Write about a person who constantly has to put on a persona (e.g. at work, in their relationships, etc.) who can finally drop the facade.

Posted in Character on Jul 14, 2023

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✍️ 80 stories

“The Soviet Bull” by Zack Herman

Submitted to Contest #207

Igor Zarkov, the Soviet Bull, glared into camera 2 and began growling what people in his profession call a promo.“You Americans make me sick! You think you are the good guys and everybody else are the villains! Land of the free? Home of the brave? Your President is such a coward that he will not send your puny athletes to the Olympics! Just look at this!”The large man with the shaved head and goatee held up a newspaper. The headline read “CONGRESS APPROVES ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR DISABLED VETS”.“What a fraud! In my homeland, the Soviet ...

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“Last Ride” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #207

Welcome aboard… Guess you are my last fare for the night. We have about thirty to forty-five minutes before we get to the terminus and usually no one ever takes this last ride. Take a seat. There are about thirty for you.Right at the front… Yeah, I’m a little bored, too. Working nights has made me think that I must have something wrong with me. Better to be up and doing this type of work when the sun is coming around and you can feel the rest of you waking up. Only doing this…for my own reasons.Night shift for you, too? Great, then you under...

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“ALL AMERICAN” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #207

ALL AMERICANChase Malone was the quintessential American hero: tall, strong, blonde and handsome. He was fun around the guys and chivalrous around women. He drove an enviable Porsche Boxster to work and a Jeep Wrangler to the beach in summer. He rose at 5am each morning to go work out at the Y and had the kind of buff body that would not be out of place in a pro-sport locker room. Additionally, he played racquet ball competitively, swam lengths twice per week and, on weekends, was the best player in his team’s softball le...

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“slice of pie” by Colleen Ireland

Submitted to Contest #207

From a short distance, with cylinder ringlets, round saucer eyes, and peachy complexion, she appeared as a historical fairytale dream, a Miss Colonial pageant queen. Her rosebud lips formed rhotic consonant-r’s, all her words moving to the sounds of a Tidewater settler. An accent I was familiar with but couldn’t name until now. In her hand, a scarlet red crayon; the letters, CRO, were written onto a Muslim white wall in the Noix House main room. Turning to look over her shoulder, she caught me watching; wispy curls framed her apple-cheek fac...

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“brightstar” by Victoria Shellady

Submitted to Contest #207

At first glance, it appears Lilith has just stepped out of a romantic comedy. Her white and gray hair is tied in a fluffy bun, sticking straight out from the top of her head. She's curled up in a tight ball on a green velvet couch, sporting a flowy white gauze top and distressed jeans. She's balancing a book on one knee and a cup of mysterious green juice in one hand. A beam of light hits her from behind, making her silhouette glow. This is a startling departure from the woman I grew up listening to and watching on the biggest stages in the ...

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“Letting The Mask Slip” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #207

After all this time, I think I’m beginning to understand. I’ve spent my entire life running. Running away. Now I think I know what it was I was running away from. Me. I was running away from myself. I kept running, only I told myself that this was living. That I had to keep going. I could never stop. To stop was to meet an end, and I told myself that I was afraid of the end. That I was not ready. Truth is that we are never ready. I’ve seen that truth more than most. I’m beginning to realise that none of this was real. N...

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“What We Lost At Sea” by Caroline Smith

Submitted to Contest #207

There had been a rumor, living in perpetuity on the tongues of generations of fishermen and charter captains, that something strange lived on the ocean floor. The brash and flushed old-timers sweating over their pub pints would exchange stories of a salacious mermaid tempting them beneath the surface with the promise of a saltwater kiss, as viscous and everlasting as taffy. The younger guys smoking joints behind the boathouse liked to joke about increasingly ridiculous combinations of creatures, a shark and an electric eel or a giant frog cr...

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“The Caregiver” by N.M. Stech

Submitted to Contest #207

Jeremy woke on a bright Saturday morning during the summer between their first and second evictions. By more conventional accounting, it was the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. For his classmates, this was that illusive, magical summer between adolescence and adulthood, that rare patch of temporal ground in which the freedoms of childhood overlap with the privileges of maturity. It was a summer of exploration and discovery. Jeremy, however,...

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“The Professor’s Secret” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #207

Morning seeped through the window and swirled about the room. Thin white curtains did little to stop it. Bits of dust sparkled in the air as Professor Miles Clark sat with a stack of papers and red pen, reading and grading. The squeaking sound of sneakers jarred the Professor from his concentration and he turned to look toward the door, glasses slipping an inch down his nose. “Ah, Julia! Turning in your work I see! It’s about time, young lady! You really do like to press a deadline, don’t you!” Professor Clark said with a smile...

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“Pot Plants and Self-Help Books” by Carina Caccia

Submitted to Contest #207

It is here in a lamplit living room, surrounded by pot plants and self-help books, where we meet our protagonist, Marta. She sits in a cloud of cigarette smoke, ashing it every few tokes in a red metal tray painted with gold elephants. Her daughter brought it back from Thailand—another toke of her cigarette—and, as always, had thought of her. Thank goodness someone does, otherwise she might go mad; no amount of pot plants and self-help books can compensate for a child’s love. They do, however, silence the scream of solitude for a while. She ...

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“The Face of Death” by David King

Submitted to Contest #207

The barely legal tinted Challenger made everyone in the vicinity anxious. Not-so-subtle glances and obvious peeks were shot in the car’s direction from miscellaneous windows and partially open doors. Despite all this, Asura walked confidentially to the car. His smile glistened through his hairy and unkempt face as he entered the car. Not a single smile was present ...

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“Beautiful Catastrophe” by Alexia Kendall

Submitted to Contest #207

My life is very plain and simple. Wake up, work, home, repeat. It was like clockwork, and I loved it that way. That's how it's supposed to be, Monday through Saturday. I Struggle to get out of bed sharp and early, just to make it to work every day. Today is the same as yesterday, how was I supposed to know she would see through everything I worked so hard to build. I'm sitting just scrolling through the lists of contacts to call, listening to the constant clicking of keyboards and obnoxious conversations of my coworkers. My bright fake smile...

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“Volunteer” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #207

The security guard looked askance at Belinda’s aged Toyota Camry as she pulled up to the entrance booth of the exclusive golf community. Nettled, she announced the address she was visiting in imperial tones quite unlike her usual speech and saw the guard nod with grudging respect. As she drove past elegant homes with picture-perfect emerald lawns and manicured gardens, she wondered where everyone was. The scene was devoid of human life other than an occasional delivery van or group of dark-skinned landscaping crews. Belinda thought with rese...

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“The cat blinked.” by Rose Lind

Submitted to Contest #207

To imply the word "facade" means cultural control. It means the ball of twine is tangled and dirty, and the culture wants to blame the cat for the abhorrent mess. The cats of the world are the most obvious blame, aren't they? So let the yod, or the finger of God, squarely point at the stereotype, the cat! The weak, the coward, choose not the internal journey of teasing out the dried leaves, spider webs, mud, and/or excrement from thyself, lest of all straightening the string. "NO," says the hive mind, readying to wre...

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“The Smile” by Electra Nanou

Submitted to Contest #207

10am I know that hyena smile—toothy but awkward beneath ominous eyes. It means she wants something, usually unpleasant, but is trying to be polite about it. I brace myself, while returning a more cordial smile, the one I wear five hours a day for customers and colleagues alike. My shield. 'What's this about a course you're doing?' she asks, her interest tinged with judgement. 'Yes, I've started an Access course. It's nearby. Fits perfectly on my days off. It's quite cool so far,' I reply, unsure what her complaint is this time. She saves me...

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Write about a person who constantly has to put on a persona (e.g. at work, in their relationships, etc.) who can finally drop the facade.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 80 stories

“The Soviet Bull” by Zack Herman

“Last Ride” by Kendall Defoe

“ALL AMERICAN” by Charles Corkery

“slice of pie” by Colleen Ireland

“brightstar” by Victoria Shellady

“Letting The Mask Slip” by Jed Cope

“What We Lost At Sea” by Caroline Smith

“The Caregiver” by N.M. Stech

“The Professor’s Secret” by Nina H

“Pot Plants and Self-Help Books” by Carina Caccia

“The Face of Death” by David King

“Beautiful Catastrophe” by Alexia Kendall

“Volunteer” by Bettina Karpathian

“The cat blinked.” by Rose Lind

“The Smile” by Electra Nanou

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story on a film or TV set, starting with someone calling “Cut!”

A journalist has been granted permission to visit the premises of a lab carrying out top-secret work. They could never have anticipated what they’d find…

Write a story about a magician who never reveals their secrets — until now.

Set your story in the kitchen of a bustling restaurant.

Contest #207

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

234

Contest entries

96

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: