Dreams of the Sunset City
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This was my first round entry in the NYC Midnight Scary Story Contest 2026. It placed second in Round 1. My prompts were a wedding, a flutist, and floating. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! *** A plea spoken into the void becomes a refuge in the darkness. A…
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Laura sighed as children shouted on the street, laughing and exclaiming as pirates, witches, fairies, and ghosts emerged from biodomes decorated with grinning pumpkins and dancing skeletons. “Billy, I know it’s you!” “Lookit, Patty is a princess again!” “Did you see Charlie’s robot head? The eyes really light up!” “Don’t bother with ol’ Mrs. Adams…
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There was something different in the air as two hands met in the darkness. One soul, divided, finally made whole after infinite lifetimes of waiting. Only then did the voices on the breeze die down, leaving no choice but for two hearts to beat as one. And only in the realization of a fading star…
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A wave breaks on a distant shore and all sound stops forever. No voice is carried on the breeze. No one tells me, “I’ll be home soon.” Somewhere on the horizon a bird flies toward the sun. But it drops lower, and darkness is all that’s left to meet its tired wings. My feet drag…
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One day I woke and looked around but everything was different. Unfamiliar shapes loomed in the morning sun. Had everything around me changed as I dreamed of someplace better? Rising slowly from my bed, I cried as memories like raindrops fell through the shadows of my mind. To my left an open window showed me…
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All have just enough of me to live a lifetime through. Use me as you want and will but know that this is true – what you have is what you get, there never will be more. Pass me by and I am gone, I can’t be bought or stored. What am I?
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I dreamed of far-off Waverley where golden tree leaves sway. I walked along her silver streets where snow white pebbles lay. I heard a cold clear river run across a verdant field. The gentle sun washed over me, its sweet caress my shield. And all around blue butterflies encircled flowers sweet. But then my eyes…
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I ran through a golden field, the grass beneath my feet soft as satin, sunlight on my face, a warm and gentle breeze lightly stroking my hair. I heard a laugh like little bells and reached out toward the light that shone from everywhere. I stopped, breathless. Before me was an open door, a staircase…
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Once upon a time and place I saw a smiling face. Arms took me in an embrace once upon a time and place. I was young and full of woe. You didn’t even know – you were my safe place to go for I was young and full of woe. Even as you held me…
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The rain falls and a light shines through the mist. One star burning bright, banishing the shadows. The raindrops tell of better days – different days. Infinite moments, disappearing into the earth. The rain falls and no light shines through the mist. One way revealed into the shadows. The path disappears beneath my feet. And…