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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Start your story with the line, “It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same,” and end it with, “[…] and that was all that mattered.”

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 178 stories

“The walking stick” by Brian Njenga

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The wind whistled calmly, bristling her hair as if to usher her forward towards the verandah she remembered so vividly. She edged down with warm tears in her eyes as she grasped the earth with dry and trodden sand slipping through her rosy slender fingers. It was here that she once trotted on, rode her first bike and fell leaving her with a nasty scar on her knee; the only blemish on her delicately bronzed skin. It was also here where she had her f...

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“Remembering Granma May” by Debra Johnson

Submitted to Contest #68

  “It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Except for one thing - the woman who lived in the home Ethel May was standing in front of, was gone. She had passed away over a year ago and was greatly missed by everyone who had known her. Including me, my name is Ethel May Carter and the woman in question was Martha May Carter, my mother. I was unable to say good-bye until now.Now standing in front of her home memories of my childhood flooded back as a smile formed. To everyone who ...

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“A Journey Worth Travelling” by Alice McVey

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Icy wind slashed at her face as her bony fingers gripped her  blanket up to her face. The streets were dimly lit and the houses were shut and dark. It had been exactly how Jane had remembered it, except for one little thing, her parents. Where were they? How come they weren’t where they said they would be? She was curled up in a dirty corner under a streetlight. The light started flickering and in a moment Jane was in complete darkness. She wa...

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“Freezing Warmth” by Rena Bhullar

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. From the naked eye, it would be bold to judge the broken-down exterior of the tree. Antiquated and dilapidated, it was a ramshackle treehouse. Yet there was an aura of warmth that seemed to outline the tree, as if someone was calling out to her, pulling her closer. The attraction was magnetic, she couldn't quite repel it. Each step towards the tree seemed to free her of her pain, her misery, her suffering. The tree was the gateway to the future, as...

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“The Meadow” by Ashley Florexil

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Her meadow. The sunflowers gleamed in the rays of the sun from which its name originates. Her sunflowers. The peonies: pink, white, and purple, danced in the breeze that blew gently in from the south. Her peonies. The chrysanthemums were all crowded together in one section of the meadow. They seemed unmoved since the last time she was here. Her chrysanthemums. Even the large oak tree at the far end of the meadow still had the carvings of our initia...

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“The Russian Spy” by Nataleigh Sandberg

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Nataliya Romanova stared up at the towering skyscraper, covered in shining glass, reflecting on the clear blue sky above. She turned to the two men behind her, her shoulder-length red waves swinging behind her. The first man was stout and carried a yellow briefcase. The second was tall and dressed sharply, with a long black overcoat over his perfectly tailored suit. "You stay here until I return. Do not let anyone who looks suspicious into the buil...

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“636 Brown” by C Alexis McGregor

Submitted to Contest #68

Trigger warning: reference to child rape   It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Seated in her car Hester's green eyes scanned the red brick house, noting how innocuous it appeared as if one more of the same along this tree-lined street. Uncle Sheldon and Aunt Lila still lived there, following their daily routine of avoiding each other. Hester could visualize one seated smoking at the kitchen table, the other beer at hand, watching endless sporting events on the telly.  &nbsp...

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“We Won in the End” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #68

We Won In The End It had been twenty four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. But like all of us, it had aged. Bricks needed a clean where the rain and damp over time had darkened them. Cream mortar in between was now grey, if there at all. Some of the red bricks had graffiti drawn on them, amazing artwork in bright colours some with the names of the taggers, and of course obscenities too! So much had happened in the last twenty four years. It was so long ago but in a way felt like yesterday. Suddenly...

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“The Magic of Merlin's Cove” by Ashley Stone

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she had last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The icy blue water ran over the bed of rocks that were home to the bustling aquatic life below. Moss covered the edge of the cove, fading into the mist that added to the mysteriousness. She closed her eyes. Twenty-four years. As a girl she spent her days here running around barefoot, free. Now, with three children of her own and a soon to be ex husband, that magic was gone. She had traded her life here for a life in the city. She had trad...

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“Going home again” by Jose Gonzalez

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been 24 years since she last saw it but the place looked exactly the same. She wanted to see it, wanted to see her childhood home. Charlotte Ramsey was a lawyer, she had found romance marrying someone formt he firm. How happy the day she graduated form high school and was accepted to an out of state college. All she wanted was to get away from this place it didnt offer her ant excitement. Any thrills or fun. She was remembering that day her final goodbyes. She wanted to come back just to look at the place see what it had to offer. She...

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“Virginia” by Federica Silva

Submitted to Contest #68

“It had been 24 years since she had last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same”At least that was the impression Virginia got from the pictures and videos her sister had been sending her after her return there. People who knew her were confused when Virginia would call Scarlett her sister, so she always had to specify that Scarlett was her “host sister” from 24 years ago.  Virginia had been a high school foreign exchange student back when she was 16 years old. Her mother made her apply to four different cultural exchange organ...

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“The Word Game” by Iris Carrico

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The outside walls were still light gray, topped with dark grey roofs on both floors and the dormer. The porch still had white railings and columns, and the front door was still dark brown. The only differences visible from outside were the white curtains that covered the view from the right upstairs window and the garden. That curtain used to be light blue, and the garden has clearly not been as loved as it was when Emma lived there as a kid. Emm...

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“Déjà vu” by Serenity Spooner

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she had last seen it, but the place looked the same. Well, not exactly the way it had looked before. It had been a hard twenty-four years for her and the place she once called home as well. It hadn’t been very pleasant either. Death had decided to visit the mortals and play his torturing games, games no one wanted or liked. She had found the olden building while exploring the forest from the nearby safety bunker but didn’t expect it to be familiar. The glossy yet unfinished floorboards creaked their famili...

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“Friend Or Foe” by Addison Smits

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked the exact same. Jane stood in shock as she examined its cobblestone walls and clear river. The garden was still green and full of life. Colorful flowers dot the green ground. Vines hung and dug into the crevices of the wall. The big tree stuck in the middle was just as big as it was all that time ago. She looked into the water and saw her blond hair and blue eyes. Her freckles were also visible, anlong with the earings her mother had given her. The red stripes on he...

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“Kai” by Kya Ryanne

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four long years since she’d last seen it, but it looked exactly the same as it used to. The harrowing dull stone walls seemed to drain the sky of color as it loomed. Abandoned, that is what they told Kai. It sure looked like it.  The grounds of the orphanage she used to live in were what appeared to be abandoned. All that lived here were the spirits of the past and the spreading ivy—like a parasite, spreading from the ground and up the walls. The tall grass reached to her upper thighs, tickling her as she crept past ...

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