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Your character hates the holidays, and jets out of town every year — but a historic snow storm means that this time, they can’t make their escape.

Posted in Winter on Dec 1, 2023

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✍️ 32 stories

Because of the Storm

Submitted to Contest #227

George Salter came upon his eighth empty bus shelter, and sighed. The bench inside the Plexiglas enclosure looked so inviting, but he knew he’d never get up again if he sat down now, and the app on his phone told him the same thing it had told him at the other seven stops: “Bus delayed.” He huffed, wiped hoarfrost from his brow, and trudged around the next snowdrift – his baggage trundling ever behind him. Every step was half-jerk and half-stumble. The only things that kept him going were thoughts of the Riviera Maya, of the all-inclusive st...

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What A Christmas

Submitted to Contest #227

I sit in my room staring out the window and cursing the snow. Damn holidays… I thought as I saw the people outside carolling at my neighbour's house. Sometimes I wonder how they put up with their noise and cheer. Can’t I just be left alone! I got up from my bed and depressingly made my way to the kitchen where my roommates left some groceries before they left to go spend holidays at their parents house across town.Great, at least I don’t have to put up with that annoying Christmas music blasting in my ears at the store. I sigh and begin maki...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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The Magic of Christmas Past

Submitted to Contest #227

The Magic of Christmas Past By Meg Lagares I am officially packed. My swimsuit is in my carry-on, along with sunscreen, some extra makeup, and my electronic reader loaded with many new books. I can hear my favorite lounge chair beckoning me to come sit. Deciding on going to the pool first or to the beach is my biggest concern right now. Booking the early morning flight, even as a non-morning person, was a no-brainer. This way, I can get to the airport, catch my flight, and be sitting in the Caribbean sun by three this afternoon. It’s been ...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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The Accidental Christmas

Submitted to Contest #227

“God, I can’t wait to get out of this jerkwater state,” Nick Lassiter mumbled to himself as he headed south through Kansas, for Tulsa, Oklahoma. The wipers and defroster of his rental car were waging a losing battle against the slow march of ice that spread down the windshield. It was dark now, and he struggled to find which headlight configuration sucked the least. Switch on high beams, the driving snow blinded his view. Switch them off, and he couldn’t see much at all. Cursing, he decided to use the low beams.Somewhere in the passenger sea...

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Mr. Melancholy's locked in Christmas

Submitted to Contest #227

Mr. Melancholy always gets sad at this time of year. He lives in the town of ‘Gum Drop Lane,’ where there is not a drop of sunlight from at least ten miles from there. The only seasons that the town experiences are Kerensa and Lucia, which means cold and freezing! This makes the town's citizens very crabby and short-tempered. And Mr. Melancholy is the grumpiest of all.      On one dark and cold evening, Mr. Melancholy is walking up his wooden stairs, and he starts to hear a creak-creak-creak! “What can this be?” he s...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Snowbound in Love

Submitted to Contest #227

In the center of the busy city, with the brilliant lights of December casting a joyful glow on otherwise congested streets, Chris Bennett realized he was out of step with the rest of the world. The whole Christmas season, with its boundless happiness and an endless supply of Christmas music, seemed to him like a grand theatrical production in which he had no role. Chris was able to benefit from the freedom that comes with being a software developer who works remotely. This made it possible for him to travel to warmer, quieter places in Decem...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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The Holiday Miracle on Cedar Lane

Submitted to Contest #227

The winter wind howled through the narrow streets of Sterling Falls, swirling snowflakes dancing in its icy embrace. Cedar Lane, lined with charming houses adorned in twinkling lights was draped in a pristine layer of snow, creating a picturesque sight. However, this idyllic scene concealed the chilly stillness that enveloped a solitary home. This was the residence of Simon Harrington, a middle-aged man with a perpetual scowl etched into his features. Simon, a man who despised the holidays with a passion that bordered on pathological, wa...

11 likes 2 comments 2
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Fang-Tastic Scorned Christmas

Submitted to Contest #227

Today, I’m sitting in my library reading one of my Grimoire. As I looked out my window, I saw some snowflakes fall. Well, it’s time to get a plane fly away from this festive season. As I got to the airport, the snow picked up and I could barely see the airport runway, the cars, or the humans outside. As people came in, I saw snow chunks on their hair and beards. As I got to the ticket counter, kids were crying and other humans were upset, probably because they couldn't leave. “ Hello, sir. Are you here for a flight? What flight do you wan...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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Change of Season

Submitted to Contest #227

Lisa’s eyes reluctantly shifted from the spreadsheet on her screen to a group of her colleagues having a loud debate next to the coffee machine. The culprit seemed to be a small office Christmas tree–now standing awkwardly against the storage room door–and the decision of where to place it in the office.The grey walls of the office, once decorated only with abstract paintings, were now covered in cheap garlands, placed in an annoying asymmetric pattern. Random vintage Christmas knick-knacks from someone’s grandmother’s attic were scattered a...

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Remember When

Submitted to Contest #227

I hate holidays and my escape from Christmas dinner was carefully planned. I had a plane ticket to a warm beach on standby and a fake work emergency in my back pocket. I would be spending the absolute bare minimum amount of time in my parent’s house. That was before everything went to shit though. I am the last kid to arrive back home and it is intentional. I recognize Kai’s battered pick up in the driveway and hear Simon’s booming laugh as soon as I step through the front door. But Mom and Dad are nowhere to be found. Without even g...

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Carol of the Bells

Submitted to Contest #227

“You will be going nowhere today,” He leans against her door as the heavy snow covers the brown of his uniform, “the snow will be good for the festivities though.” She lets out a long sigh. The festivities are what she is trying to escape. “The highway should be clear.” “I reckon it is. The problem is that the mountain pass isn't. It is completely snow bound. Heck, not even the snow plows can get through.” He spits out a wad of tobacco. The broi stain mars the purity of the snow.  She sighs. There is nothing to do but return home....

9 likes 2 comments 2
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An abominable time of year

Submitted to Contest #227

“Ok, I’m ready.”Arthur grabbed his duffel bag with one hand, and brought his scarf over his face with the other, and braced himself for the biting cold. He stepped out of his modest brownstone-styled apartment and made his way to a taxi waiting for him outside.“Took ya long enough, you know I ain’t got all day.” The driver's thick East Coast accent echoed through the snow. He impatiently grabbed Arthur’s bag and chucked it into the trunk. “I gotta get home to the wife before 5:00, you know how they get during the holidays.” Arthur ...

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Bumped into Christmas

Submitted to Contest #227

Once upon a time, there was this young man named Ryan. Ryan hated Christmas. He hated Christmas so much, that he avoided it at all costs. Faked illnesses, faked injuries, pretended to be on a volunteer work assignment, you name it, he used it as an excuse. Anything to get out of having to celebrate the holiday. It was not just the festivities on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, that Ryan did cartwheels to avoid. Ryan also managed to escape the town's activities that led up to the holiday, starting from the day after Thanksgiving, when th...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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All I Want for Christmas is Gone

Submitted to Contest #227

“Anything else for you today?” a voice crackles from the yellow box.“No, that’s it thanks,” Kennedy says, rolling up her window and creeping forward. She fumbles in her purse for her wallet. She is still three cars away, but better to be prepared than embarrass herself. She laughs at herself as she realizes she’s worried about the opinion of the McDonald’s drive-thru attendant. “Thank you so much!” She grins as she takes her bag of food from the attendant. Don’t want them thinking I’m mean, god forbid, she thinks. “Have a great day!” sh...

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Flightless Wings

Submitted to Contest #227

It was a pet hate. Bev fed it. And she watered it. She walked it around with her to give it plenty of exercise. At this time of year she even groomed it and then set it on her lap and poked and prodded it until it growled back at her and reminded her why she hated it so. There was of course a build-up of bad and ill feeling that reached a crescendo in December. Each and every year she would escape the insanity of her pet hate. She would run away and pretend it wasn’t happening, returning when it was all over. She could not escape all of ...

8 likes 6 comments 6
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