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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about the longest day of the year, or a day that never seems to end.

Posted in Summer on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 99 stories

“The Same God” by Kanika G

Submitted to Contest #99

As I unrolled my blue beach mat—too large for one person—on a “safe” part of the beach, my mind stumbled over all the seemingly unimportant but critical details it usually stumbled over while I meticulously set things up. Of prime importance was the time because if I missed the 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. window when the sun was still in a pleasantly warm avatar and not yet a fire-spitting demon, I would not able to see anything because my mind would be preoccupied with avoiding death by dehydration while my exposed skin would turn into a red, itchy ...

73 comments 73
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“Wet Sheets” by Shea West

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #99

TW: postpartum depression 2 am used to be the time of day that you and your friends drunkenly stumbled from the bars, propelled forward by the joy of drinking too many flights of IPA’s with eyes squinted tight from laughing too much. Surrounded by friends who had the same level of despondency as you did, the ales brightened your dispositions and gave you hope that 6 am wouldn’t feel too brutal. But now, you wake with a startle because you feel the presence of an angered spirit or your toddler, you can’t seem to tell anymore, they are one and...

64 comments 64
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“hope you don't mind” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted to Contest #99

It is very early in the morning when Bush comes to wake me up."Get up quickly," he says, his voice barely a whisper. His eyes dart restlessly like he's afraid of the lemon-colored light filtering through the windows. "We've got a body."I sit up straight. Bush knows things but for the first time, I see fear and pain in his eyes. "Another foreigner?" I ask setting my feet on the floor. The ground is cold. My feet are wet. It's hardly comforting to think about. But still, the question drags in the silence. Is it a foreigner or not? A week ...

10 comments 10
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“Turbulence” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #99

It could have been romantic, flying west together into an eternal sunset. If only they were speaking to each other.Katrina gazed out the small portal window, silently absorbing the orange-drenched clouds from the confines of seat 37E, arms folded over her chest. If she let her eyes slip out of focus, her view could be a tranquil ocean, or a silent desert.“What?” Scott broke their silence from 37F, squaring his shoulder away from her and tilting his phone screen out of view.“What, what?” she asked back, doing nothing to soften the thorns in h...

23 comments 23
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“A day of monsoon” by Akshita Arora

Submitted to Contest #99

As the day passed the dusk of monsoon surrounded a slum in a region of bihar.In this small slum there was a four square house stands by the self cemented brick , giving it a barren look without any paint and flat tin sheets were spreading over the roof. There lived a family of four the head of the household Mr. Kamal singh, his wife Mrs laxmi, their children an 11year old boy named susheel and an 8 year old girl named rani.The pair of brother and sister were standing at the entrance fixing a dream catcher on the upper iron boundary of the do...

10 comments 10
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“Groundhog Minute” by Tybor Tigadoro

Submitted to Contest #99

My eyes shoot open. 2:19 A.M. stares back at me in glowing green text. I shift positions, intentionally obscuring my wristwatch. Three hours until the Barcelona presentation. I shouldn’t be awake. It was already a late night of preparation. Any less sleep and I won’t be on my game tomorrow. The entire account is at stake. I squeeze my eyes shut. I try to will myself out of consciousness. No luck. I feel the familiar tinge of dread spreading through my limbs. “The drive for perfection,” as my fellow investment bankers would say. The begin...

7 comments 7
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“Life is a lottery” by James Pendleton

Submitted to Contest #99

This was the happiest day of Stanley Murray’s life. As he sat on the toilet thinking about what he was about to achieve, he couldn’t help but whistle a merry tune. As he flushed the toilet he could have sworn that he heard a noise in the kitchen but he quickly put it down to jitters, bearing in mind what he was about to accomplish. His life was about to change. He opened the bathroom door and walked into the hallway. He hadn’t remembered leaving the apartment door open, but it was slightly ajar, so he closed it then returned...

6 comments 6
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“Life” by Melody Frost

Submitted to Contest #99

I am on standing on top of the edge of a haunted factory. I can see buildings covered in a thick cloud of dust. I looked at my phone to check if I have any missed calls before entering the next world.  What did I expect, as if there is anyone who exists to call me? Today is March 20. Mom, I am coming to you. I don't like this world. You were correct. I can't trust anybody in this world.  ** A security guard who was passing by the haunted factory got frightened when he heard a loud sound. He didn't believe in ghosts, so he rushed ...

4 comments 4
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“Fire in Arzúa ” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #99

Noite de San Xoán is a couple of days away and in Galicia that means widespread participation in the bonfire event, with as cacharelas, as lumeiras, and half a dozen more terms. Lavinia was learning about the vast lexicon that was just waiting to be a source of pride to Galicians. When she was invited to spend the afternoon and evening in Arzúa by Pilar and Daniel, she didn’t hesitate. Her friends were all going, and she knew she would learn a lot by observing and asking questions.“Would you like to come to Arzúa with us?” Pilar asked, and w...

4 comments 4
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“The Longest Day of the Year ” by Gina Beach

Submitted to Contest #99

The drive to the Salisbury Plain wasn’t promising. I pulled the wash in early because the darkening clouds loomed ominous, ready to open. Raindrops splashed the windscreen as we passed thatched roofs in Bath and wound through narrow lanes, being overtaken by Range Rovers. It’s the longest day of the year in the middle of a pandemic and my partner, Craig, and I are driving to arguably the world’s most famous neolithic structure: Stonehenge. It seemed improbable on this rainy Summer Solstice that we’d even be able to get close enough to see ...

1 comment 1
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“Cry in the Woods” by Kaya Atkins

Submitted to Contest #99

I slowly unzipped the tent window to peer outside. It was too dark to see anything. “Annie?” “You heard it, too?” she whispered.  My friend Annie and I went camping for the weekend, a summer ritual that we’ve done for several years. After the sudden death of Annie’s father, she refused to talk to anyone but me. After being diagnosed with depression, she adopted a service dog named Charlie, a now eight-year-old Belgian Malinois. “Was it Charlie?” I breathed.  “No, she’s right here, but I think she heard it too.”  We both s...

11 comments 11
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“Never” by Jill Campbell

Submitted to Contest #99

NEVER   The sun on the calm water and laid back conversation float nowhere. Need to go nowhere. Content with itself, it spreads with ease like a thick layer of syrup over pancakes making them savory and sweet.    Kayaking up under cascading walls of water vines, I arrive at a long abandoned beaver lodge so overgrown that only a practiced eye could discern it. The growth is so impenetrable and the stream path so narrow that I’m unable to turn the kayak around, and begin to paddle backwards but am stymied by islands o...

1 comment 1
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“Gone” by Jen IB Economics

Submitted to Contest #99

At first I thought it was the wind. Or just the house creaking. It’s an old house. All old houses make strange noises. Especially in the basement. Shuddering, shaking, bellowing, howling echoes up from the basement. But then the noises started to change. They got louder. More like a moan. Different distinct voices. Sometimes moaning, sometimes whispering, but always persistent. In the evenings the moaning got louder, the pitch higher. More desperate. Almost pleading. They wanted to be let out. But who would be crazy enough to ...

2 comments 2
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“The Sea and the Summer Soltice” by Felix Perry

Submitted to Contest #99

The Sea and the Summer Solstice By: Felix Perry He sat alone at the end of the pier he watched the ebony darkness of night once again struggle against the more powerful forces of light. He shivered as a slight Atlantic breeze, a remnant perhaps of the last of spring’s breathe blowing down the narrows. As he continued to watch the horizon began unfolding, first in muted pastel shades of pink water melon colour with slight streaks of orange, red and finally yellow as the sun overpowered the night to bring in another summer morning. The man...

4 comments 4
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“Another Day of Waiting” by ~ Rookiewriting ~

Submitted to Contest #99

Piles of timber were stacked up by the sides of the warehouse, hanging high up above Lethe’s head with only a narrow, shadowy passage in between. She tiptoed among them, head hunching down below the few wooden tiles sticking out that Mathew must have misplaced last week. Careful not to break her brittle lamp, she prodded each tile beneath her feet before shifting her entire weight onto it. The lamp threw a gentle orange flame that made shadows around her dance, making shapes as if someone was there with her. Lethe’s eyes flickered around. Ma...

4 comments 4
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Contest #99

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This week's theme: Summer Solstice

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Title: The Men and the Lake

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