Two strangers discover they have a hidden connection that alters their understanding of each other and themselves.

Posted in Short Story on Oct 4, 2024

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✍️ 70 stories

“Mellow Dramatic” by Pei Pei Lin

Submitted to Contest #271

It's just to talk about the new script, she tells herself as she walks out of her door to meet with him, knowing very well that she'll end up in his bed. The hallway is brightly lit as usual, and she promptly puts on her sunglasses. This is perfectly normal behavior, she calms herself. This is not a disguise of any sort, and I am allowed to leave the apartment, aren't I? But she averts her eyes when she walks past her doorman.“Hello, Mrs. Lee.” This one never misses a chance for small talk.“Hello, Brandon.” She tries to act as if she's in a ...

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“Scarlett Crosses” by Matt Rahn

Submitted to Contest #271

Blustering winds carry the city’s garbage from one alley to the next. A muddy spring marks the onset of endless showers. Freezing rain that coats the buildings with a filament of ice and despair, praying for warm sunlight soon. Accompanied by a derelict shopping cart, a displaced man covers himself with a used garbage bag and presses on past the storefronts of Northport Street. He is emaciated and worn down. His gray and black hair, damp in the early sp...

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“Life and Death” by Nia Terrier

Submitted to Contest #271

Life and DeathLife and Death sat across from each other in this empty void. It was neither light nor dark, bright nor dim, enlightening nor defeating. Just this neutral empty void both could discuss an endless possibility of enigma. “So,” Spoke Life. “Doesn’t this feel all too familiar?” Death, glanced off into the void, then spoke, “I suppose, it’s amusing how so much can happen and yet… it all concludes to nothing, nothing but us.” Life stared at Death and his pessimistic views. “I wouldn’t say that.” Disagreed Life. H...

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“More in Common” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #271

Despite everything, I didn’t want to like him. And so I didn’t. That was that and we formed an uneasy arrangement which meant that we kept out of each other’s way as far as was possible. This arrangement was made all the more uneasy by my so-called friends. But you’d like him.He’s quite like you.I really don’t know what your problem is. I didn’t even know that I had a problem, and that was the way that it remained for quite some time. The entirety of secondary school, in fact. Then we went our own ways. Not exactly problem solved. More that ...

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“Threads of Kinship” by SK Gill

Submitted to Contest #271

The rain drummed a steady rhythm against the pavement of Rookwood Avenue, where the streetlamps flickered like tired stars in the twilight. It was one of those evenings in the midlands where the air smelled of wet earth and whispered secrets. Inside a small café, warm light spilled through fogged-up windows, inviting the weary souls of the city to spill their stories into steaming cups of coffee. Maya sat alone in a corner, her gaze lost in the rippling surface of her mocha. She was an artist, or at least she had been. The easel and paintbru...

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“Only Visible in Moonlight” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #271

Detective Skreet Snickertooth picked up the bottle of new whiskey that he was currently indulging in and examined the label against the night sky. His long rattail flicked as he rested his furry brown head on his knuckles as a mysterious new record turned in the dark corner of his private eye office. It was dark and rainy outside, making the air fresh as it danced into his forgotten room. “Sade Mountain Whiskey,” he slurred, leaning in his leather chair. “Barrel aged. And look at that...” he said, turning the nearly empty bottle towards the ...

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“Coincidence?” by Victoria MacDonald

Submitted to Contest #271

Coincidence?Shattered after the sudden death of my thirty-nine-year-old son, I wandered through a murky fog, occasionally stumbling head on into abrupt kick-to-the-gut grief attacks, yanking me out of anesthesia. Each time the tidal wave struck, I was tossed, depleted and exhausted, onto a lonely and barren beach. After fourteen months, I decided to hook up with a well renowned psychic. My kitchen lights had been flickering, and I wanted to believe that my boy was trying to communicate. “It’s just a faulty bulb,” argued a friend. “Chang...

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“Cats” by Anne Armstrong

Submitted to Contest #271

The computer was crashing again. Marie Hobbs struggled to keep calm. She shot a desperate glance at the small picture she kept of her cat Peaches on the wall beside her computer. She was a petite woman stuck in a tiny cubicle. Her brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Her green eyes were focused on the wavering screen. The customer on the other end of the phone line repeated tersely, “I need my new cell phone today. I told you the model number. What’s taking so long?” &nbs...

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“Her First Orchid” by Tucker Sloan

Submitted to Contest #271

Her First OrchidTucker Bradley Sloan-This short story contains some substance abuse material, and mature themes. Sally was shopping and spending more money than she should have for her husband’s upcoming birthday. 2010 was going to be a good year for the couple. Her eyes hit an orchid, and she said, “Come to my house. Come to my house to die.” Four months later- she still had that orchid. It had turned into an ugly little thing. All brown and blotchy with damp peat moss that sm...

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“Soft as a winter kiss” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #271

It was a sunny day, slightly windy. The weather had changed, as it does by the end of September, and I had picked a light coat from my wardrobe after a few months of short sleeves and flowy dresses. I had bought it the previous year, in a second-hand store, because it had that classic touch that could match most of my clothes, and the touch of it was silky. After wearing it a couple of times, I realized that touching it was comforting, and that's why I had used it a bunch before the good temperatures arrived, and I chose more summery outfits...

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“Lines We Can't See” by Maya&Mama SoulArt

Submitted to Contest #271

(This story contains war and weapons) “Hey, can you do me a favor?” I heard a voice coming from the shadows behind the electric fence. --It was that kid, I thought. How dare he talk to me! Wasn’t this treason? But hearing his soft, raspy voice, I hesitated for a second. I had been observing him for a week—he looked about my age, maybe in 3rd or 4th grade. Both countries‘ patrols were getting younger and younger, no surprise since all the adults had been sent to the front lines. He didn’t seem too smart—he hadn’t even figured out where ...

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“The Woman in Green” by Lourdes Laysan

Submitted to Contest #271

Taryn sat at her terminal, staring at the mass of data shared to the data slates piled haphazardly on her desk.There was no question. No doubt in her mind anymore that the woman in green, the woman who had showed up just as she had thrown in the relationship towel, was who she knew her to be.For years—decades in fact, Taryn had been looking for ‘the one’. Growing up in a town in the north of jersey, she had spent much of her early life in another guise, shielding her own secrets from the demands of society. Her own quirks, her own instincts ...

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“YOUR HUSBAND, MY HUSBAND, WHOSE HUSBAND?” by Frances Goulart

Submitted to Contest #271

YOUR HUSBAND, MY HUSBAND, WHOSE HUSBAND? “What a five-star day! Makes you forget all your troubles out here on the ocean. Have you ever taken a cruise before? Have you ever been to this part of the world …..before?”“Actually this is my first. My first cruise and my first visit to the Greek Islands. It’s thrilling.”“Mine too ... I don’t know why I waited this long. Oh, sorry, my name is Estelle. I’m traveling alone. ““ I’m Joy. Nice to meet you. I’m also traveling solo. But same here. I don’t know why I waited so long except, well, I wou...

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“Tangled Hearts Unraveling” by Luna Lin

Submitted to Contest #271

Mavis and I walked into the Shakespeare & Company café next to the bookstore. The place was relatively quiet at ten-thirty on a Tuesday morning, so we had our pick of tables. We chose one outside to take advantage of the cool September weather and sat, already discussing what we both wanted to order. France - and Paris, especially - holds a special place in my heart because my late husband was French. I never learned the language, unfortunately. Not for the lack of love, but for the fundamental reason that I just wasn’t linguistical...

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“We All Burn in the End” by Jason LeHuquet

Submitted to Contest #271

Sensitive content: suicide, violenceWhat was so special about Paris? she asks. I hesitate, blot the torrent of sweat from my brow and check my watch. That’s a long story, and we don’t have a lot of time left. Not that it’s a secret; at this point, nothing is off the table between us. I just don’t feel like spending my final minutes delving into an anticlimactic story about young, foolish me, traveling across the world to visit a girl I naively thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. So I say something vague about the way the Eiffel Tower...

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Two strangers discover they have a hidden connection that alters their understanding of each other and themselves.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 70 stories

“Mellow Dramatic” by Pei Pei Lin

“Scarlett Crosses” by Matt Rahn

“Life and Death” by Nia Terrier

“More in Common” by Jed Cope

“Threads of Kinship” by SK Gill

“Only Visible in Moonlight” by Cajek Veilwinter

“Coincidence?” by Victoria MacDonald

“Cats” by Anne Armstrong

“Her First Orchid” by Tucker Sloan

“Soft as a winter kiss” by Laura Camacho Frias

“Lines We Can't See” by Maya&Mama SoulArt

“The Woman in Green” by Lourdes Laysan

“YOUR HUSBAND, MY HUSBAND, WHOSE HUSBAND?” by Frances Goulart

“Tangled Hearts Unraveling” by Luna Lin

“We All Burn in the End” by Jason LeHuquet

🌟 Similar prompts

A character crosses paths with a stranger who looks eerily familiar.

A chance encounter brings together two old friends who have changed in surprising or strange ways.

Write a story that includes the line “Have we met before?”

A character finds a clue or object linking them to a stranger.

Contest #271

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

389

Contest entries

137

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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