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Write about two characters who’ve gone through something so intense they now feel like family.

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 189 stories

snow

Submitted to Contest #79

“Take it and do it. I know you can. I’m right here with you. Just do it. He has to go and you know that. Do it.” She was giving me orders. --------------- Back. The swing sounded terrible. Like the chains could break at any moment. The chains were old and had started to rust but still, we swung. Death didn’t bother us not now at least. Forth. The eerie sound of the wretched torture device didn’t stop but we didn’t care. There was always a chance that we could fall out of the seat but we never cared. We felt free. Free even with the horrid so...

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Road Trip Playlist

Submitted to Contest #79

The hands against the windows blocked the last of the day’s grey light as it tried to trickle in.The bodies writhed on the bonnet and the boot. Bloodied hands thumped against the barriers — their only source of protection. Vacant eyes and gore-slaked mouths squeezed up against the glass. If they hadn’t been dead, it might have been funny. Like kids on the school bus pull faces at neighbouring cars.At least they didn’t know how to open car doors. You had to be thankful for the little things.They both sat there, in their seats. Rita in the dri...

36 likes 9 comments 9
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Soul sisters

Submitted to Contest #79

We held hands that night, lying in bed together and crying. Both of us felt it. We felt each other’s heartache, heartache so intense it felt like we were dying. Dying there in that bed together, but also birthing something newer and better.  Once upon a time we were laughing together and consumed by our then romantic relationships. Fortunately for us, the men were best friends just like we were. It couldn’t have been more perfect! Except, it wasn’t.  What made us swoon slowly became the stuff of ni...

36 likes 5 comments 5
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Letters to Larry

Submitted to Contest #79

This wasn’t Adam’s first-time opening Mr. Groff’s letter. At first, it had felt funny to open someone else’s mail, but the old man had requested with such a puppy face that Adam couldn’t refuse. Old man Groff often forgot his reading glasses at unexpected places. He also, always wanted to know what was in the letters urgently. As soon as Adam climbed up the porch stairs to deliver the letters, Mr. Groff asked, “Whom is it from?”. He seemed a little disappointed when he heard, it was from someone called Ron. This was a usual question form the...

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Baobab Trees

Submitted to Contest #79

She is enthroned on my desk in a photograph where she stands, enthusiastically pointing at a large baobab tree. The center of the tree is hollow, the size of a small bedroom, and the branches spread, short and thin, above the swollen base. If I look closely, I can see the shadow I cast on the ground while I took the picture with a pink disposable camera.***Neither of us were from Ethiopia, but that is where we met. Our fathers were childhood friends who had not seen one another in longer than either of us had been alive. I remember being uns...

31 likes 19 comments 19
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The Songbird

Shortlisted for Contest #79 ⭐️

The latest round of counselors had seemed as exhausted with this kid as I was. When the shock of encountering his illegally-acquired underage pornographic tattoos had worn off, I was just tired. I looked into the face of his psychiatrist and knew that she was thinking the same thing I was: “Why bother?” But I couldn’t put it all into a folder and stack it on my desk for next week. Under his inked skin and dirty nails, my blood flowed. Or my heart’s blood anyway. He was my adopted son. I wasn’t free to mask my impatience behind a clinical s...

30 likes 19 comments 19
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Mrs. Henderson

Submitted to Contest #79

Jared unbuckled and stepped out of his car just as the first few flakes of snow started to dance their way to the ground. He saw Mrs. Henderson, his only neighbor, gathering grocery bags from her old minivan.  She was in her 70’s and lived alone like him, so he started across the dirt yard to see if she needed any help.  As he made his way to her property line he called out to her. “Hi Mrs. Henderson! Need any help?”.       She looked back and saw him and a big smile broke out on her face. “Sure!” She smile...

30 likes 12 comments 12
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It's Not About the Bread

Submitted to Contest #79

Shandar woke to the sound of Turi yelling. He lay still for a moment, his eyes closed, listening to the loud clanging and thumping that he guessed was the sound of his friend throwing things around the campsite in a temper. “Stupid … blasted … pot!” he heard, as he sat up stiffly inside the tent. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why can't I remember?” He crawled out of the warm cocoon of his blanket, lifting the flap to see Turi kicking a tree with all his might, his stumpy boots on the ends of his short legs pummeling the trunk so hard that he was...

28 likes 9 comments 9
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The Letter

Submitted to Contest #79

Disclaimer: This story is inspired by real-life experiences.I feel my jaw crack, pain beyond belief, blood rushing to the surface of my skin; collapsing to the ground, hands throbbing with pain as they catch my fall, tarmac pebbles embedding themselves in me, scratches covering my knees and elbows. “Justice, Justice, Justice” Chanting reverberates between my eardrums, I start to blackout, losing all senses. I remember why I’m here and know that if I could go back, the only thing I would change, is opening that letter sooner…2 months ago...

26 likes 23 comments 23
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In the Belly of the Mountain

Submitted to Contest #79

Once long ago there lived two young boys. They grew up in the mountains to the north, their village surrounded by goblin tribes. All the young men in the village trained to be great warriors, some of the young women as well. As these two boys grew up they showed great prowess in the arts of strength, wrestling, fighting with sword and shooting with bow. The one known as Hawk was best at shooting while the one named Stone was best with sword. They both loved a girl named Flame who was their age, so skillful was she that both boys had been bea...

25 likes 2 comments 2
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Babysitting My Best Friend's Kids and the Trainwreck that Followed

Submitted to Contest #79

After the doorbell rang, Nora opened it with a giddy and half-drunk smile with a bottle of tequila in her hand. “Alright, who’s ready to get wasted for gir—” She stopped mid sentence when instead of her thirty-four-year-old best friend, Nora found her best friend’s seventeen-year-old daughter instead standing next to a man in a suit that was one size too big. With a huff, Nora lowered the bottle and her eyes. “Thing One? What are you doing here? Where’s Thing Two?” “My sister is at sleepaway summer camp until next Saturday,” Taylor said wi...

24 likes 3 comments 3
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Dear Primrose

Submitted to Contest #79

Dear Primrose,   Do you remember that time in sixth grade when we stayed up until twilight, the sun just peeking over the horizon, ready to warm the familiar suburban city? We stared up at the sky for hours, hoping we might happen to catch a glimpse of the dazzling meteor shower we knew was happening above us.   You leaned back on the picnic blanket and stared at the sky. We created a make-shift campsite on your porch for the special occasion.    “I want to be an astronaut,” You said as you ran yo...

23 likes 9 comments 9
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Soul Connection

Submitted to Contest #79

“Hiya” “Hi, may I help you?” “Yes, I lost my room key, are you able to give me a new one?” The sound of bubble gum popping. Then, after a moment’s silence, “Sure, name?” “Elisiana Tugab” The rhythmic tapping of acrylics on an old-fashioned, worn-in keyboard accompanies the usual din of a hotel lobby. The marble floors wink at me, reflecting the light cast by the majestic chandelier up ahead. Only one day here and I already know I will miss it when I leave in a week. Rio De Janeiro has invited me warmly, its city lights serving as a...

23 likes 25 comments 25
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Without Even Knowing

Submitted to Contest #79

The bell tolled and the girls looked at each other, silent desperation in their eyes. They listened. One chime. Two chimes. Three chimes. Then stillness. Three AM. June raised her finger slowly to cover her pursed lips. Their eyes darted around the abandoned parking lot as the pair drifted into the shadows of the strip mall. Looking around, it seemed like they stumbled upon the remains of a looted grocery store. Margo opened her mouth to speak but June, sensing a shift in the air, reached out and covered Margo’s mouth entirely. Someone was ...

22 likes 10 comments 10
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Defining Family

Submitted to Contest #79

Sometimes two people who have gone through something very intense can feel like they are family - like a parent and a child, like siblings, something like that. We assume the persons who find themselves in this situation have experienced the same thing, and that they were together when it happened. If, on the other hand, the people involved experienced the same, or almost the same thing, but were not together when it happened, one might look askance at the idea that they could have been brought together so closely as to feel like they a...

22 likes 6 comments 6
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