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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#79: The Family You Choose

They say blood is thicker than water — but is it always?

The truth is that not all families offer healthy relationships to each other, and sometimes the harsh act of cutting them out of your life may be the best course of action. Fortunately, we can still meet people who love us no matter what and become our new families. Not to mention adoptions, blended families, and all the wonderful ways people connect with and support each other, regardless of whether they share any DNA. It's fair to say that family is a lot more than blood!

This week, we’re going to turn family life upside down and examine all the ways that family succeeds — and fails — for our characters.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who decides it’s time to cut ties with a family member.

Sad – 260 stories

Your main character is approached by their long-estranged parent who wants to reconnect. How do they react?

Dramatic – 193 stories

Write about someone who discovers the only family member they have left has just betrayed them.

Sad – 160 stories

Write about two characters who’ve gone through something so intense they now feel like family.

Adults – 190 stories

Write about a “found family” who are finally able to get together again after a long time apart.

Fluff – 100 stories

Stories

“We have been looking everywhere for you” by Serena Green

Submitted to Contest #79

There are some feelings, some deep personal feelings, that are unexplainable. The ones you can’t really share with anyone, even if you did want to; even if you did try to put them into words. The same ones that seem to always last longer than all the others. Alice was experiencing a fair dose of a mix of them at the same time. Sitting at the edge of the rooftop of a two story building, she felt anxious, sad, angry; but not quite. It was as if someone had had a recipe that required all of the above, but had somehow mixed up the doses. Not t...

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“Daydreams” by Stefany George

Submitted to Contest #79

''Am sorry Anne, I need to go with daddy, I can't leave daddy, the court already decided that, you just stay with Mom, and be a good child, I will always write to you'' my elder sister Annabelle said with tears in her eyes, tears that didn't move me, she had announced it in the court that she wanted to go with dad,it was her decision, she always said she wished she was the only daughter of a rich man, she bugged everybody of how bad and corrupt she would have become, if mom wasn't so tight on her, she only wanted to be free, no more mom, no ...

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“My palace ” by S Afrose

Submitted to Contest #79

Can I call you my dear child? Can you consider me as your mom? I'm really happy to get you in this stage of life. You're my dear family. I'm (Maya) shocked, hearing this awesome words from that site. Is it true? May I be able to live in a family, again ? I can't think. The lady hugs me and I also do the same thing. Thank you God!!! A story of melancholy song turns to a melodious one. Maya is such a lovely teenager around 18 yrs old. At this early stage, she lost her lovely abode. Her parents are died due to pandemic waver. She has no...

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“Blue Ties ” by OluGlory Adeniran

Submitted to Contest #79

“Toby, why are you not in school?” “Uncle Mike!” Toby shrieked as he slid off the dining chair and raced into Michael’s open arms. “Only you get to call me Mike,” Michael said with a smile, sweeping Toby off his feet. “I miss you Uncle Mike,” Toby cooed, burying his face in the side of his Uncle’s neck. “That’s impossible, I was here yesterday,” Michael said, “And back to the question, What’s a ten-year old blond doing at home on a Monday morning?” Toby toyed with the golden cuff-links of Michael’s white shirt sleeves. “My te...

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“The Thirty Year Hunt” by Leon Moss

Submitted to Contest #79

“It’s twins! Both girls! Perfect, tiny, precious baby girls!” my wife, Carol yelled in excitement as she put the phone down. “C’mon Pete, let’s hop over there and have a drink and take a peep at our first grandchildren.” We did. Sirens were shattering the air, bombs were falling, people were running and screaming on the streets, but we weaved our way through the bodies, ruins and potholes until we reached our daughter’s apartment. It had taken an hour to travel 2 miles. We raced up two flights of stairs and banged on the door. Our son in ...

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“Conchie” by David Harland

Submitted to Contest #79

A week’s leave. It was really happening, thought Chas. He’d been dreaming of this for months, of coming home. It had been thoughts of home and family that had kept him going through the many dark times and dangers he had faced while away overseas. He stretched as the train pulled into the station, having managed to get a few hours’ sleep on the four-hour journey. He could do with sleeping for four days. Somewhere on the platform a newspaper seller was shouting. “Evening Standard-latest war news!” The vendor pronounced it “E’ning Stannard.” ...

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“Family” by Carol Keefer

Submitted to Contest #79

I watch the snowfall blanketing the street below, drawing a heart shape on the frosty window. “I don’t like lawyers,’ I mused to myself, trudging down the steps, wearing layers of clothes ready to face the icy fingers of the winter's wind. ‘It’s not fit for man or beast,’ I said with a chuckle, clutching my coat tighter, trying to stay warm as I hail a cab. And after a few attempts, one stopped up at the corner, wadding through the snow, as the air steals my breath. “Where to?” the cab driver said, keeping his eye...

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“Adjusting” by Emma Harris

Submitted to Contest #79

I sat in the interrogation room quietly as I listened to the officers repeat what they had told me. "You have to tell us everything you know first. If you answer our questions then you'll be allowed to see your family." One of the two officers said. I turned my pleading eyes to the detective that had saved me. Detective Min. He shook his head with the same serious face he always had on and he spoke quietly so that only I could hear. "It's best if you just tell them what they want to know quickly and then you can meet your family."I...

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“Mother Knows Best” by Pamela Berglund

Submitted to Contest #79

I was in labor for 14 hours before Jennifer was born. Richard and I were excited to welcome her into our world and expected her to come out perfect. I had done everything I could to ensure that she would be a happy and healthy baby. I ate all the right foods, exercised five times a week and got eight hours of sleep every night. Well, Jennifer was born right on time, weighing in at a healthy 7 pounds and twenty inches with the most beautiful face and dark brown chocolate eyes. We took her home after only two da...

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“Ms. Maisy ” by Rach Nordin

Submitted to Contest #79

————————————————————— *TRIGGER WARNING* contains minor themes of abuse, attempts of sucide, consumption of drugs and alcohol and sexual abuse. ————————————————————— I’m in a place where time seems to stand still. The social norm is that there is no social norm. You don’t bother anyone, and they don’t bother you. Everything feels totally surreal. One man walks past wearing sweatpants and a suit jacket. A young girl is wearing a skirt with what looks to be her fathers jacket. A teenager is lying across three chairs wearing the baggiest...

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“Choose however you see fit with the ending!” by Jacob97 Hoskin31

Submitted to Contest #79

The rules aren't always made clear. But when your dead, things seem out of place. The common formality of the affair isn't without its price. A dream like state you wander the land of which you were killed, forever in a state of complete disservice. He Regarded himself as a cursed man of a rather unusual precipice. died within the confines of a Rv Park. A unconventional lack of loneliness and probably perfect grounding for a ghost. He once was a man by the name of Arthur Flanagan. A usual traveler to this amusement. Arthur awoke al...

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“Pursued Lifetimes” by Nooresha Feedaally

Submitted to Contest #79

It was 2500 BC in the city of Uruk, in the Mesopotamian civilization when Rami lived with his mother and younger brother Essa. Their father, who played an integral part in the excavation of the Mohenjo-Daro site, was part of a tragic accident at the construction emplacement and succumbed to his injuries when the boys were infants. "Essa, Let's go to the forest and get some wood for the fire", Rami exclaimed. "Only if we stop by Munshiji's orchard and pick those berries", chuckled the cherubic young Essa. These twins have been each other's ...

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“The Irish Twin and The Unlucky One” by Kara Fagan

Submitted to Contest #79

Christiana always thought about her birth story. She’s always known she was adopted but became increasingly curious of the details around the beginning of high school. She wasn’t looking to form any relationships right away, but at least start from the beginning and find one member who shared the same blood as her. All she knew was that she had an ‘Irish Twin’ sister (she was also adopted to a different family), and a birth father living it up in the beaches of Santa Barbara. But that was it… Where exactly did I come from? Has my sister, f...

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“Unbroken ties” by Daleen Barnes

Submitted to Contest #79

Edna is on her way home from work after a very long day at the office "Thank you Monte", see you in the morning As usual Edna has everything planned and on schedule; a very neat and punctual woman She walks to the side door of her sister's orange painted home and sigh as she put her first step inside the doorway Mommy! Anna shouts as she runs to her mom "Hi my baby" She picks Anna from the broken tiles kitchen floor and walks to her sister's bedroom where she sits on the side of her bed drinking steamy coffee "Hi sis" how was your day Oh no...

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“Silence and Punishment” by William Vourlas

Submitted to Contest #79

"I am here to act as mediator between you and your brother Peter." Thus spoke Father Andrew, a man I barely knew, from a religious sect my family left years ago. Not to suggest that Greek Orthodoxy is some sort of cult, but it is definitely not as mainstream as it once was, having been the institution of Christian survival from, say, 300CE to 1400CE. Prevailing over Islam, Turks, Ottomans and the plague over a thousand plus years was no mean feat. I have struggled with guilt and shame my whole life on many levels, so when it came to reli...

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$50

Prize money

905

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 05, 2021 EST

Won by Reha A 🏆

Title: Puzzle Pieces

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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