Write a story with a person’s name in the title.

Posted in Short Story on Jun 27, 2025

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✍️ 67 stories

Jenny

DC Farley

Submitted to Contest #309

The air in Haight-Ashbury vibrated with a thousand conversations, a symphony of strummed guitars, and the scent of patchouli and freedom. Jenny McCormick, her long, dirty blonde hair catching the afternoon sun, leaned against a weathered storefront, sketching in her notebook. Suddenly, a young man with eyes the color of a summer sky and a mop of unruly dark hair bumped into her, scattering her charcoal pencils. "Whoa, sorry!" he exclaimed, a grin splitting his face. "Heath's the name." "Jenny," she replied, laughing at the slight chaos. He h...

44 likes

24 comments 24

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Miss Claudie

Rebecca Hurst

Submitted to Contest #309

The First InterviewI was on a cruise when I found out. On that first night in Juneau, my cleaner sent me a WhatsApp message, telling me that Claudie had ‘crossed over,’ as she put it. Is Alaska an unusual choice? Not for me, dear. I dislike hot countries. They always look unfinished. If I may, might I help myself to my wine and cigarettes? At eighty, I can’t help believing that to give them up now would kill me. Help yourself to the kitchen, and come and go as you please. If you want to leave your equipment here, it will be perfectly safe. I...

36 likes

37 comments 37

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Zayin

Georgia Ofelia

Submitted to Contest #309

Zayin Before me stood a modest, lonely grave in Porto—a silent monument to a love that never was, yet had consumed so many of my waking hours. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth mingled with ancient stone, a quiet heaviness pressing down on my chest. Around me, the tall cypress trees stood like solemn sentinels, their dark forms swaying gently in the evening breeze that carried the salt of the distant Atlantic.It was a mournful sigh, that whisper of wind threading through the branches, a natural lament that echoed the hollow ache...

28 likes

26 comments 26

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Miss Hamilton

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #309

Miss Hamilton I had no idea how my life would change when I followed her into the forest.Although our village has thrived on open secrets and fabricated gossip, my secret has never been discovered. Probably because I never told anyone that I fell in love with my sixth-grade teacher, Miss Hamilton. I never told anyone that I would do anything to have her smile warm me, hear her soft voice, and be near enough to inhale her scent, an intoxicating mixture of exotic flowers and musk. I admired her from a safe distance through my teens. Occasiona...

28 likes

31 comments 31

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Here lies Beatrice Reed

Mad Hatter

Submitted to Contest #309

I never thought I’d bury my sister on the same day as her birthday. It was the beginning of winter. The light present in the sky but the sun in itself was missing. Snow hadn’t begun to fall but the cold hugged every stone and person. The piano reached me before the people did. I could see the sorrow on everyone’s faces the moment I entered the field. I could smell the yellow flowers and the tears wept by strangers—familiar and unfamiliar. And yet, my own emotions felt numb. She was always the brightest in a room. Loud and glowing. A smile on...

18 likes

8 comments 8

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Kye

Martha Kowalski

Submitted to Contest #309

The smell of wet earth seeps in through my nose. I’m very aware I’m faceplanted into something cold and wet but I can’t even move. Every bone feels broken, every muscle mauled at each tired tendon.I’m exhausted.I feel like an eternity has passed and I’ve spent all of it trying to wake up from a bad dream. My memories are blurry and scattered but they leave a sour taste in my mouth.Or maybe I just swallowed a mouthful of mud, as I realize what I’m lying in.My eyes crack open and I’m instantly surrounded by brown, mud covering everything in my...

18 likes

12 comments 12

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I am sorry, Mom

Andra Ignat

Submitted to Contest #309

Dear Mom,I hope this letter finds you well. I started out wanting to write just a few words months ago, but the more I sat with my thoughts, the more they poured out—turning into a long letter filled with emotion, sadness, and memories I’ve carried silently for so long.I’ve been thinking a lot lately—about childhood, about who I used to be, and about who I’ve become. I look back at my early years with a strange mix of gratitude and grief. On the surface, I had everything: food on the table, clothes to wear, toys, and material things. I even ...

16 likes

4 comments 4

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Tom's Doing So Well in Denver

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #309

The first wound appears on Tom’s back. A little below the neck. He panics, because Tom instantly assumes this is it. The big one. He was born after the epidemic had peaked, but it never leaves the back of his mind. Once a week, he watches a documentary about New York during the 80’s and he wonders what it would be like to lose all your friends so quickly and in such devastating ways. Without hesitation, he rushes to urgent care. He hasn’t lived in Denver long, so he hasn’t had time to get a new general practitioner. After several hours in th...

16 likes

7 comments 7

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Mr. Lemon's Lament

Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #309

Mr. Lemon returns to consciousness with a sharp intake of air. He slowly opens his eyes, not knowing how long he has been asleep. At eighty-six, it is not as if he gently falls asleep, but more like he just suddenly shuts off.Through burning, tired eyes, he scans the room. It’s a cluttered mess. Dust covers everything and a pile of dirty dishes rests on his folding table. He sighs, "What would my poor wife Katherine think of me if she saw her lovely home now? She worked hard to keep it nice. I must get busy and clean it up. It’s only right. ...

14 likes

5 comments 5

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Jonah Before the Whale

Kristina Warlen

Submitted to Contest #309

The boy known as Jonah wasn't born with that name; he discovered it in a small motel Bible hidden in the laundry chute at the halfway house. The pages were thin enough to roll smokes. When he first read about the man swallowed whole, he laughed because being devoured felt more genuine than being saved.He ripped out the first page and folded it into a little boat. He sent it drifting in the puddle behind the chain-link fence. It didn’t stay afloat. The water soaked in and dragged it down like a rock."Nice metaphor," he muttered, giving it a k...

13 likes

4 comments 4

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~ Wisty's Lament ~

Jim Parker

Submitted to Contest #309

~ Wisty’s Lament ~Wisty was finally calming down and thinking straight. Heading north on I-95 with a full tank of gas, she passed a sign that read, “Philadelphia 255 miles.” It had been over an hour since she left Williamsburg and the debacle of a mission that occurred at The Hybrid’s Compound. Feeling a bit lightheaded from a drop in sugar, she rummaged the console and found David E.’s .38 derringer. She still couldn’t believe it. He left her. It almost brought her to tears once more and she dropped the miniature pistol in her purse. She ru...

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5 comments 5

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Clay Liberation Day.

Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #309

Pundits might tell whoever really listens that the fates upstairs, wise women one and all, sit there and weave all souls on our beautiful planet their destiny. We can factor in human failings, chance, wrong decisions, and still follow our path, whatever the hand of fate brings us, including male humans.Thus begins a tale of Clay, short for Clayton. His mother's pride and joy, son of an Aussie digger who fought for democracy in New Guinea, so long ago. Clayton was a kind, supportive and capable lad, who studied hard to become a maths teacher....

12 likes

4 comments 4

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Hannah.

Konstantina Cheiladaki

Submitted to Contest #309

July 18th, 2023Mum just came upstairs and shouted that we have to come down because she has a surprise for us. Of course Liam had his door closed, so I had to go over and knock thrice before he could came out. He is so annoying!And then there was mum and dad downstairs and they looked very happy and they said that they had big news. They are having a baby!!!! And I got very happy and I asked them if it’s a boy or a girl and they didn’t know. But mum said if it’s a boy they will name it Peter and if it’s a girl they will call her Hannah. And ...

12 likes

2 comments 2

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Try Again, Bry Glenn

Nicholas Thomas

Submitted to Contest #309

Today is the day, and now is finally the time.Bryan “Bry” Glenn was driving his white 2019 Jeep Wrangler toward the intersection. The traffic light had been sitting on green for some time now as he accelerated. On the radio, he was listening to “Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)” by Powfu; it always felt like such a powerful song to him, evoking strong feelings of nostalgia and a sense of hopeless longing – he couldn’t quite explain why, but it seemed like the perfect song for this moment.Bry’s countenance was one of contempt and dismay. His ...

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2 comments 2

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The life and feats of the knight Josephine—dedicated to Selvatrice, esquired by she, published in anonymity

CJ Wright

Submitted to Contest #309

Desidora sleeps in her gambeson. Skin hugging close to her bones, she reckons herself already dead, each breath she draws a promise to she of damnatio memoriae, whose scent fades from the gambeson each day, replaced by Desidora’s own. But what can she do? She cannot sleep without the thing wrapped around her skeletal frame, and she cannot eat those tasteless meals without knowing she has the gambeson to return to each night. In her paranoia, she checks on the article of clothing, wedged under her straw mattress, every afternoon between her d...

11 likes

2 comments 2

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Contest #309

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

Theme: Strangers Again

$250

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Ended on 23:59 - Jul 04, 2025 EST

Won by Annalisa McMorrow 🏆

Title: Barney in the Rubble

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