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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

“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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“Origins” by Anna Rogers

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Which didn’t surprise Lorraine aka Raine.Named in colonial times for the Founder’s son Trent was that same 1950s throwback she’d left behind. The alternative had been marriage to self proclaimed high school sweetheart Tommy. Having dogged her teenage footsteps, and ruined School Ball night because she’d let another boy take her Tommy had staked his claim on graduation day.To both families’ delight he’d even bought a ring.As mum explained, gushing. ...

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“Running backwards” by Hazel Love

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Lucy stepped off the bus and gazed cautiously around at the town she ran away from all of those years ago. She picked up her small solitary suitcase from the luggage compartment and wondered if this was a good idea after all. She wished she could get back on the bus and just go home. This used to be home, she reminded herself, although it felt more like a vague dream to her now. She turned to Rosie standing beside her, who was giving her a stoicall...

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“Your own view” by Priyanka Sharma

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. She was 12 years when she visited the place and now as an adult of 36 years ,she was visiting it.However,the place looked exactly the same. The place always had a special thing in her heart as she used to visit that park with her family and friends ,play there with them and enjoy with them every evening .She was having a nostalgia because memories are like that only .The best comparison of memories has to be with a 'box of sweets' because you go fo...

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“Unbroken” by Emmanuella Enekhai

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty for years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Nothing had changed. The sagging drain pipe leaned towards her like a tires arm, the walls, a tapestry of peeling paint and priceless graffiti. The battered 'FOR SALE' sign was still embedded in the dirt next to the mail box. Even the coop where a pair of silkie chickens once lived still stood in the corner. Twenty four years since she had sworn never to come back, but yet...she felt the pull, as surely as the tides feel the pull of Mother Moon. Wal...

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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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“Finding Riley ” by Chase Grey

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty four years since she’d last seen it but the place looked exactly same; the emptiness of the clear white walls. The two bunk beds against the walls. The stain of crimson and pain painted on the white tiles- marking the pain she’d endured in this cold room all those decades ago. The room which would change her life forever. “Is this where- uhm... is this the room?” Redford softly asked at the sudden silence of his friend. She gave a light nod before taking a step into the room. Even the air still had a suffocating eleme...

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“November. ” by Tailibi Broke

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Even the smells were the same. Her old family home. Now empty. She couldn't help but sob. It would never be the same again, her mother was gone and the home she once knew and grew up in was now an empty void littered with bits of furniture. Her frame collapsed on her mom's favourite chair, the chair where she would spend most evenings watching a soap opera that had so many seasons she never got to see the end of it. The thought of a soap opera last...

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“Utopian Dystopia” by Prashant Magar

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it but the place looked exactly the same. Time moved in contexts and waves, Ruhi decided. Each wave displaces the previous settlement. And yet there are some people who live in the flux of things. Her maternal uncles occupied the first and the third house on the first lane of Dwarka Nagar or the Gateway (to Heaven) City. The cemetery masking it from the road lent its name to the colony. Gateway to Heaven collected many behind it. The houses were all single roomed, small dwellings...

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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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“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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“Scars of my past.” by Saiba Khan

Submitted to Contest #68

It's been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same but coming back here to those painful memories was hard for her, the scars that were given to her by her father even now, being a grown-up and happily married with two adorable kids it scares her at night. "You okay Jenney," I asked her even knowing she would lie to me. "Yes I am fine David it's just coming back here brings out the good and bad memories", said, Jenney, "Then why did you want to come back here honey, I know it's painful for you,...

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“IN DEPTH INTO THE LAKE” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #68

IN DEPTH INTO THE LAKE In the water of the lake, of a transparent green,  even if not a clear green___almost dark, instead___the white clouds of a blue, serene sky moved lightly, swaying slightly. The fronds of the fir trees wavered slightly, all around the edge, into the water…. At that time, early in the morning, there was no boat to sail the lake, not even fishing boats. The people coming for a picnic on the lawn, those who would jump into the lake, and the swimmers, they all would arrive later. The lake was exactly as Alice rem...

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“OF MEMORIES” by Aoko Juma

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Even though the bridge had lost all its color, it was still strong and passable. Moss and mould like plants had grown on the rails. The river was still the same narrow one with pebbles dancing along the clear water. Kids down the river were splashing water on each other. It reminded her of how they used to throw little pebbles into the water. The owner of the pebble that landed farthest had the privilege of an ice cream,that was the rule back then....

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