Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Posted in Angst on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 320 stories

“Be Careful what you Wish for” by Lilith Safiro

Submitted to Contest #98

June 14, 2021. This is the date of this years’ Dragon Boat festival according to the Gregorian Calendar. I packed up my clothes and went straight to the airport to catch my flight to Beijing, China. Today, it’s June 10, 2021, 10:52 pm here in Seattle—I opened my laptop and started some entries in my calendar to indicate what I can do for the following days so I could prepare for my paper works. As a journalist, I need to be on the actual country where the festival originated. Where will I even begin to start writing about it? “Good ...

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“Memories in endless circles” by Felipe Kreusch

Submitted to Contest #98

Blink, something so usual and simple that is present in everyday of our mundane lives. It was in a blink indeed that I ended up appearing in a purple rock-based land, I have no idea where I am or even why such fate have met my until now calm sleep feeling the cold breeze of a summer wind on the small river behind my house. I walked a lot since I arrived here, indeed when I got up from my unexpected fall, I looked I around me in a despair that made sure to cover every single drop of my blood and my most deep and personal senses. Purple ...

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“Choosing Love” by Kristen Jensen

Submitted to Contest #98

Melanie pranced through the fields of hay that grow high this time of year. On occasion, she could see the overlook to the beautiful waterway she grew up beside. She could still picture the porch swing moving back and forth on a breezy spring morning. The tulips her mother planted had always begun to bloom during that time of year as she marveled at nature’s beauty. She reminisced on the days when she could walk on the old wooden boardwalk and feel the warm sun under her feet and the leftover sand between her toes. She used to look over the ...

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“Gaspard's Revenge” by Kate Enoch

Submitted to Contest #98

This story is my version of the murder of the Marquis, from the novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The rattle of the carriage in deafening. My arms burn, but the pain is the farthest thing from my mind. Well, my pain is the farthest from my mind. My hands are slick from oil that drips off the axels in rhythmic plip plip plips, and a bump is starting to form on the back of my head from the countless times it’s connected with the underside of the carriage I’m clinging to. The Marqu...

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“Uncertainly Apartheid” by Nabeel Anjum

Submitted to Contest #98

Could it be so that some Unearthly fate hits someone so hard that it becomes their only dream to get over it? No matter what and how good you did, it is not being looked upon by anyone now. Just a feeling of seeking answers to those sorts of questions must've ripped so many hearts into many pieces. Many of those kinds could be found scattered around the Globe, but Gurgaon's Homeless Shelter was a shed for many including my friend Dheeraj. "No!" shouted him, waking up from a nightmare. “Again?”I asked. "What was it this time?”...

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“Running” by Feyre Astor

Submitted to Contest #98

When you start running you can’t stop. The feeling of the wind against your face and the view constantly changing is the best in the world. But, some people don’t run for fun, they run from their problems. Their past that's constantly coming to haunt them. Now, this isn’t a story about a girl who ran away from home because she seemed to like it. It’s a girl that was forced to leave her home, her memories, her loved ones, and her life.*************** Nikki had a pleasant life. She would always go to school with her best friend Zyra and w...

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“Uproars and Benedictions” by E Moss

Submitted to Contest #98

I have a limited arsenal of internal movements at hand given to me for explaining my plight, so if focus is frenetic then I shall implore the reader will entertain that I scramble in reciting my last utterances alive like slurred declarations concerning a passage into stillness that is transient, whereas all other which I surface is tenebrous in inhospitable abandon. So I ask that the reader be unflinching about observance so that I may leave understood, notwithstanding my vanishing reserve not only depleting me of alacrity but also seldom t...

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“Smoky Memories” by Catherine Hill

Submitted to Contest #98

The empty cigarette boxes piled three high on the cafe table. He’d given a few of them away to other people at the cafe, but the rest he smoked himself. With each puff he heard his wife’s voice, “If you widow me with all these kids, I’ll kill you.” That’s why he smoked them, because they conjured her, and, maybe, if he smoked enough of them fast enough he could be with her again, and the kids. But it had been ten years and he was still fit as a fiddle. His body was surviving to spite him. When he first left America and came here, everyo...

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“Copper” by Rajesh Patel

Submitted to Contest #98

Jimmy was only twelve. And…he was gone…forever. Yes, gone from this world. He lived with his dad, Richard, who was quite busy with work most of the time. An unfortunate accident occurred, after school, when Jimmy was on his way home. A public bus never saw Jimmy on its way turning right at the corner. If the driver saw him, it was too late… Richard was a single father and he was more focused on his work and paying the bills, than the welfare of his son. Several times a week, Richard would arrive home after 7 PM. That would leave Jimmy al...

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“Where is Home Now” by Nina March

Submitted to Contest #98

“Do you have any fears about returning to normal life?” It was a simple question but it held so much meaning. I stared vacantly at Lisa as I tried to form a sentence together that would summarise what I was feeling. The truth was there weren't enough words in the world to describe everything I was feeling in that moment. “Honestly...” I began my voice coming out in a nervous croak. “I don’t know. But I’m ready to try.” Lisa paused as if she were taking a moment to process what I was saying and deeply analyse my answer. ...

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“The Ballad of Kallista Laumee” by David Yanovich

Submitted to Contest #98

From the very moment I was born, I was destined for a lifetime of hatred, mockery, and violence. I am what is known as a Cambion, which is a person born with demonic traits due to some kind of demonic lineage in their family (for me it was way way back on my mami's (mother's) side). I can't say for certain what the reactions of the midwives and other village members were, but I have a feeling that my fati's (father's) face at the sight of me was a mix of disgust, shock, and sorrow. At least, I assume so from how often he made that face throu...

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“Seas and Home” by Ellita Styles

Submitted to Contest #98

The Sun was sinking slowly into the wide, deep ocean; its faint light desperately clinging to the Earth for a last resort. Ian could feel his grip on the rope tighten, as if he might fall down into the deep watery abyss beneath the ship. The crinkles on his brow resembled the creased waves on the splashing waves of the black sea- haphazard yet somehow rhythmic. Their dilapidated ship drifted across the enormous ocean stealthily. There was nothing except the violet sky above and the black ocean below. The ship seemed to scar the beautiful r...

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“Amazing Grace” by Lavender Blue

Submitted to Contest #98

AMAZING GRACEShe is floating up to the ceiling and back. Floating on air it seems. She reaches out to touch the wall and finds it missing. Her heart beats faster and faster as she slowly awakens.A dream, she thinks, for nothing like that has ever happened to her in any world but that of sleep. She tries to reach for the real wall but finds herself constrained. Her fingers miss it by about three inches. Maybe it's not really there she thinks. Then I will be free. The thought improves her spirits but then she remembers that the wall is not her...

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“The Eldest” by Anuji Withana

Submitted to Contest #98

I was cautiously walking down the bazaar street. The night market was buzzing into action. Neon lights flooded one by one, as the electricity crackled in the small shop fronts, all crowded with men and women in after-office attire. The noise was deafening as they brawled away on bargains and chatted away the essence of their day. A couple of officers in uniforms patrolled the area with their batons in hand, eyeing the suspicious out of the corners of their eyes. I felt sweat trickle down my back and all my nerves gather ...

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“Monster” by Leeav Quaoar

Submitted to Contest #98

There was a monster in my house.Not a cockroach, not a spider—but an actual monster in my house.The kind of monster you see in fantasy stories.Nonhuman.Not a metaphor. It's the real damn thing.I had no choice but to leave the house.But where did it come from? Last week, I was living life as it was, and there it was, crawling onto the walls.It wasn't even shaped like a bug.It crept onto the ceilings, looking at me. I couldn't describe how it looked like. No matter how good you are in vocabulary, you simply can't describe t...

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Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 320 stories

“Be Careful what you Wish for” by Lilith Safiro

“Memories in endless circles” by Felipe Kreusch

“Choosing Love” by Kristen Jensen

“Gaspard's Revenge” by Kate Enoch

“Uncertainly Apartheid” by Nabeel Anjum

“Running” by Feyre Astor

“Uproars and Benedictions” by E Moss

“Smoky Memories” by Catherine Hill

“Copper” by Rajesh Patel

“Where is Home Now” by Nina March

“The Ballad of Kallista Laumee” by David Yanovich

“Seas and Home” by Ellita Styles

“Amazing Grace” by Lavender Blue

“The Eldest” by Anuji Withana

“Monster” by Leeav Quaoar

🌟 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: