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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Create a title with our Title Generator, then write a story inspired by it.

Posted in Teens on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 97 stories

“The Stolen Portrait” by Ramona Scarborough

Submitted to Contest #130

The Stolen Portrait I almost threw the portrait of a young Lenore away. I could tell it was her, but the colors had faded. The paint on the frame had flaked to reveal aged wood beneath. An indistinct signature on the right-hand side prevented me from tossing it into the rubbish bin.            I didn’t figure out the connection between the painter and my great-aunt Lenore until much later.  Lenore used to tell me, “Darling, I have been everything. I have been an opera singer, a...

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“Crime of the Quiet Librarian” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #130

                                           Crime of the Quiet Librarian             On one quiet Friday evening, not unlike most others at the Berlin, Md Public Library, all the patrons had departed and librarian Jan Newsome had put everything in its place and prepared ...

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“Out of Time” by Alex Con Foo

Submitted to Contest #130

Out of Time  When the island shrunk to only the size of a penny, I knew that we were out of time. How can the two of us possibly survive this predicament? The truth, harsh and honest, is that we can’t.  But a little optimism never hurt anybody. So I tell her that we will be okay, that we will get through this in the end. I think she wants to believe me; hell, I want to believe me. Yet, our burden as workers means that we see things for how they are. And how they are in this instance - well, it’s not particularly inspiring.&...

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“Electric Touch” by Janet Change

Submitted to Contest #130

Content warning: physical violence, suicide Ed’s wife had made him a paper bag lunch and left it next to his keys. He never expected her to, but she always did. He could hear her soft breathing coming from the bedroom. It had been five years now of peaceful, unmedicated sleep. Six years since they’d had to listen to the doctor’s euphemisms of “routine” and “standard procedure” before each surgery. Gradually, it had become “complete remission,” “cured,” and “very lucky.” He picked up his keys, quietly so they didn’t jingle, and his lunch,...

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“Voltaic Son” by Daniel Golden

Submitted to Contest #130

FROM: DR. T. WENTWORTH (SHING LIGHT AUTOMATION LEAD) To: SHINING LIGHT ALLSTAFF, SHINING LIGHT BOARDOFDIRECTORS CC: AP NEWS, REUTERS BCC: cjreilly@wisconsincatholic.com So good news first. I’m pretty sure my team is the first to create artificial intelligence. I mean, the real deal. The company has been fiddling with it for decades, with a lot of impressive algorithms that mimic thought and are wildly helpful in the world today. Voice recognition is so close to perfect and programmed responses near-instantaneous now, a lot of people think ...

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“North of Titania” by Rachel Bennett

Submitted to Contest #130

Many talk about fairies and magical creatures but nobody had ever really seen one. Titania was a made up place, there are so many of them when you are a child. It was a place of make believe, of genies too, and lands with mystical trees, multi coloured flowers and unnaturally perfect skies, it was a place where dreams came true. I was an imaginative child, I had very few friends and my family life was quite Hellish. I loved worlds and places of make believe, places to let my mind escape to. Often escaping to them for hours at a time. Althoug...

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“Whisper of Lies” by Holland Wells

Submitted to Contest #130

  The morning began like a normal Saturday, the smell of bacon had filled the house as Gloria Sorensen made her family breakfast. It was eight thirty when Steve Sorensen would come down the stairs in his pajamas sniffing the fresh smell of cooked bacon. The couple had been married for fifteen years and had a son and a daughter age’s fourteen and fifteen. Susan Sorensen, a fifteen-year-old teenager had long blond hair with a petit figure and a smile that all the boys at school could not resist. Susan was a quiet type that made the h...

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“ SEVENTY AND FRISKY ” by Brian Hastie

Submitted to Contest #130

                                     The telephone rings. “Hello Sharon just letting you know I’m no longer with Troy these past few months he’s been very difficult to be with as he’s looking for a spring chicken to have sex with and perhaps a baby at seventy.I don’t know how he will go since I kicked him out and blocked him on Facebook,” Melanie said. “So, he...

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“Imagine Us in Heaven” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #130

John Riggall: Inmate 31072Sing-Sing State PrisonOssining, New YorkJuly 7, 1933My Dearest Molly,I’m writing to let you know this will probably be my last day on Earth. My lawyer just informed me my last attempt at an appeal has been denied, and the warden here at Sing-Sing, is in a hurry to introduce me to “Old Sparky”. So, that’s it, unless the governor shows clemency, and I know the chances of that are about one in a million. But don’t cry, my love. I know my words are crushing your heart, but the truth can’t be denied. I killed that w...

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“Dragon's Daughter” by Caroline Smith

Submitted to Contest #130

I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes, all originating from the space in my father’s skull. One night he spun a story in which I was a pilot, flying a ’50s-style turboprop over oceans made of sapphire; in the next, I was a cunning thief, pilfering from greedy ghouls who lined their pockets with the misery of others; yet another night, I was a magician, pulling rabbits out of a hat during the day and frolicking with them on my farm by night. But in my favorite timeline, I was a princess and a knight and a scholar in one. I studied in my cozy corn...

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“Something Gained” by Alicia Griffin

Submitted to Contest #130

Alyssa curled up on the corner of the couch in her pajamas - a glass in hand filled with water while an Alka-Seltzer fizzled in it. The hangover couldn’t have been more prominent, but it was well deserved. Alyssa couldn’t keep her emotions at bay last night after the betrayal she’s been feeling. She looked like an absolute mess. Her eyeliner and mascara smudged down her eyes from sobbing during the late hours of that unforgiving night. How many times do I have to go through this? Alyssa seemed to be pensive, yet she had no legitimate answe...

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“The Fall of Hope” by Maddie Richards

Submitted to Contest #130

Once, the soundscape of the city would have been punctuated with bombs as they shrieked through the air, preceded by sirens that wailed in the early hours of the morning. The night was a place of many terrors – the darkness never went uninterrupted too long before a flash and a bang would echo out over the city, white light burning through drapes. But the people of Mount Neau were used to it – Freyja herself knew nothing but the War.            It was when the bombs stopped banging and t...

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“Spear and the Book” by E. Roux

Submitted to Contest #130

I feel a massive wave of pain on my left side, just below the ribs. Instinctively I place my hand on it. I lift it moments later and see a warm scarlet liquid coming out of my body. Instantly I feel dizzy, the sight of blood causes me that nausea feeling I hate so much. I try to look around for Jack, but my sight becomes blur. My feet feel like jelly, and I expect to crumble on the ground any second now. It all started about two weeks ago. It was a simple mission for such an experienced agent as Jack and everything were going smooth so fa...

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“The Tomb of Truth” by B.A. ROSE

Submitted to Contest #130

As the hiking tour guide spoke, Astrid looked around. She had signed up with her fiance, but he had broken up with her a week ago. Deciding to go it alone she listened as he he told the group about the legend of the Tomb of Truth. Only those who needed it would find it for it appeared out of nowhere. The stories said that if you went inside and asked what you truly wanted to know, it would tell you. Inside the cave it was said that a huge flame was lit and the sound of drums played. Astrid laughed to herself. She didn’t believe in legends. I...

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“Forty and Horny” by Jessica Buford

Submitted to Contest #130

The smell of french fry grease permeated my car as soon as I rolled the window down. I felt my body shudder; the aroma was so good it gave me the same euphoria sex had back in my college days. “Welcome to McDonald’s. May I take your order?” The blown speaker spewed out the familiar sentence. “Hi, um, yes.” I paused, trying to collect my thoughts. It had been a long time since I’d been to any fast food restaurant. “Can I please get a large fry and a Whopper?” “Sir, this is McDonald’s. Do you mean a Big Mac?” The speaker let out an angry hi...

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