A forgotten photograph tucked away somewhere is the catalyst for an unexpected journey.

Posted in Adventure on Jul 5, 2024

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✍️ 88 stories

“Esther” by Malcolm Twigg

Submitted to Contest #258

The thing is, when you start researching family history, like it or not, you often find that you end up knowing far more about your ancestors than you do your close family. Not that my own family is particularly close, for various reasons best not explored.I’m sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Bailey, Robert Bailey, and the story I am about to tell is, quite frankly, weird … if not disturbing.As I said, my immediate family is not very close, stemming from the fact that my father was illegitimate with all the stigma that attracted ...

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“A Cosmic Photograph” by Joanna Lloyd

Submitted to Contest #258

The day was March 19, 2024. It was the first day of Spring. Being the organizationally obsessed individual I am, I was excited because it could only mean one thing: Spring Cleaning! It was my favorite day of the year. It was time to get rid of the old to welcome in the new. I would go through all of my plastic tubs to get rid of clothes and all the junk I had been hoarding the past year. It was the last box I opened, the one I had no idea would provide me with the most significantly life-changing experience I would have gone through in my th...

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“A Picture Changes Lives” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #258

Desmond never learned about the makings of a good relationship between husband and wife when he was growing up. His parents often argued day and night, with their loudest of voices. What he remembered best about that were those occasions when he was lying in bed trying to sleep, and there was a rumbling of voices from his parents’ room. Then his mother would utter the argument crashing words, “Maybe I should have married George rather than you. He would not have treated me as badly as you do.” Then there w...

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“Kodachrome Rider” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #258

“Break time’s over,” Mrs. Haggerty yelled out the backdoor of City Central Goodwill. She stared hard at Marty and Nadine, as if wondering who had dripped cheese all over the brand-new toaster oven in the staff room. “Nadine, you’re Check-out. Marty, go to Intake.” The teens whined and were slow to move inside until Marty recalled his probation officer’s advice: “Community hours go by quicker if you cooperate.” So he stubbed out his cigarette, as did Nadine, on a long, filthy snowbank near the backdoor and they went inside to their assigned a...

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“Black and White Echoes” by Raluca Vințan

Submitted to Contest #258

It was Sunday and I was rummaging through one of those endless boxes of photographs and postcards, in a second-hand store, as I often did on my free days. This is, in fact, how I decorated most of my walls. I was now living in my dream city, Edinburgh, and I filled my tiny, old but charming one-bedroom apartment with “junk” as my mother would call it, or “little treasures” as I liked to think of it. The furniture was old, patiently hunted (and probably also haunted) at flea markets or in shops like the one I was in now. My walls were adorned...

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“A diary of polaroid” by Bolaji G.A.

Submitted to Contest #258

For Giuly it wasn’t suicide. It could have been anything, the cause of her sister’s death could have been anything. But Giuly couldn’t accept the fact that it was suicide anymore.Wearing the ink-stained dress Ma brought and the black fascinator covering her tangerine hair, Giuly’s eyes still blurred even when standing ahead of a dozen people. She had forgotten her glasses; so much for getting ready early. The light rainfall wasn’t helping either and the suffocating fog hadn’t quite cleared off since the previous night. As the thick clouds di...

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“The Prophecy” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #258

The prophecy began with a single photograph crammed amongst dozens in a shoebox, their corners bent and frayed. At the time, it seemed like a random choice for my little hand to grasp just that one, the photo of the plane. Later, I would know it was not. I was 8 years old and my mother’s companion for her favorite hobby: thrifting. Long before it was trendy, my mother loved to climb into our 1970 Pontiac Lemans, jetting off to neighboring towns in search of “treasures”. Yard sales, estate sales, and her favorite—thrift stores—were on the age...

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“Just a Moment” by Sally Sunflower

Submitted to Contest #258

I was looking for Grandma's old banana bread recipe. A fresh loaf of banana bread with a little vanilla ice cream would be just perfect for dessert tonight. I remember when Grandma would make that bread and the smell it had fresh out of the oven. It was a dear childhood memory. How lucky we felt to have Grandma call us and say that the bread was done. She gave us a slice while it was still warm out-of-the-oven with a glass of cold milk. I searched the kitchen 'junk drawer' for Grandma's recipe notebook and finally found the old recipe no...

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“Last Mail Call” by Heather Lee Dyer

Submitted to Contest #258

She was never meant to die before me. I stuff the rest of my perfectly folded clothes into the rough canvas sea bag and check the two drawers that held all my belongings to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Satisfied, I cinch up the bag and sit back down on the hard bed to wait for my ride. Reaching into my front pocket, I pull the wrinkled envelope out and open it just far enough to stare at the photograph that changed my life. I sigh and put it back. The picture looks like it was taken quickly, maybe without her knowing. And the photogr...

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“Three's A Crowd” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #258

I re-read the letter, noting the time and date of the celebration. A part of me thinks I should go; another more cautious side of me whispers that I shouldn’t bother. But there was a time, once, when Stef was my best friend… The cardboard box has been under my bed for so long that it’s accumulated enough dust to make me sneeze. I find a cloth and wipe down the outside carefully before removing the lid. Memories I’ve kept hidden for years stare at me – relics o...

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“Finding Alwar. ” by Addison Frame

Submitted to Contest #258

As I push it open, the door creaks, revealing cool lighting and that new apartment smell that I've found filling my nose a lot over the past few weeks. My sneakers press against white tiles as I move through my new apartment, freshly bought. I stride into the kitchen, setting bags of groceries down on the white marble counter. "Organization," I murmur to myself as I take groceries out of the bags, my eyes flicking over the kitchen. "My favorite." I open the silver steel fridge, finding a spot to slide egg cartons onto the white rack. I've ju...

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“Between the pages” by Gemma Kovacs

Submitted to Contest #258

As I arrived at my mother's house, my chest hollowed as her memory filled my mind. It had been a month now since she had passed, and though I had laid her to rest the week before, I still felt numb inside.I know grief takes many forms, but the constant emptiness was exhausting. Father had left when I was an infant, so for years it had just been me and her. Yet now it was just me.I felt the key shake in my hand as I tried to twist it in the lock. I blink away the tears that were forming in the corners of my eyes and try to cast away the memor...

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“Unretirement” by Autumn Trathnonen

Submitted to Contest #258

Dust fell away from the old book, its leather bindings seemingly impervious to the effects of Time’s great cogs. Silver engraving, scroll work of surpassing quality seemed to shift in the soft lantern light, sometimes appearing as thorny vines, others as flickering tongues of flame, or a hoarfrost coat. Fascinating artistry, I’d never seen anything like it before. The artisan who’d lavished their craft on this book had clearly possessed surpassing talent, and I felt a touch of pride in calling myself its new owner, a sense of ...

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“An Absence of Light ” by Hannah Baker

Submitted to Contest #258

Trigger warning: death For my grandmother’s birthday, I gifted her a Polaroid photo of a horseshoe crab. It had washed up on the beach earlier that day, dead but intact, its sepia shell starting to cement itself under the wet sand. I tacked the photo up on her wall, next to her framed newspaper clipping of a warehouse fire. “Didn’t think to bring me the real thing?” She asked, setting down her magnifying glass on top of today’s obituaries. “You don’t want the smell, trust me.” I laughed. “Plus, it’s the best photo from this thin...

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“Chronomec” by James Scott

Submitted to Contest #258

It had been foolish not to destroy it. I had suspected the image, smuggled here from my own timeline, would eventually emerge as my undoing when I slid it between the pages of a herbal volume all those years before. The animated memory recorded forever on a small scrap of holofilm showed a time I had long since released. It simulated Kylin as I had known him, simply turning to greet me with a smile on our first meeting. The most natural of gestures but one I would not see again, for I felt I would never return to the era housing his short li...

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A forgotten photograph tucked away somewhere is the catalyst for an unexpected journey.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 88 stories

“Esther” by Malcolm Twigg

“A Cosmic Photograph” by Joanna Lloyd

“A Picture Changes Lives” by John Steckley

“Kodachrome Rider” by VJ Hamilton

“Black and White Echoes” by Raluca Vințan

“A diary of polaroid” by Bolaji G.A.

“The Prophecy” by Lindsay Flo

“Just a Moment” by Sally Sunflower

“Last Mail Call” by Heather Lee Dyer

“Three's A Crowd” by Jane Andrews

“Finding Alwar. ” by Addison Frame

“Between the pages” by Gemma Kovacs

“Unretirement” by Autumn Trathnonen

“An Absence of Light ” by Hannah Baker

“Chronomec” by James Scott

🌟 Similar prompts

Center your story around two strangers who bond over their shared love of photography.

Write a story where a photograph could change the course of history if it’s delivered to the right (or wrong!) person.

Start your story with someone who has lost everything but finds solace in photography.

A photographer captures an image of something unexplainable. What happens next?

Contest #258

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

289

Contest entries

88

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: