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Your protagonist discovers that everything they type comes true. What happens next?

Posted in Short Story on Aug 30, 2024

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✍️ 51 stories

First Byline

Submitted to Contest #266

Driving up to Elmira, NY was a sheer act of desperation. The kind of act a newly minted staff news reporter should never consider. But, I had yet to score my first byline. And the clock was ticking. How trivial such worries seem now. My fledgling journalistic forays upstate were about to unlock the vault of the supernatural and place me in mortal peril. But, just maybe, the journey might make me a real writer in the process.Real writers can afford a Keurig, I thought. This is how one knows they have not yet joined the ranks. I tilted the pot...

59 likes 23 comments 23
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Word Is…

Submitted to Contest #266

Word Is… ‘The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.’ Prov. 18:21 Ulysses finished his grocery list and saw ink on his fingers. “Damn! Running late… Stop sabotaging…”About to interview for a writing job, he wanted to look professional. ‘Would inky fingers impress…?’ He hadn’t had a paying gig for months. Pay or not, he always wrote stories, blurbs, whatever. His many novels, some completed and all unpublished, filled a shelf in his study.Friends always saw him with a pen and note pad.He washed his h...

25 likes 21 comments 21
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Wishful Thinking

Submitted to Contest #266

It took Craig an age to get into The Zone. He’d read that writers needed a familiar and comfortable space within which to write, and so he had gone about building his writing nest. He’d begun gradually, but as he worked on his own, special space he built up a fervour and an excitement of anticipation, discovering hidden antique places and poring over knickknacks as though he were searching for his own personal grail. In a way, he was. He was searching for a space that did not exist in the world beyond him, but within him. He was acquiring sy...

20 likes 16 comments 16
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And I feel fine

Submitted to Contest #266

AND I FEEL FINE Zac Rhoades could see the future. This was not pie in the sky. This was not a silly hunch. This was not some intelligent guesswork.This was not cryptic messages in the form of tea leaves and hidden symbols.Zac Rhoades could see into the future.As a teen, perhaps seventeen or eighteen (he couldn’t quite recall), sitting on his toilet seat he visualized he would witness an accident. A cyclist would hit a car, roll over the bonnet, get back on his feet and shout at the driver. He visualized the cyclist in every detail from...

19 likes 16 comments 16
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The Retiree

Submitted to Contest #266

The RetireeShe had thoroughly enjoyed herself as an English teacher. Not only did she find the job satisfying, but she also seemed to have a host of acquaintances. She felt she had all she could want. A decent job, a good salary, many social opportunities, and an all-round appreciation of life. Just as she felt that life couldn’t improve, she was called into the Head’s Office and told she must retire. She knew she was of retirement age, but she thought she was indispensable, and they surely would never ask her to go....

14 likes 7 comments 7
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All the World's a Page

Submitted to Contest #266

 Jo Burnham was a writer- of that, there was no doubt.She’d written articles, short stories, entreaties on the meaning of existence- even three-quarters of a novel. Free days were spent in front of the computer, tap-tap-tapping away ‘til the sun went down. The nights were more of the same, sleep barely stopping her. Yes, she was certainly a writer. What she wasn’t, was an author.Her name wasn’t displayed shelf-side in a bookstore, or highlighted in digital print on the latest e-reader. The only place it did feature? The tag pinned to he...

14 likes 12 comments 12
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Can you see me?

Submitted to Contest #266

Session No 3‘Good morning Sarah, please come in, have a seat’Mr Mavers requested in an officious yet friendly tone. He spoke softly and carefully, in a manner that was calming but skirting on patronising.‘It’s lovely to see you again, you ARE looking well. How has everything been? I can see here in my notes that last time we spoke we discussed the Idea of your writing down your thoughts and feelings in a journal. And you were quite dismissive of the idea at first. Did you manage to write anything down?’‘I’ve written some things. Stupid ...

13 likes 4 comments 4
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Well Layered Ham Sandwiches

Submitted to Contest #266

“Welcome to the newest member of the Dull Men’s Facebook group!” The glowing screen reflected off my glasses like the shine on a new trophy.That was the highlight of my week apart from several well layered ham sandwiches. Toasted bread from the bakery, creamy, salted butter slathered from edge to edge. Butter soaking into the toast was strictly forbidden. It had been the law of the land ever since the new King took over these boundaries. The butter must be thick and creamy. It must be steadfast! IT MUST STAND ON ITS OWN!Psssst… I’m the new K...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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Elephant Man

Submitted to Contest #266

And they lived happily ever after.So, I ended my story and breathed a sigh of relief as I shut my laptop. I hadn't counted on staying up so late, with work only a few hours away. But what the hey. Push on through.The city was so quiet, the odd passing car, someone walking.Elephant man.Why did he exist? This plodder, who could never sleep, his heavy steps sounding through the night, back and forth, was it untamed feelings, or a broken romance?It's heartless to even think of progeny that could waste a night brooding and pounding floorboards i...

12 likes 8 comments 8
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Corona, Corona

Submitted to Contest #266

I have something phenomenal (an actual phenomenon, in fact) to record, but first things first. On a whim the size of a house, I bought a typewriter.I’ve always coveted one of those you see in old films, though not for any practical purpose – I have my laptop for most writing tasks, or a pen and paper as back-up when circumstances dictate. But I’ve always liked the aesthetic of a Royal, a Remington, an Underwood. And the clunky sound of them; it seemed like real work was being done with each punch of a key, unlike the practically effortless s...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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Mighty the Pen

Submitted to Contest #266

 “The pen is mightier than the sword: wield it wisely,” reads the whisp of paper pulled from my fortune cookie. “Well, Cissy, that’s a profound load of drivel.” I speak aloud to my empty kitchen as I crumple the bit of paper and let it fall into the detritus of my General Tso’s Sunday night takeout. Days later, though, I would be forced to reconsider.  ---------------------------------------------------------------To: gloriaherrit@nevabank.comDate: Mon, Feb 5 at 10:43 AMFrom: ceceliaprobest@nevabank.comSubject: Meeting follow-up D...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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Lucky Penny

Submitted to Contest #266

“Have you ever believed in something so much that you made the impossible, possible?” He threw up his hands in excitement, prancing like an excited deer. “What-.” Her voice was tight with bemusement.“Or had a dream that wouldn’t quit bugging you day and night until you paid it piece of mind?” He added, speeding up to walk in rhythm with his fast flowing words.“Woah, Landon! Slow down... and, woah, Landon! That would be a street you're about to walk into.”“Did you ever-.”“Landon, stop!” Landon felt a firm grip latch onto his shoulde...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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Worlds Abound

Submitted to Contest #266

The satisfying clacking of the keyboard echoes above the upbeat tones of the background video game music I always listen to when I write. The sound brings a slight smile to my lips. Nothing makes me happier than sitting here, listening to the cartoon monster-catching music and making progress on the book that I'll probably never finish, but love working on anyway. Keon knew he needed to get away from Declan as soon as possible. Lyn's brother was dead set on destroying the known worlds by any means necessary. Keon's Gift would make it easier ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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cursed

Submitted to Contest #266

Cursed by Amanda Stogsdill I slide the manuscript from its hiding place. Staring at the title, I finger its many pages. So much has happened, it seems like a lifetime has passed, instead of months. Would anyone at the agent’s offices read it? Only one way to find out. Pulling out an already-addressed envelope, I place my precious story inside. Sealing it, I almost laugh out loud at the absurdity of the story. Who would believe a word? The truth is stranger than any fiction!****It's a dark, stormy afternoon. As rain hammers on my windows and ...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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The Tale of Addie Rayman

Submitted to Contest #266

I was walking back from the coffee shop, buzzing from the seven shots of espresso I drank after work to help me come up with ideas for the story I was supposed to be writing. I hoped I would go into some weird, caffeine-induced coma and while I was in it I would magically come up with ideas. I’m a writer and I’ve been trying to publish a book but writing at home and only working weekdays at a coffee shop with a minimum wage pay is not a livable situation. After hours of thinking about how to fix this problem, I came up with the idea to enter...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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