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Write a rags-to-riches story.

Posted in Novel on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 20 stories

Little Flower Girl

Submitted to Contest #16

There was a crowd of people in front of the stadium again. It was the perfect chance to make some money.I could hear the screams and cries of the helpless prisoner, and the unforgiving laugh of the people around him. They were almost bloodthirsty, and I felt myself shiver.“Flowers for a shilling! Flowers cheap, for only a shilling.”Nobody looked around at me. They were focused on the hanging. I raised my voice.“Flowers for a shilling! Anyone like to buy? Flowers for a shilling!”Still no one.I felt my body tense and I quivered, hopeless. Nobo...

64 likes 11 comments 11
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Beethoven's Tenth Symphony

Submitted to Contest #16

Beethoven’s tenth symphony rang through the choir hall. It was previously undiscovered. Hidden by the lapping waves of history. Nine glorious symphonies were praised for almost two centuries while the tenth one waited, in a birch box, written in careful calligraphy. I stroked the keys of my instrument with the same gentle love born of soulmates. My lips silently moved, mouthing the notes’ letters as I continued. Then, the symphony was over. The last note echoed through the concert hall with a lasting promise that this symphony was too beauti...

11 likes 0 comments 0
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Homeless

Submitted to Contest #16

The old man sat with his dog, the warm wind tickling his skin. Wearing only denim shorts he looked out at the waves and waited for the next ship to come. Beside him, his dog rested by his side and whimpered. The man rubbed his ears giving the dog a look only it could understand. The man then stood up and walked around, picking up scraps of fish and chips along the peer. Sitting back down he smelled the food and tried to remember the last time he ate, but instead of feeding his starving body, he fed it to the dog. They sat there together unti...

8 likes 6 comments 6
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Rags-to-Riches, Imagined.

Submitted to Contest #16

Trigger Warning: Depicts insanity. Many days past, I became trapped in my very own mind. I transgressed from the real world, where reality was constant to everyone, into a life only I knew – it was like living in a film of my own creation, one that I alone could see. I went from not having anything much at all to being one of the richest people in the world. I went from being a rudimentary intellect and a normal person to a genius who was odd. I went from average looks to exotically hot or tragically ugly, depending on the day. Of course, it...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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SKIN DEEP

Submitted to Contest #16

Richard pulled on a silk shirt, relishing the coolness of the fabric against his skin just as the front door clicked open. A voice floated up from the hallway. “Are you home?” He braced himself. “I’ll be down in a moment,” he said. He found Bella standing by the walnut sideboard, decanting sherry into a crystal glass.  “Had a good day?” “Not bad. I won the case. The jury took one look at me and couldn’t wait to leave the courtroom.” As she turned in his arms, Richard held down the gasp of shock that still tried to force its wa...

6 likes 4 comments 4
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The Turnip Field Treasure

Submitted to Contest #16

 Raymond had convinced himself he loved the early morning, when the mists were still rising and the moon was still visible in the sky. He had persuaded himself that he liked the sensation of doing something furtive and forbidden. None of that was strictly speaking true. He was thinking with a degree of longing of a warm mug of coffee and the Today programme on Radio 4, and the farmer across the lane had given him his full permission to pursue his hobby in his turnip field that lay fallow that year. Fred the farmer had not...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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The Three Raccoons and the Stinky Search for Fame

Shortlisted for Contest #16 ⭐️

There once lived three raccoons who were desperate for their own fairy tale. All the most famous creatures in the forest have their own fairy tales, the raccoons complained, and it simply isn’t fair. The three billy goats gruff were famous just because they knocked some old troll off a bridge. The only thing the three little pigs had really done was hide from a wolf. And you didn’t want to get them started on the bears. Seriously, three bears against one little girl? Hardly the stuff of legends, the raccoons thought, and yet, all the same, t...

4 likes 2 comments 2
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The Genie from the Bottle of Ooze

Submitted to Contest #16

In Jack’s hand was an empty beer bottle. The warning label on it was faded from time, but he was able to read most of it. “Careful bro, … genie… AF!” His mind returned to all the countless bottles he went through at home. He spent his entire twenties in search of the long-lost Bottle of Ooze. Trashcans full of empty glass containers that once held spirits, wine, liquor, booze, and all sorts of alcohol content. Now, he held it in his hands.Jack gave the Boomer a five dollar bill for his new found possession. The old lady at the garage sale di...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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From Betty with love and a trust

Submitted to Contest #16

People scurried back and forth on NYC streets barely noticing me sitting on the corner with my bent cardboard sign. There was no reason to, I was one of the many homeless of this city. Vagrants trying to get enough money for a hot meal or a ticket back home. My reasons are simple, a hot drink to get me through the cold winter night. The liquor store across the street with the protective glass around the counter is the only place that will sell to someone like me. The old man didn’t have many upstanding customers anyway and didn’t shirk cold ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Counting Stars

Submitted to Contest #16

As I drove down the road, my car began skipping a beat. "Dam.." I screamed out in frustration, "what's wrong mummy" said the soft voice of my 9 year old daughter, Kiara. "It's ok Kiara, mummy will sort it out.I pulled up out the front of my daughter school, lots of kids running in to the school. Kiara opened her door to the car. She paused and said "oh mum I need that $10 for the excursion on Friday" I grabbed my wallet from the passages seat opened it. There was a $10 note and a $5. " Can we pay that on Thursday?" "No mum today is the last ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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rags to riches

Submitted to Contest #16

My name is Lancey and this is my story.I live in New York City and are you was homeless my mom and dad abandoned me when I was young so I grew up basically on the street. I bounced from foster home to foster home looking for a purpose but here we are and I never found one. I used to think that people like me never belonged but now I have over six point million and I'll tell you my story I'll start my story from about three days before my fortune it was like any other. I was embarrassingly about to steal a piece of bread from a shop I kn...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Rain of money

Submitted to Contest #16

The condition one is right now is not permanent, for everything has an expiring date. There was a certain man who used to live under the old bridge, with nothing to fill his stomach only the strong smell from the garbage. No friend near him except flies on his sore legs. This is the story of Mr Phillip. Mr Phillip was not born under the bridge, but, like others he had a family and attended school. His dream was shattered the moment they were travelling to upcountry together with his parents, when the vehicle rolled down the hill steep. Mr ...

3 likes 3 comments 3
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1300 Days

Submitted to Contest #16

Ryan groaned in pain as she pulled yet another dusty box from beneath her bed. Where the hell is it?Of all the days she could have broken her laptop charger, it had to be the day before her exposition was due. College alone was already a grueling enough experience, but let’s tap on any other obstacles we can for good measure! After all, they don’t call it the old college try for nothing.I know there’s another charger under here. I just packed it.Ryan flattened the upper half of her body against the cold wooden floor and shimmied underne...

3 likes 2 comments 2
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My Hero

Submitted to Contest #16

For many, when they think of the word Hero, the first person that comes to mind would probably be a war veteran, a superhero, or maybe a good Samaritan who saved them from drowning when they were a kid. For me, I can proudly say my hero was, is, and always will be, my Father. I didn't always feel this way about my dad, in fact I can still remember times as a child when I despised my father for trying to instill in me, what I know now were life lessons, but what I saw then as never-ending lectures of things "I already knew about". Only after ...

3 likes 3 comments 3
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Augustus and Cedric

Submitted to Contest #16

My name is Augustus, an elven commoner, living in the tight caves beneath the intelligent magnetic railroad. The city of elves is highly technologically advanced, holding the most sophistication out of the 7 kingdoms. Our city is great for most, but if your not one of the intelligent money bearing kind- this city is hell. I work for my best friend, Cedric, he’s a knight who guards the borders of our elven kingdom, protecting us from our enemies: the sirens. I’m not supposed to have a job related to the kingdom because I’m not of high class, ...

2 likes 1 comment 1
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