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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

As you check your mail, you notice a letter that makes you stop in your tracks.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 213 stories

“Guitar Man” by MJ Christie

Submitted to Contest #47

Something makes you hesitate as you bend to pick up the post. A colourful leaflet mixed in with all the other junk mail stands out – beckons you. When you hold it your hands a momentary flash of a woman’s face hits the backs of your retinas. What the hell? You have no recollection of her, but her cobalt blue eyes stare into yours. Just for a moment, then she’s gone. You read the leaflet: Speed Date Night All Welcome Since Cheryl left you stranded at the altar, you’ve struggled to hold a meaningful conversation with any women, let ...

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“Shattered” by Ellysia Mason

Submitted to Contest #47

You walk to the mailbox, your feet crammed half heartedly into your trainers as you shuffle to retrieve the mail. You flick through the letters, a small twist in your gut as the familiar stamps and seals of various bills scream out to you. You stop towards the end. There's one unlike the others, the address handwritten on the envelope. It can't be your birthday card, everyone just pings a messege over these days. Slowly you go inside, sitting down and peeling it open and pulling out a small scrap of paper. There's bugs crawling on the wa...

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“Ms.Webbers' Caffeinated Ordeal” by Mahathi Sathish

Submitted to Contest #47

There I was, shrunken to a shadow in the deepest corner of my room, unable to fight with the demons that had broken out. I couldn’t blame them, you know? It’s my fault they had been caged for too long. A lot of people wonder “How does she do it?”, “How is she able to get back up after life literally sweeps her off her feet?”, and a lot of times I find myself wondering the same thing. It’s more of a cluster of randomness rather than a deep quest. But, the truth is, I was used to it. I mean, wouldn’t you be, if you had just lost something very...

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“What to do?” by Rosanna Teale

Submitted to Contest #47

I don’t know about you but once upon a time I used to get quite excited about getting mail. In days before email and mobile phones good old fashioned letter writing was the thing and I loved it. In fact I still have bundles of old letters tucked away; letters from my grandmother, my mother and a couple of ex-boyfriends who sent love letters; letters from old school friends – well they’re a piece of my history aren’t they? Don’t you have any of those? Oh you were never one for letter writing – what a pity. We were trained to write letters fro...

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“Shocking News” by Emma Mason

Submitted to Contest #47

You are a scientist and detective that works in the big city of Chicago. You have worked on a lot of missing persons cases and solved just about every one. The one case you have not been able to solve is the case of your dad. You have been working on his case ever since he went missing. Even though there is a death certificate that confirms his death you have good reason to believe that the death certificate is a fake. Your mom has not let you go to see the belongings your dad left for you which is very unusual. Your dad was diagnosed with c...

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“Like Clockwork” by Al Schuler

Submitted to Contest #47

Perfect. You look down and check your watch. It says 4 PM. Every day, like clockwork, you leave your house and walk down your short driveway to check your mailbox. It’s a habit you’ve built up over the years; ever since your kids left the house to go to college, travel the world, and who knows what else, you’ve strived for a routine, not the chaotic life that your kids so effortlessly provided for you. Those days were well over fifteen years ago. You open the rusty metal mailbox, and without looking grab the stack of mail. Using the back of ...

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“The Carp” by Sylvia Anne Telfer

Submitted to Contest #47

             In Aberdeen ‘Arrivals’ lounge, you smooth your crumpled linen Yves St. Laurent suit, and check your reflection in a chrome panel. As an advertising whizz kid, you know image is mega, and your very job depends upon a looming pitch.            You start to move towards the ‘Exit’, to what would for sure be a fast growing taxi queue, but your reflection rivets you, not that you are vain but more you have become a...

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“The Lost Years” by Debbie Garden

Submitted to Contest #47

You wake to the sun filtering through the sides of the ill fitting night blind and pull the covers tight around your face, not quite ready to give up the cozy cocoon feeling and the vestiges of your wistful dreams. The night was generous with no restless bouts of insomnia, just dreams of a sweeter time, with Jack facetiously poking fun at your beat up flip flops while racing you down to the lake.. These are the best mornings, where you allow yourself to perpetuate the bliss of nighttime dreams with Jack into a daydream, sipping your coffee w...

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“Opposite” by E S

Submitted to Contest #47

The mysterious letter, the name scrawled in the return address, they cause your hands to shake. You snatch the envelope from the mailbox and trudge back into the single-story house. Grandma hasn’t contacted you since she moved and gave you the house nearly a year ago. Ripping open the envelope, you toss it on the kitchen table and examine the note.  Scrolled across the page in letters of varying sizes, run lines of gibberish. Why did Grandma send you this? Did she decide to play a prank? No, she may not be the most kind and social lady...

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“YOU ARE BLOWING IT KID” by Iam Danger

Submitted to Contest #47

Dear Wormwood,I was remembering how ravenously hungry I was for your flesh when I wrote you those years ago. The occasion of my writing is “don’t blow it, kid!” We got a good thing going but you’re about to overplay your hand and ruin the party. You are standing into danger!You must remember it was not you but for me, Screwtape turned things around with my wonderful evil advice. I have such resources at my disposal these days. The seventh level of hell is entirely populated by political consultants, and the sixth level we call “The Meat...

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“there are to many yous'” by Derek Brown

Submitted to Contest #47

As you check your mail, you notice a letter that makes you stop in your tracks. It is black with ornate gold corners as well as its’ edges. The lettering is raised silver in a language you had thought you would never see again. you did not even need to open it. You knew what it said. After all you wrote it years into the future when you were in the early experimentation of what many of you call, the down fall of all realities, time displacement and teleportation. You enter your house without a thought, almost drifting with purpose towards ...

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“The Unmentionable War” by Debolina Kanjilal

Submitted to Contest #47

There is a word for what I felt the day I found your letter. This word can’t be found in my language. But it can be in yours. I close my eyes and I picture your lips shaping that word. I try to ignore the rest of you but I can’t. I see you behind my eyelids. The rest of the world falls away and there you are. Trying your best to suppress your laughter. Your eyes can’t quite hide your grin and I find my own lips begin to twitch. Your hand slips into mine. Large but warm. Gentle and kind. You pull me into your chest and I find my home again. I...

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“You’re Late” by Ted Villamarzo

Submitted to Contest #47

I know you.               You’re the kind of man who thinks you are your own man. Intelligent, proud, a man of your word, decisive, and you don’t accept any guff from anybody. A strong man with a strong will.               Every day, you make your regular morning run at a steady gait around the neighborhood, which have been built almost a century ago. You are pleased with the old style neighborhood, ...

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“The Unthinkable ” by Maya Torpey

Submitted to Contest #47

The view from where you are is exquisite, except for its rush hour. As you approach the large ceiling-high windows of your modern skyrise apartment, you notice the cars beeping and screeching below you but that’s not what you're interested in, is it? As you glare at the sinking sunset, your computer abruptly reflects on to the window, suddenly becoming the thing you are MOST interested in. “Who would be working at this hour” You question as you glance at the clock on the microwave that reads, 7:00pm. You walk over and sit at your desk and re...

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“Through Thick and Thin” by Katie Feng

Submitted to Contest #47

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? That dark night when you stormed off and left her in that shabby old apartment is long forgotten in your mind, no doubt. The next morning you went out for brunch with your friends and laughed the loudest at the dirty jokes made at the expense of her.  “Too bad you still have to deal with her. Does she umm… you know… leak?” someone giggled. Everyone smirked and stifled a laugh.  You rolled your eyes and sighed a dramatic breath before saying “Yeah…” The whole table roared and any bystander would’ve t...

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