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Set your story during the coldest day of the year.

Posted in Short Story on Dec 13, 2024

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✍️ 51 stories

The Counter and the Coal

Winner of Contest #281 🏆

Not even magical reindeer who fly are immortal, and Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen were tales of Christmas mornings that had long since come to pass. Rudolph himself lived seventeen years: a respectable lifespan for the average captive reindeer. By no means a miracle. Unless such a reindeer was among the lucky few to be housed in the stalls of a certain, southern toy shop. These reindeer tended to be shorter-lived than most. Every Christmas, you see, a few of Santa’s reindeer would fall s...

96 likes 70 comments 70
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The Value of the Corn

Submitted to Contest #281

*Murder / Suicide / Mild Gore*It was the coldest day of the year. The crow swooped down from the white sky and landed in the middle of the field in front of the scarecrow.The crow said nothing yet, but paced back and forth on the frozen soil like a drill sergeant. A few minutes of this passed, then the crow stopped and announced to the scarecrow:'Bad news, friend. Spring isn't coming. Neither the warmer summer. This winter is, it pains me to apprise, all you'll see from now until your splints give, or the farmer dismembers you for kindling. ...

23 likes 9 comments 9
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The Big Freeze

Shortlisted for Contest #281 ⭐️

Everyone in Longstanton knows the story of Tom Forbes. It began as a ghoulish news item in the South Cambridgeshire Recorder in December of 1962, fuelled village gossip for months afterwards and finally passed into local folklore. The Rev and Mrs D.P. Goodwin were scandalised when they heard that their beloved daughter, Caroline, had been accosted by Tom, an uncouth young farm labourer. (Accosted repeatedly in fact and, I might add, a very enthusiastic participant in the accosting.) The ever-respectable vicar forbade Caroline from seeing Tom...

23 likes 22 comments 22
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Embers of Discontent

Submitted to Contest #281

Joshua was a contradiction; his ailment being the constant failure to unconditionally love his wife during her recovery from pregnancy. The 32 weeks leading up to the preterm birth of his surprisingly healthy baby, Ethan, were a long, faithless journey. Although it had been difficult to watch his wife convert into a stranger, he still hoped that this newfound uneasiness would settle like the wind lost in a valley and that the life of a loving family would truly begin.Bethany, his wife, sat in the passenger seat of the 2002 rusted Jeep Libert...

15 likes 8 comments 8
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Ye old hag.

Submitted to Contest #281

Salem.A very dark era of history emerged in the city of salem. This book is inspired by the things that happened to the witches of salem Massachusetts. It takes a look at the consequences they endured if they were accused of witchcraft. Very dark magical times. For young adults due to triggers, death, violence and magic and foul play/language. Ye old Hag. The coldest day of the year that we've had in decades. My lips were blue and my teeth were shivering. But I was determined to see what was in the Forrest and why it was prohibited. It was ...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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Whitetail Trail

Submitted to Contest #281

Warning: Story contains sensitive content i.e. animal huntingSunlight dashed quickly away like a thief in the night and it had become bitterly cold. The wind began nipping at Ryan's neck and his brown corduroy hat dangled with glistening icicles.He shifted his weight on the tree stand a bit and chumped on old chewing gum to focus on some thick brush a few feet below him. His buttocks were sore, his feet were extremely cold even with three pairs of socks stuffed in rugged combat boots, and his stomach rumbled loudly from hunger."Damn," he mum...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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"When winter comes, where do the forest folk go?"

Submitted to Contest #281

     The night air carried a storm and a stranger.      The storm came from the North and brought with it thick, dark clouds that hung low about the trees, the power of them almost tangible in the air. The temperature dropped steadily with the sun, and just as the last light of sunset glittered away, snow began to fall.     The winter came like a dam breaking. By morning, the land was painted white. The snow had slowed to a gentle dusting, but still fell steadily...

12 likes 8 comments 8
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The Ice Veins

Submitted to Contest #281

The coldest day of the year had arrived in Black Hollow, and no one dared venture beyond their doors. The frost was unnatural, deeper and sharper than anything that came before it. The townsfolk whispered that it was the doing of the ice veins—strange fissures that had appeared across the frozen lake in the past few weeks, glowing faintly blue as if alive. Samantha "Sam" Miller didn’t believe in the town's superstitions. She believed in science, in reason. Ice veins were just a natural phenomenon, caused by trapped gases or thermal pressure—...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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Hunger

Submitted to Contest #281

Eternal Winter. Eternal white. The deafening hurling of the wind. It’s all that was left of the world. Snow and ice, covering everything an eye can see in this grey atmosphere that hasn’t witness the sun since the Last Summer. The freezing blades of air piercing through not so warm fur Lucas wore were a painful reminder of what everything has become.The sharp crunch of snow under his boots. One, after another. He was marching through this white hell, going forward. Looking for food. Looking for survival. His and of his family. Struggling thr...

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Cara

Submitted to Contest #281

I stand and watch the passing of time. The night is cold, too cold for a December night, as if the Earth has frozen. And I am not properly dressed. In this black suit I haven’t worn for years, no coat which I find odd and a top hat I would surely never put on – not anymore. I do not remember putting on any piece of clothing on this frail body, I do not remember leaving my bed, but here I am outside, in our rose garden.I take a step towards the front door, using my cane which I just become aware is at my side, my steps not making any sou...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Unleashed

Submitted to Contest #281

  Jeb woke to the sound of barking. Outside his bedroom window, a partial moon hung in the black winter sky. Jeb looked at the clock: 12:23 am, 8℉, by far the coldest night of the year. His wife Kate had taken Buster, their aging yellow lab, out before coming to bed. Since Jeb had to wake early for work, he hadn’t waited up for them to get back. But if Kate had already taken the dog out, why was Buster now barking at the back door?  Jeb reached across the side of the bed where Kate’s warm body should have been laying and felt nothi...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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Judgement Day

Submitted to Contest #281

It’s the coldest day of the year, with temperatures at ten degrees Fahrenheit. Snow blankets the ground, with only the salt-covered roads a different color than white. It’s my year to host Christmas Eve for the family and everything needs to be perfect. I add more wood to the fireplace and adjust the stockings. On my way to the kitchen, I check the grandfather clock in the corner of the hallway. Half an hour till the party starts. I rearrange plates of cookies and carry them into the dining room, coordinating them into colorful patterns, whe...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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The Coldest Day in Kirksville

Submitted to Contest #281

Kirksville, Missouri, February 11th, 1983 I awoke in my bed with my dachshund curled up next to me, shaking like a leaf. My feet were so cold I couldn’t wiggle my toes and my fingers felt like ice bricks. I covered my dog, Poppy, with my heated blanket, along with myself, and turned it on to the highest setting. I reached over to my night stand and grabbed my glasses. I put them on my face which instantly made it colder. I looked over at my thermostat. Forty-seven degrees!?! That can’t be right. I got out of bed, put on my slippers, and trie...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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The Last Wave

Submitted to Contest #281

It was the coldest day of the year, in Southern California, which meant I put away my 3/2mm Rip Curl wetsuit for a few months and pulled out my 4/3mm.  Cold meant we stowed our shorts in the closet for a few months and resurrected our long lost jeans. Everyone started wearing their Patagonias, but let’s be honest, it wasn’t because we needed them.  It was only because Patagonia was based in downtown Ventura and the small group of people who worked there had somehow made it trendy to wear the snow-grade jackets in our small surf tow...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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The Cat and the Claus

Submitted to Contest #281

Scoop, grunt, thwump was the rhythm of his work as he dug the grave. He was interrupted when his pocket buzzed and a tinny rendition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas echoed around the dark cemetery. Matt squatted down behind a headstone, swiping a numb finger at the luminous screen, cursing that this had happened to him on the coldest night of the year. He peeked up, surveying. No one there, just black silhouettes of snow-topped headstones looking like some huge, macabre game of whack-a-mole. He put the phone to his ear.‘Hello? Mr. Delaney?’...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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