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Write a story where someone gets into trouble and a stranger helps them out.

Posted in Short Story on May 9, 2025

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✍️ 35 stories

The Amulet

Submitted to Contest #302

Birds of magnificent wingspan, figure-eighted gracefully---black pirouetters in the slate grey sky. The small boy in peasants’ grubby clothes kenned their presence like reading a map. He made his way down the hill to the bloody mesa, and the bodies were fresh. He wiped grime and sweat from his pale freckled face absentmindedly with his course-spun sleeve. It was a habit he’d done since he was a wee bairn when his parents had been alive; one developed nervous habits, when living in a war zone. *** Seven hours earlier… Rhys Hughes swung his...

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This Lady Drives like a Man

Submitted to Contest #302

Did you know old wood is really sharp? Neither did I, until my cheek was gored on the side of a boat. Picture it: Sicily, 1987. I was six years old, playing tag or some Italian variant. It was evening, sometime after dinner during our "passagiata" or walk-after-dinner. My mom sat on a bench along the water, talking to her friends, while I chased the trajectories of little Italian children, with whom I couldn't communicate. What was rules of this game? Was this even a game? Boh, che ne saccio.I ran up and down the cobblestone street in the li...

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LOVING A STRANGER

Submitted to Contest #302

Summer days are here which means sleeping in late, going to the beach, hanging out with friends and just being lazy. This is not what I want for my summer days. I like crazy. I like adventure. I like new. I like danger. A crazy out of this world trip to a place that has been a dream of mine to go. A place I never been too. An island dream I can explore. I wake-up bright and early. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. I have a big smile on my face. Today my wild crazy adventure begins. I do my morning routine. I start off dancing to my...

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The Day I Met John Jones

Submitted to Contest #302

Down the crowded sidewalk, I ran, with desperation and commitment on my face and in my soul. The traffic of faces walked opposite to me, staring with curiosity as I passed. They looked so depressed. So discontent in their lives. Like they desired to jump out, but were bound at the feet. Although, I paid little attention to them. I bumped into many, crumpling my pristine suit, which I had worn for the interview that happened to be my destination. It would give me a chance at a very prestigious position, which would earn an exorbitant amount o...

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Fated meeting

M B

Submitted to Contest #302

The large fist whisked past Takeshi’s face as he managed to lean his head back at just the right second. The ronin retaliated with a jab to the ribs of the bearded man, sending him staggering back. All around the tavern was clamoring with cheers and jeers. Takeshi had never been one to back down to a fight, in fact he had always hurled himself headlong into battle like a true samurai. But this time he realized he may have bit off more than he could chew. His katana lay out of reach, it was useless in such close quarters, and there were at le...

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I Wound Up in a Ditch

Submitted to Contest #302

It is hard for me to believe that I learned how to drive a standard transmission when I got out of the military at 36 years old. The old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” had to be overcome if I was going to drive my new Mazda home with the standard transmission. I needed a reliable car that was good on gas mileage since my job was over thirty miles away from my front door. In city traffic, it took me forty minutes to get to work at R-House in Rincon Valley east of Santa Rosa from Rio Nido. Getting to work meant I would hav...

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Kindness at Gate 4

Submitted to Contest #302

In these uncertain times—when people grow more divided, fear dominates the headlines, and kindness feels rare—it’s more important than ever to remember the stories that remind us there is still good in the world. Sometimes, it even comes from a stranger.This story happened to me after more than 20 hours of travel and two long-haul flights from Australia. Anyone who’s taken such a journey knows the relief that floods in when you're close to home. We had landed in Milan, just one short flight to Budapest left before I could collapse into my ow...

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Floating

Submitted to Contest #302

Don was swimming casually, watching his surroundings for the occasional jellyfish, tasty fellas those were. Don’s flippers were extended beside him to take advantage of the current he was riding, if there was someone who mastered the art of gliding the laziest it would be a turtle, that was his opinion at least.In a moment of happenstance he looked up and saw a strange floating object, it looked like some dead coral pretending to be a rock with a glaring low rate of success. He approached the underside to inspect the finding, just in case th...

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Lending a Helping Can

Submitted to Contest #302

Sensitive Content Warning: Mild Language It was near pitch black and almost deafeningly silent in a desert area at nine o’clock at night, with the only real source of light being the blanket of stars and the moon overhead. The only sources of sound? The light blowing of wind and the hum of an engine in a certain man’s car, a midnight blue Honda Accord, to be precise. This man’s name was Daniel, a 27-year-old with a short beard, brown eyes, and a crew-cut. He was dressed in a grey shirt and black jeans. He was quite the level-headed man for...

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Last Night with Albert Cummings

Submitted to Contest #302

Last Night with Albert Cummings. April 24, 2022I wasn’t going to go. My friend and I always joke that we are the early bird crowd, but last night my friend Tammy had tickets to see this amazing artist and his band. I had heard of Albert but was not familiar with his music, despite my brother Colin being a blues musician and loving all that is blues, from BB King to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Albert’s playbill touted all the famous people he has worked and played with, and part of the description read “…with mesmerizing extended guitar jams, Cummi...

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Thread

Submitted to Contest #302

Content Warning: Themes of trauma, surveillance, and emotional distress. No graphic content. We were thirty kilometres past the last gas station when the fog swallowed the road whole.It wasn’t snow yet, not quite. Just rain turning to sleet, slicking the highway and turning the world to static. My wipers squeaked like they’d given up trying. Streetlights blurred in the distance, and every sign looked like a warning written in another language.Beside me, Zayd pulled his hood down lower and yawned.“Why do all your genius plans end in hypothe...

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The Chosen Brother

Submitted to Contest #302

The sounds of battle echoed throughout the valley. It had been a quiet morning, the sparse grass blowing gently in a breeze from the ocean. The sky was clear, the birds loud as they flew about catching bugs. A few sheep, raggedy and dirty, grazed absently. Even the dogs scattered about the property frolicked, their tongues lolling. Every being took advantage of the breezy morning before the sun rose high and the heat wrapped everything in stickiness.And then shouts and chaos broke the idyll. The sheep scattered, birds fled into the air, and ...

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THE BAD SAMARITAN

Submitted to Contest #302

It can be cold in London; damned cold. On such a night as this, fifty years ago, I was in the Limehouse district, down by the river, heavy fog wreathing everything in vagueness, mingling with the foul smoke of coal fires drifting past to make a choking, almost unbreathable atmosphere. I had my scarf wrapped around my face but it had little effect. I began to cough. I needed to get away from this poverty-stricken area of the City. I tried to find a hansom cab, but none were likely to come into this area. Haggard prostitutes lined the damp str...

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The Light in the Darkness: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Submitted to Contest #302

“Sometimes God sends angels down to earth to enact his will. They come disguised as regular folk like you and me, but they have been touched by His divine grace. These earth angels are meant to be our souls guiding light towards salvation while in this mortal coil. While mere strangers to us, earth angels wage a secret war between Heaven and Hell. Fer ya see, the Devil also sends his demons to tempt us. They come to us as false earth angles to make each of you stray from the Lord’s plan and give into sin. It is up to y’all to stand firm agai...

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The Man On The Platform

Submitted to Contest #302

It was the final train of the night.Zola Ndlovu stood on the dimly lit platform of the Johannesburg Park Station, her suitcase handle clutched tightly in her hand and her heart beating a little faster than normal. She had been visiting a friend in the city, and after a long day that ended with a missed bus and a lost phone charger, she was eager to get home to Soweto.The train screeched into the station, its headlights slicing through the fog that had started to roll in. The few other passengers waiting scattered along the platform began to ...

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