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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

“A Reconciliation” by Madison Garcia

Submitted to Contest #79

“Are you listening, Alison?” Even though I knew Ms. Habi was talking to me, I didn’t bother to acknowledge her call. The view from Ms. Habi’s office was something that I was quite fond of; it had an abundance of things surrounding it. The birds were probably what I adored most out of all of the trees and plants flourishing outside because they could fly. Flying was something that I would assume everyone wanted to do at one point; the feeling of wind rushing through your hair, the crispness of evening air, it was boundless. The only thing st...

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“True Family” by Radha Suryawanshi

Submitted to Contest #79

I love sitting on my rocking chair. I started when I was just a cute little baby. I don’t remember it, but I have a photograph to prove it. In the photograph, I was two years old, dressed up in a snuggly azure jumpsuit, with little men who carried deadly-looking swords (seriously mom, that’s what you give a two year old to wear?) dotted on it which looked downright evil, like the little men wished with all their heart that they could come alive and take over the world with their charming looks.Orion, my biological mom, wore a skinny den...

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“Unknown Family” by Animesh Kulkarni

Submitted to Contest #79

When I returned back home from my morning jog, my parents were visibly upset about something that came to my knowledge in bits and parts in coming days. I would soon be turning 17 and as every family has its secrets; one of the grave secrets of my family was going to be revealed soon to me. Throughout my childhood there was mystery surrounding this secret but there was no beating around the bush ever allowed. My innocent questions in my toddler days met with a very mature and a stern “no” always. Fortunately I was not the stubborn kind and a...

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“A Hyacinth for my trust” by Lori Scutelnicu

Submitted to Contest #79

At first she wants to laugh. Then the option of scolding Caleb feels sweet on her lips. She’s ready from a sarcastic reply too. In the end she does nothing. Willow only looks at Caleb, his curls mused, only half his face made visible by the flame. His eyes are focused on the fire they barely figured out how to start, like the two spoiled royal brats they’ve been raised as. Despite his height, he looks small and fragile. He looks lost. It shouldn’t be like this. He’s the big brother, the smart sibling, her protector. He should tell her not be...

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“Oh dear brother of mine, Why?” by Slothy Penguin

Submitted to Contest #79

Till this very day I cannot express the pain and grief you have caused me. Words will never not be enough to describe the treacherous acts you've committed.Or is it just me who feels this way, am I the only one who's over exaggerating and brooding over your past sins and betrayal.Why am I the only one who's suffering to this very day, while everyone is just going about their respective lives. Does that mean I'm the weak being here, or does it only portray how you meant the world to me, how precious your smile was to me, how every word came o...

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“Ring” by Joe Marlowe

Submitted to Contest #79

Gene never thought he would see his engagement ring again. Nested diamond, traces of blue, with smaller gems embedded in divots along the helix band. It was just as beautiful as it had been back in July - the last time he’d seen it - before he’d had to move out. Tegan said it must have gotten dropped somewhere. But there it was, he saw the picture, it was on her hand - which was now intertwined with her lover’s. They had been ...

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“Trusting the unworthy” by Daniel Ojarotade

Submitted to Contest #79

"Waking up to see my dad has left me was the most painful thing to ever happen to me". Tolani said. She was completely overwhelmed with pain waking up to see the man who makes her happy gone so soon. Tolani being a motherless young adult,never knew her mother. Amope(Tolani's mother) died immediately after giving birth to Tolani. Tolani's father died on d day she clocked 15. After the death of Mr Felix (Tolani's father), Tolani was the rightful inheritor of the properties of her father, but a condition was attached. Before the death of her fa...

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“"Grow up"” by Carolina Gonçalves

Submitted to Contest #79

Lucia was perfect. She did everything a perfect human being should do. She was pretty, smart, praised and adored by all. She sang like an angel, read by age five. When she entered the room everyone was marvelled by this child. One time, she performed a Shakespeare sonnet by heart to some of our mother's friends. I felt so lucky having her as a sister.I, being one year younger than Lucia, was always expected to become like her. A Prodigy Child. Instead, I was only but a shadow of her. I couldn't sing, or read by age five, or even learn by hea...

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“Lethal Confessions” by Suhan Bangera

Submitted to Contest #79

In the middle of nowhere, lived an old couple. They were married for 30 years now, together, in that house, they had raised 2 children, a beautiful daughter, now married to a well off businessman in a for off land, and a son who was close to them before, but now since past 10 years, he never bothered to know how his parents were holding it all up. For these 30 years, their relationship had gone through a lot of ups and downs. For the first 20 years, it seemed that if they were into an unhealthy marriage, but with time especially since their ...

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“The end of the world as I know it.” by Esteban Fernandes

Submitted to Contest #79

I had a bad day as the song goes. The only person I loved betrayed me, my cousin. It started few years ago in a small desert town out west, between the mountains and sagebrush in the town of Creosote Springs. A new graduate of the local high school bent on finding a way to support myself in the world I applied for a position at the Starbucks on Highway 7. The manager Lea and I hit it off right away during our interview, I guess it way my lucky day. She called me in a few days to tell me if I wanted the position it was mine. Damn, right out o...

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“Sunrise and Sunset” by G Louise

Submitted to Contest #79

Natalia and Natasha were brought in the orphanage when they were a few hours old. They were lying side by side in one huge basket with name tags inside their blankets. The staffs used to think their mother was a daughter of a high public official who went abroad and was never seen in the town again after a rumor that her boyfriend got her pregnant and left her for another rich daughter of a military official. They even googled a picture of her. And as the twins’ facial features developed, were more convinced that the babies look more lik...

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“Honour of Family” by Jana Tulisa

Submitted to Contest #79

1920 On an unusually sunny autumn day in an old house at the central district of Paris, Lilya Andropova realized that she needed to get used to her life being a joke to God. She stood by an open window, light white curtains blowing at her face, escaping her figure and trying to flee to the outside world. The city underneath her feet was already waking to meet another day of music, art and Parisian love. She wouldn’t get any of it – wouldn’t allow herself to. At least, she knew the reason why she would never be welcomed at any of th...

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“The Fountain Pen” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #79

I glanced at my watch again. D promised he would be on time, but I knew better than to trust him. Raphael’s, the coffee shop where we agreed to meet, was just across the street from where I work. I’m sure Mr. Inglethorpe was wondering where I had gotten off to. “Inglethorpe & Cavendish lawyers are never idle,” he’d always say to me when I was taking five in the break room or staring at the ceiling for a minute to clear my head. Mr. Inglethorpe had an odd air of British propriety for someone who grew up in Mississippi. “Looking sha...

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“Anchored” by Thane Sweet

Submitted to Contest #79

“What mood is the sea?” My father would ask as we sat around the table in the early hours of the morning. On this particular day the steel blue waters of the Pacific Ocean surged outside our dining room window and rain drops raced down the glass as they did most days during the winter season. The charcoal gray clouds hid the sun and left no room for hope of seeing it any time soon. I sleepily held my head in one hand and spooned my sugary cereal in my mouth with the other as my 12 year old brain contemplated the question. “It seems fine.” I ...

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“Misguided Love” by Ink Chapters

Submitted to Contest #79

Misguided LoveSeeking comfort a little sister turns to her only remaining blood. Only to face the horrors of ultimate betrayal.WARNING MATURE CONTENT*TRIGGER WARNING *FICTION18+It was the eve after my first breakup. My first and most severe heartbreak. It was the first time I felt this extreme level of emotional pain that followed. It caused me to fall apart in ways I never thought possible. I was too young to realize that everyone has dealt with heartbreak. I was alone and had no one to guide me through it. It felt like the end of the ...

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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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