Write about someone who needs to face their past in order to move forward.

Posted in Adults on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 74 stories

“Never Tear Us Apart” by Patrick Samuel

Daniel folds his clothes carefully, putting them one by one in the backpack so they won’t crease on the trip back. It’s the mirror image of the ritual he did exactly one year ago, he reflects, when he had been preparing to leave home.“One year from now, it will be over,” he had thought then, aware he didn’t know exactly what “it” would entail. His younger, more innocent self thought that at worst “it” would mean twelve months of drudgery and annoying nonsense, to be put behind and forgotten as soon as they wer...

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“A Fallen Kingdom & The Secret Truth” by Sean Sorce

WRITER NOTE: This is a retrospective to one of my characters, Joseph Tavf, through his eyes in Chapters 36 and 37 of The Blacksmith's Nephew when he is confronted of his past. ***CAUTION***There are major spoilers ahead! If you don't want anything spolied of the main story, I would suggest skipping this and reading the book first.Otherwise, please enjoy.'Okay, here we go,' I said to myself nervously in thought as my nephew Terrance led the way as we went through the six-foot-tall grassy field. U...

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“the town” by Adrian Gascoigne

"It's a bad season." Mike had a wet towel on his shoulder, sweat already soaking through his vest, and though he was already sweating profusely, he stood there like a stake, and he looked again at the poster on the wall: it was an advertisement for the sale of fruit. Apples, bananas, watermelons, these very common fruits have never appeared in Mike's 42 years, and he remembers a foreigner who once came to the town to promote his products: "I invented a new fruit juicer. Just one apple can squeeze out two glasses of apple juice...

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“Thicker Than Blood” by Sky S

T.W. Violence, gore, self harmIt's the third funeral this month. It's getting annoying, having to go to all of my sibling's receptions. Mourning for someone who stole my daddy's love from me. The men and women who disappeared and then showed up dead a few days later.I stand next to my remaining three siblings in the front pew as the pastor goes on and on about how Grayson is at home and at peace with God up in the great clouds above and all that fake bullshit. My family eats it up as they mop their tears with the ...

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“Some Enchanted Evening” by VJ Hamilton

Nurse Alford noiselessly opened the door, just wide enough to poke her head around it. “Did you buzz?” she said to the woman who lay like a darkened splash on the slanted bed. “Yes,” said the woman, tapping the translucent IV line attached to her arm. “Please get me some more of whatever this is. I can’t bear how these afternoons drag on.” “Mrs. McKennitt,” the nurse said and sighed. “I would gladly ask the...

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“Daddy Issues” by Andrea Davis

WARNING: the following story contains possible triggers of both, violence, domestic violence, child abuse, mental health struggles and sexual abuse. I know that I'm about to feel the leather of his black utility belt. The peeling screech of Velcro echoes across the room. "Place your hands on the bottom of the mattress and don't move". His voice is deep and terrifying. Each time we do this, it's the same...

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“jiāoqiǎnyánshēn ” by Madison Marvin

jiāoqiǎnyánshēn (交浅言深) Chinese, v. - to have a deep and intimate conversation with a stranger. The phone had been ringing nonstop for the past twenty minutes from an unknown number. Even when I denied the call, or put my phone on silent, I couldn’t get it to stop ringing. Despite knowing that this was definitely the first five minutes of a horror movie, I answered it. And as soon as the voice on the other end spoke, I knew who it was. My birth mother. “Hello?” I called out, and she answered me. I didn...

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“Water Is Where The Past Is” by Trevor Loomis

The cove hidden away from the rest of the world seemed to Judge to be the perfect place to forget his problems. With a lovely waterfall in front of him and extravagant flora encompassing him, Judge felt, maybe for the first time in months, that he could relax in this place of isolation. He stood at the brink of the waterfall’s barren rocky coast. Erosion had created a small pool of crystalline water inside a hollow hole...

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“The Vampire and the Werewolf” by Kelly Sibley

Finally, Zorro Lobo managed to get his hair slicked into the right style; his reflection smiled appreciatively back. “Rock’n’roll” was said with devotion as Zorro took in his magnificence. His brand new, straight-out-of-the-box blue swede shoes screamed cool, as did his black pinstriped pants; the black short-sleeved shirt with an up-turned collar just finished everything off nicely, and after a week of ...

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“A Walk Between Worlds” by Cynthia Prokarym

"Stop that! It feels weird." A thousand icy fingers are trying to pilfer through my brain. My eyes squint at the discomfort. My forehead furrows. Now, it looks like a crinkle-cut French fry.I raise my hand in protest, hoping they stop this intrusion immediately. One of the 7 ft. tall light beings doubles over as if I just punched him in the solar plexus.“Owwwww, your kickback is powerful. Were you a sensitive in your former life...

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“Coming to Terms” by Ben Zuffi

Never did his hands feel this way. Soft, gentle to the touch where she expected a strong, callous rubbing in her palms. His hands represented so much of who he was. A brash, cavalier type of gentleman. She loved him for it. For it was this brashness that brought him into her life. Yet it was this brashness that pushed him out of it too. She remembered seeing him for the first time. It was dark out, past dinner b...

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“'Til Death Do Us Part” by Dani Potter

“I hid Mavis’s keys yesterday.” “Why?” “I dunno. Because … because I’m still angry. And because I know she was going to meet him.” “Jack, we’ve talked about this. You’ve got to stop going over there. It isn’t doing you any good.” “I know, I know…” “If you can’t overcome this hurdle, if you can’t face this part of your past, you’re going to remain stuck. Don’t you want to ...

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“How the Story Ends” by David Wilson

‘Tell me a story,’ Savannah says. It always starts with a story. And sometimes, if we’re lucky, it ends with one. I ask her what kind of story, and she shrugs. ‘Paint me a picture,’ she says, moving closer to me on the sofa and leaning her head on my shoulder. Then she closes her eyes, as though blocking out the coffee shop around us. The scratched glass table in front of the sofa, covered in board games. The u...

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“The Dances (and Falls) of Life” by Nathan Blackwood

It's never easy, starting over. New homes, new schools new jobs, no matter what it is, beginnings are always hard. Almost as hard as endings. But the hardest of all, the hardest of all is when the line between the two blurs, when the before and after and in-between mix and mingle in one lively, breathtaking dance. This, he believes, is the essence of life. The flow, the change, the uncertainty. To gr...

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“Unpacking” by Marya Kalen

My dad was famous. Not a big, crazy kind of famous, but in Winnipeg he was a big fish in a little pond. He’d taken over half a million photographs in his lifetime, images of his hometown. Shots of the city, the museums, the zoo and the nature preserves. Pictures of City Hall and the theatre district. Boats at the Forks market. Assiniboine Park, with its duck ponds and English gardens. If you ever saw a postcard or tourism poster for Winnipeg or Manitoba, or ever read a MacLean’s magazine or Canadian Geographic magazine, you’ve seen m...

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Write about someone who needs to face their past in order to move forward.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 74 stories

“Never Tear Us Apart” by Patrick Samuel

“A Fallen Kingdom & The Secret Truth” by Sean Sorce

“the town” by Adrian Gascoigne

“Thicker Than Blood” by Sky S

“Some Enchanted Evening” by VJ Hamilton

“Daddy Issues” by Andrea Davis

“jiāoqiǎnyánshēn ” by Madison Marvin

“Water Is Where The Past Is” by Trevor Loomis

“The Vampire and the Werewolf” by Kelly Sibley

“A Walk Between Worlds” by Cynthia Prokarym

“Coming to Terms” by Ben Zuffi

“'Til Death Do Us Part” by Dani Potter

“How the Story Ends” by David Wilson

“The Dances (and Falls) of Life” by Nathan Blackwood

“Unpacking” by Marya Kalen

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone sharing a secret that has a big impact on everyone.

Write a story where someone finds comfort in an unexpected event, place, or person.

Write about a character who lives a seemingly charmed life.

Write a story where a character has to take on heavy responsibilities (perhaps beyond their age).

Contest #161

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

242

Contest entries

127

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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