Stories tagged “challenge”
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Buried Alive
The floor was a seething carpet of coagulated rat flesh. Each rat attached to its neighbors but writhing and squirming independently. Some gnashed wicked teeth while others hissed menacingly. BC and I watched, atop seperate chairs, as the rats half-scr...
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The Artist and the Model
“Now stretch your arms full length before you. Take your fingertips and ever so slowly run them down the length of your body.” Gerome was as much an artist with women as he was with canvass and paints. Grace, his newest model grinned at him...
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A Great Victory
From my kneeling position I could only spit up at my captor. The general thumbed the spray of spittle off of his pants. “Good. You should hate me. I’d be worried if you didn’t. Need I remind you of what I have put you through over the...
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The New Thing
Once the centerpiece of Saturday night dinner parties, I now rule of a kingdom of dust and worn memories. I used to fill these halls with music, laughter, and adventure. The Shadow, that one was my personal favorite. So much potential. Now I sit forgot...
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Not Alone
I told myself this couldn’t be happening. There was no reason for the Earth to suddenly be consumed in fire. Raising my hand to shield my eyes from the coruscating light, I tried to look into it anyway. Even with my precaution, it was too bright ...
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Tubes are better
At first it looked like an plain small wooden chest placed on top of a cabinet, and he’d stopped going through jewelry boxes long ago. What was the point? But then he noticed the dials and Zenith logo, and realized what he’d found. Excitedl...
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The First Payment
It was the old radio in the window that drew me into the second hand store. The ancient machine stood proudly amidst lifeless dolls and wilted stick-horses. I pushed the door open to jingling bells that echoed a tittering chorus of fairies. Hesitantly,...
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Pokemon: Gray
“Hold still, you little bastich. If you make me start over again…” Brandon trailed off without finishing the threat. The eevee wilted and went entirely limp. When her trainer stabbed her with the syringe, she let out a shudder and a f...
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Adrift
I float away on a soft current, the smell of salt and fish strong in my nostrils. With each breath, a small geyser of water lifts itself from the bottom of my raft, briefly wetting my face. The waves brush languidly against my broken form, caressing my...
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Launch Sequence
A calm voice came in over the headsets. “FC Reed, initiate sequence.” No sound but the rising hum of the accelerators. “FC Reed. Copy… Initiate sequence. Copy.” The lack of response forced the crew members sharing the cram...
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The Yellow Pajamas
Big Jim kept on hand on the wheel of the company big rig while he popped the cap off of his stash of Provigil. Putting the bottle to his lips, upended a couple into his mouth and washed them down with cold coffee. He hated taking the stuff but he was b...
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Broken Slumber
Please dab a sponge of water on my heart, that I may know the full force of your tears. For there was a dream of light rain, and then I awoke, and lo! There you were, moving away, cheeks still wet. I was a fool for not knowing the full force of your pa...
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Tales of Mysterious Adventure: I'M TAKING SHELTER!
Screaming winds rake your face with claws of icy rain. Throwing your arms up over your head, your first thought is to find shelter. You race, slipping and sliding, back to the stairs that lead down to your room on the ship. You try the door handle only...
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Kept
Soft, yellow cotton Ripped to four sides Remembered once whole Tattered at feet From fabric Longer than little legs Stained at sleeves From spills And mistakes Warming at heart Each stitch Screaming past Clung to present Fragmented and fragile Neatly l...
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He Knew The Whole Time
We’re too young to die he would always say before we were about to do something stupid, a sort of reassurance that nothing bad would happen, a motto I came to live by. We went to a lot of parties. We drank. We smoked. We snorted. We shot up. And ...
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To Save the City, We First Must Betray It
After Chayle finished his report, the eldest among the August Council of Demas spoke first. “Where is the High Marshall? Why doesn’t he bring such important news himself?” “He did not want to bother you with trivial details, Pri...
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The Morning Nightmare
I walked across the dingy carpet of the lobby and down the ill-lighted hall. My coworkers passed by, each flashing a quick smile or giving a subtle wave. The pressure of deadlines left little time for conversation. Passing the break room, the smell of ...
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Elegy
“I’m sorry for your loss” those words echo in my head. She’s not sorry. She can’t even be bothered to remember his name. I turned on the radio to block the words out, but that only made it worse, like spraying a foul room ...
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A Strange Welcome
The island had beckoned me by appearing in my dreams. It was the first haunting of a person by a landmass in humankind’s history, I was sure of that. When I arrived at the Huntsman, I was met at the door by an elderly fellow whose thin, warped fr...
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In The Wrong Moment
It’s late. Nobody knows where I am. My eyes drift this way and that, the focus shifting between the imperfections of the windshield and the infinitely distant stars. The immediacy and potential of the situation presses in upon me. The expanse of ...
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Justice, Retribution, and Shut Up
Beaming and struggling to contain excitement the younger fellow whispered inreverentially, “It’s a good day for justice, eh Big D?” Big D rolled his eyes, mostly on account of the fact that no other soul in all creation referred to hi...
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Appearances
I’m jolted from sleep by the painfully intrusive sound of the alarm clock. My heart sinks with the acknowledgement of being brought back to reality. My hand immediately goes to my stomach, and I feel its distention from the sweets eaten last nigh...
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Eddie Tucker
“And may I introduce you to – Eddie Tucker!” With that, the xenobiologist whips the coroner’s sheet back, revealing a small humanoid corpse. Just over 4 feet tall, the body has smooth greyish skin that is mottled with decomposi...
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What We Seek
“Ghost-men should pray and seek the…” A sharp voice cut his sentence short, “Ortiz, what are you mumbling about? Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t care. Get that knot undone and get in.” The silence of a wet daw...
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Solitary Girl
I chose the farthest corner possible. Tucked away the best I could manage, I observed the hundreds of people within the food court. Friends grouped together, couples holding hands. Some young, some old. As I scanned the faces within the crowd, I began ...