Start your story with someone breaking an awkward silence at a family dinner.

Posted in Adults on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 38 stories

“The Deputy” by Kendall Defoe

It was a long time before anyone spoke, but the boy knew almost immediately that he had made a mistake. “What kind of a question is that?” His father, halfway through his rice pilaf and roasted vegetables, was frozen with anger. He shook his dreadlocks at the boy and seemed to be on the edge of breakdown. “Who would ask such a thing over dinner?” Sympathy was not forthcoming from his mother, a woman much yo...

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“The Y2K Crown” by Scott Christenson

My brother remembered last year we played a family trivia game with Dad and his pick for a ‘last meal’ was lamb chops, so we cooked him those for dinner tonight. Lamb chops are not a common dish in Chicago. Mom found them at the gourmet supermarket in Buffalo Grove. She said it’s the least we could do.At the dinner table, all those lamb chops are grilled and arranged in a crown. Sitting behind them, Dad looks at us and announces, “Computers around the world are going to crash tomorrow. Do you realize what that means?” Hi...

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“Thaw” by Corey Melin

“I really wish someone will start talking so everyone won’t hear me fart,” James said to his family members. Everyone looks to James in disbelief, then they either chuckle or start laughing. “Always the one to break the ice,” James’s father, Bruce, said, giving his son a stern look, which quickly tur...

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“Last Supper” by Benny Regalbuto

Adrian’s fork clinks against his plate as he sets it down to pick up his spoon. It’s the first sound any of us have heard since the beginning—the Big Bang of this family dinner. Heh. Calling it a “family dinner” as if it’s just like any other… I meet Mari’s eyes, but they dart away, focusing on some pattern in the tablecloth. It is a nice tablecloth—been in the family for generations. Long enough...

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“Gone With the Wind” by Trebor Mack

This story contains low-level racial overtones. Gone With the Wind Iain Macleod looked around the dinner table where eight stern faces focused elsewhere but at him and the new lady in his life, Hia. Of late, Iain, a general practice doctor, had returned from an overseas assignment with Médecins Sans Frontièr...

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“Successful Families have Good Ghouls” by Hannah Barton

Caution: A bit of foul language is used in this story.The silence at the table was deafening and awkward. My brothers and sisters just glanced around at one another, waiting for the banshee to start. Cynnth was doing everything he could to hide his laughter while sneaking looks at me, then at our mother. "No! Absolutely not! Have you gone MAD?" my mother screeched at me, her eyes wide in horror and disbelief. "Nobody's allowed to just leave this family like that, Cedric. Nobody! We built this business and this f...

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“I Didn't Mean It” by Kimberly McFetridge

The previously raucous chatter at the Thanksgiving dinner table came to a sudden halt when I harmlessly remarked that our daughter Julie’s professional obligations and pressures from her fiancé Ted and her mother had been taking their toll on her. The awkward silence was short lived, though, because of our son Anthony. Now my wife's not talking to me. As a matter of fact, neither is our daughter. The holiday wee...

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“Winning at Chicken” by Will Willoughby

Warning: Contains profanity, mildly grotesque imagery, and an infant in peril. Backyard barbeque, Fourth of July. My family and I are deep into a game of asshole chicken. The only rule of asshole chicken: First one to talk loses. At the professional level, asshole chicken is an art form. Awkward silence doesn’t matter. Heat pressing on all parts of your body doesn’t matter. Questionable potato salad bubbling in your belly doesn’t matter. All that matters is that sustained, combativ...

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“Um, I just thought I would tell you...” by Mustang Patty

[This story includes gay romance.] Eddy looked at each face around the dinner table. No one was talking, and it didn’t look like much eating was happening either. The silence was like a storm cloud hanging around the light fixture. Something was indeed brewing. He cleared his throat and said the words he’d been practicing for over a week. “Um, I just thought I would tell y...

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“The Live Vivisection of Family” by Wil Montgomery

This contains mentions of surgery and gore and stuff. Why? I don't know, it felt right. The room was silent. Even the clinking of glasses and silverware were slim to none. The lights paralleled the silence with its own under-utilized light and singularly lit candle in the middle of the table. No one really meant to begin the terribly awkward silence. Well, that may not have been true. As of late...

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“Secret Sauce” by Jennifer Bowers

I always hated the grandfather clock. Hated it. Who needs a gigantic piece of furniture to do a fraction of what my phone does? But tonight, as our family ate dinner, its incessant ticking was beyond annoying, it was foreboding – every click counting down my impending doom. Mrs. Klunk was going to call on our hall phone (I know, who has one of those?) after dinner and tell my parents everything. Ev-er-y-thing.

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“The Empty Table” by Bethany Garner

* Content warning: allusions to violence & sexual assault *The empty table yawned in front of her. In the absence of a tablecloth its mahogany surface, waxed and polished to within an inch of its life, threw off distorted reflections of the room.Sconces became glowing pools, the face of the grandfather clock stretched into a menacing grin, and her own, still figure bulged and twisted.It was almost time for dinner.Breaking out of her reverie, the woman set about layi...

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“Snow White and her Prince's "Accidental" Death!” by Kelly Sibley

In the dining hall, silence consumed everyone’s breath before a resonating yell broke the spell.“You did what?”“Well, I didn’t mean to!”Six of the dumbfound dinner guests quietly put their knives and forks down, hoping in doing so the waters would be calm enough, at some point soon, for their dinner to continue.Grumpy’s eyebrows knitted together as Snow White sat nervously at the head of the table, smiling as best she could, considering the circumstances.

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“Witches Tales and Allie” by Marcia H.

Allie knew it was going to be a very strange family dinner at her granny’s house when Puppy Girl, her grandmother’s dog didn’t greet her at the door and in the middle of the living room sat a suit of armor and a dead body. Allie was excited to go to her granny’s house for dinner with some of her family. She carefully picked out a blue and white pants suit and curled her long straight black hair. She even...

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“A Siege of Elephants” by Frank Lester

The question hung over the dinner table like the sword of Damocles.“You need to eat, Pop,” Cindy said, gently patting Grandpa John’s arm.He sat at the head of the table, his hands hanging by the fingers from the edge. “I’m waiting for Audrey.”“Pop—”“Leave him alone, Cin,” Dave, Cindy’s husband, interrupted, his tone cautious. He never acknowledged her glare as she tapped an index finger against her plate.Pop, his unfocused eyes looking somewhere beyo...

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Start your story with someone breaking an awkward silence at a family dinner.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 38 stories

“The Deputy” by Kendall Defoe

“The Y2K Crown” by Scott Christenson

“Thaw” by Corey Melin

“Last Supper” by Benny Regalbuto

“Gone With the Wind” by Trebor Mack

“Successful Families have Good Ghouls” by Hannah Barton

“I Didn't Mean It” by Kimberly McFetridge

“Winning at Chicken” by Will Willoughby

“Um, I just thought I would tell you...” by Mustang Patty

“The Live Vivisection of Family” by Wil Montgomery

“Secret Sauce” by Jennifer Bowers

“The Empty Table” by Bethany Garner

“Snow White and her Prince's "Accidental" Death!” by Kelly Sibley

“Witches Tales and Allie” by Marcia H.

“A Siege of Elephants” by Frank Lester

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who is living through a major historical event — whether they know it or not.

Write about a character who risks everything to pursue their heart’s desires.

Write a story about someone facing death for the first time in their life.

Write a story in which someone says “You'll never be content.”

Contest #163

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

238

Contest entries

128

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: