End your story with someone finding themselves.

Posted in Character on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 42 stories

“Birth Mother” by Amanda Lieser

I stand in a perfectly pristine kitchen. The counter tops are covered in flour. She stands at them, waiting for me. She’s rolling out the cookie dough in deep, even strokes, like the ocean kissing the beach. Her soft humming fills the kitchen with love. Her hands lift me up; I'm in a navy blue sundress with little yellow sunflowers on it. “Here, sweetie,” she hands me an apron and I lift my little arms obediently to her. She ties it around my waist. A little teddy bear clutching a rolling pin in one soft, brown paw is splashed across my t...

107 comments 107 WINNER 🏆

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“Sun Jaguar (Part 2)” by Jon Casper

Halfway up a hundred-meter cliff face is a terrible place for an argument.Adela and I had spent the better part of the morning alternately notching our bodies and our gear from ledge to ledge, with only a limited length of rope. Roasting in the late-morning equatorial sun, salted and basted with sweat, we’d evidently made the gross miscalculation of attempting to converse like decent humans. Lovers, even, who had just discovered their bliss not twelve hours earlier.“So you admit,” said Adela, as she str...

17 comments 17

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“Envy” by Zaara Rajaji

The king was dead. Kai’s eyes trailed from the king’s lifeless body to me. Disdain filled his gaze, but barely a second later his expression flickered. Like a button, a mischievous smile spread across his face, “All that blood looks great on you, really brings out your eyes.”The door burst open and Reina was plunged out of her world. The world where anything could exist, where she was someone with an important title destined to battle kingdoms. She talked about books with so...

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“Blood of My Enemies” by Brenda W

Standing in the middle of her drop cloth-covered living room floor, Shondra whispered “I am bathing in the blood of my enemies!” She painted her body deep red with deliberate movements. Savoring the cool, slightly sticky feeling, each stroke became an incident from her past. Here were the children in grade school leaving her at the table all by herself. There was a boyfriend in college who ghosted her. This stroke was a...

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“A Meeting of the Minds. ” by Eric Falvey

*TW* LanguageIt was a dreary Saturday. Of course, everyday had become a bit dreary for me these days. Stuck in the mundane, a spectacular waste of braincells and potential. Wasted away and living the life of a settler. That's what I call them, the people who build their life on repetition and consistency. The kind who work at the same job for 50 years, thinking that their hard work and servitude ACTUALLY means something to the rich pricks who own the company. The kind of people that live their entire lives wit...

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“Lightless” by Anoush Hovnanian

I 4:00 am I can’t sleep. Sometimes sleep won’t come to you. No matter what you do to catch it. No matter how hard you try. Sleep won’t come. If Luna was there, she would probably tell me sleep is not something you can order around. She would tell me this, in that soothing voice of hers. Tha...

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“Helper of Mankind” by Jamie Gregory

On the morning of my sixteenth birthday, I was jolted awake by the discordant sounds of a car horn blaring outside and my mom’s fists banging on my bedroom door. I rolled over in bed with the agility of a sloth. 5:53 am — my birth minute. Happy birthday to me, I thought grudgingly. Mom’s voice, teetering between stern and panicky tones, shouted at me through the door, “Sasha, are you awake? The ...

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“River Rat” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

What is a River Rat? Realistically, it is a four legged rodent that lives near waterways and is one of God's ickiest creatures. Being known as a rat is not very complimentary, but it does carry a connotation for fierceness of a beast that would never back down from a confrontation even in the face of certain death. After living a life where compliance was expected and predictability was the payoff, I knew it...

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“Her” by Jamie Kleppestø

note; this story contains mental health problems and mentions self harm.Who am I? Am I important? Or am I just a nobody? My head hurt, i couldn’t think, but at the same time, a flow of thoughts was streaming into my head. Who am I really? Am I the boy I portray myself as, or am I faking it all? What if I’m faking it?! What if no one really knows me, what if I’ve been lying to everyone I know?!Oh god, I’m a terrible person, aren’t I? Why can’t I just be happy with who I am? I should be happy, there’s nothing that's...

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“A Summer Rain” by Miriam Esessien

It was a lonely drive from work. My booming radio and thoughts, my only company. I shuddered a little in my white woolen sweater. The air was unusually chilly. I mindlessly switched from one station to another as I was beginning to lose signal and then little by little, my warm serenade turned to the sizzle of a pan. I let out a sigh of annoyance and turned off my radio. The only sound that could be heard was the lonely howl of the wind, just like my sick heart. The weather forecast did announce that it would rain later but how odd tho...

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“A Journey of a Single Miles” by Zach Martz

Logbook Entry 06-001First off, to anyone who is reading this, I would just like to say that whoever came up with the phrase, “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” can go screw himself.I almost just died. And I’m not any stronger than I was before.Also, I am NOT a morning person. Mornings are the worst. Especially this one. Well, if it was morning at all. There was no alarm clock, no angry beeping, no workday...

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“The Painter” by Chris Winters

THE PAINTER 1. Seth Walker loaded his ladder onto the roof of the van. The ladder was long and awkward, but he was able to manage. The paint job that he was preparing for was a big one. Normally for a job of that size, he would bring on one of his employees. However, it was a simple contract - just...

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“Tinsel” by Jeff Ventura

Although it was December, he had both windows down. He tried not to think about the unusually warm weather, a week before Christmas, as a symptom of the planet's long, tortured farewell, but rather as a hint of the weekend's celebratory potential. Midlife had been marked by the predictable and planned, and so something so out of the blue — an invitation to a bayside Christmas party from a friend he hadn't seen in twent...

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“Surrender” by Fatima Jawaid

[CW: strong language, violence, and death]He looked happy. The worst part was it seemed to be genuine. Not that familiar, fake over-the-top happiness you always saw in Hallmark movies. Not that plaster-on-a-smile, surface level, type happiness. No, the man appeared genuinely happy; even doing something as menial as unloading groceries from the trunk of his car.The very sight of it infuriated Ayla. This man was the cause of her current predicament. You don’t get to blow ...

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“Identity is Confusing and Involves Losing” by Daniel Brown

“Heavenly Father, I pray that no one in this restaurant gets Covid. I pray that no one gets Covid from me. I believe me winning my battle and walking and breathing right now is a sign of good health and fortune for me and everyone. Amen” prayed Rhonda“Amen. But you didn’t have to bring up Covid, Rhonda. People are looking at us strange now.” responded Jharell.“Let them look Jharell. I am exhibiting no signs of Covid. All is well.” assured Rhonda.Jharell bore a sheepish look ...

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Title: Birth Mother

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End your story with someone finding themselves.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 42 stories

“Birth Mother” by Amanda Lieser

“Sun Jaguar (Part 2)” by Jon Casper

“Envy” by Zaara Rajaji

“Blood of My Enemies” by Brenda W

“A Meeting of the Minds. ” by Eric Falvey

“Lightless” by Anoush Hovnanian

“Helper of Mankind” by Jamie Gregory

“River Rat” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“Her” by Jamie Kleppestø

“A Summer Rain” by Miriam Esessien

“A Journey of a Single Miles” by Zach Martz

“The Painter” by Chris Winters

“Tinsel” by Jeff Ventura

“Surrender” by Fatima Jawaid

“Identity is Confusing and Involves Losing” by Daniel Brown

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a character in search of something or someone.

Start your story with someone trying to read a map.

Write a story where two characters are playing hide and seek, literally or metaphorically.

Set your story in a labyrinth that holds a secret.

Contest #124

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

232

Contest entries

151

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: