Competiton entry Stories

Fourteen days until deadline I sank into my favorite pink poofy chair in front of my antique library desk with a stack of crisp white paper in front of me, a newly sharpened pencil in hand, and my cat Buttercup “Butters” purring on her bed in the corner. Tick tock, tick tock—meddling grandfather clock. Tap, tap, tap—impatient pencil against my forehead. “Wake up in there. I need a product name, slogan, and story for the c...

Sandra and Melanie were talented thespians. Way beyond good; no one had realized they were the best actors in the whole damn school. Melanie was such a chameleon, not even Sandra had twigged to Mel’s self-nomination for leading actress in a goth part. Sandra, though, had the more challenging role. Yet, Mel never asked herself if Sandy, acting like St Theresa’s Catholic School head girls have always acted, was an example o...

The call came in over the scanner that sat on the corner of Sheriff Rockwell’s desk. It was a little after 2 AM.  “Tank...this is Sam…you got a copy?” Sheriff Tank Rockwell pushed back in his chair. Thick hands were folded over the perfectly bulbous belly that his wife always said looked like a swallowed watermelon. His eyes were shut and his chest was raising and lowering in the rhythmic pattern of sleep. “Tank..come in…...