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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character’s secret area of expertise, something most of their acquaintances would be surprised to learn they know tons about.

Posted in Short Story on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 38 stories

“Dust and Trust” by Jo Fellhauer

Submitted to Contest #15

The wide grey boards fence us in keeping us in close proximity of each other. We are forced to either be comfortable with each other or work hard together to move away from each other. If one of us decides to invade the other’s space, it can be difficult to move away quickly. On the other side of the boards and across a narrow, dry and dusty road there is another wider, more open space. This space offers shade from tall green trees with wide leaves, grasses up to our knees and a little pool of water, all offering a reprie...

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“Not what you always think!” by Ruxi Variu

Submitted to Contest #15

I am Cella! I love writing fiction books, but no one knows. Once I wrote a story about a princess who wanted to fly. Once a dragon came to her to fly with her. Anyways when I write a fiction book, I come with a completely crazy idea that doesn't really make sense but then transforming it in something that is still crazy but makes sense! Like a magical spoon, you know? I thought I knew everything about fiction books, but yesterday I learned that fiction books are sometimes something else then I thought. They are sometimes something based on y...

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“PARKED THREE WIDE” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #15

“Whatever are we going to do, Phineas?”  Trouble. I usually go by Finn. When Helen uses your proper name, she’s scared. And whenever I get reminded that I’m (distantly) related to P.T. Barnum, I get sloppy.  “Do, Helen? What we always do. We will go forth with our shields and come back to sleep on them. It shouldn’t be that hard to come up with an extra three Franklins every month. That reminds me, do you still have that red dress from New Year’s Eve 1999?” I gave her a wink and she tossed me back...

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“It's Not What it seems” by William Webster

Submitted to Contest #15

By 1:00 pm the green bottle of Laphroaig Scotch Whisky remained unopened on the kitchen counter with the golden liquid almost begging me to let it out of the bottle as if it were a Genie with the supernatural ability to grant me three wishes, like tuning back time. Eyeing the bottle with suspicion, I reached for my tumbler when my cell phone lit up. I had turned the ringer off at the funeral. I refused to turn it back on. “I have no reason to turn it back on.” “She’ll never call me again.” Swirling the bottle I mumbl...

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“POTHOLE DINNER” by Jamie McAllister

Submitted to Contest #15

 It was another bustling, brisk Manhattan morning. The sun was shining brightly, but its limited warmth was unable to penetrate the shadows thrown by the high rises lining the streets. Sarah shivered as a gust of wind swept down the street and she pulled her scarf closer around her neck. She loved fall in Manhattan but was not a fan of the frigid wind that often accompanied it. She stopped outside the doors of her office building and pulled her shoulder bag around so she could reach inside. She pulled out a simple pair of brown heels an...

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“Pointing Fingers” by Adelaide M

Submitted to Contest #15

The professor’s constant droning hums in my ear. The hastily stifled yawns of students and the occasional snicker of laughter are the only other sounds in the room. My eyelids begin to droop and I have to pinch myself to stay awake.  “And thus, the gallant and valiant king was interred. Scores of people attended his majestic funeral, during which his eloquent will was read. He bequeathed the majority of his land to his daughter, which was very unusual for the time period they lived in. But that is a story for another day! You’re free to...

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“The Corporate Wife” by Sandy Paluzzi

Submitted to Contest #15

Not bad, I thought as I poured my first cup of coffee for the day and considered my total transformation from high school dropout to domestic goddess, wife of a successful, corporate executive. Together we have worked his way up the ladder, moved into a custom-built McMansion, and had two wonderful children, a son and a daughter.My husband, Todd, had been in middle management at an international accounting firm when we first met. My best friend was his temporary secretary and I saw his potential the minute we were introduced. At the time, I ...

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“The Gifted” by Feylica Chan

Submitted to Contest #15

Normally, staying hidden required being out of sight, and being silent. Arno was so far above the angry crowd in the streets, that he could be neither heard nor seen over its roars of fury. Anyone that looked up at that exact moment would see only a great eagle swoop down. The bird's eye watched everything. It watched, flew over the anger in the streets and Arno observed the bird as it disappeared into the distance. He wouldn't say he'd made friends of the animals, but up where he was, they were all too often the only thing that offered any ...

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“The Plunger in the Closet” by Paula Allison

Submitted to Contest #15

Megan had routed all the plumbing calls to one dedicated line in the library. She mentally called it her “Batphone”, and when it rang that Wednesday morning, her heart began racing and her palms began to sweat a little as she answered the call with her most professional sounding receptionist voice.“Roy’s Plumbing, how can we help you?”The caller seemed to have a clog, a monster clog, backing up water into his guest bathroom tub. No amount of grocery store remedies could unplug it. Megan put the caller on hold, then went back on the line afte...

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“Fatal If Consumed Before Ripe” by Stevie Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #15

Joni sits cross-legged and hunched over on her lawn chair as she nears the end of her novel. Her nerves intensify with every page she flips. It’s her second favorite book, a thriller, naturally, and she lost count of how many times she has read it. The suspense has a way of ripping the air from her lungs every time. It’s almost mandatory she read it in the most serene place she knows of, otherwise, she might suffer nightmares after such a bone-chilling tale.      Her backyard is roughly twice the size of her house, w...

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“Larvae” by Alicia Hemmings

Submitted to Contest #15

Larvae It might’ve started with a simple sniffle or perhaps a small cough, but the way that it spread was astronomical. I didn’t think that my biological weapon would do this. If I had known, I never would have made it in the first place. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and destroy the experiment. The mass number of people that have died by my hands, that is blood I will never be able to wash away.It all started one stormy night, it was a Sunday and I was at home with my bug collection. I’ve always loved bugs ever since I was a y...

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“Banana Bread” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #15

IUnderneath the malodorous melange of Barley’s Biker Bar, D’Artagnan smelled a waft of armpits. He opened his leather vest a little, just to make sure it wasn’t him. It wasn’t. Barley’s just kinda smelled like that. Over the past year, Barley’s Biker Bar had become an every night thing for D’Artagnan. But he didn’t crank his Harley ninety miles each way every night so that he could take part in Barley’s regular raucous din. He didn’t really care for the nightly bullshit contests and abject stupidity that infected the place. He didn’t ev...

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“Gazing” by Jarod Cannon

Submitted to Contest #15

Gazing    Aaron and Zoe walked out of the mom and pop Italian restaurant, past the fake vines and empty benches. Dinner had tasted better than they had imagined it would. Quiet laughter traveled at a next-to-still pace through the air, from the entrance arches to the deep velvety purple sedan that had delivered the two some short few hours ago. Conversation fizzled  as the obvious question hanging from the rear-view mirror went ignored. After a century of a few silent seconds, Aaron had collected himself to the point of a...

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“The Secret Is Out: No Weapons Formed Against Me Shall Prosper” by Thomasina Rushing

Submitted to Contest #15

One day I found myself looking into the mirror trying to figure out where I wanted to be in this life. The answers would never come because I would always get interrupted by something. Today it was my best friend who wanted me to come quickly to her house because something had happened to her little brother. She was so histerical and frantic I couldn’t tell her that I didn’t want to come over. So like the good friend that I am I rushed over to check on my best friend and her problem. Well once I arrived I saw my best friend standing in the l...

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“My Vocation” by Leandro Manuel Antazo

Submitted to Contest #15

“You’re a what??!!” Marie almost shouts as we enjoy our drinks at a private booth over at The Cloudy Hang-Up. It’s one of the few places in the city where we can enjoy alcoholic beverages whilst partaking of our shared need to vape. As both previous smokers, we were both happy to stop the habit albeit replace it with a new one that does not dry up our lungs and give us lung cancer. Now that a nationwide ordinance has been passed prohibiting smoking and vaping in public places, we find ourselves spending more time here with either a beer or a...

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🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a person trying to learn a new skill or hobby they find intimidating but want (or need) to learn anyway.

Nonfiction – 47 stories

Write about one character’s fundamental misunderstanding of another character’s job.

Sad – 23 stories

Write about a character who is a reluctant expert on a topic they wish they didn’t know so much about.

Funny – 38 stories

Write about something you consider yourself an expert in, but do it from the perspective of a total novice.

Funny – 14 stories

Contest #15

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This week's theme: Everyone's An Expert

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Ended on 23:59 - Nov 15, 2019 EST

Won by Caitlin Mullin 🏆

Title: In the Veins of the Night

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