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Write a story that ends without answers or certainty.

Posted in Short Story on Jan 6, 2026

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✍️ 131 stories

The Transient Treasure

Submitted to Contest #335

The secret compartment had offered many valuable and fascinating treasures, however it was the most insignificant find which had captured Siduri’s attention.Thin layers of salt crusted the sides of an old thread-bound journal. The layers crackled as she split it open. Much of the paper was stained by the faint remnants of sea-colored ink that traced wave-like patterns in the margins of the pages, surrounding words which varied greatly in their legibility.Oh—but she beheld a shocking date and name within! The front read: Return to the possess...

48 likes 33 comments 33
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Adjourned Without Date

Submitted to Contest #335

The snow outside my window hangs as if someone hit pause. A robin with an orange belly rests on the fence post, her head twitching—listening, deciding. The short days might send her south. Or she might stay.My hands won’t stop trembling. Not from the cold—though the cold has teeth—but from the waiting room at the federal building in Newark. “Recupérate, Sophia,” I tell myself. I practice my English anyway—quietly, under my breath—in case they refuse to speak Spanish today.If I miss the appointment, they can dismiss my asylum case. If I go, t...

36 likes 20 comments 20
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Don't Blink

Submitted to Contest #335

“You look empty.” “Sorry?” “You look empty,” she said, gesturing to my cup with the pot of coffee in her hand. “Oh, yeah, I’d love some more. Thanks,” I said. There was a plate in front of me, sitting on a scratched linoleum table, heavy with a healthy serving of bacon and scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs? I hate scrambled eggs. I looked up from the plate and saw that I was under the humming fluorescent lights of a greasy diner, in a booth up against a window. The window looked out over an empty street. There were no people, no cars, no moveme...

33 likes 29 comments 29
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Pits and The Patriarchy

Submitted to Contest #335

“Well, I wasn't expecting that,” Margot says as the olive pit she spit out rolls across the marble floor.“You should know by now that in this family, you must always expect the unexpected,” I say, dabbing my napkin at the mix of spittle and olive juices remaining on the table. I flick my eyes over to an attendant who reads my expression and begins to crawl across the floor, wiping the trail the olive pit made during its flight.“So that's it? You married him?” Margot says, her face flustered.“I did indeed,” I say, staring over her shoulder as...

26 likes 10 comments 10
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Tarsus

Submitted to Contest #335

The head of the statue stared with a constant gaze into the darkness and the endless vista of time. It was a fixed stare created by a craftsman’s hammer and chisel; the genius of bygone days the artisan had captured realism from the hard impenetrable granite material. One could easily imagine the head once alive with thoughts, and fascial emotions now frozen in granite by the artisan. Without a body the appearance of the head with the stoney stare was highlighted as it lay on the bare dark dusty floor. It had been severed violently from its ...

24 likes 15 comments 15
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Doing the Limbo

Submitted to Contest #335

Doing the Limbo“Wake up, Meredith. I'm meeting Mark downstairs for breakfast if you want to join us. Then I'm going for a massage at the Vail Hythe Well and Spa. Your snowboard lesson is scheduled for 9:00. Can you find your own way there? It's close to Gondola One. I can walk you over on my way to my spa treatment.”“What happened to your promise not to be treating me like a kid anymore while we're vacationing here, Whitney? I'll find my way, not go into the woods alone and, only to make you happy, won't speak to strangers. But wait. That's ...

22 likes 24 comments 24
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Within Range

Submitted to Contest #335

This story contains non-graphic bodily injury and adult themes. I’m early. It’s a choice I make every time. My attempt to reduce uncontrolled variables. Our meeting spot is open despite the time of year. The opening hours taped to the door have been amended once, twice, in red pen. Between Christmas and New Year everything operates on habit. People show up because they always do. Good citizens flock to their regular spots. They’re nothing without them. It’s too warm in here. Evening humidity bleeding through the swinging door. I’ve chosen a...

22 likes 12 comments 12
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Stuffed Giraffe

Submitted to Contest #335

I pulled up right in front of the bar. I hadn’t even set the parking brake when a guy leaned down to my window.“You can’t park here,” he said flatly.I couldn’t tell whether he worked for the club or was just some self-appointed sidewalk guard, but whatever — have a nice day. I pulled out a hundred and held it out the window.“I know. Mind keeping an eye on it for five minutes?”Even I almost missed the quick motion with which the bill disappeared.“Of course.” He stepped back so I could get out.I worked my way past the impatient line of would-b...

20 likes 10 comments 10
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Dream Log

Submitted to Contest #335

Dream ending on 6:25 AM, Monday, November 3rd, 1997I was in a pool with my mother and we went exploring in a deep changing room that ended up being more pools or green water. The water felt warm to the touch, like a tepid bath. Mom kept asking to leave and we just kept getting lost trying to find a way out. There were slides, pool toys, and things scattered around. Most of the toys looked like little cuttlefish or things with tentacles that didn’t exist in real life. The room was not lit well, but there was a source of light somewhere at the...

19 likes 5 comments 5
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Invisible Shackles

Submitted to Contest #335

Faint distant click coming from the kitchen lets me know the kettle is done. After making a fresh batch of green herbal tea the steam leaves my face glistening. I inhale the scents, cradling the mug in my hands. Apart from the TV playing the newest series I´m watching, everything feels hollow around me- just as I feel on the inside.It´s been 5 months since I broke up with Nathan, moved out of our apartment and rented out this charming, 2-bedroom bungalow on a rural side of the town. Perfect location for avoiding people with a side of complet...

19 likes 8 comments 8
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The Loop Remains Unattended

Submitted to Contest #335

Christmas is coming for me again, looping endlessly as far back as my memory can reach.Over and over, I prepare for it, searching for the right outfit. But it is never about clothes. It is about assembling a version of myself, a personality carefully chosen to survive the holiday gatherings, to pass unnoticed, to belong just enough.A loop of smiles, a loop of small talk, and the loop of never feeling good enough, each one dancing in circles, and endless waltz. It reminds me of the waltz I once saw while reading about chaos theory.Do you want...

17 likes 8 comments 8
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Dirt

Submitted to Contest #335

This story contains mature themes such as death, grief, and handling of human remains. However, the protagonist explores loss, guilt, and emotional trauma more than graphic content. Reader discretion advised. The first time I buried a body, I did it for love. The second time, I did it for justice.I used to think the rich had it easy. I was mistaken. Wealth could build walls, buy silence, and erase problems—but it could never mend a broken heart.Let me pose a question. If a man has everything but love, does he truly have anything at all? And...

17 likes 6 comments 6
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The Unanswerable Remains After Death

Submitted to Contest #335

Mom's Journal February 16, 1977 (pre-divorce, aka The Big D) The goals I set are not the answer; in fact, I am hampered by them. When I had so much to do that it couldn’t be accomplished, I was much happier; being on the boat, or in the camper, is rather like that. There is a pattern to the days. I feel I do not know where I am going, and I don’t like where I am. I need a purpose. A cause. I feel overwhelmed with things. A clean sweep; smaller quarters, time for living, not just existing. I’ve lost the joy in the everyday, the sense of newn...

17 likes 9 comments 9
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The Source

Submitted to Contest #335

At lunch time, Armand sat under the tree at the far end of the playground. His friend, Tanya, would meet him there and they would eat lunch together. Tanya was his first, and only friend at school, and in the town. In August, his family moved to this town. He was the perennial new kid. Making friends had never been so difficult for him.Tanya was clear about the strict boundaries around their friendship. They weren’t girlfriend and boyfriend. Just friends. That’s how she wanted it. And that meant no kissing or cuddling.Someday, he thought. Si...

16 likes 10 comments 10
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Constellations in August

Submitted to Contest #335

Why My Small Town Is The Worst:1. You know everyone.2. People can lie and everyone will believe them.3. You can’t escape them4. Legacies. (To kill and protect.) 5. Her.Small towns suck. It’s all on the list… that’s how I know.I wish I could get out of this godforsaken place.I have never understood why people come to small towns. Maybe to get away from their sad life in the city… Most people from my town would jump at the chance to Escape…. To be free. Most people my age at least.The older generation in this god forsaken town have accepted th...

15 likes 6 comments 6
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