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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a short story about someone experiencing their first winter.

Posted in Winter on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 31 stories

“A Royal Execution” by Tori Routsong

Submitted to Contest #23

It’s almost time for my midday break when my sister runs up to me, almost tripping in her oversized robe. Adelphie has to catch her breath, but whether it’s because of her excitement or the running I can’t tell. “Have you heard the news?” “What news?” A brown and white pigeon alights on her shoulder, carrying a scroll. “The prince is dead!” “The… wait, what?” “The prince is dead!” “Really? When? How do you know?” I reach towards the bird and Adelphie instinctively shrinks away, which hurts. Twenty years and she still doesn’t trust that I can...

4 comments 4
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“The Snow Rabbit” by Kaysie Davis

Submitted to Contest #23

It was almost studying time. Momma made me sit and read these things called encyclopedias at least once a day. I grabbed my stuffie, Clunk, and pulled him close. His raggedy ears started tickling my face like they always do. Momma told me that he was what was called a rabbit. She had even shown me pictures of rabbits in one of the encyclopedias one time, and they looked so small and cuddly. I want to see one for real, but that was never going to happen. Momma says that they likely don’t exist anymore. She says there is probably nothing on th...

9 comments 9
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“From Mountains of Sunflowers” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #23

Lovely grew up in terraced mountains yellow with Christmas sunflowers.              “It’s kinda funny,” Amanda said, as they walked the SM mall together.              “What?” Lovely asked.             “The song,” she said.Lovely didn’t understand at first. Perhaps it was the timing. Christmas music started in August. Amanda waited unti...

5 comments 5
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“Concerning Lambs” by Arthur Tiberio

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

Smog diluted the orange lights, giving them an eerie tint. The motor-coach rattled over the uneven stones, alone in the reaches of the night. From far away came the singing of drunks, riding erratic eddies of the wind.It is dark, and Thaddeus Grey watches the moon.He has never considered himself a man of mystery, for the very simple reason that men of mystery tend to know what it is that they're doing, and to an extent, why. Eccentricity, he has long ago decided, requires a good amount of sanity to count for anything. Else you're just a schm...

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“Winter In A Day” by Brittany Gillen

Submitted to Contest #23

Experiencing winter sounded like a good vacation suggestion.  The word winter literally had the word “win” in it, so it had to be fantastic.  The only decision left to make was where?  I remembered from my science class that every part of the Earth experienced some form of winter during the year.  Winter was really just a word that meant the opposite of summer, and I had experienced plenty of summer in my three decades of life. I wanted to experience winter in all its traditional glory.  Cold...

5 comments 5
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“Red Skies, Until Further Notice ” by Bree Kokiri

Submitted to Contest #23

The sky above Untergang Falls was veiled in a rich blanket of reds and purples. It was a brisk December morning, just like the one before, but this one felt different. Oskar Fredrikson pulled back the curtains of his son’s guest bedroom window, and stared up into the clouds. “Dårlig. Veldig dårlig…” He mumbled. “What’s bad Farfar?” His granddaughter, Sophia, climbed up onto his lap. “See those clouds over there? See the deep red? Bad. Very bad. Means evil is afoot. When I was a boy, my village in Norway was attacked by one of ...

0 comments 0
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“White fluffy powder” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #23

Wu, short for Wuzhou, and his parents moved to Norway from China when he was only six years old. His parents named him “Five Continents” because they wanted him to travel the world. They envisioned him to be an explorer, a conqueror, and a citizen of the world.Even though Wu’s father's name was Aiguo, he did not consider himself patriotic. He felt no affinity towards China and swore to move anywhere in the world just to provide the best future for his family. That’s why, when the opportunity arose, Ai packed up his family into three small su...

2 comments 2
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“Not How I'd Imagined It” by Edgar Beck

Submitted to Contest #23

Everything shook.Lysa’s eyes were failing her. The gash in her back bled profusely, and the pain was getting to her head. She forced her eyes open. She remembered being hauled onto Pa’s cart, a deep red trail following her. Now she lay on the floorboard, rocking this way and that. Winds howled past, piercing her with their chill. Lysa shivered like a newborn in winter. Plumes of smoke rose in the distance, further darkening the gray sky. As the cart rumbled onward, they shrank into the horizon.Her tired eyes shut again. She saw only darkness...

1 comment 1
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“Birthday” by Leanne Mara

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

“He should have eyes. Here.”“What’re those?” “Rocks.”“I can’t give him rocks for eyes.”“Sure you can.”“I won’t. Wait here.” I will. Wait here, that is. I think all I’ve ever done is wait—not that I’ve been at it long. I wasn’t, and then I was. And then I waited, and finally you came. You and your sister, tumbling and slipping and stumbling, working very hard to roll and shape and stack me. You’ve given me a good, sturdy body, just so. And long straight arms—though they don’t seem to do much—and a scarf around my...

2 comments 2
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“April Snow Showers in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia” by Camill Hawkins

Submitted to Contest #23

Close your eyes and think of the Christmas season. I bet your seeing snow, pine trees, twinkling lights and giggling children sitting on Santa Claus’ lap. Now, with your eyes still closed imagine these words worked into your thoughts of the Christmas season. Imagine the Christmas season being hot, dry, with sand instead of snow and enough sun to bring a sunburn just as fast in December as it will in July. Doesn’t sound like Christmas on television, or that most people are familiar with does it? That’s because it’s my Christmas experience and...

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“Graham the Good Gremlin” by Pamela Saunders

Submitted to Contest #23

Graham the Good Gremlin was born on Christmas Day.Do you know what a gremlin is, dear reader? A gremlin is a creature that often gets blamed when things go missing, for example socks from the washing machine. When the electric fuses blow, and then blow again, and no other reason can be found, a grown-up will often state that it's the gremlins. You get the idea.Although, grown-ups do not actually believe in gremlins at all. It is just their way of saying they do not have any other explanation. They think they made up the gremlins. But grown-u...

6 comments 6
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“New Wonders ” by Kiera Bussiere

Submitted to Contest #23

Snow had never been anything special to me.  In my hometown it always fell in sheets, blanketing the ground until all was white. As a kid I used to race out into the storms and play until my toes were numb. Every year I’d look forward to snow, impatiently putting on my snow pants at the first sign of a storm. When I got older, shoveling the driveway and driving on ice took the wonder out of it. By the time I was nineteen I was used to the frozen flurries and the ivory world they created. It was quiet, peaceful even. But it wasn’t anythi...

1 comment 1
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“Walking in My Winter” by Lizzie Ross

Submitted to Contest #23

I'm finding it hard to admit these days, and I know everyone says to do so with grace, but I still feel nineteen in my head. I am old. I am in my own winter of life. It terrifies me and torments me, but I am in my winter. I watched parents and grandparents and celebrities around me grow old and wither away in their wheelchairs and their oatmeal dinners, but just as you don't realise the tide coming in on a beach, it is suddenly upon me now - it's my turn for the overboiled broccoli and the assisted living. My turn for the 'senior moments' an...

4 comments 4
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“Snow” by Alex Lucas

Submitted to Contest #23

Ohio. I regularly contemplate how anyone could find joy living in Ohio. It’s just so boring. We’ve been here less than a year, and I can confidently say it’s the most boring place on the planet. There’s never been a good thing to say about Ohio, and yet, this is where mother and father have decided to live. I fear they may be idiots. Most days start exactly the same way. I sit at my table, eat my cereal, and stare longingly at the backyard through the paned-glass sliding door. Our giant dog, Rufus, sleeps listlessly outside his little dog ho...

6 comments 6
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“Chihuahua Fur” by James Offenha

Submitted to Contest #23

We’re in a car on a highway and I don’t know where we’re going. What I do know is as we drive there are less trees with big leaves and coconuts and more trees with no leaves. I never knew there were trees without leaves. But, maybe all these trees are dead. We’re in a car and going in mostly one direction. There are big signs in the middle above us and I don’t care about those. What I do care about are the different shade of gray (everything is gray) signs on the right side of the highway. If I see one...

0 comments 0
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Contest #23

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This week's theme: Winter Wonderland

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Ended on 23:59 - Jan 10, 2020 EST

Won by Angeliki P 🏆

Title: Pied Piper

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