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Write a story about someone who starts noticing the same object or phrase wherever they go.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 104 stories

A Loan

Submitted to Contest #103

“Daddy, what does ‘fuck’ mean?”The word hung in the air like a fart in a crowded elevator. The trip, originally intended as a pleasant getaway for Stan, his wife, and their two children, had become anything but. They quickly discovered the problem with public campgrounds is one is forced to share them with the public.Although Stan worked long hours at the post office, there never seemed to be enough money for a vacation. Finally, in desperation, he marched into his bank and requested a loan. Stan had gone to high school with Bob, a loan offi...

53 likes 33 comments 33
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Last Drinks

Submitted to Contest #103

The ice cubes slowly melted in the bottom of the glass as Stacey swirled it around in one hand, not noticing the people around her even as they jostled and shoved, as she stared at the faded oil painting hanging in front of her. The red car shining as it shot along a road. It seemed eerily familiar. “Last drinks!” the man behind the bar yelled, his cheeks reddened from the warm air. The person perched next to her waved their hand in his direction. “Are you sure?” the man asked, glancing at the man’s glazed eyes. “Just fill her up,” the man s...

50 likes 21 comments 21
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The Joy of a Banana

Shortlisted for Contest #103 ⭐️

Karen Gleb was a disagreeable old woman. Every fold on her wrinkled face contributed to her resting scowl. And yet, the yellow bananas greeted her as she passed through the produce department like a hundred sunny upturned smiles. It made the town’s resident battle-ax sick with disgust. Mrs. Gleb glared at a woman loading her cart with bananas. Freak, thought Mrs. Gleb. Sure, the fruit tasted okay. But only a dippy clown would want such a goofy-looking thing sitting in her kitchen all week long. Instead, Karen loaded her cart with radishes, c...

48 likes 38 comments 38
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Passion

Submitted to Contest #103

“Do it or don’t. There is nothing else.”                That was good; really clever. He heard it on a bus ride between two friends who were trying not to be quiet. Two sentences that worked so well together just came to him. They belonged there. He could not get past them and really did not want to; he needed them.                It was another personal project for him...

43 likes 22 comments 22
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The Curious Case of Eliza MacDougall

Shortlisted for Contest #103 ⭐️

Eliza MacDougall is hearing voices.She tells her father, over breakfast one morning. “There’s an invisible woman talking at me.” “To, you, dear,” her father corrects absently, as he butters her toast, “talking to,” and they speak no more of it.She tries to tell her mother the same, peeking her head around the doorway of her study, where her mother sits on the rug covered floor, surrounded by textbooks. Her mother does not turn her head and simply shooes her away with her notetaking hand.She does scribble a reminder, somewhere in the mar...

41 likes 9 comments 9
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"And then, we live"

Submitted to Contest #103

I am sitting in the ice cream parlour, watching the marshmallows slide down the Rocky Road which has begun to melt from the summer blaze. I think the staff members are watching me from the countertop, wondering how long I’m going to be here for. Or maybe they’re staring at the strawberry parfait opposite me that’s been reduced to nothing but slush because no one was here to eat it. With a sigh I get up, pay with a twenty-pound note and leave without the change. The same routine.I plug in my earphones before stepping outside and bring up...

29 likes 11 comments 11
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No Second Chances

Submitted to Contest #103

TW: rape, suicide   The first time she said it, the phrase sounded so inconsequential. I mean you wouldn't, who would rather, notice or read more into a sentence meant to provide direction.   Get off the train, take the 45, count the stops to 14. Alight. Look up. You see a Shiva Temple. Walk towards it. Take a left past Turning Point. From thereon, it's a hop, skip, and jump. Third house to the right.   Right!   You remember saying right. You remember doing all she told you. You followed her instructions to a T. You ...

27 likes 21 comments 21
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I love you, Teri Lynn

Submitted to Contest #103

Teri Lynn Miller was 43 years old when her life changed in a most unexpected way after realizing she was catching glimpses of her reflection everywhere she went. And the reflection made her more and more uncomfortable.  Her distorted image first turned up in a reflection of a car window. She saw it out of the corner of her eye and quickly turned toward it. She stopped and starred for longer than a minute. She brushed her wild curls from her forehead and frowned.   Teri Lynn had been a stay-at-home mom. ...

27 likes 9 comments 9
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Don't Know

Submitted to Contest #103

 I made a creaking sound as I adjusted myself on Dr. Schmidt’s couch. Feeling the tension growing inside me because I was being made to take time out of my own schedule, talk to a psychologists, and explain to him why I didn’t get along with my coworker. “Linda.” Fingers snapped grabbing my attention. I looked up trying not to glare. Snapping of the fingers, I’m not a dog. “Anything you want to get off your chest?” “I don’t feel the need to be here” Dr. Schmidt crossed his legs and jotted something down in his notebook. “Why don’t you t...

26 likes 6 comments 6
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When Wearing Black on a Thursday

Submitted to Contest #103

At security, Jonathan remarks that she’s never worn black on a Thursday. Caroline almost doesn’t hear him. It’s not because he’s speaking softly, but because they’ve never conversed. Come to think of it, she can’t remember if she’s ever heard his voice until he commented on her outfit. It was just a black dress that she found in her closet with the price tag still on it. The number four hundred crossed off, then a blacked out three hundred, and the winning discount--One twenty-nine. Truthfully, Caroline still thought that was thirty doll...

25 likes 3 comments 3
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To the Moon and Back

Submitted to Contest #103

The car burning on the side of the road as he passed around the turn reminded him of something he couldn’t quite remember. The dark green paint shimmered a molten black in the darkness of the wooded state road. He wondered if maybe he should call someone. Perhaps he should stop and take a look? Maybe someone needed help. But no. He pushed the thought away. The accident was too severe, and there would be little he could do to help. Besides, he didn’t need to get caught up in whatever drama would ensue if the police arrived and found him t...

25 likes 1 comment 1
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Figging crazy

Submitted to Contest #103

It's the morning. "I'm sorry," Samantha tells Figaro for the third time, "I didn't mean for it to happen this way. I thought we could make it work. I did all the right things." She hadn't. Most people never do. Most people don't understand what it takes to keep a promise. They don't get that you have to be active every day, giving a portion of your life, a part of yourself, to keep the thing alive. Nothing comes easy, Samantha. Why can't you see that? Most people treat their plants like a cup of coffee. They kill one cup,...

25 likes 4 comments 4
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Intertwined, Interlaced, Interlocking

Submitted to Contest #103

For a while now she had been noticing that the same object or phrase had been recurring. At first it hadn't bothered her, but gradually it had become almost annoying. It was annoying because she wasn't able to explain it. Why would things that were somehow tied together be popping up in her life now? Just thinking about the coincidental appearances gave her goosebumps. (It wasn't a term she liked, but the truth was she felt her skin crawl. Her shoulders shivered, in the way they had when her grandmother had warned her about walking home...

23 likes 1 comment 1
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Astor House

Submitted to Contest #103

The walls have eyes.Planks of uneven pine wood line the halls of this old house, and even through my half-lidded, obscured night vision, I can tell that these faces I see in the knots of the walls are anything but welcoming. I roll onto my stomach and cough thickly, wincing as I keep my gaze on the eyes. They smile, they leer, because they know that between the cracks and ridges, my blood paints the empty room. And they also know, in some twisted way, that I will realize this in about another thirty seconds.I wake as I always do – to my...

23 likes 8 comments 8
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To: The Holes in Her Butterfly Wings

Submitted to Contest #103

I hated butterflies for most of my life.  My dad used to take my sister and I to the zoo. He wanted us to learn the names of all of the types of animals and he always made it a learning experience. And, for most of the journey through the zoo, we kept to those goals. We learned about the bald eagle at the entrance to the zoo and then the monkeys—gross, by the way, no one can tell me otherwise. I didn’t even mind the owl that much, even if it did keep its eyes glued to me every single time I walked past it. But when we passed that bu...

23 likes 1 comment 1
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