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Write a story about a character learning to stand up for themselves.

Posted in Character on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 48 stories

A Scandal in the Lapland Art Contest

Submitted to Contest #153

- This story is dedicated to diligent and honest judges everywhere -- Have a Christmas cookie on me 🍪 -🎅🎅🎅The Lapland Art Contest is special, because just like Christmas, it only comes once a week.Sorry! I haven’t even introduced myself. How rude! My name is Twinkly Snifflenose, and I’m an elf. It’s hard work being one of Santa’s elves. Really hard work. You humans always seem to think that we elves only have to work during the winter, but what do you think we do for the rest of the year? Go on holiday? Ha! Where to? Barbados? We’re supposed...

49 likes 39 comments 39
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Never Bribe a Bully

Submitted to Contest #153

I remember the rustling crunch of dried leaves beneath my feet as I walked to school in the autumn of 1994. Their spectrum of color ranged from the lightest banana yellow to blood red and cracked dry mud brown. The air was brisk but comfortable and the smell… fresh with a dash of decaying plant life. As a sure sign of the coming winter, trees released what seemed to be a never-ending barrage of leaves, which floated to the ground as gracefully as a ballerina’s dance. The effect was like that of a rain shower, only dry. It took fifty minutes ...

31 likes 18 comments 18
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Don't Turn off the Light

Submitted to Contest #153

When the glow at her fingertips finally guttered and went out, he told her it meant she had found peace. But, peace hurt more than she expected. He held her against him in the dark. He was warm and unyielding with arms like a cradle, or a cage.  “You hurt me, Selene,” he said. “I love you, despite that.” She felt cold and guilty and turned her face away, towards the window where the moon glowed resolutely through thin clouds. She tilted her face to the dappled light and a playful shimmer rippled across her cheeks. He gripped her chin...

26 likes 7 comments 7
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You Will Never Fight Alone

Submitted to Contest #153

Wading in the gore of a dead dragon’s skull, Danielle Longbow lifted her sword. The green glow of the blade was the only light. Her thigh, torn open during the fight, was haemorrhaging blood. A bone inside her left arm had fractured or broken. She was ready to pass out. The knight looked at the immortal, Obag Sleagh.             Sleagh had been nothing but a voice in her head as she duelled the dragon. He was pristine in his leather and bone armour. His menacing smile showed razor s...

25 likes 17 comments 17
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Who Said Life Was Fair

Submitted to Contest #153

Who Said Life Was Fair A loud persistent voice was beginning to penetrate my brain fog. “Brookfield Police, Annie, are you alright?” I shook my head trying to clear it. Someone banged loudly on the door. The fuzziness was going but I could not find my voice. I could now hear talking outside my front door and I tried to rise. That was when I discovered I was no longer in bed; I was sitting on the kitchen floor. As I tried to lift myself up, my foot slipped and I slid back down. I heard a loud voice say, “Okay, unlock the door.”  I ...

16 likes 10 comments 10
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More Than Just Another Wedding

Submitted to Contest #153

Contains references of physical abuse.Contains mild sexual references.She’d never attended an Anne Summers party before, never even entered one of the shops. She would have found it way too embarrassing to be seen entering or exiting or, worse still, be caught perusing rows of lacy underwear, leather whips and vibrators. But here she was at Jo’s hen party, with three days of freedom, watching the Anne Summers rep unveil a vast array of sex toys, crutch-less panties and incredibly revealing lingerie, and Suzy vowed she’d enjoy her respite to ...

16 likes 22 comments 22
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The Rag

Submitted to Contest #153

I picked up the dirty, wet rag. It had originally been white at the beginning of the year, but now it was a graying, tattered thing. I was shaking inside, but I tried to avoid eye contact with the table full of boys. They were obnoxious. They sensed fear. They went for it."The rag! That rag! The rag!" They turned it into a song and had a three-part harmony going.On the outside, I looked like a girl robotically cleaning a table while about five boys lost their minds trying to get my attention with a ridiculous musical taunt. To viewers, ...

16 likes 5 comments 5
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I’d like my toaster back.

Submitted to Contest #153

Apartment wanted. 35-year-old male. Freelance journalist.  Friendly, quiet, often away for work.  No pets. Great references. Available to move now. Can pay in advance.  When Bed, Bath, and Beyond killed me off like a daytime drama actress with cluster B personality traits, Ken moved in.  Three suitcases, two plastic tubs, and a desk lamp went into the furnished room at the end of the hall. And just like that, Ken fit seamlessly into my life. True to his word, he was the ideal roommate. Amiable, discreet, did his washing...

15 likes 7 comments 7
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Incongruent

Submitted to Contest #153

Sensitive Content Warning: contains strong language, mentions sexual violence, talks of suicide, and mental health issues. Am I making the right choice? Last year I became homeless, and after a month of sleeping on my best friend's couch, I had worn out my welcome. I've been in the shelter ever since. My parents didn't approve of my decision. The shelter provided me with a bus pass and helped me sign up for food stamps. I go to college full-time, and I work part-time at a fast-food restaurant. My grandmother pays my tuition. She doe...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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Climbing the Ladder

Submitted to Contest #153

Content warning: Mild foul language Climbing the Ladder               Darcy Miller turned eighteen last Thursday. There was no party, no cake, and no family or friends. There was no gift for her, except that she could claim her rank amongst the millions of kids who had aged out of the foster system. She was seven years, three months and seven days old when she was placed. She understood that’s the state’s way of saying that your parents are bad and...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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Maggie

Submitted to Contest #153

[WARNING: Contains very offensive language, but it was necessary for the story.]January 23, 1976Jo Thomas was on the couch watching the CBS news out of Seattle. His wife came out from the kitchen where she had been drying the last of the dinner dishes. “Anything on the TV about him?” she asked.“Cronkite gave a short memorial at the end of the newscast, then they played a bit of ‘Old Man River’”“He hated that song.” she stated matter-of-factly. “They had tributes to him all day on the CBC. You’d think he was Canadian.”“Do you want a drin...

13 likes 9 comments 9
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Poetic Blindness: Looking Over The Rose Colored Glasses

Submitted to Contest #153

Have you ever sat and watched the book of you as it repeated, page by page and chapter by chapter; then realized the names and faces changed but the characters were always the same. I’ve done this for many lifetimes. I watched, looking over the rose colored glasses and there he was. Malik had charisma, his broad shoulders and firm body had both men and women looking at him, and his voice had a warmth that left a baritone saxophone jealous. He certainly was a looker, he dressed smooth outside of his day to day uniform as a Sergeant and althou...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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The Guardian Angel

Submitted to Contest #153

      He thought it would have been over by now. The comments whispered under breaths. The comments expressed unnaturally loudly. The way their voices went up an octave whenever they talked to him. Peter’s mom said that kids just needed to grow up. That they didn’t understand him, but it would get better. He wondered when. He was old enough to know that what they were doing was wrong, so how come they didn't know it? His mom said that Peter was special, more mature. But if that was the case, why did everyone tre...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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The Purple Triangle

Submitted to Contest #153

Anya sat in the dark at her little wooden kitchen table and carefully tore a page from her small Bible. She folded the page into a thin strip, rolled it up tightly into a cylinder, inserted it into a drinking straw, and cut off the excess. Tomorrow, she thought, I’ll bring this to Yuri. “Okay, Iwo, let’s go to bed now. Tomorrow you have to do an important job.” Iwo plodded up the stairs after Anya and curled up beside her. *** Bzzzzzzzt…The alarm clock sounded far too early for Anya. “Come, Iwo, it’s 4:30. We need to get ready to go ...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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when fear takes over

Submitted to Contest #153

rose I am Rose Allen i have been on this earth for 14 years i like to sleep i like to pretend I'm not here. i get bullied a lot i don't know why ,i like to imagine what things would be like if i was prettier. I used to care about things but now i only really care about my insecurities. i stare into the mirror in my room being only noticing my pimples and scars i came out of the psychiatric ward 2 months ago things have been hard but I'm trying. I wish that was enough. My family have been really supportive but they still don't feel like wh...

11 likes 1 comment 1
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