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Weekly Contest #290
"With his back against the San Francisco traffic On the bridge’s side that faces towards the jail Setting out to join a demographic He hoists his first leg up over the rail… A phone call is made and police cars show up quickly The sergeant slams his passenger door He says ‘Hey Son, why don’t you talk through this with me’ ‘Just tell me what you’re doing it for?’ Oh, it’s a little bit of everything It’s the mountains, it’s the fog It’s the news at six o’clock And it’s the death of my first dog It's the angels up above me It’s the song tha...
Weekly Contest #289
She was first spotted near the port of Bristol, a British naval frigate with 28 guns floating derelict just off the coast at sunset. Those who first saw it reported that she was fully aflame, her mainsails and mast rippling with red and orange, casting off a thick black trail of smoke in her wake as she drifted off into the evening fog. But when she was seen sometime around noon hugging the coast down near Bournemouth two days later, the witnesses on a freighter returning from Le Havre who sailed within a few hundred yards of the abandoned ...
Weekly Contest #288
"The gates of Hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way.” - Virgil They all just sat there in the heat, and they waited. The Kid came back. He was walking down the platform with his head hung low, sweat running down his pimpled face, like always. He was sixteen but looked more like thirteen, short and skinny with longish dark hair and a black eye. The black eye was always there. It never faded. He took a seat at the end of the bench with the others and looked down at his dirty old sneakers. Roman: Same shit, li...
Weekly Contest #287
Craigslist>Ann Arbor>Jobs>Household Help Help wanted with household chores. Retired widow living in a large home in need of help with cleaning, gardening, cooking, etc. Great part-time job for a young woman in college or otherwise. Please email if you are interested in scheduling an interview. References required. It is not okay for recruiters to contact this job poster. Oh hi, sweetheart. You must be Amber. Look at you! The boys must be tripping over themselves to stand next to you. Come on in. I have a kettle on the stove. Let’s sit down...
"I'm gonna take a freight train Down at the station, Lord I don't care where it goes Gonna climb a mountain The highest mountain I'll jump off, nobody gonna know” - The Marshall Tucker Band I'm so angry. I did my best. I really did. That road from the army base where we live now, running out west towards that looted Costo outlet near Corvallis, is littered with abandoned cars and trucks, all rusting out, tires flat, gas tank lids and caps open. I know all the places where you have to go off-road to get around them, but there are always th...
Weekly Contest #285
Hi. My name is Pete and I’m a squirrel! I’m one of those gray squirrels (we’re actually golden brown, but that’s what you idiots labeled our species for some inexplicable reason) and I live across the street from you over there in the park. You’ve probably seen me and my friends before. We are always out and about. You probably think we are cute, but trust me, we hate you. You suck. I remember when you guys had that whole beautiful, wonderful “COVID-19 Pandemic” thing a few years back. That was the best! Most brilliant idea you guys ever ha...
Weekly Contest #284
CW: This story contains themes of physical violence and suicide. Life can be messy. Complicated. Difficult. Sometimes you can just lose yourself in all of it, and in the process, you can lose sight of the things that actually matter. And then one day a storm comes out of the clear blue sky and you get blown overboard by the tempest, and all is lost in the blink of an eye. This is what happened to me. I just got caught up in all of the things that don’t really matter. Money. Career status. An address in the right part of town and elite priv...
Weekly Contest #281
In April of 1919, shortly after the end of World War One, Colonel James Forrest Cain of the Royal West African Frontier Force was stationed in Cameroon for a period of one year, which might be extended depending on the prevailing conditions in the territory at that time. He was to serve as the commanding officer of a garrison of 200 soldiers stationed at Douala, a port city where the river Wourri pours out into the Atlantic Ocean. There was some social unrest but no major uprisings during Cain’s term there so he was able to spend much of hi...
Weekly Contest #280
CW: This story contains themes of physical violence and suicide. The following is the transcript of the cockpit conversation captured by the onboard black box recorder, which was recovered following the crash of Delta 928 in Denver, Colorado on June 16, 2025. The National Transportation Safety Board will include this as a key exhibit in the incident file and it will very likely have a significant bearing on issues related to causation and legal liability. We caution you in advance that this transcript is highly disturbing in nature. Captai...
Weekly Contest #279
Clay was driving west on I-270 towards Saint Louis. The radio was off. He was alone with his thoughts. His father had died two days ago and he was on his way from Chicago to the services, trying to reconcile his feelings on the road. He loved his father but the old man was very difficult at times. He didn’t really view Clay as his son. He viewed him as his private property, to do with as he wished. It was always football practice, baseball games, wrestling meets, karate lessons and more. Sometimes Clay just wanted to hang out with his friend...
When Daniel woke up on the morning after Thanksgiving Day, he did not know who he was. He knew his name, he knew his address and he knew his phone number, but that was about it. He could remember nothing about his past. Nothing at all. He wandered the house in search of clues. There were framed photos hanging on the walls, Daniel posing with various different people who were presumably friends and family, but the faces did nothing to aid his recall. He found a small stack of bills on a table, but that only told him who was supplying his ins...
Weekly Contest #278
"Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting for the end of the world to come." -Haruki Murakami The chapel hall was silent. “You opened the gate after sunset. You know the penalty.” Carter looked bewildered. He held out his palms and shook his head. “No. You don’t understand…” He ran out of words. “You opened the gate after sunset. You know the penalty.” The elders seated at the long table in the front of the chapel had solemn eyes and stern faces. People seated in the pews in the rear began to mutter darkly among themselves. Daniel Gr...
Weekly Contest #277
CW: Mentions of sexual violence and gun violence “You have to make an effort. You have to try to fit in. You just have to try harder to make some friends.” That, and things like that, are what my parents always told me, and then they would give me my daily dose of Prozac, Xanax and Adderall and whatever else, and then I would just drift off somewhere, trying to make sense of everything. Trying to escape the dark clouds. I was confused and alone. I was always alone. I wanted to get my nose or my eyebrow pierced again. I wanted more black ta...
Weekly Contest #276
Andre was my best friend in the summer of 1982. I met him at the YMCA summer camp held at White Plains High School in Westchester County, New York when I was 13 years old. He was black and I was white. We became fast friends. We rode together on the bus every day and we shared our lunch and we played dodgeball and sometimes we stood up to the bullies together. We didn't always win, and sometimes we left bloody, but we always stood together. If you fought Andre, you were definitely gonna fight me too, and vice versa. He was skinny and lanky ...
Weekly Contest #275
I was a dog person, not a cat person. I had always been a dog guy my whole life, so I was a little disjointed when the feral black cat sauntered out of the alley by my apartment building that morning and just glanced at me with a saucy look on her face and then began leading me towards the entrance to the downtown 6 train. I knew where I was going. I grew up here, for fuck sake. What am I, some God damned tourist? I don’t need your help. Fuck off, Cat! You’re lucky if I don’t kick you out into traffic. I know how to get to the fuckin’ subwa...
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