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Start your story with a character canceling their plans.

Posted in Angst on May 31, 2024

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✍️ 25 stories

Nadir

Submitted to Contest #253

Warnings- suicide, gore, self harmNadir- (n.) the worst moment, or the lowest point of something.Brielle wants to be a forensic psychologist. It has been her dream for years, But Brielles best friend, and aunt was also a forensic psychologist but she went crazy caused by the trauma of her experiences, which not long after she went crazy she was killed. The murder unknown. Brielle wasn’t too sure if she should continue with her dream or not because of what happened with her aunt. It was all short-lived as the nadir of her life came. Her lowes...

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The Vibrating Skin

Submitted to Contest #253

*TRIGGER WARNING* — Story includes representations of poor mental health and self-harm.         June 6th, 1955         I met him at the library. That’s where grandmama told me that she could always “snag” one, a good one. Unfortunately, that’s the place where I find a lot of peace, a kind of peace I want to remain undisturbed. Of course he said hello to me, I don’t know why, but it just seemed like fate. An awful, bittersweet fate, like some sweet licorice wi...

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A Mother's Disappointment

Submitted to Contest #253

Michael hung the carcass on the meat hook with a grunt, the sound echoing in the windowless concrete room. He eyed his prize with a distinct sense of accomplishment. His catch was an absolute beast and, at Michael's best guess, would weigh in at roughly 250 pounds. It was a worthy prize. Made more so by the effort he had to put in to wrangle him. He had stalked this prey for far longer than ever before, ever mindful to remain unseen. Spooking his target would have ruined everything. It would have ruined the days he spent on the hunt, th...

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Wedding Ring Quilt Inspiration

Submitted to Contest #253

Wedding Ring Quilt Inspiration Kate shut her laptop as gently as she could considering the shock of finding out that the last available slot on the missionary building team had been given away to someone else. Kate had been fund-raising for her expenses and studying Spanish in preparation for the opportunity to make a difference to the children in Cité Soleil, Haiti. All that planning and work came together just moments too late to claim a place on the missions team. Kate stood and paced from her desk to her bed and back again. Clearly her ...

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Sky

Submitted to Contest #253

The Sky – Alan Hancock 2024With thanks to the illustrators of the cover to Ian McEwan’s novel ‘Saturday’ – this image inspired my story1, 150 words He doesn’t go and make that coffee, he doesn’t check the NASDAQ and the Dow Jones Index, the DAX and the FTSE, the Brent Crude spot prices or US dollar exchange rate forecasts, not that day, or ever again. Because he lingers at the bedroom wondow and watches Venus beaming down on North London, next to her the Post Office Tower lit by its electronic and neon beacons that outshine any star or plane...

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From the Bottom of a Bottle

Submitted to Contest #253

“I’m sorry, Aubrey, but I changed my mind.”The idea painted itself in a mesmerizing scene: A starry night out in the city, the ecstasy of letting that party animal out, and drinking to the highest, inner echelon until I could drink no more. Neon lights and the blaring pulses of the club, getting on the dance floor and not caring about what anybody thinks… The vague memories I made along the way in a boozed-up haze were ones I’d never forget. The prospect itself always sounded like a rush I could never stop sprinting for given the chance.&nbs...

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STD

Submitted to Contest #253

The first email of the morning said, “Morgan, where are we on the fully executed STD? We were expecting it yesterday evening. Please can you circulate asap this morning so that we can fund?”  Morgan sat at her desk. She too had been working yesterday past midnight. This morning, for self-comfort, she had bought a glazed pastry and now chunks of sugar speckled her desk. She wiped them carefully into her palm and dropped them in the bin.  She minimised the email without responding and logged into her account at British Airways. She w...

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Is The Love of a Brother Strong Enough to Subdue His Father’s Torment?

Submitted to Contest #253

"I'm sorry. I can't. Not tonight" Six words. And it was over. Any argument of confusion or concern cut short with a succinct beep. It wasn’t a lie. He couldn't. Or at least that's what Beau told himself. He made his choice against his mother’s wishes. He sighed, dropping his phone to the ground, and running a hand over his face. BUZZ! Colten again. Beau let it ring. No voicemail, but another call. And then a few more times after that. At some point, Beau stopped looking. He knew that it was Colten, but his eyes fell on the dirty walls of the...

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To Pull Off a Vanishing Act

Submitted to Contest #253

Francis found it peculiar that the man had not moved from his spot at the bus stop. The traffic around surged in constant flux; the man sat perfectly still. Each time a bus pulled alongside the curb, the groups of waiting people would be recycled and whisked away; the man, centered on the bus-stop bench, would remain dutifully in place. He had been dropped there as a stone in water, constant ripples in the sea of movement all around, in the street and sidewalk, all seeming to emanate from the man, the inert center. His face still as a statue...

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CANCELLING OZ

Submitted to Contest #253

By December 1, 1985, I had cancelled everything—I had quit my job, broken my lease, sold my car, and flown back home to Memphis, hoping it was not too late. I’ll forever be glad that it was not too late. I had moved from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Lincoln, Nebraska in January 1985, in the middle of a blizzard sweeping across the Midwest. I’d quit my job as a theater professor at a small college in a huff, handing in a six-page handwritten diatribe which used the phrase “…and another thing…” far too often. I’d disliked the job from the beginn...

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