss, Workplace Morale Architecture & Synergistic Paradigm Facilitation."I'd crafted the title by picking random ...

14 likes 8 comments 8
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Wizard Owl's Perfect Day

Submitted to Contest #301

Wizard Owl controlled the weather. He had for many centuries and would for many centuries to come. He was as wise as the old trees in the forest and as silent as the wind that shook their leaves. His big brown eyes missed little, and his speckled white feathers reflected his age as well as his wisdom. Many forest creatures would come to Wizard Owl for advice or for guidance.Please, old wise Mr. Owl, make it rain. Please, old wise Mr. Owl, we haven’t seen the sun in days! Make the rain stop!Please, old wise Mr. Owl, the river is overflowing! ...

14 likes 6 comments 6
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The Night The Clocks Went Forward

W B

Submitted to Contest #301

“The target will emerge at exactly 1am. Since the last attempt on his life, Muskelliovic has upgraded his security tenfold. They will scan the rooves 10 minutes before he emerges, and then again 1 minute before. Once the final scan is complete, we will have approximately 30 seconds to assemble the Remington M20 and position ourselves in the CCTV blind spot before he emerges. When he does, he will be surrounded by security but there will be a moment as he’s entering the car when there will be a clear shot on the target’s head. I will take the...

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Beans

Submitted to Contest #301

The flat was a mess, again. Soiled socks and shredded tissues were shoved down various furniture crevices, and make-up brushes lay strewn beneath the mirror, their tops caked in powder from the morning rush. Breadcrumbs littered the worktop from toaster to sink, and the tap dripped, and dripped, and dripped. Cat hair clung to the carpet like Velcro and mugs teetered on the edge of tables, stacked precariously atop dribbles of cold tea. Licia dropped a Tesco bag at her feet and watched as a can of beans rolled towards the table. It stopped. ...

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Bella

Submitted to Contest #301

“What are you doing?” I thought as I shifted my car into park outside Finding Hope Animal Shelter. “You don’t have a job; you just moved into a new place. You shouldn’t be getting a dog. Not now. Not ever. Turn around. Go home,” but I didn’t go home. I took the keys out of the ignition, stepped out into the hot New Mexico sun, and locked my car behind me. The first thing that hit me upon walking through the front doors was the overwhelming smell of urine and bleach. Although the floors were shiny and polished, I couldn’t help but...

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The Familiars

Submitted to Contest #301

Reverend Fagmire looked out over the congregation, none of his sheep dared look into his wolfish eyes. If they had, they’d see them glowing red like dying embers, deep under the hood of his dark brow. He smiled…and the mourning dove in the middle stained-glass window dropped to the floor unnoticed by all but one. “Holy tidings friends!” the reverend bellowed over the heads of his congregation…a congregation of grim faced, sickly-looking people “We have a newwwww---” His booming voice trailed away along with his jackal’s grin. The people aw...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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