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Write a story that includes the line “This isn’t what I signed up for.”

Posted in Short Story on May 2, 2025

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✍️ 102 stories

the weight of choices

Submitted to Contest #301

**The Weight of Choices** The late autumn sun hung low in the sky, casting a golden hue over the small town of Maplewood. Sarah had always found solace in the quiet streets lined with maple trees; their leaves, now vibrant shades of crimson and amber, crunched delightfully beneath her feet. With every step toward Davidson Enterprises, the marketing company she had been a part of for three years, her heart grew heavier. At first, the position had seemed perfect. Sarah cherished the idea of being creative and influential, helping businesses co...

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The Longest Weekend

Submitted to Contest #301

Your available balance is $343.62.Skye hung up the phone with a sharp click, her heart pounding louder than she’d expected.She yanked open the desk drawer, rummaging past crumpled receipts, a dried-out pen, and a mystery key. Her fingers finally closed around the scratched plastic edges of her old calculator. Shepulled it out as if it was a lifeline.With nervous trembling and extreme force, she pounded the bright yellow oversized buttons, calculating how much she’d need to scrape together in the coming weeks.The weight of reality crashed ove...

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Fail a bet, adopt a baby

Submitted to Contest #301

Monday"Tell me that's not your fucking kid dude." Cameron clicked his tongue between his teeth, chastising the way only an older brother could. Matthew, Cameron's 15 year old younger brother, let out a wild, ferocious bark of laughter. Words stumbling out between gasps of disbelief, he shook his head. "You actually did it? You actually adopted a fucking kid?" Cameron tightened his grip on the little hand holding his, her dark curls tickling his fingers as she leaned into his side. "This is Maya." The warning in his voice was clear enough: ma...

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IN THE MIDDLE OF THE UNKNOWN

Submitted to Contest #301

The even sound of wheels rolling over gravel was satisfying for James to hear from the safety of a smooth car seat, strapped between the rough belt. The clinical scent of leather still filled the inside of the vehicle, but outside, the expansive fields, scattered puddles of blue water, and the clear sky with clouds that hopped straight from an oil painting felt like an escape from the stuffy space inside. James stared at the underdeveloped road up front with half-open eyes. No other cars or people were nearby. It was empty until a vanishing ...

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I Left You What You Didn't Sign Up For

Submitted to Contest #301

She is standing on the sidewalk with a suitcase, a tote bag, and an envelope. She continued to stand looking at this house. Her face didn’t show any expression. It was as if she knew how to keep her composure in a place of indecisiveness. The more she stood there looking at the house. The bigger the house appealed to be bigger and uglier. It was all in her mind. She knows what she has to do. This was just unfair after all she had been through.  What she didn’t know was that a woman was looking at her standing on the sidewalk with her su...

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DESTINY

Submitted to Contest #301

Fear comes to those who let it take over mind, body and soul. Fear seeps into you without you ever noticing. Fear controls you. Fear takes you down paths you never knew existed before. My Destiny which is also my name is intertwined with my fear. For many years I've known the evil that is with in me. I never let it get to me. All these years of my life I told myself, I'm stronger than the fear. I never let the fear dictate my every day life but something in me has changed. I sense something in me growing. It's not the good kind. I keep telli...

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Briefly Panicked

Submitted to Contest #301

‘This isn’t what I signed up for,’ I muttered to no one in particular, gripping the dive slate like it was a holy relic that might ward off humiliation. The plastic felt cold and slick, my palms clammy against it. Technically, I had signed up for it—working as an assistant to a dive instructor meant helping with briefings, but not giving them. Not solo. Not to twenty-five wide-eyed beginners who were already seconds away from vomiting with nerves and boat-induced nausea. The morning had started smoothly: calm seas, clear skies, gear stowed, ...

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The Saboteur

Submitted to Contest #301

Rippling heat waves distort the view of the desert expanse. From down here even the weeds are blurry. My face is planted in the dirt as I slowly open my left eye. The sunrays have already begun burning my skin.I ease upward like a stiffened board as orange sand flakes off my sweaty cheek. In front of me, a vast canyon of layered rock, scattered trees, and far away riverbeds. Behind me, black smoke engulfs the carnal wreckage of mangled iron and warped steel. The bodies of former passengers paint a trail from where I lay to the blazing train ...

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Sand in my shoes

Submitted to Contest #301

3 years agoOn a sunny day, yes, a sunny day, our whole family went to the beach for our annual family bonding day. Even though we are already pre-adults now, there is something that keeps pulling us back together. I mean, family is always there, right? And plus, today was different. It wasn't just Michael's sweet 16—but mine too. Farewell, childhood. It wasn’t something big: just us gathered for a definite, unforgettable day.Our parents were already there when we arrived. Elijah, our older brother, drove us over since Michael wasn't ready ye...

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The Cursed Mirror

Submitted to Contest #301

The landscape of my life is dictated by one sole factor. It has been since that day, many moons ago now, when I stepped outside of my seaside cottage to find the shore covered in fractals of broken glass. A cracked golden mirror lay amidst the crashing tide. I, foolish as I was, bent to pick it up. I stare at it now, its ornate frame decorating the space above my dresser. I throw a hairbrush at the mangled surface, watching it shudder before returning to its original distorted reflection. Even after countless attempts of trying to remove it...

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Green Mages

Submitted to Contest #301

This was the most defining moment of Nemea's life. At 19, she received the letter that would tell her if she was good enough at her craft, and if she got accepted into Madame Berkenbosch's College for Gifted Green Mages. She'd always been one to doubt herself, as she has a nervous personality and a racing mind, but she wanted this more than anything else in her world. Her supportive parents, both in their early 40s, stood with her and awaited the news. She sighed hesitantly before she ripped the envelope and scanned the page with her sage-gr...

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Take or Be Taken

Submitted to Contest #301

Every so often, Flynn Cintalin got the itch. He knew his own pattern well. It would begin with lingering looks toward a person’s watch as it glittered in the sun or toward houses behind gates that taunted him. His fingers would begin to reach for pockets and purses, gleaning belongings with ease. Flynn would get home, spread his stolen prizes across the floor and stare at them, pride welling in his chest, for hours at a time. And when he knew he could stand it no longer, could resist the urge no more, the voice would return with a vengeance ...

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A Simple Story

Submitted to Contest #301

“Can’t you just drop me off at home first?” I whined. “No sugar, I’m already late for the appointment. You’ll have to come with me.” I rolled my eyes. At least I’d loaded The Lord of the Rings on my tablet before school let out and would have something to read while we waited for the stupid oil change to be over. “Why don’t we just buy an electric car? You drive an hour every day to work. That is so much carbon—it’s gross.” “This car is paid for, and anyway, I heard buying any new car creates more emissions than just keeping what you alread...

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Salty Wheels

Submitted to Contest #301

“Oh, come on Stella, it’ll be so fun! You hardly ever leave the house! "Julia playfully cajoled. Stella paused for a moment and signed as she held the phone to her ear. Julia and her crazy adventurous ideas. She wondered how they even ended up being friends. Nowadays they were complete opposites. Stella likened herself to a quiet mouse, nestled among a cozy nook, content and hidden from the outside world. Julia on the other hand, was a restless and rowdy monkey swinging out from one limb to another. “Stella you, there?” Julia questioned. ...

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Writers Block

Submitted to Contest #301

Sitting here, with a fruity cocktail on the table next to my provided computer overlooking the brilliantly saturated blue waters crashing down along the beach feels surreal, but who am I to squander this opportunity. You’d be stupid to have not taken the deal. Chances like this don’t come around often, and I needed the money, so even if my girlfriend thought it was bizarre I couldn’t say no to a writing gig like this. When a VC offers two weeks all expense paid trip in paradise arriving by his private jet with pay in exchange for five thous...

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