Write about somebody down on their luck who unexpectedly comes into a large amount of money.

Posted in Teens on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 49 stories

“Dirty Rich” by Glenn Holt

Submitted to Contest #159

Let me tell you my story. This is my story and no one elzus. The room is dimly lit cuz I can’t afford electricity. But I know all that is about to change. Let me tell you how. Tiny Terry she help me write this. She said your life will change because you are coming into money. But she said that is getting ahead of the story. I hope you know what that means. I know this is not connected but I thought it funny that the Beatles would send all their love home by writing home everyday. I really like that song. I think you should know that about ...

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“I Blame the Shoe” by Sky Astor

Submitted to Contest #159

The autumn breeze plays with strands of my hair as I stomp angrily to Capital Two Bank, muttering to myself about bills and taxes. A crimson leaf falls onto my foot and I attempt to kick it off but end up on my butt. Then I realize…. MY WALLET!!! I forgot my wallet! I slap my palm to my forehead and lose my balance again.I scream in rage.I get up and turn around and walk to my house. I make my way through the overgrown bushes of my bedraggled property. I give myself a mental note to have them trimmed later and continue onto the wood pla...

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“Erasmus Jones” by Kiera Lawley

Submitted to Contest #159

Jonesy paused outside Sinclair’s Antiques shop and double-checked the address on the business card. It was an elegantly embossed business card that only bore the name Sinclair’s and the street address; apparently the owner didn’t bother with anything as modern as a phone number or website. The young man hoped he was not on a wild goose chase. Taking a Sunday off work was a luxury he rarely indulged in – but since he had found the business card lodged under the windscreen wiper of his work truck, he’d been consumed with curiosity. ...

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“The snake plant” by Salmah Ahmed

Submitted to Contest #159

‘It’s not fair!’ Shelly burst out, the weight of her despair was so strong that she folded under it on the blue velvet chaise lounge in her new home in Kensington.‘Which idiot, which absolute idiot does this?’ Her husband, Dan of thirty-three years glared at her, pacing back and forth, his skin flaring up in red blotches. He dug his thumbs deeper into the lapels of his corduroy coat.'Oh, don't start.' Shelly's usual satin-like blond hair was standing at odd places and her eyeliner had begun to crease her crows feet.'This is so typical of you...

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“Boone the Blacksmith” by Scott Dutkus

Submitted to Contest #159

Boone stood looking across the street at the Quartermaster with his Officers and supply Sergeants, all impeccably dressed, boots shined and hats tall and proud. No matter how much Boone tried over the last 4 months to encourage the Quartermaster to buy his swords and bayonets, the Quartermaster went with Boone’s competition. After hearing the rumbles of a possible military conflict, Boone spent almost all his coin to purchase steel, coal, and other supplies for his forge. He left barely enough to buy meager food and drink to s...

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“The Bet” by Nathan Truzzolino

Submitted to Contest #159

Football, they say, is a game of inches. A single dollar bill is roughly 6.14 inches long and 2.61 inches wide. If one were to stack 10,000 one-dollar bills on top of each other, that would measure 43 inches high or 3.58 feet, a shade over a yard. 1 yard, three feet, or 36 inches was the difference between putting $16,000 in my pocket and getting my hand broken with a ball pin hammer. The NFC conference championship game was decided by one yard. With 12 seconds left in the contest, the running back dove forward with the b...

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“The jackpot” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #159

-"Old men die, “Nat sighed, "they just die. They must." Nat stood with James, his lawyer, watching his mansion from a distance. Nat lived there alone. He always had. Not that this had been his first choice. But over the years it made him more and more uncomfortable and sad, that his family, and those who believed that they had a branch on his family tree, had but one thought in their head: When will he kick the bucket and how much would he leave me? Nat was a rare individual. Always had been. He was a scientist by trade and had earned ...

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“Idle and Wild” by Samuel Morelos

Submitted to Contest #159

Raymond J. Marshall. Chances are you’ve never seen a man with a suit and tie like that, each seam tailored to a precise finish by lavish artisans and each fold ironed to a smooth halt by prestigious butlers. Whether he’s stepping into the headquarters of a Fortune 500 corporation or a skyscraper in Hong Kong, you can be damn sure that every CEO and every one of their lackeys has already turned their head towards him. What a life! From the second he left his mother's womb he was set, practically following the rich-asshole checklist to a T. A ...

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“Jen” by Miika Mooten

Submitted to Contest #159

Note: This story contains sensitive content including sexual assault and substance abuse. The soles of my boots pound hard against the gravelly concrete. I can hear footsteps and the soft murmur of voices behind me. I plaster myself against the wall of a nearby alley, pressing a tired hand to my forehead, my breath coming to me in a series of shallow pants. Sweat is starting to bead on my forehead, and I sigh as I remember forgetting to put on deodorant this morning. I shut my eyes and bring my hand to my lips as I hea...

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“Encounter in the Park” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #159

The senior partner raised his glass for one final toast to the departing 3L, a third-year law student who’d come in for the Christmas Party. He’d just been offered a position to start at the end of the following summer with a salary of $150,000 and a signing bonus of $40,000. It would pay for the kid’s final year at Harvard and give him more than enough funds to travel in style after graduation for a trip he had talked about incessantly, and it would leave him with enough for a “kick-ass” apartment with all the accouterments, one fitting for...

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“Treasure hunting” by Becca Fox

Submitted to Contest #159

I’m not walking in any direction. I came here to get lost. Northern Israel beaches are almost deserted this time of year, and the weather is still hot even in November. Sand and rocky coast, an endless sea spreads before me and disappears past the mountains north, all the way to Lebanon. I came here because I didn’t know where else to go. He ended things so abruptly last month. I’m completely lost. I left my apartment as is and took the first train north. I found a small furnished apartment and hunkered down. I cried for three days. Hunger i...

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“Driving a Truck Full of Money ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #159

See I wasn't straight when I wrote that I was carving a name And I was praying that no one was ever gonna love me again And I was late for somethin' Every hour of every day And completely lonesome out on the prairie With a truck full of money (Truck Full of Money by Donovan Woods) I have discovered that life is a whole lot better when you are driving a truck full of money. How that came about is still beyond me, because, you see, I am not known as the lucky kind. But just this once, God shined His light on me and here I ...

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“Money Isn't Everything But It Does Help” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #159

He sat on the wooden stoop eating his jam sandwich. Opening up the two pieces of bread he inspected the inside, sighed loudly and put them back together again. “I can’t eat another jam sandwich” He said aloud “I might splurge this week and buy some ham!”. John opened up his thermos and drank a gulp of tea. It warmed him. And then he looked around at the hall he had been cleaning. The jarrah floor boards were now free from dirt, grease, beer and anything else that had been slopped on it since last week when he cleaned it. “Oh well it’s a job ...

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“Demo Man” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #159

To destroy, to tear down, that was the Demo Man’s job. The heavy hammer flew of its own accord in his fists, the walls falling, collapsing in huge crashes. He was the conductor in this orchestra, calling for the high pitched crack of thin lathe, the long rip of the tearing wallpaper, and the kettledrum boom of the breaking studs. His skill was not in building, or creating, but in destruction, the art of destroying another’s creation. What takes months to build comes down in a day. Usually he knocked down homes, but he was indifferent, b...

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“The Test” by Stephen B. Allen

Submitted to Contest #159

If there was one thing which Franklin Robinson knew about life, it was this: that you are tested in some manner every single day to reveal the person you truly are. These tests needn’t be large or even complicated. They could be as simple as ‘Are you going to take the last piece of toast on the platter or pass it up so that one of your kids who you know is hungry can get it?’ or as relevant as ‘Twenty years of marriage, and this girl is coming on to me?’Franklin was not an overly religious man…although he was a spiritual one. From as long as...

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Write about somebody down on their luck who unexpectedly comes into a large amount of money.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 49 stories

“Dirty Rich” by Glenn Holt

“I Blame the Shoe” by Sky Astor

“Erasmus Jones” by Kiera Lawley

“The snake plant” by Salmah Ahmed

“Boone the Blacksmith” by Scott Dutkus

“The Bet” by Nathan Truzzolino

“The jackpot” by F.O. Morier

“Idle and Wild” by Samuel Morelos

“Jen” by Miika Mooten

“Encounter in the Park” by David Ader

“Treasure hunting” by Becca Fox

“Driving a Truck Full of Money ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“Money Isn't Everything But It Does Help” by Valerie Preston

“Demo Man” by Marty B

“The Test” by Stephen B. Allen

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character accepting a bribe.

Set your story in a world where the currency isn’t money — or at least not money as we understand it.

Your character checks their balance at an ATM and is surprised by the number they see.

Write about a character who’s never encountered a problem they couldn’t buy their way out of — until they do.

Contest #159

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

216

Contest entries

88

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: