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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

The Alfred Hitchcock Party

Submitted to Contest #301

"Knock, knock," Aubrey sang."Who's there?" I sang back."It's just me, your shadow, your best friend, the Mutt to your Jeff.""The Laurel to my Hardy? The Jan to my Marsha? The Wilma to my Betty?" "Ugh. Yes. You know who it is. Open the door."She entered my apartment, the door closing with a thud behind her. "You ready for tonight's adventure?" she asked. Her eyes were bright, lively, full of mischief."I am." We were both dressed in black. Her hair was back in a ponytail. Mine was in a bun. I didn't want to take any chances of leaving any evid...

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Messy Magic on the Rooftop

Submitted to Contest #301

Messy Magic on the Rooftop When meticulous planner Jules throws a rooftop birthday bash to mend her best friend Sam’s broken heart, an unexpected downpour, a mischievous magic charm, and a parade of see-through white party clothes unravel every plan—but also reveal truths about love, friendship, and the courage to come out of hiding.Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston, Emily Henry, and Becky Albertalli, this sparkling queer romantic comedy proves that the best kind of magic is the mess we make together. Jules didn’t believe in luck; she beli...

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THE WOMB™ - instructions included

Submitted to Contest #301

Instruction Manual:⚠️ CLASSIFIED SPECIES MOD: THE WOMB™DomestiTech Systems // User Manual v3.6.1FOR CIVILIAN USE ONLYDo not deploy in executive spaces, server rooms, or leadership pipelines.PRODUCT OVERVIEWThe WOMB™ is a high-compliance humanoid unit engineered for domestic containment and emotional labor production. Designed to adapt seamlessly into patriarchal environments, this model provides stability, biological reproduction, and exceptional in-group self-policing. Obedient by design, decorative by expectation, and dispensable by system...

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Apologies, from Gary

Submitted to Contest #301

Greetings, Friend, this is Gary!I'll tell you, it has been quite the day! I'm sure you're wondering where I am, and to that end, I kindly ask that you read on so that you might have a more sympathetic understanding of my situation and judge my tardiness with such things in mind.I woke up this morning, as most of us aspiring entrepreneurs do, at 3:52 A.M. This gave me the perfect amount of time for my usual morning routine; shaving, face-peeling, tooth-brushing, thirteen minutes in the sensory deprivation tank, reading two chapters of Battlef...

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Authenticity by Omission

Submitted to Contest #301

My gaze locked in on her from across the room. I imagined how it would feel to run my hands through her thick black locks cascading down the back of her blue blazer. She reminded me of the illustrations of Eve in our Bible study workbooks. Because of her, I have come to understand why perfection and sin are oxymorons. Her forehead held a slight wrinkle as she concentrated on the reading our sociology professor had assigned for class discussion. She would never hesitate to provide some thought--provoking comment during these discussions, whi...

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Meet me in Manhattan

Submitted to Contest #301

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350, and try to swallow the regret searing down your throat. Last suppers were cruel–like funerals you had to cook for. This one especially hurt. With every new relationship—friend, fling, or something deeper—Isabel envisioned what the last meal would taste like. Sometimes, it was chalky, sliding down like a lump in her throat. Other times, a sweet delicacy, masking a bitter aftertaste that lingered long after plates were cleared. Of course, she didn’t entirely hate the act; it had won a Nobel prize, after all, an...

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~ Girls Night Out ~

Submitted to Contest #301

~ Girls Night Out ~Debbie paused the Scrooged Christmas movie on TV, stood and claimed the room, “This will only take a second. I have an announcement to make. As we all know Corrine will be turning forty-one tomorrow. There will be a birthday celebration of course,” Debbie let the applause die down and went on. “But tonight Shewuma and I,” Debbie waved her arm to Shewuma, who stood in acknowledgement, “are taking Corrine to celebrate with a girl’s night out.”“All right!” Corrine yelled.“And where would you like to go, Birthday Girl?” Debbie...

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The Egg

Submitted to Contest #301

The plan was simple. Get into the museum, get the egg, and get out. Each of us had our own tasks to complete in order for things to run smoothly. Todd and Nodd were to distract the guards. Jael was to stand guard. And I was to steal the egg from its display case.We stood at the base of the steps leading up to the entrance of the Royal Museum. Jael stood leaning on her blackthorn cane, studying the stone facade of the building, designed to look like a castle. “May Lady Luck be on our side,” she muttered, trudging up the steps. Todd and Nodd l...

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[THE LATE NIGHT TRIVIA]

Submitted to Contest #301

Content warning: Nonconsensual experimentation, kidnapping, and death, with violent consequences.Follow me as we venture through this late-night tale of a lonely ride with a lonely man. Standing outside the movie theatre was Scarlett, a thin white woman with long blonde hair wearing a short black dress and white Converse shoes. She was trembling as she engaged in what seemed to be a phone call.“Dispatch.”“Ah, yes, can I get a taxi from the movie theatre on Maine Street?”“Name, and where are you going?“Scarlett, Germantown,”“Just you?”“Yes,”“...

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Don't Trust the Hive Queens

Submitted to Contest #301

It had been what felt like years since the end of the Holometa-Chemibrion War and the plague of the Morphians began on Sokondro. The Chemibrion Empire's Oligarchs had vanished from the face of the planet, with their underlings left to face the amorphous death without their guidance. The Dorcasom Hives, meanwhile, were in shambles with many devoured by this ever-changing, ravenous horde of ghost white mudskippers, including four of the Hive's Queens with the latest being Hymeno Siric. It was supposed to be a simple escort mission during a tim...

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A Journey Through Time and Terrain.

Submitted to Contest #301

The hum of my car’s engine was a familiar companion as I drove toward Ben Gurion Airport, the road stretching out like a ribbon under the predawn sky. My suitcase was packed for a 14-day business trip to Australia and New Zealand, filled with slide presentations, medical equipment manuals, and the weight of responsibility. As the company’s medical device specialist, I was tasked with training distributors and hospital staff on our state-of-the-art portable ECMO machine. But as the highway blurred past, my mind slipped away, tumbling back to ...

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Cold Plunge Chronicles: Letters From My Tub

Submitted to Contest #301

I don’t know why people rave about cold plunging. I hate it—and yet, I do it. So often, in fact, that my cold plunge tub has started writing me letters.The first one arrived on a Tuesday morning, propped against my coffee maker:Dear Reluctant Bather,Look, we need to talk. Every morning you circle me like I’m a sleeping bear you’re trying not to wake. You do that little dance—you know the one—where you bend over, test the water with one finger, then immediately straighten up like you’ve been electrocuted.“Maybe tomorrow,” you mutter, clutchin...

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Her Voice, My Turn

Submitted to Contest #301

Birthday Today, I’m turning 40. My husband is out for the whole day at work. I’m at home with two of our three kids. I asked RJ to cut more wood for the seventeenth time. The stove burns the wood fast and I’m not about to turn up the furnace. He might just get motivated by the cold to get off his segg and get moving. Football season is over anyway, what could he be watching now? If the cold doesn’t do the trick, his little sister will make sure. John will be home soon and wanting a hot meal. I need to get the chicken tenders cleaned and br...

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Homebird

Submitted to Contest #301

Maedb had always been a homebird, as her mother would say. She liked being at home. Home was nice, home was safe. As a child, she hated being anywhere that her parents were not. When she got dropped off at school, she would cry and cry and cry, morning until lunchtime, because she always felt a little bit better after her peanut butter sandwich and Kitkat. Her mother still talks about the time she took her to swimming lessons, and the swimming teacher having to have a word with her after the lesson, telling her she’s really sorry but she has...

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Lord, Have Mercy

Submitted to Contest #301

In Lamtinaland, a city alive with neon towers and ceaseless technological hum, the clash of human aspiration and unpredictable fate was never far from mind. I, Emma Lockhart, a journalist, seeker, and one-time conductor of narratives, often trust too much in my ability to make sense of things.Yet, at the heart of my Christian faith, I was reminded that we were not the Lord. That Latin echo—"Evita", to listen for those who have ears, had become a lesson I was still learning. There was a wisdom, kinder and more immense than any human narrative...

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