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

Posted in Adults on Oct 31, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 73 stories

“STOLEN LOVE” by Del Gibson

Submitted to Contest #161

My life was great – everything, chugging together perfectly. The gymnastics team I’d been with since I was five years old were two months away from try-outs for the Olympic Games team. I was on top form, the fittest and strongest I’d ever been – I knew I was definitely going to qualify for the New Zealand team – it had been my dream come true when I was chosen to represent our Gym, and I had worked so hard. My parents were proud of me. This made my life fairly busy for a 16-year-old, and I was very driven and focused. My grades were good and...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Come and Get Your Love” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #161

Arvin Wurlie watches with idle curiosity as the man brooding at the end of the bar downs his third scotch in as many minutes. Arvin knows he’s a fellow warrior because Grumman’s Tavern only attracts servicemen. Grabbing his beer, the sturdy sixty-six-year-old navy veteran decides he has to know what destroyed the man. “You’re really accomplished at being a sponge, friend. Don’t you ever ease up?” The dark-haired, thirty-ish man looks up at him. The black circles under his puffy eyes and his dark stubble make him look utterly defeated. “I...

10 comments 10

Read story

“Soulless Deception” by J Stephens

Submitted to Contest #161

Warning: contains attempted suicide, rape, drug use, profanity “Oh no... Something isn’t right,” Crystal McGuinn thought to herself while attempting to find her bearings. “What’s going on? I definitely took more than enough. Or did I?” she continued to question before making a most unsettling discovery. “Wait a second... Oh crap, I can’t move my arms or legs... Why can’t I move my arms and legs? What the hell’s going on? What have I done?” Though unable to blink her eyes or manipulate her mouth to call for help, ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“It Was For Me” by Lashun Williams

Submitted to Contest #161

I messed up. I messed up badly. I sat across the table from my ex-wife and watched as she evaluated the cup of coffee that the waiter just placed on the table. Meeting at her local food joint seemed like a better option than her driving two hours to see a man that requested for them to meet. Plus, Elena never liked to waste her time, so I ensured that every moment that she spent with me would not go to waste. After two years, she looked much younger than when I last saw her. Her forty-ninth birthday was coming up in July and she di...

0 comments 0

Read story

“I'm Ok by C.E. Metcalf” by Conrad M

Submitted to Contest #161

There are some of us out there that were called heroes. The ones that came home from war. And there are some of us that the war is still going on in our minds. We are sometimes called the lucky ones. And some of us don't feel that way. I myself am a disabled vet. I was blinded in a fire fight in Desert Storm. My self and two other men were taken cover behind an old junk vehicle trying to keep from getting shot. And then came the mortar blast. It destroyed the rest of it. The two men I was with died. and I ended up in a coma because of a TMI ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Beautiful” by Jennifer Sadera

Submitted to Contest #161

Gwen’s office looked appropriately generic. Beige walls, gray tweed sofa, and dark wooden chairs. No family photos or interesting artwork to distract clients. She indicated the couch with a head bob, and I hurried toward it, pausing only when I saw the box of tissues on the glass end table, a puffy white sheet protruding from the gray cardboard top like an outstretched hand, offering to absorb and conceal my outpourings within its velvety folds. I pressed my lips together. Pitiful that a mere symbol of comfort could t...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Beyond Betrayal” by Kathleen Waterous

Submitted to Contest #161

Beyond Betrayal I am learning to be alone again. It has been almost a year since Brian got married. My friends and family are annoyed with me for “not getting over it.” It is the strangest thing and there is no way I could make up a story such as this. My “boyfriend,” he dubbed himself, of seven years, abruptly left me without saying goodbye, or even ending our relationship and married someone from his deep dark past. She was someone he knew almost 30 years ago. Brian did prison time for smuggling rare bird eggs out...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Jeff's Meth” by Tristan [GRUB] Cook

Submitted to Contest #161

JEFF’S METH I crawl within the assless assless chaps. Inside: nothing. His name was Jeff. He had short, scruffy grey hair with a crop circle on the back of his skull. The air that surrounded him whispered to me who he was: he had somehow managed to maintain his inner child into the middle of his life. No wife. No kids. A virtual reality headset that he liked to watch porn on. A keyboard he used to browse his massive T.V. A mind that did not adhere to time. Wandering from one room to the next, searching, searching, for a phone or cock...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Taste of Tears” by Karen C

Submitted to Contest #161

Pain is often the only word I have to express it.But, on the rare occasion that I’m feeling articulate, I describe grief like this:Have you ever felt like your heart has grown icy cold, frozen over, and then shattered into a thousand shards inside your chest? And afterward the shards remain, cutting you up from the inside out with every breath you take?A year ago on Thursday, I watched my dog die. And I knew I had killed him.Ronan was given to me before breakfast on a Saturday, early in my 10th grade year. His red collar had a tag that said,...

0 comments 0

Read story

“My Texas Drought Part 3” by Laura Eliz

Submitted to Contest #161

“The ex?”. “I’m 38 and broke up with someone who mind as well be a middleschooler". “Sounds like my ex girlfriend”. “Is that the ex you broke up with before moving here?”. “No. The ex before this ex. The recent ex is a 39-year-old man who lived with me like a child." “Was that a reason for the breakup?” “It was. I was raised to believe a relationship should be a partnership. “Sounds frustrating”. “It was”. “So are you bi?”. “I am.” “Cool”. We sat eating and chatting. “ This is heaven”. “I’m glad. When we were done eating, set up in his ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Reflection” by Caxton Shokunbi

Submitted to Contest #161

By Caxton Shokunbi I knew it was time to face my past before it was too late. I ventured off to the water fountain on Chelsea Avenue, which flooded my mind with memories of my mother. I remember it like it was yesterday. We had not gotten along for years since I refused to marry the woman my mom was dead set on me being with forever. That day my mom and I spoke at the fountain. I remember the warm air and the water pouring from the fountain. “James, Clarissa is the one for you.” she sternly said. “She treats you well and ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Light in Process: An Allegory” by Brenna W.

Submitted to Contest #161

Part I It was hard to tell if I was awoken by an outside force or the existence of my own anxiety. Nevertheless, my eyes open to a surrounding that only some would be able to dream about. My indistinguishable being was fragile as I attempted to discern the walls around me. I crawled through what I could, but my success was faltered at every turn. I was inches away from my future, but miles away from my past. One of the refractories knelt itself into my hand and I was faced with a choice. I didn’t know what choice I was to make yet, so I allo...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A Child Star is Born” by Chiarra Pantaloni

Submitted to Contest #161

The TV screen blared in front of a single armchair, as it often did—casting light and shadow upon her unsmiling face. There, she watched her younger self skip and prance. “Come on boy and girls!” the purple dinosaur cheered, “Let’s all sing the sharing song!” She jumped up and joined hands with the other children. Her cheeks were pink and upturned. Her sandy blonde hair bounced underneath an oversized baseball cap—a stark contrast to the woman huddled in the chair clutching a blanket around her shoulders. “1,2,3 OH it’s great to s...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Full Circle” by Falynn Almeda

Submitted to Contest #161

High school is a time in life where it’s when experiences start to mold you and you can either stay that hormonal, out-of-control kid who thinks they know everything or you can grow and remold into someone you actually want to be. Other pivotal moments in your life will occur and I was at one. But let me lay down the past so you can grasp the present. My life at home was pretty good- my parents and I had our differences but it wasn’t what I could call ‘abusive’. They never hit me and gave me beyond the basic needs; no sad birth...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Deep Lies, Dark Truths” by Kate Kilbee

Submitted to Contest #161

I’d walked this path over and over in my dreams but this time it was for real. The fragrance from the flower borders was intoxicating. Lavender, roses, jasmine, gardenias and many others I couldn't name. The path stretched out into the distance as if to touch the future. My mind wandered back to the past. Six years earlier, a bar, another boyfriend lost, glass in hand, tears already dried on my cheeks. No friends, alone again. Alcohol was of no interest to me, never had been, but I'd been dumped so many times now I’d thought it might help....

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

High School – 39 stories

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

Adults – 56 stories

Write about a character who lives a seemingly charmed life.

Teens – 25 stories

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

Kids – 48 stories

Contest #161

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Digging Deep

$250

Prize money

241

Contest entries

125

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 02, 2022 EST

Won by Marty B 🏆

Title: Long Distance Phone Call

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 73 stories

“STOLEN LOVE” by Del Gibson

“Come and Get Your Love” by Michael Jefferson

“Soulless Deception” by J Stephens

“It Was For Me” by Lashun Williams

“I'm Ok by C.E. Metcalf” by Conrad M

“Beautiful” by Jennifer Sadera

“Beyond Betrayal” by Kathleen Waterous

“Jeff's Meth” by Tristan [GRUB] Cook

“The Taste of Tears” by Karen C

“My Texas Drought Part 3” by Laura Eliz

“Reflection” by Caxton Shokunbi

“Light in Process: An Allegory” by Brenna W.

“A Child Star is Born” by Chiarra Pantaloni

“Full Circle” by Falynn Almeda

“Deep Lies, Dark Truths” by Kate Kilbee

🌟 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

241

Contest entries

125

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: