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

Posted in Adults on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 36 stories

“The Secret of the Lime-Blazer-Wearing Family Member” by Charly Woods

Submitted to Contest #163

[SENSITIVE CONTENT: Physical violence (not really described, only the idea of it)] --- ~No story is ever the same. And no tree has the same names carved into it. The silence was killing all of us. None of us had experienced this level of awkwardness. Glances were made, followed by the looks returning to the table, a glass, or anywhere other than someone’s eyes. Someone was fiddling with his fork. Another person was looking at her watch every other second. There were seven people at the table. It was April 5th. Family dinner. 19:23. Every...

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“Plimpton Speaks the Truth” by Aaron Donley

Submitted to Contest #163

“What we have in this family is a complete breakdown of honesty,” I said to my two-year-old nephew Charlie. We were on the couch in the side tv room. Charlie was on my lap, feeling my beard absentmindedly and watching Blue's Clues. I was also watching, as a mystery is a mystery, and I don’t judge. Still, my mind was elsewhere. Earlier at dinner, Charlie’s birthday party dinner, to be precise, my father-in-law asked from the head of the large table if I had seen his small fishing line pliers. (My-father-in-law was gi...

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“Hard To Swallow ” by Tom Merison

Submitted to Contest #163

“Why won’t you look at me, dad?” Kate demands with a broken, sorrowful voice. These were the first words uttered for hours since ‘the argument’. Kate has spent all year being in lectures for her masters degree. And now she is suffering through another, on her first night of summer break? She had been trying to ignore any passive aggressive contempt she’d been receiving this evening, but this time it was too much for her to burden with. The silence had to stop. “Mum? Am I suppose to say sorry?”. Both parents squirm slightly in their seats a...

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“Jailbreak” by Marie White

Submitted to Contest #163

Shattering the awkward silence, the front door opened, and, seconds later, Graydon burst in with a face as pale as unbuttered popcorn. It told her that the source of the awkwardness—Alexandria’s punishment for having failed her last three social studies tests—would soon seem as insignificant as a single hair plucked from a full head. Graydon fulfilled those expectations, saying, “Nelson’s out.” It hit her like a cemen...

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“My Last Dinner ” by Sophia Nwachukwu

Submitted to Contest #163

TW: Suicide, violence, blood The candles’ flames flicker like the shimmer of stars as they stand in the middle of the table, they are situated either side of a bright bouquet of marigolds that drip life into the otherwise static atmosphere of the dinner, their light casting dancing shadows over the stone faces of Mother, Father and Rueben. There was a time when we weren’t so still, I remember when laughter – pure and true – rang out from deep within our bellies and the air was pregnant with desire for something more, a restlessness thrumming...

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“Silence Isn't Golden” by Judi Wallower

Submitted to Contest #163

Silent Isn’t Golden “So, are we all going to keep ignoring what’s been going on? No one wants to be the first to end the vortex we found ourselves in. Just eat and run I guess, is that it?” Glancing around the table, I noticed few eyes peering up from their dinner plates. Did they hear what I just said? The only response I heard was the sound of the forks hitting the plate harder out of frustration. &nbs...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 36 stories

“The Secret of the Lime-Blazer-Wearing Family Member” by Charly Woods

“Plimpton Speaks the Truth” by Aaron Donley

“Hard To Swallow ” by Tom Merison

“Jailbreak” by Marie White

“My Last Dinner ” by Sophia Nwachukwu

“Silence Isn't Golden” by Judi Wallower

🌟 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

234

Contest entries

126

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: