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“Set your story on the night before a battle or an impossible mission. Show what different characters are thinking and feeling.”

Posted in Angst on May 15, 2026

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✍️ 31 stories

A Still Thought

Weekly Contest #355

It was almost the big day, the day that the Deep Cs would go on the mission. Corey didn’t really know why they were going on the so called “mission” he just knew about it. Corey was pretty sure they talked about it during the meeting, but he really wasn’t paying attention then. Corey didn’t know anything about what they were doing, when they were doing it, and why they were doing it. Corey just decided to follow along, he was the assistant leader of the Deep Cs after all. That thought led Corey to the idea that if he did anything wrong, he w...

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All or Nothing

Weekly Contest #355

So it is, hours before dusk, hours before the most prominent battle any soldier gathered here tonight will ever see, I sit here trying to find inspirational words for what, without a doubt will be our last night alive. How does one inspire or encourage when you know it’s a march to death. The best order would be to run, retreat, get out any way you can. It would be wise for me and everyone, but wisdom and each of us is trapped inside this castle that will become our coffin. We are surrounded; there will not be a retreat. No one will survive....

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The Night Before

Weekly Contest #355

The Night Before Rain tapped steadily against the stretched canvas overhead. Not hard enough to drown conversation. Only enough to make the camp feel smaller than it really was. Captain Elian Voss stood beneath the awning outside the command tent with one hand resting against a support pole slick with rainwater. Mud sucked quietly at boots as soldiers crossed the camp carrying crates, rifles, and coils of wire. Nobody hurried anymore. The men and women who still rushed the night before a battle usually had not survived enough battles. The mo...

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The Day I Chose You

Weekly Contest #355

‘Futures were forged through the blood of past hands, though such a path was beyond mortal choice. Death awaited all, but only some could await death—and even then, only a madman would dare.’ The pages turned softly under the dim light. He read solemnly as the candle flickered from outside rain. All he could do was turn the pages as they ran short, encroaching upon a predictable end. He didn't want to see something so beautiful end before its time. A heavy sigh escaped along with the book's soft close. He looked out the window, a slight regr...

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What Remains of Men

Weekly Contest #355

What Remains of Men The rain was drumming on his hood, clouding his vision and thoughts. He continued aggressively, but methodologically to sharpen his knife. Drawing the whetstone down over the blade that was at risk of rust. When he found the knife, it was no more than a dull paring knife that at best could cut rotten fruit. But to him, this solitary knife was the path to revenge and salvation. The dull slick sound kept his mind occupied. As Father Cain whispered his prayers into the night, Rowan sent hissed, scraped steel whispers that on...

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Curious Coincidence

Weekly Contest #355

The date is March 9th, 2000, of course abbreviated as MAR09. I remember clearly, because the world finally got through that Y2K scare. You know the one, where the computers weren't going to crash and planes would fall out of the sky all because it wouldn't be able to handle the millennium change from 1999 to 2000. And as Prince, the legendary solo guitar artist, stated in one of his songs, we're going to party like it's 1999. I also remember that date so clearly, because it happened to be my dad's birthday. I had just woken up around 5pm p...

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The Last Night of Pledges

Weekly Contest #355

Content Note: Contains mild profanity, alcohol use, sexual references, and fraternity hazing themes. The fraternity house on Lincoln Street had once been a funeral home, which explained several things at once.First: the basement smelled permanently of mildew, gasoline and something sweetly rotten.Second: the upstairs bathroom emitted sounds at night suggestive of either faulty plumbing or unresolved spiritual issues.Third: every pledge for the last fifteen years had become convinced there were tunnels beneath the house.The tunnels supposedly...

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The Moral Bioterrorist

Weekly Contest #355

I was about to become a walking, talking biological weapon. I had terminal cancer and had nothing to lose. There were two viruses infecting our country. One was a lethal variant of Covid, and another was fascism. The virus came first and was rapidly spreading and killing millions. It caused its victims to drown in their own blood as their lungs liquefied. Fascism caused its victims to drown in violence and lawlessness while their rights liquefied. Ironically, cancer was slowly liquefying my organs so I could identify. I sat in an infusion ce...

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There is a Place We All Go After Death

Weekly Contest #355

There is a Place We All Go After Death Rashad checks, then double checks, his weapons. He is feeling nervous about the upcoming battle tomorrow. “It’d be one thing if it were a crew formed of 4 of me. Then I’d be confident about winning. I just don’t think that Petra, Arjuna, or Malik are up to par. Petra is so young and inexperienced, she’s green and wet behind the ears. Malik smokes so much I doubt he will be too effective in blitz strikes. He has absolutely no lung capacity. Yeah, his breathing is shot. And Arjuna- well, Arjuna is crazy, ...

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The Night Before Queenston

Weekly Contest #355

“Hail! Hail! To King George”The fire crackled as three men sat about it.Jacob, dark-haired and with two days' growth of whiskers, began laughing. Across the fire, Leo squinted through the smoky haze. At seventeen, he knew nothing about war other than shooting a musket and being told to aim it at anyone wearing red. He swallowed hard. Was John, the old man, being funny or not? “You are joking, right?” Leo asked. John threw the remainder of his cup into the flame and brushed his finger through gray hair at his temples. He looked Leo in the ey...

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THIRTY MINUTES TO HISTORY

Weekly Contest #355

THIRTY MINUTES TO HISTORYThe rain had finally stopped after midnight but the cold remained. It crept through canvas tents, through wool coats, through skin and bone alike. I stood at the edge of the camp with a cigarette burning between my fingers, staring into the black stretch of the English Channel. Somewhere beyond that darkness was France. Somewhere beyond it were machine guns pointed at beaches I had only seen on maps. Tomorrow morning, I would try to survive them. Behind me the camp refused to sleep. Engines coughed to life and died a...

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Vengeful pity

Weekly Contest #355

It’s always a pity when a king dies. And when I say it’s a pity, I really mean it’s a pity. Not a disaster. Not even doomsday. It’s as horrifying as if your professor called in sick for tomorrow. Bad for them probably. But for you? Imagine this when thinking about a king’s death. Imagine all the young men gathering around his bed. When the king dies, a new one is looked for, meaning someone is about to climb the throne and to call a whole kingdom as possession. And hell yes, it’s as terrifying as it sounds. Not only because a lone person sh...

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New Country For Old Hustlers

Weekly Contest #355

Contains racist language, police abuse, and corrupt law enforcement Every other month, Sergeant Cross and Lieutenant Guy held a “mandatory diversity” meeting at Guy’s property outside El Paso, Texas. Neither man ever explained the nature of these meetings to their wives. They sat on opposite ends of a leather couch, a six-pack of Coors Light between them, rotating the same three films: Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and BlacKkKlansman. Guy was convinced this was better than writing Cross up, and would actually convert him from his bigotry. E...

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The Quarrel

Weekly Contest #355

Ten days of constant bombardment stopped. The third battle of Ypres began. Major John Higgins, Royal Marines, glanced around the dugout, labelled by the troops’ The Ritz’. The dull light from the solitary lamp did nothing to dispel the gloom as he faced his officers. He spoke precisely. “It’s time.” With faces as dismal as the morning sky, the group walked out into the pouring rain. The men waited in an unearthly silence. The deluge filled the trench, each drop increasing misery. John removed his pistol...

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The Last Question

Weekly Contest #355

“Somehow, I always knew that I wouldn’t die a natural death, but this- this transcends all stretches of my imagination. I have pictured myself getting hit by a bus, falling off a cliff, stepping on a snake & even biting my own tongue, but never could I have thought that my death would be adjudicated by God himself, along with all of humanity. ” Himanshu Shukla thought to himself. And he was right, he couldn’t have. Nobody could have thought that they’ll live to see the day that God declares that he’ll descend to Earth. It’s been two ...

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