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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone who starts noticing the same object or phrase wherever they go.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 106 stories

“All the king's horses and all the king's men” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #103

All the king's horses and all the king's men came to help and here I am hiding. The longer I sat at the edge of the pond, the more I hoped that none of this was true. That my time with Alwyn, Tessa, and Merlin was only short-term. That I had a home to return. That I still had a family. But no matter of time there could ever do what I needed. Especially with Merlin being eerily quiet, waiting for my answer. My mother always told - used to always tell me everything would seem clearer after you slept on it. I never understood it and Merlin’s ...

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“Crestfallen” by Shravana Mukherjee

Submitted to Contest #103

Rachel’s eyes flew open as she sat up panting. Little beads of sweat covered her forehead as she struggled to breathe properly. She can’t remember the last time she felt so anxious but the most unsettling part is that she can’t seem to remember the dream or rather nightmare, that left her distraught. Taking in a few deep breaths she finally managed to calm down. ‘Its just a dream’, she chanted the same thing for a few minutes before she decided to climb down her bed and get on with her day. She finished her morning chores. The apartment ...

2 comments 2
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“Geneva, City of Yellow Peonies and Dying Mothers” by Jubilee Lubov

Submitted to Contest #103

I’ve always loved flowers. However, flowers, like people, die.__I remember, it was a while ago now. The middle of winter, bitterly cold and far too much snow to be safe. Yet there I was, walking down a street in Geneva, bundled up, hair getting frozen by the precipitation and humidity in the air (my mother had insisted I get out of her apartment for a little. Claiming, “I’m not going to die in the hour you’re gone!” She’s stranged like that.)I passed multiple establishments, all either closed due to the hour or the snow (finding dinner at 9:...

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“Yugen Phoenix” by Amaranthine Sky

Submitted to Contest #103

My last battle is on a field charred with ash, scars, blood, and regrets. Dust swirls in mini tornados at my ankles, rising to my knees. To glory. I heft my sword and stare off into the last standing regiment. They know nothing of me, and I know nothing of myself. Crack. Someone’s ax grinds the soil and we begin, me against them, the world’s pitfalls, my trampoline to bounce off of. I’ve stopped bothering with the blood against my sword, swiping here and there and everywhere. Bodies begin piling before me. But it’s too late to care. It’...

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“The Heirloom” by Jamie Smith

Submitted to Contest #103

The old man sat in his darkened living room, his dimmed, gray eyes watching the swing of the pendulum as he felt his life draining from him. A small quirk of his dry lips, a miniscule smile that rose as he watched the old clock. His great-great grandfather had it commissioned back during the American Revolution, and it had become a family heirloom that had came to him after the passing of his brother. His brother’s wife, the poor woman, said she hated hearing its constant ticking, hated the way it chimed the hour, and that each time it did, ...

2 comments 2
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“Sign From Above” by Theresa Bhowan

Submitted to Contest #103

“Luna, we’re taking dad to the hospital. Meet us there now!” Two weeks later… “Pack a few things for mom’s hospital bag. We’ll take her to the same hospital that dad is in. Maybe the same doctor will treat both of them.” Six weeks of constant stress and constant worry. With both her parents laying in hospital, hooked up to ventilators, machines literally keeping them alive, Luna and her brothers were stretched thin. She felt like a rubber band constantly being pulled, and just as she was about to snap, the rubber band extended ever so slig...

7 comments 7
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“A Diamond is Forever” by Kat Bernhard

Submitted to Contest #103

The attic is cold. The kind of cold that lingers in your bones long after. The crack lines in the window taunt the thought of shattered glass on the ground. One harsh sweep of wind and the whole pane would fall, broken pieces digging into molding wood. Yet the windows are old and have lived through many bitter storms. The wind won’t break what’s been there forever. The rain dances on the roof somehow making the world seem quieter. Why I was sent up here I can’t even remember because now my whole focus is on the misfit items scattered around....

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“No Coincidence ” by Ni Jones

Submitted to Contest #103

Callie glances up at the clock on the wall as she begins preparing her customer's sub. 727. Thirty-three more minutes until she could go home, finish her artwork, and possibly watch her favorite show: "Manifest". "Your total is $10.4--" "Hey you," a familiar voice calls, tapping Callie's shoulder firmly, causing her to look their way, "break room. Now." It was no one other than her boss, Pete: tall, chubby, grumpy, and thinks the the world revolves around him. "You take over," he says, to a c...

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“Soothy and the Bonnie Gal” by Cass Marie

Submitted to Contest #103

  True to redheads, his bright blue eyes gleamed with a naughty satisfaction, while his black, mourning suit proved sure contradiction. He held himself in high esteem; that much was clear. He sat slightly reclined, right ankle crossed on left knee, arms sprawled across the back length of the love seat. I could not help but wonder where lay the humour at such a time. Smug. Smug was the only word to describe the man in the photo.     "Mom, who is this man?". I asked as I was turning the photo...

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“The Reason Why I Left Yong An” by Yuki LangShan

Submitted to Contest #103

A full-fiction story... Yong An: a fictional place. The reason why I left Yong An. The reason why I left Ju Yang. I'm Luan Xu. A man with a gloomy surrounding. I miss my hometown... The hometown where I and my best friend lived together, with our happy families, as neighbors. The old hometown, Yong An, which was so bright and green back then, is now... all gloomy. After the ending of the war which took place between the two countries ended, everyone left Yong An, which looked like a trashy landfill. It all ended up in tra...

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“Lost soul ” by Vaishnavi Kelath

Submitted to Contest #103

BOOK 1 - PENTAGRAM CHAPTER 1 - MYSTERIOUS DREAM Rin swore loudly and tugged at the seams of her Antique victorian-era dress . She looked at the mirror to examins herself and saw a dark shadow quietly exit the room . She whirled around . The door was slightly open . She had locked it before... She took a gas lamp from the cupboard and lit it . She tiptoed outside and saw light flooding from the store-room ... She slid inside , and she could see a humanoid shadow - if whoever it was human , he/she was definitely large . "Hello ?" she sai...

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“Whale of a Tale” by Mathis Coden

Submitted to Contest #103

High school: the land of stigma. The stereotypes run rampant, like racoons in in a landfill; it’s a field day. Anyone and everything is fair game. There’s Spider Mike who rides his Spider-bike, a ten-speed decked out to the T for Spiderman. Squishy is this girl who stepped or gum with her brand-new Vans, she only got the nickname cause she freaked out about it trying to pay Freddie Hawker to scrape it off. Pencil boy is Brady Guffaw, twin to the valedictorian, he can’t seem to remember a pencil, ever, whether or purpose or by accident no one...

2 comments 2
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“No Time To Waste” by Patricia Douglas

Submitted to Contest #103

Akua knew something was off...what it was, she didn't know...this indescribable feeling overwhelmed her everytime she passed by the corner store at the edge of her grandfather's block. Akua visited him more often since her grandmother died earlier that year. She noticed he had become more and more withdrawn and reclusive since the love of his life for over 45 years had left him alone to roam the Earth. Timbu had missed Ayanni so much. They'd met when they were 17, married at 23, and here he was at 68 wondering what he was going to do for the...

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“Have a Wonderful Day!” by Cam Anderson

Submitted to Contest #103

"Well that's certainly... different, Mr. Steinhommer."I sneer. "If I desired to hear that, Mr. Beans, I would've simply delved deep into the incomparably high intelligence that my brain provides." Is this rude? Yes. Is it necessary? Yes. Absolutely, stop asking such insolent questions."Intelligent or paranoid?" my ape of a therapist replies flatly. "I have found verifiable evidence that you have shown to have jumped the gun on certain matters such as this one." Jumped the gun? I think. How delightfully pedestrian. But I decide to stifle thes...

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“Room Number 7, July” by Sampurna Dasgupta

Submitted to Contest #103

"One shot of Bloody Mary please, Diana," I wailed, flopping my anti-socializing self on my usual seat, deserted from the rest of the bar."Coming right up, my love!" Diana bellowed, managing to squeeze in a few words in between the chaos and the tune that she had been humming."How is it going, ma cherei? Diana asked, flopping a couple of ice cubes so vigorously that a couple of drops spurted out and lashed on to my face instead."So so," I grunted taking out my embroidered napkin and moving on to the drink in stead."Another paper, I assume. We...

3 comments 3
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