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#153 Fighting Talk

Whether you’re hot headed by nature, or the thought of bad blood breaks you out in a rash, arguments are unavoidable. As we age, we all realize that confrontation is often necessary. This week’s prompts explore the world of conflict and resolution — and trying to find the positive in the negative.

This week's prompts

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

– 48 stories

Write about a character trying to heal an old rift.

– 40 stories

Write a story about two characters who have been fighting for so long, they can’t remember what started it.

– 26 stories

Write a story that includes the line “I can’t believe we’re arguing over this.”

– 60 stories

Write about a character who settles disputes for a living (a judge, mediator, school counselor, etc).

– 35 stories

Stories

Staring at the World Through Shattered Rosy Glasses

Weekly Contest #153

“What about these?” Nikki’s mom said, as she grabbed a pair of glittery rose- colored sunglasses from the rack. “Mom”, Nikki said, as a huge grin came over her face. “These are perfect!”  “Yes, they are dear, perfect glasses for my perfect baby girl! Hard to believe you’re going into your first year of high school. “ As her mom paid for the glasses and they walked out of the convenience store, Nikki’s thoughts raced between being excited about starting her adventure at a new high school and leaving all her friends and surrounding...

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Wounds

Weekly Contest #153

I have endured decades through storm and wind. I have seen many cycles of the moon and the changings of seasons. I have witnessed hundreds of suns rise and set. Despite these many years, I have learned little, and I know little. I know nothing of what came before me, and I will never know anything of what is to come after. What I do know is limited to what is around me. I see the birds, and I feel the wind. I know the warmth of the sun and the different kinds of rain. I know nature. In fact, I believe myself to be nature. Though nature seems...

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Magellan's Scar

Weekly Contest #153

Ryan Elderby reversed the probe’s focus to observe Magellan’s Scar. The celestial anomaly hung ominously in the endless black void. “Status-adequate. We've sustained a-less-than-expected amount of damage. Fewer impacts than projected,” Alexi Petras said.  They were close. They had been in-transit for 20 years. During the entirety of the trip they had been awake for a total of 13 hours..  The image of Magellan’s Scar was holographically projected in front of the viz-shield. The electromagnetic rad sensors showed a warm red hue...

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Dulcer's Canyon

Weekly Contest #153

Trigger warning: Physical violence, suicidal thoughts.The story of Conroy McFabb always begins the same way, with blood.The walk home from school along the dusty country road wasn’t inherently dangerous, but the older boys who traveled up and down its dirt contours turned it into a battlefield from which Conroy wouldn’t always emerge unscathed. On one particular day, his fourteenth birthday, his mother had given some extra coins to buy one of those buttery corns the bag lady roasted once a week outside their school. But Conroy decided that w...

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The Cabin

Weekly Contest #153

CW: unrealityTuesday, 5:30 P.M.The road ahead is dark, illuminated only by the dim, flickering lampposts that line the empty path. The drumming symphony of the rain is their only soundtrack as Bash slows the car down, driving into the gravel track in front of the cabin.Behind the wheel, Bash frowns; the only thing ahead of them worth noticing for miles had been the sky darkening through yellow and purple, like a bruise. Bash's eyes have been on the horizon the entire time; he doesn't know how he could've missed it when Sam pointed it out.But...

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The Duel

Weekly Contest #153

In a dark alley surrounded by expensive high-rises, two men stood opposite each other. Both men held flintlock pistols, and both had vengeance in their eyes. They aimed at each other in silence. Neither wanted to pull the trigger, but both knew that one of them must. For years, the two men had been at odds, locked in a struggle against one another. But once upon a time, they had been friends.As children, Albert Hoffin and Charles McKay attended the same school, a magical academy for the offspring of the city’s elite. Lestrange’s Arcane Arts ...

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An Ever-decreasing Arc

Weekly Contest #153

    Luka walked home with a dozen large eggs in a green plastic shopping bag. The name of the supermarket was emblazoned on the side of the bag in big white block letters. Luka swung the bag gently as he walked. The eggs sat safely within the bag, protected by the ridged grey cardboard carton they had been packed in.     Luka’s stomach rumbled and he was impatient to get home to prepare the eggs for his dinner.     Finding the money in his coat pocket had been a stroke of good luck....

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Tea For The Queen

Weekly Contest #153

WRITER NOTE: This is a retrospective for one of my characters, Queen Esther Greath, through her eyes in Chapter 41 of The Blacksmith's Nephew. This also happens to be one of my favorite chapters I have written so please enjoy.It has been nearly four days since I, Queen Esther Greath of the Northern Kingdom of Rissindell, has sent my brave warriors out to save my one and only daughter Ruth. I have been hardly sleeping for the past few days. Each day, I keep on thinking about my daughter and each night, I was having nightmares which were being...

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WHAT'S IN A NAME

Weekly Contest #153

WHAT’S IN A NAME This was the first sunny day we had had in a couple of weeks, so the kids and I piled into my old pickup and headed out to the berry patch. Mary was pretty mad at me right now. I had been promising the boys a dog ever since our old Rusty passed away. Just kept putting it off. Never seemed to find a dog that seemed to fit our family, now she was nagging at me about a dog just like the boys. Blackberries should be ripe enough to pick, and hopefully we would have enough for Mary to make some jelly and a pie or two and...

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Collapse

Weekly Contest #153

Warning: Contains Strong Language Collapse“I’m so sorry,” Annie says as she collapses into bed.“Can I come stay with you? It will only be a couple of days.” Miya says with hope in her voice. “Of course,“ Annie says. “ I have a small pullout couch and a tiny kitchen, but we’ll make it work.” “Love you, Annie.” She whispers, her nightly routine. “Love you more, Miya,” Annie says as her exhausted eyes close to sleep. “She’s lost, Annie,” mom says as she fills her glass of wine. Annie holds the phone up to my ear and hear myself say “I know...

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Land ahead!

Weekly Contest #153

Chris was staring at the sea; it was a calm evening. A gentle breeze was caressing his sunburnt face. He knew that breeze as he knew his mother. It would always blow in the evening, at times gently at times with the violence and cruelty of a witch. He knew how to handle it though: he knew that sailing was not an option when that old witch was mad. And how often was she mad! He remembered that one evening when he was still young and not fully conscious of the perils of the sea. He would leave the dock, just for the sake of it. He didn’t reall...

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The Underbelly

Weekly Contest #153

Rays of summers gold softened, giving way to purple hues of dusk. Susan’s stealth placement of her steps made no sound in the dry underbrush. She inched closer, straining against the thick brush that engulfed everything around her. Her sweat absorbed into the leather grips of her weapon, making it slippery if she had to do combat. Branches pressed deeply into her exposed flesh, droplets of blood trickling from the wounds. Up ahead she could see the thinning of the foliage as the trail widened. As she hunted, she could not let her guard down ...

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Anxiety vs. Local Police

Weekly Contest #153

[childhood trauma, very little detail, anxiety attack]I sit in my old beater, windows rolled down and sweat beading over my body in the sweltering summer heat. My clothes are already starting to stick to me.The courthouse is only 10 minutes away.Why are you still sitting in this empty parking lot?? If you don't leave now you'll be late.I try to will my arms to move but they don't, as if they have gained a separate sentience from my body and now simply refuse to comply. Really? Just move!Nothing happens.I can't stop thinking about the money I...

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A Trifle

Weekly Contest #153

“You will be back this afternoon, right James? For your birthday?” Rachel reminds her husband, placing two slices of Marmite-slathered toast in front of him.He lifts his head, smiles weakly. “Uh, I’ve just got to finish this chapter, Rach,” he says. “I’m so close…” He takes a reluctant bite, then another, more out of necessity than hunger. She can’t recall the last time he has requested a particular food, let alone helped himself to something. He’s become paler, smaller, his hair thinning.She has heard it all before. Too many times. The word...

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Don

Weekly Contest #153

The roses are pleased to be chosen for the funeral of such a prestigious man. They wait dutifully at the foot of his casket in an elegant vase, their white petals reaching towards the crowd gathering under the morning sky. A woman is first to approach the casket- the widow, as the roses presume. She is tall and slender, an angular force in a black dress, with a lace trimmed handkerchief clutched between two hands. She turns to gaze at the body nestled in silk. “Oh, Don,” she sighs, “You never were an early riser.” The woman chuckles before ...

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