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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story that experiments with tone — perhaps a difficult subject dealt with in a playful way, or an ostensibly happy scene that hints at darkness lurking beneath.

Posted in Short Story on Jun 16, 2023

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✍️ 63 stories

“My Dad's Wedding” by A Silverman

Submitted to Contest #203

The rustle of guests entering the building and softly greeting one another in nervous anticipation. The gentle vibration of a string quartet playing in the background. The shuffle of flower arrangements being perfectly spaced apart. The rhythmic beep of a heart monitor. The artificial whir of an AC unit. The low murmur of nurses making their rounds in the hallway outside. The bride holds a bouquet of lilies. The groom dons a hospital gown. It’s my dad’s wedding day. He’s a groom for the second time in his life. The first time w...

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“The Final Show” by Erin Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #203

        There are a lot of things that ghosts will tell you about being dead once you’ve gone and done the damn thing; seeing as most dead people are old, it doesn’t me that they love rules. Like my grandma – with her plastic-covered couch, her dishes and furniture reserved for responsible grown ups only, her many parables about the dangers of a young lady not knowing the proper and polite way to stand, sit, talk, sleep, breathe – the old fogies of the great beyond love having a good list of ‘do’s and ...

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“INHUMAN BONDAGE” by Ellen Ziegler

Submitted to Contest #203

COVER SHEET: Ellen Ziegler “Inhuman Bondage” 3 Dore Court, New City, NY 10956 ellenziegler@optonline.net 845 634-2261                                              Inhuman Bondage             When the white disc of the moon s...

3 comments 3
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“Golden Teacher” by Daniel Daisi

Submitted to Contest #203

“Don’t be a pussy”, said the male child.  How do I know the child is male? I just assumed, though I assure you I’m not a bigot. I see all things as equal, and I mean all things. I see man equal to bird, equal to rock, equal to nothing.  But the gender of the child isn’t so important. “I’m not a pussy this is retarded”, the children may be bigoted.  “You can’t say that”, don’t let this fool you, the child is being sarcastic.  Also, this child is different from the second child that spoke. If I am entirely honest thou...

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“The Surprise Party” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #203

Kerry checked and double checked the oven. She straightened her flower apron, took a breath, and opened the oven door. Almost ready now. Five more minutes, tops. Everything was going to be perfect. Perfect!  She floated to the island in the center of her freshly cleaned kitchen, and grabbed the knife. Sharp. So very sharp. Of course she always sharpened her knives, to get the most precise cuts. And the act of it was relaxing to her. The even rhythm of sliding a knife back and forth, this way that way this way that way, was satisfying ...

4 comments 4
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“Dear Diary” by J. S.

Submitted to Contest #203

Dear Diary,Dad found me paper and a pencil so now I can tell you about our trip!  We have been walking for a very long time. I don’t remember when we left, but Dad laughed when I asked him and said it was “many a fortnight ago”. I don’t know why he thinks that's funny because I don’t know what it means. Dad is weird sometimes, but I like hearing him laugh.We are resting now. We walked so much today that my feet felt like they were going to fall off. When I get really tired, I ask Dad to carry me on his back...

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“A Purple Cookout ” by Sidney Aki

Submitted to Contest #203

A. Ramiro stops his easy gait, bends down, and inspects a purple flower — that's all he can call it because he doesn't know much about flowers. He tears it, gently, from its stalk. Yasmine and Diana keep walking ahead and when they feel like they may have walked too far they stop. Yasmin calls out, "Ramiro, what are you doing?" Yasmin then turns to Diana and gives a knowing face which says: Ramiro can be so weird and random. Ramiro runs toward his two cousins, again this feels light and easy for him, and when he finally reaches them, he ...

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“Fish with crooked smiles” by Robin Butterworth

Submitted to Contest #203

- You see, for us it’s not so much about whether Sammy needs to die… it’s about how loud the gunshot needs to be. Walsh punctuated his sentence with an impressively long draw from his last half inch of cigarette. Like everything Walsh did, he did it a little too loudly for Thomas’s liking. Still, there was little danger of being overheard. As Walsh had assured him, the park formed a perfect cloak of July exuberance. Playing children, the rhythmic steps of a jogging group, tinny music ringing out of phone speakers – stitches enough to su...

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“Rocco’s Hiking Adventure” by Mitchell Kaye

Submitted to Contest #203

Rocco bent down on his front legs, pulled some water out of the pond with his hooked tongue, and bolted again. He raced along the hiking trail, jumping over tree roots and sliding beneath outstretched branches. The dried leaves, prickly thorns, and small sticks that gripped his fur bounced back and forth with each bound. As he approached a fork, he instinctively turned left. He’d made this turn a hundred times before and knew the way to the trailhead. It was only eight miles from the peak of the mountain to the nearby town and he was running...

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“Death of a Rug” by WRL Battle

Submitted to Contest #203

"Well, he's gone, gone and went, never to come back!"I stood there, frozen in place. My mind was an emotional crockpot. The ingredients of shock, fear, and disbelief came together in a fowl stew that rendered me motionless. I couldn't stand to look at the dead body, lying on my floral pattern, cashmere rug, but at the same time, I couldn't look away. I thought imagining him as a wax sculpture would ease my nerves, but the pool of foam and vomit shattered the illusion into a million pieces. "This is not good! This is not good!" crie...

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“Lord of the Lies” by Carina Caccia

Submitted to Contest #203

The wooden door creaked open, and Nora stepped out into the sun, the sand, the surrealism. The sand didn’t vanish beneath her flip flops, her bikini didn’t blow away in the wind, and Dolores didn’t melt into a puddle; she was definitely still there, with that frozen smile and those frosty eyes.“Oh, orange!” said Dolores, eyeing Nora’s bikini. “It took me a while to figure out my tones, too.”Nora wrapped her towel around her, taking in Dolores’ brown bikini, her glowing, olive skin. What was her name again?Nora didn’t try to fill the silence....

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“A Wedding in Hampshire” by Ryan Lee

Submitted to Contest #203

“A toast! To the bride and groom,” the best man bellowed. A cacophony of clanging glasses and cheers of “Here, here” rang out through the hall.            Henry and Elizabeth Wesley, the happy couple, beamed at one another, seated as they were at the head of the massive hall on the Wesley’s similarly massive Hampshire estate. The Wesleys were one of the wealthiest families in England and a regular feature of London society.           &nbs...

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“A Beautiful Day” by Aidan Kelley

Submitted to Contest #203

It was a beautiful day.  The swollen sun had burned away what remnants of the come hurricane still resided in the cracks in the sidewalk before our house, so that all that remained as evidence of Lucy was the litter of worms and dirt debris scattered throughout the yard. But I should not have been disconcerted, for the rains had come before, and they would come again, to once again wash down the sewer any trace that the storm had ever been there. This beautiful day was no event in and of itself. Many beautiful days had been seen bef...

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“The Tradegy of Evelyn Harrison” by Kara Reed

Submitted to Contest #203

Evelyn Harrison was no stranger in her small town. She was the teacher of the year for three years straight, volunteered at her church on the weekends, made regular donations to charities, always wore bright floral dresses—no matter the season—and was the kindest person one could ever meet. She was loved and admired by everyone in her small town. No one had an ounce of ill will towards her, but the whole town was concerned with one thing: she was a lonely woman. She spent her days and nights serving others, seemingly having no time for her...

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“We've Got This” by C.G Ripplinger

Submitted to Contest #203

Greg's snoring could be heard throughout the usually quiet house. His body was sprawled all about the double queen size bed, with one arm behind his head, the other close to his crotch to occasionally scratch at his belly button, his left leg angled fifty degrees from his torso and entering dangerously close to his wife's side of the bed, and his right leg just completely off the bed entirely. His short shirt exposed his poor stomach and the amount of self-conscious adjusting he'd done throughout his sleep allowed his jogging pants to ride d...

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