Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Posted in Angst on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 320 stories

“Blessed Home” by Mary Sheehan

🏆 Winner of Contest #98

I am spinning slowly in my tank, suspended in doped-up air, buoyant, bobbing. Piano music (Beethoven?) plays softly in the background. My eyes are closed, but if I opened them, I would see only pale yellow light enclosing me in a warm glow.I like the piano music. It makes me feel calm. That, alongside the sedation. The Facility keeps mine light, because I prefer it that way, and because I am well-behaved. The Facility knows my ways, knows I don’t misbehave. I have been here for a long time now. It must be years, though there is no sense of t...

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“WOMB ” by Mohamed Sarfan

Submitted to Contest #98

The dumb spiders were crying in a dilapidated house. Suddenly, the raindrops with the heavy wind were alike fighting with the earth. A six-month pregnant woman was fighting for survival like the deer which was caught by the four hunters. The new saying resuscitated in her life... “Having a pregnant woman for lust is a simple thing when the giants rape the four years child". The chaste woman was approaching death by the four youngsters who were sunk in the drugs. ‘Arun, Enough let’s let her, she can bear no more.’ ‘Joseph, the ...

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“Life in Passing” by Lynn Penny

Submitted to Contest #98

“Is that me?” The Latina woman whispered with a hand covering her mouth as she pointed at the splattered mess of blood and flesh on the cement that was once a cyclist crossing the street at a crosswalk. Vera was used to seeing souls freak out at the sights of their own gruesome corpses, but that didn’t make it any easier.“I’m so terribly sorry,” Vera’s novice—Sam—croaked out. Vera recognized the face of sheer despair that was painted on their face. Sam being one of the newest recruits, facing their first violent death, Vera expected nothing ...

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“One can always Drown beneath the Past” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #98

People strolled through the town, quiet and peaceful in a manner jarring to him and his once chaotic life, he watched them anyway, halfway waiting to spot a Revenant amongst them. Sleep wasn’t an easy task for Laz, it never had been, under the Bunker’s artifice, and it hadn’t changed after the flood. So he watched his neighbors, as they took to their menial tasks. Most didn’t take their limited time to notice him, in the once vacant house his benefactor’s had been allotted. But they were always nervous when they did. He was new of co...

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“Humanity” by Corbin Sage

Submitted to Contest #98

He found her slumped against the wall in the living room, clutching her arm and surrounded by the monsters she had slain. She looked up when she saw him, and a brief smile touched her lips before a wince took it away. “Are you okay?” He asked, and he could barely hear her response over the chorus of voices in his head. Your fault Your fault Your fault “I would’ve come out of the house like we planned if I was fine.” She said and adjusted her position. Her teeth clamped together and her eyes shut tight as a spasm of pain hit her, ...

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“cathedral” by R E

Submitted to Contest #98

Snap! My eyes widened, globes of murky brown fear fixating back on the path I had come from, ears searching for a sign of movement aside from the faint chatter of wildlife, the chirp of a lonesome, passing bird. I panted, heart racing as I waited but all I could hear was my own ragged breathing consumed with dread and unease. I didn’t have the luxury of time. I had to keep moving. Desperately trying to muffle my whimpers of trepidation, I moved through the forest quick and low, bare feet flying over logs, skidding over gravel. The bott...

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“There Will Always Be More Fish in the Sea ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #98

Somedays, she really regretted the tail. It was shimmering and blue and honestly very magical, but it was also heavy, like the disappointed looks her parents gave her when they realized what she had done. To them, it seemed she had thrown away almost three whole years of a good, solid college education to go chase out her wildest dream, one she had had since she was a tiny girl, still wrapped up in her mermaid blanket and hopping around the first floor of her family’s home. To her parents, it seemed she had left their dream of a stable futur...

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“A Lone Traveler” by Caroline Fonteno

Submitted to Contest #98

15 year old Kendall Grey walked through the woods. Kendall emerged into a small town. She started walking through the town. Then she realized this was her old home. The home she had come to know so well. She thought she smelled smoke but didn’t know where it was coming from. As she was walking she walked past the town square and suddenly she saw it. The reason that she would never, could never return home. 7 years ago Kendall had been at a party with her parents. Kendall was not the type to follow rules so when her parents told her not...

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“terminus” by Katie Evans

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #98

Danny grins right into the sun and revs the engine, nudging the speedometer past eighty. There’s not a sign of life for as far as he can see, until the ochre of the desert bleeds into the heat haze on the horizon. Just the endless sameness of rocks and dust and melting tarmac. It really makes the man beside him, tux rumpled and disheveled, hair a windswept mess, all the more interesting. He laughs, draping one wrist over the wheel and turning to look at him. “Y’know, I haven’t seen a groom look so damn miserable since my Uncle Jimmy marri...

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“Rain” by Rebecca Weinert

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #98

TW: trauma, abuseThe smell of freshly ground coffee surrounds me. I am sitting at the table in the corner right next to the door, breathing in the fresh morning air, the scent of summer rain on cobblestones. I listen to the sound of the seagulls, a sound so new to me but so easy to get used to. The cup between my palms is still hot and I let my fingertips trace the rim, waiting for the coffee to cool so I can drink it.You never liked coffee. Maybe that’s why I picked it. The bitter taste still stings but I’m slowly getting used to it.The sou...

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“Painted Over” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #98

They’ve made some questionable design choices. Not that Mom didn’t in her day. I smile as I look through Mr. and Mrs. Merkle, peering years into my past: the wood paneling on the walls, the blue-checkered wallpaper, the pink fixtures to match the roses in the guest bathroom. That’s all gone now, almost twenty years later. The walls are painted a shade of beige that’s so inoffensive it offends me. The Merkles have whitewashed the mottled oak kitchen cabinets and the red bricks around the fireplace. Just as well. Both oak and exposed bric...

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“On the Failure of Humans” by Pippin Took

Submitted to Contest #98

Maydon is a beautiful place, Faye thought. It’s paradise. Maydon, the smallish island Faye lived in, was gorgeous. It was full of lush, emerald jungle trees, beautiful fog in the mornings. Red, gold, pink, and blue sunsets painted the skies every night. The golden sands were soft on your feet when you walked, as Faye did now. Brightly colored flowers peeked out from the undergrowth, and the animals were elusive and not at all dangerous. The years passed by slowly here for Faye, locked away from the world. She had never seen another...

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“Consequences” by BRoOkE HAs A COwBoY HAt

Submitted to Contest #98

Author's Note: This is the beginning of a maybe-novel that I am writing. If it does not turn into a novel, it will at least be a very long story, and I may share the rest of it if I ever finish. Be completely honest about what you think of it! :D Also, this is just my rough draft. 0% revised/edited.Fight“Get off of me, freak!” Desdemona screeched.“You get off of me first, dummy!” Keres screamed back.The two threw punches. Des hit Keres right in the nose, and it began to bleed. Keres narrowed his eyes at his twin before bringing his leg up an...

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“A way to home” by Akshita Arora

Submitted to Contest #98

' you have to begin from somewhere' a reminder was written on my work desk.So that's why I agreed to meet mrinali a journalism student and a never met friend . we only knew that we just existed ,through social media, before all that happened. She wants to make a documentary on people affected by recent delhi riots.It was a day in a month of October a festive season in India . Everyone's calenders were filled with red marks but mine with appointment.The whole society was filled with scents of different cuisines and every house was decorated w...

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“Between the blue Devil and the red Sea” by Stranger Phantom

Submitted to Contest #98

The legend has been told many times to young kids by their older relatives all around the greater Bengal. Earliest accounts of the legend itself goes back to the writings of the great Turkish General Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji. Since then the story has been told to many, which has led to many different versions of it arising. This is an attempt to publish the most accurate version of the legend, the version that most likely is true to its original source. A long time ago, there was this city, a city with no name, and in tha...

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Won by Mary Sheehan 🏆

Title: Blessed Home

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Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 320 stories

“Blessed Home” by Mary Sheehan

“WOMB ” by Mohamed Sarfan

“Life in Passing” by Lynn Penny

“One can always Drown beneath the Past” by Kathleen `Woods

“Humanity” by Corbin Sage

“cathedral” by R E

“There Will Always Be More Fish in the Sea ” by Jubilee Forbess

“A Lone Traveler” by Caroline Fonteno

“terminus” by Katie Evans

“Rain” by Rebecca Weinert

“Painted Over” by A.Dot Ram

“On the Failure of Humans” by Pippin Took

“Consequences” by BRoOkE HAs A COwBoY HAt

“A way to home” by Akshita Arora

“Between the blue Devil and the red Sea” by Stranger Phantom

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a family with a long-standing tradition, whose members all have conflicting origin stories for it.

Start your story with a character having a premonition, but no one believes them.

Write about someone who’s desperately trying to change their luck.

Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Contest #98

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

751

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: