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Weekly Contest #373
Retirement gave me a surplus of time and an intimate knowledge of my neighborhood's rhythm. I knew the Hendersons walked their dog at six, the mail carrier parked on the corner, and, without a shadow of a doubt, the figure slipping up Bob and Diane Berryman's driveway did not belong there. The Berrymans were twenty years my senior, a quiet couple who rarely left their living room. They certainly didn't get visitors wearing heavy black hoodies on a Tuesday afternoon. When the figure bypassed the front steps and tested the side gate's latch, a...
Weekly Contest #44
“Welcome to the 6:00 news. I’m your anchor, Oswald Faux. In an attempt to combat the overpopulation crisis in the United States, a new groundbreaking study was conducted. The results of this study conclude that one in three men over the age of 30 have had a vasectomy. ” Oswald habitually tapped his stack of blank papers against the desk and looked toward his coanchor in one swift motion, “Pretty interesting stuff, Veronica.” “Absolutely, that is a shocking number. Didn't you have one last year?” “Why, yes, I did! I must say that my ex-wife d...
My name is Lou, short for Loser. I can prove it if you don’t believe me: My birth certificate lists me as one Loser Wilkins— six pounds, eleven ounces, buck naked and as ugly as an anglerfish. Few people know my full name, otherwise they'd think that I suffered from depression or whatever the politically correct term is nowadays. For some reason, introducing yourself as “Loser” makes someone wonder why you think that way about yourself. On the bright side, though, bullies are nonexistent since my name does all the work for them. It takes awa...
Weekly Contest #43
Maria nursed her fourth shot of vodka in her hands. As the warm sting surged down her throat, she marveled at her capacity to destroy anything that was good in her pathetic life. She slammed the shot glass down on the counter. “Another,” she commanded without eye contact. The bartender shot a slightly irritated look in her direction and returned with another shot, which she downed thanklessly once it was within reach. The burn from the vodka was starting to die down. Drinking now longer caused pain, but was filling her with relief. The godda...
Weekly Contest #42
Jack scanned the dozens of arriving flights on the massive screen near baggage claim. Flight 5021 was listed as being on-time in bright yellow letters. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest. He pushed through his discomfort, knowing that it would just be a few more minutes until he would meet his sister for the first time. Jack took a few deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm himself before he walked over to have a seat on a vacated airport bench. Usually, Jack enjoyed watching others move about their day. He innocently wondered wha...
“Are you ready?” Camilla looked at me with soft blue eyes. They were the eyes that could tell a thousand stories and hold a thousand secrets. I tried to hold her gaze, but my eyes kept falling on the cold, unforgiving sidewalk. I stood there as still as a statue as I considered the options before me. I had a decision to make and neither outcome seemed particularly desirable. The wind was cool against my face. Fluorescent lights were splashed across a dark blue sky. My neighborhood was quiet. From the looks of it, I was sure that most everyon...
Weekly Contest #41
I knew the accident was going to change my life forever. I just didn’t realize how much. My own recollection of that night is fuzzy. The doctors said something about a head-on collision, a coma, and paralysis. I guess I’ll have to take their word for it. What I do remember is saying goodbye to my wife and telling her I loved her right before my vision faded to black and I slipped out of consciousness. My wife, Betty, died that day. She was gone instantly, no pain, no suffering, no fear. I’m grateful for that, at least. From my hospital bed, ...
Weekly Contest #40
Samantha I’ve been waiting my whole life to sit next to Ryan Greene, but why won’t he notice me? I guess he is only the most popular, most beautiful boy in the whole school. Why would he go for a girl with short hair and glasses like me? Wishful thinking, huh? I spent extra time this morning trying to look my best so that he’d finally notice me, but that will never happen. Maybe if I tried out for the cheer squad…maybe if I did sports. I don’t know. Would we even share the same interests? I try again to get his attention. I tuck my hair behi...
“I told you to bring a map! We’ve been driving for hours! Are you sure we’re in the right place?” “Yes I'm sure! We have Siri. She’s never wrong.” Even as the words came out of his mouth, John wasn’t entirely positive that he believed them himself, but he’d never admit that out loud. “Look around, John! We’re in the middle of nowhere.” “I can see that! This is a shortcut…I think.” “Some shortcut. Do you even know where we are?” John scoffs loudly, “Uh, yeah! We’re on…um…Highway 27…in Brickston, North Dakota.” Andy wasn’t impressed. “You have...
Weekly Contest #39
David What would you do if you were the last person on Earth? David remembered laughing at this question that his wife, Rebecca, asked him months ago. All of his thoughts and memories seemed to have blurred into one big incomprehensible blob, yet he remained strikingly clear about this memory. It was as if his mind was desperate to retain some memory of the woman whose bed he shared for fifteen years. He often wondered why it was this particular memory that most often resurfaced to the forefront of his consciousness and didn’t fade away like...
Weekly Contest #38
Your time had finally arrived. You look out the window as the pale light of the morning sun seeps through the windows, blanketing you with warmth. The view from your quiet neighborhood puts you at ease. This is how you always liked it. Solitude. No one to distract you. No one to judge you. Only you and the comforting privacy of your humble home. You feel a smile spreading across your face. Everything in your body feels lighter. Your time had finally arrived. For twelve years you have wanted to learn the piano. For twelve years you were denie...
Deborah and Cindy were liars. They could smile through their teeth and fool even the most cynical of people. It wasn’t always this way. There was a time when they might have considered each other friends—no, acquaintances. But now life had snuck in and pushed these women apart. On the corner of the cul-de-sac they stood, waiting for their children to arrive home from school. Deborah looked at Cindy and said in the daintiest way possible, “Wonderful weather we’re having, isn’t it?” “Why, yes, it’s beautiful out! Don’t you just love spring?”...
“Come on, Pat!” “Leave me alone, Jerry!” I lifted the lid on my Apple laptop and painstakingly made my way to the most daunting sight I could ever lay my eyes on: a blank page. As far as I knew, no elixir existed that could magically make a full-fledged novel appear out of nowhere. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t searched for it. Yes, there was a story lurking behind that page. As Michelangelo said about his famous David sculpture, “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.” For me, I had to find the words that m...
Weekly Contest #37
“He came into my room again last night.” “Who did, dad?” “You know who damn well who. The man who’s been after me for months. I woke up and he had his hands over my mouth. He leaned down next to me and whispered, ‘I know what you did, and I’m going to kill you for it.’ He even threatened you, Sherri, and my grandkids too! Little Tommy and Ayla, he’s going to kill them! God, Robert, why don’t you ever believe me?” Robert looked into his father’s eyes. He felt the tears pounding from behind his eyes, but he blinked them away. Be strong. This s...
The man standing on the sidewalk in front of my apartment wasn’t somebody that I wanted to meet. I knew that instantly. He stood about 5’9” with steely white hair—a la Albert Einstein—and a face void of any emotion. A cigarette was permanently affixed to his left hand. I noticed him as I rounded the corner of my apartment complex, a renovated historic hotel located in the central business district of town. He had his gaze fixated on the buildings across the street. That was fortunate. I didn’t want him to see me. Every step that I took was c...
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