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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about a summer afternoon spent in a treehouse.

Posted in Summer on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 303 stories

“The Rattlesnake ” by Kameron Metcalf

Submitted to Contest #50

The wind blew by in soft gusts, carrying the gentle smell of freshly cut grass to Micah’s nose. The sun was out in full force, and he had taken refuge in the wooden structure that used to house him on days just like this so many years ago. The old treehouse had actually held up rather beautifully. He looked around at the beams and felt a smile spread across his lips as memories came flooding back to him.  He was too tall to stand in the treehouse. At 6 foot 4, he was a grown man, and he considered briefly what it had been like to have ...

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“Lemonade” by Jess Wood

Submitted to Contest #50

He had been enclosed in the wooden hideout so long, he could barely even remember how he got there. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a clouded memory lingered, like a storm cloud. He tried to ignore it but the more he fought to avoid it, the larger it grew, looping in his mind like some eternal nightmare. He had run through the grass and kicked at flowers. He had jumped around, flattening leaves and cracking branches beneath the soles of his trainers. When his friends arrived, they filled water guns until they spilled all over the floor a...

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“Forgotten Moments ” by Meredith Heffernan

Submitted to Contest #50

It looked exactly the same as it did last year. Save for a few cobwebs in the corner, and dust collected on the floor, everything was just as I had remembered. I don't know if that makes me feel better or not, because it was not the same treehouse. Everything had changed in that treehouse.This is where we spent all those afternoons talking about our dreams, our ambitions. Now, it was just a shell of what it once was. A safe haven.The sun shone in through the makeshift window, painting the room an orange hue, yet it was darker than I've ever ...

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“Solice in the Treehouse” by Pamela Alcasey

Submitted to Contest #50

Solice in the Treehouseby Pamela Alcasey   I climbed up the ladder to the treehouse in a rush and sat down on the old coloring pages faded from the sun and the years. The breeze blew relief into my face and I let out a sigh. It was good to finally be alone in a place with good memories.  Both of my boys, now in their 40’s played in this treehouse on summer afternoons. John, my husband built this treehouse with the help of our older son. They worked every weekend until it was finished. There were many injuries as a re...

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“Where the Birds Come to Nest” by Spencer Pinkus

Submitted to Contest #50

How did I end up here? Literally, how did I end up here? A fully grown man hiding in his grandparents’ treehouse like a naughty school boy in the middle of a heatwave. It’s ridiculous.  Up here, where the birds come to nest, the branches are thick and tangled, and the towering trunk reaches high into the sky. *We arrived at Grandmother Stevenson’s Hertfordshire house at ten o’clock this morning. It was my wife’s idea. She had decided that after all the troubles of the past few months what we really needed was to...

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“The Treehouse” by Carille Durbin

Submitted to Contest #50

Three of the Carlson siblings were standing in the afternoon sunshine in their mother's backyard.   "It's hard to believe that Mom is going to move." Chloe, the oldest, was talking to her two brothers.            "Mom's been talking about it ever since Dad died. She said the winters in Ohio are too cold," Cooper replied. Cooper was just one year younger than Chloe.  "I thought she was just talking about moving, that she would live here forever." Caleb ...

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“Sunflowers and Ashes” by Olivia Kuziel

Submitted to Contest #50

Monday, July 13th  2:07 AM  The entire treehouse was ablaze. And all I could do was watch in silence as tendrils of flames poked through the windows, hungrily licking up the the roof with the peeling red paint and the creaky plywood floor that we used to stomp around on just to hear the resounding echoes. Most importantly, I thought back to the picture of Sara in the corner, along with the sunflowers we’d so carefully arranged around it. My entire childhood was up in flames.  The grass was damp on my bare feet as I made my...

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“Spirit Board In Summer” by Marian Reiley

Submitted to Contest #50

"You gotta do it!" Darik said. "If you don't I'll tell everyone you're a weenie!" Billy, not at all interested in scary things, had been over to visit his friend Darik. The pair had been friends since kindergarten. Now they were sixth graders; almost teens! While there was no one else Billy would like to hang out with on a lazy June day, he hated when Darik made him do things. He wasn't going to chicken out though, not in their secret tree house. They had built it together in Darik's backyard, it was where they did all the stuff they didn'...

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“An Unexpected Disaster ” by Fatima Sajid

Submitted to Contest #50

 “There, I think that’s pretty much everything.” Gwen remarked, gazing at the furniture she and her friends had just brought up to the tree house in her backyard. Her parents had always known that their only daughter, Gwen, was a huge fan of nature and the outdoors. So, a few weeks ago, for her Quinceañera, they decided to gift her her very own tree house. Gwen was ecstatic. The following weekend she decided to call a couple of her friends over for a post-Quinceañera celebration.“Phew, glad that’s over with. That was exhausting.” Megan ...

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“Lost Feelings” by Sahil Islam

Submitted to Contest #50

Summer afternoons are maybe the best time for children. Slight blows of wind, setting sun, ice-creams are the memoir of summer to everyone. But as we grew up, somehow the fun vanished in the air. I was no exception of this. This story is about me, who found that fun after being a grown up.I, Vivek, am an college student, tensed by the pressure of career. Yesterday I was a little bit spaced out, thinking of my childhood days. Suddenly a plan stuck into my mind. I made a conference call with my friends. They live in the same society as mine. I...

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“the last day” by Rachel Alex Wall

Submitted to Contest #50

The tree house was well built, sturdy with a hidden trapped door that could lock from the inside. A balcony wrapped around it. The friends were standing on the balcony, lagers in hand chatting about the weather, how English of them. It was a hot day, about 1 pm. The group glistened with sweat. There were four of them, Abbie who was petite but tough. A tomboy. William, Tall, strong a natural leader. John a rotund boy with thick glasses and an asthma inhaler addiction and Wendy slightly smaller than William but taller that the others, a gymnas...

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“Finding Safety” by Nico Grace

Submitted to Contest #50

It was the last place he should have gone. But it was the first, the only one he thought of. Safety was a feeling, not a location. And for him, there was no other place that came close. As he climbed the wooden ladder and pushed open the trap door, that feeling settled over him, a warm weight even through the chill of rain-drenched clothing. The darkness inside the tree-house was soft. Welcomed him. Like coming home in a way he never felt in his own haunted residence. A fragrance of used books and fresh paint filled the space, note...

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“Mischief in the treehouse. ” by Duckie Carson

Submitted to Contest #50

One afternoon, during a summer of young adventuring and cut knees, five of us headed off toward the murky river. Passers by would see a group of eleven year olds galavanting to what they assumed was a park, unaware of our hidden place beneath the trees. We had found it mid May, visiting almost every day, even decorating the place as our own. School art drawings hung on to arms of wood balancing upon tree branches sixteen feet above the forest floor. Jagged gaps in the wood, which one of us would scrape the skin of arms or legs on, acting as ...

2 comments 2
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“A Girl's Sanctuary” by Bethany Holley

Submitted to Contest #50

She propelled herself up the ladder, with her breath racing as each foot cascaded over the steps. She was not scared of falling even at such a rapid pace. Her lanky legs should have tripped instead of contorting and attaching to the rungs, but she had traversed this path to her treehouse more times than she had ridden a bike, so the movements were instinctual. As she plunged through the trap door, she inhaled a deep breath and took in all the familiar smells of her sanctuary. A brief calm passed over her before she slammed the door closed an...

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“Jacob's Ladder” by Heather Wightman

Submitted to Contest #50

She climbed up the tall oak tree, the branches catching her dress and the old wise bark scratching her worn, rough knees. With each pull, there was a small grunt of determination followed by a sigh of release in each rest."thirty-five, ugh, aahh, thirty-six ugh, aahh". In twelve seconds, she knew she would be there. She had climbed the tree enough times now to determine the exact time and energy needed to reach her leafy retreat.There she was, clambering up the shaky ladder; designed in a dream and created with bike chains, padlocks, and leg...

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