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Start your story with a character saying “Listen, …”

Posted in Valentine's Day on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 57 stories

The Lesson

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen... PORT-smith. PORT-smith.” I pronounced it slowly, then rapidly, the way you’d hear it in ordinary conversation. I pointed to the sentence I’d written on the board. “I’m currently living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.” To a person, my adult students frowned. I could tell what they were thinking. “It’s spelled MOUTH. How can it be pronounced SMITH?” And, “Have I really been saying the name of this town wrong for the last three months?”   My Taiwanese student cleared his throat. “Teacher,” he asked car...

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Listen...

Submitted to Contest #119

"Listen," Abigail Bowen clamped a hand over her brother's mouth. "Do you hear that?" John Bowen, three years her junior, concentrated, listening for the sound. "I don't hear it," John relented. "Sorry, Abby." He didn't need Abby to explain what sound to listen for. At this time every night, they expected it. The children sat in silence awaiting the arrival of their neighbor. "Old Man Thomas is never late," Abby said, keeping her voice hushed. The time on her watch was nearing 7:45 p.m., closer to the magic moment when Mr. Thomas appeared. Jo...

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347.

Submitted to Contest #119

347.-Stop. Listen. –Those were the last words of my brother, James. We were sent to investigate a fortress somewhere in Poland. The 4th got word from the Krauts as they ran with their tails between their legs, claiming the men inside the fortress had turned into… “demons.” We all mocked them at first but we should’ve listened…***-Attention! –Called our sergeant as the captain walked in. We all dropped whatever we were doing and stood at the ready.-At ease. –Said Daniel Crawford, captain of 347th company. Mid 50’s maybe. Black hair, short bea...

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listen

Submitted to Contest #119

Listen Lois Eaton 6/11/2021 Broken Hill Australia ‘Listen to me,’ I screamed. But she didn’t. I burst into tears and ran inside the house. What was I to do? It was with the very best of intentions that I had agreed to become a foster mother for abused children. I dreamed of how wonderful it would be – all those grateful children appreciating just how loving I was, and revelling in their new security. That now seemed like a sick joke. Grateful? Ha ha! I started by taking in teenagers. They broke my best china, my favourite lemon tree,...

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Voices In Her Head

Submitted to Contest #119

Listen...It was two am. The house was quiet. Emma padded down the stairs then checked every window and door on the first floor. She saw the alarm had been activated (by Robert) and let out a sigh of relief.Then she pulled her terry cloth robe tighter before making her way back upstairs.Emma had just gotten back under the down comforter when she heard it again.Listen...Emma shut her eyes tight and placed her hands over both ears. I have to get some sleep tonight. She thought to herself.Why was this happening again?***Twenty five minutes later...

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The Fickle Finger of Fate

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen…” I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the passenger’s seat of the Dodge, trying to get myself right with the Lord before something came out of my mouth that would get me in trouble. “Mama, I really don’t hear anything different when you start up. Stop parking it under the live oak. There’s probably more acorns under the hood than motor. When was the last time you took the truck in for service?” “Last month.” She pushed her oversized pink glasses back up the bridge of her nose, the lenses large enough to support a small gold mono...

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Mommy and daddy are breaking up... because of me

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen, …” my mommy said softly. Her voice kind, but full of pain. I felt the urge to do something to make the look on her face go away but I had no idea what. In reality, it probably wasn't a lot I could do... So instead, I just sat down and prepared myself for the worst. “Your dad and I are going to live in different places for a while. We want you to know this is not your fault, sometimes things just don’t work out for grown ups. We still love each other and we are all still a family, but too much has happened the past year so we have de...

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The Flow

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen,” she said, her eyes squinted and her voice the only thing that I cared to hear. Like liquified cinnamon dripping softly into warm hazelnut milk it was, smooth but undeniable, solid. Too specific? Well, she was specific. Unmatched, really. There was a scintillating peculiarity to the way she blinked and to the way she laughed. And she laughed a lot and often – at times laughter burst out of her in unexpected eruptions, but contrary to everyone else I then knew, she made no effort whatsoever to hold it back, to subdue it. She made no ...

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The Cluster Series - Part 1

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen, alright? This is for your own good, Margaret. The only thing keeping them out are those stones encircling our farm.” He said, pointing to the long row of red stones surrounding them. “If we go beyond those stones, the creatures that live on this planet are liable to devour us . That’s our only rule.”  She looked at her father and thought about his words carefully. The only thing keeping the monsters of the Overflow from their land was a set of&...

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"Peace"

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen,” He whispered to me, “just listen.” “I am listening and I hear too much!” I answer desperately, hopelessly. “I am tossed on a violent sea of words, an ocean of phrases and utterances. On the horizon I see a billowing hurricane of political buzz words, cultural accusations, and inhumane testimonies tossing the sea, making huge waves across the dark depths. Each rotation of the massive word storm feeding on itself as it fights to stay in power, to stay relevant, to grow larger, and to wield more terror.” “Listen?” I ask? “All I do is ...

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The Golden Cap

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen papa, do you hear that?”“Shhh, lass,” after a moment’s silence, “It must be the wind whisperin’ it’s many tales.” Rory Higgins looked over and gave his daughter a playful smile.Aisling looked at her father. He was a strong, tough brute of a man, but he was kind. He told her many stories when they were out at sea. Many involved princesses, warriors, dragons, evil queens, and the like; Rory Higgins was well known for his imagination among his friends. It never went unnoticed to Aisling that the princesses and warriors always resembled ...

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LISTEN

Submitted to Contest #119

LISTEN              “Listen, now, to what I have to say, so that you might comprehend the reason for my concerns. It is a twisted tale that I shall tell you. Listen carefully,” Mark instructed.          It began with Mandy Daniels returning home from veterinarian school. In her late twenties, Mandy had purchased the veterinary clinic from a recently retired veterinarian who happened to be a friend of the family. La...

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Changes

Submitted to Contest #119

We started the movie. Everyone huddled around the projector, sprawling out on top of blankets placed on my wooden floor, cramming into a very ugly but large chair with a comfy ottoman. I was sitting with my back against the fireplace that served only an ornamental function and Laura was sitting beside me. When the movie started, she pulled out a small ziplock baggie that contained three enormous joints. Laura explained they were called ‘cones’ because of their conical shape. I had already drank half of a bottle of a West Virginian wine. Laur...

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Tales From The Ancient Forest

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen,” Joey urged the other two as they stood at the edge of the forest. He glanced around, searching for the source of the deep thrumming he’d heard moments ago. “C’mon, stop being a wuss,” Will said, taking a few more steps into the forest. Joey looked back at the three bikes sitting on the crumbling dead-end road, the road to nowhere that they took to get here. There were legends about this forest, about why that road was never completed. Maybe they were just stories, meant to keep kids out of the woods. Maybe they were stories the kid...

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Whakarongo Mai

Submitted to Contest #119

TW: Weapons, Miscarriage/child loss, implication of suicide “Listen…” He said, “I’m sorry to have to do this but I don’t think we should be together anymore.” She hoped it was a prank. He had a reputation among friends as being a bit of a joker. “What do you mean?” She asked, trying to hold back tears which would inevitably flow. “It’s not you, it’s me…we could still be friends in the future.” Could he be any more stereotypical if he tried? “But why?” She sobbed. She must have looked a mess, but t...

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