Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Start your story with the narrator or a character saying “I remember…”

Posted in Angst on Oct 25, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 101 stories

I remember...

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember… January 25 2020: Cebu, Philippines   I’m on my CNY break. We decided to go to Cebu, today I saw on the news about a virus being shot around China. Probably just a flu or strep, no biggie, right? 2 hours later I get an email from my principal, “School will be shut down for the next two weeks, classwork will be sent to all of you and you will do it from home.” AWESOME! Two weeks off school !!! January 26 2020: Cebu International Airport Since when did everyone start wearing pollution masks? Why is my temperature g...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Blue Monster

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember that horrible coat from all those years ago.  On a blustery, fall day during my 4th-grade year, when I arrived home from school, it was just there, hanging in the utility room closet. It was a warm, light blue color. Ordinarily, I like blue.The colors that I detested at that time were brown and navy blue, but there was something about this coat that overrode the fact that it was a pleasant, calm lake-blue. It had a fur trim on the hood -- also something to be admired, but this trim looked like a gray and black lion’s mane, ...

10 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

In Remembrance Of All The Things I May Never Be

Submitted to Contest #140

*TW LanguageI remember the last time I had spoken to her with far more clarity than I do the first. It's a funny trick life plays on you, the way it blends the good memories all together into one indistinguishable blur, and yet, the bad stand out like the blood from a beating heart dripped onto the crisp white snow. This particular bad memory was neither the beginning of my story, nor the end. It instead served as a complexing, unending tide, wearing against my newly built faith. It is those moments I struggle to reconcile with. The anger th...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Snow Globes and Other Birthday Surprises

Submitted to Contest #140

“I remember the first time I was given a birthday present that wasn’t a toy,” Sergeant Plundell said. “I had turned twelve, and my father gave me a watch. I was confused, because I had wanted a new bicycle, and he told me that there was going to come a time where I would appreciate getting things I actually needed as gifts.” The middle of May brought beautiful weather, along with the young soldier’s birthday. A whole twenty-six years old that day, and spending it in a prisoner-of-war camp in southern Germany. He had been showered with gift...

10 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Sant Pol de Mar

Submitted to Contest #140

Sant Pol de Mar Beach, Spain, August 1979I remember how his eyes held mine and drew me toward the shore, my feet sinking an inch with every step and hot sand squishing like little lava eruptions from between my toes.I’d had a morning’s swim and had just caught him watching me when a wave caught my back and ushered me forward. Then the wave collapsed behind me and fell back into the sea, like it had been called into existence just to present me to him.He stood there on the edge of the water and looked at me. I looked back.He said, “Shouldn’t ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Down memory lane with ghosts from the past

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember Madeline like it was yesterday… I don´t know about you, but to me, certain houses proclaim a character of evil. Maybe it´s just an unalterable conviction, after having seen one too many horror stories. Some houses seem to communicate an atmosphere of secrecy, an aroma of evil deeds, which make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A mixture of the scent of the evildoer and the horror of the victim. Madeline lived in such a house. An ordinary house. It stood crowded in a corner of a square and looked exactly like its ugly neig...

10 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

I Remember You

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember tiny pieces of why I could never let you go. Why you just had an unexplainable impact on my life. It’s been such a long time since I laid eyes on you but I can still remember what it felt like when your soul reached out and touched mine. I remember turning to look at you and staring into those beautiful green eyes where all my hopes and dreams decided to reside. In those eyes I saw possibilities that perhaps a guy like you could fall for a girl like me. A girl broken and bruised, afraid to open up again. A girl who yearned for y...

10 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

I'll Love You Until the Multiverse Implodes

Submitted to Contest #140

“I remember…” Havoc had been expecting the detective for a while, but not like this. Not with blood oozing out of slashes in his clothes, not with bruises across his eyes and nose. His eyes were focused on her, glazed with pain. Despite how many times he’d tried to kill her, despite the decades of one-sided animosity, Havoc rushed forward to catch him before he collapsed.  His dead weight nearly caused her to drop him. Carefully, she lowered him to the dirty wooden floor, his back against her chest, his head over her heart. Her colors, ...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Bitter Tea

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember the first day Gram let us pick out our own cups. Nennie and I twirled through the tearoom, giggling as we brushed our tiny fingers along the display. Fifty years’ worth of teacups lined the walls—every color, every pattern. Nennie chose a pale-yellow cup with purple pansies and matching saucer. I picked out a squat, blue one. "Oh, Nennie,” Gram cooed at my sister, “That's very grown-up teacup. You have wonderful taste!” Gram turned to me. “I forgot I had that one, Deborah. Your grandfather gave that to me years ago.” She scrun...

9 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Ida and the Stricken Savant

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember the day she died.I wish I didn’t. I wish I could forget. One night I saw a storm in the forecast for the next day and prayed I’d be struck by lightning so I’d forget everything.I remember a lot of things about that day. I’m not talking about the day she died. I’m talking about the day after the night I prayed I’d be struck by lightning. And every day since then.I remember everything that has happened in the past seven months because God answered my prayers. Of course, he didn’t answer my prayers when my wife started getting s...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

I Remember Drowning

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember drowning.  Most people would pick a more pleasant memory, but to me, the day when I nearly drowned in the South Fork of the American River on June 17, 1992, created a memory that will be with me the rest of my life.  I have many other memories, some good as well, some not so good, some I wish I could forget because they weigh me down like an anchor.  I will never forget how quickly I was pulled into the rapids, helpless as a newborn and then at the exact moment when I thought I was going to die, I came to the surfac...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The School Magazine

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember that day perfectly. It was as gloomy as my mood lately. I was twenty-seven years old and already bored with life. Also, it wasn’t the best idea to forget my umbrella at home during a rain shower, nor to miss the bus. To make matters worse, an asshole driver splashed me from head to toe. I explained to him, in my mind, why his mother was an easy woman, but that didn't dry my underwear. I was going to be late for school, and there was no doubt that in my class there would be pandemonium. The last time I was late, I found the littl...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Mahon 1969

Submitted to Contest #140

Sensitive material: Some swearing and descriptions of sexual harassment but they are a necessary part of the story. Mahon 1969 I remember it as though yesterday - “Eh, English, fucky fucky!” These words are seared in my memory. I can still hear them, even now.  They were shouted at me by a raggle taggle group of young men and boys whenever I disembarked from the coach to Mahon from Cala‘n Porter. Face burning, I would head off down the street carrying my metal handled shopping bags. The women would look at me wit...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Forced Fate

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember green trees. To be specific, not just green trees, but trees in a myriad of colors. Autumn brought leaves of red, purple, and a beautiful golden yellow. Some trees stayed a beautiful deep green year-round. Spring was the best time to admire the trees. The bright green buds of newly forming leaves were a sight to behold, and the blooms of colorful flowers were always beautiful. I did not appreciate them then. They were the most mundane thing in the world that I took for granted. I never thought I would wake up in this dreary future...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

I Remember

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember the cold, damp ground. I remember the red liquid oozing from my near lifeless body. How the grass felt, how the wind felt, my limbs unable to move. I remember feeling like I was watching my body from above, dissociated, cold and waiting.  It had been a day like any other Wednesday, I’d taken the bus to work in a small independent coffee shop. Not a bad job, good colleagues, good customers. Like any day, I’d got in, served the regulars, made small talk, put on a nice smile. After I’d finished I said bye to everyone and walke...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character with an unreliable memory.

Character – 46 stories

End your story with total oblivion.

Horror – 24 stories

Write a story that involves a flashback.

Fiction – 70 stories

Write a story inspired by a memory of yours.

Nonfiction – 89 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel