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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

“Soul sisters ” by Julie Wagner

Submitted to Contest #79

We held hands that night, lying in bed together and crying. Both of us felt it. We felt each other’s heartache, heartache so intense it felt like we were dying. Dying there in that bed together, but also birthing something newer and better. Once upon a time we were laughing together and consumed by our then romantic relationships. Fortunately for us, the men were best friends just like we were. It couldn’t have been more perfect! Except, it wasn’t. What made us swoon slowly became the stuff of ni...

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“Road Trip Playlist” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #79

The hands against the windows blocked the last of the day’s grey light as it tried to trickle in.The bodies writhed on the bonnet and the boot. Bloodied hands thumped against the barriers — their only source of protection. Vacant eyes and gore-slaked mouths squeezed up against the glass. If they hadn’t been dead, it might have been funny. Like kids on the school bus pull faces at neighbouring cars.At least they didn’t know how to open car doors. You had to be thankful for the little things.They both sat there, in their seats. Rita in the dri...

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“Ophelia” by Cassandra Durnin

Submitted to Contest #79

Trigger Warning: Suicidal ideation. Please only read if you’re in the right headspace to do so. It was almost, almost a painting. The cobblestone bridge held steady over the river, its only companions a mess of grassy reeds and the willow tree. But the willow was an especially vital part of this scene. It was gnarled, and watercolor textures had painted themselves onto its bark, a mosaic of soft browns and woody undertones. With low-hanging branches and roots that spilled over the riverbank, it housed her childhood, climbing...

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“Letters to Larry” by Mango Chutney

Submitted to Contest #79

This wasn’t Adam’s first-time opening Mr. Groff’s letter. At first, it had felt funny to open someone else’s mail, but the old man had requested with such a puppy face that Adam couldn’t refuse. Old man Groff often forgot his reading glasses at unexpected places. He also, always wanted to know what was in the letters urgently. As soon as Adam climbed up the porch stairs to deliver the letters, Mr. Groff asked, “Whom is it from?”. He seemed a little disappointed when he heard, it was from someone called Ron. This was a usual question form the...

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“My reason for leaving” by Ijeoma Okoli

Submitted to Contest #79

Warning: sexaul content and assault.****The pain of leaving them.. Was the only suiting comfort I had. If I had stayed, my principles would have been rotten smelling grapes.Being born to that family was all i needed from them. A womb to bring me to life. Growing up with them..was the only hell I had ever known. Giving birth to a child means take respobsibility to the greatest level. Which means food,water,shelter,clothing,education,moral upbringing. But in a situation where you struggle to eat two square meals, to wear clothes what happens?T...

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“ “You trusted the wrong guy “” by Alkaa Sharma

Submitted to Contest #79

Dr Muskaan had been married to Dr Vishnu for 20 years. Though from different culture and background , Dr Muskaan tried to adjust herself every bit to a different family and culture be it food, clothing, or language. She had been a good wife, good daughter in law and took every care of her husband and in laws. Dr Vishnu on the other hand was very cold towards her family. In an incident when Dr Muskaan’s brother had an head injury and was being taken to the hospital in a critical state, he refused to accompany them to the hospital. “I wil...

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“Grace Under Pressure” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #79

My best friend Bonnie just looked at me. “You're kidding.”She'd kept her voice down even though we were in the high school cafeteria and there were many conversations going on. Most were louder than ours. The monitors were too busy talking with each other to fuss about the volume of the buzz in the cafeteria.For the umpteenth time, I wished that I had brown skin, dark eyes, and short dark curly hair like she had. I wished that I was as slender and tall as she was. She would've made a beautiful model. Instead, I was just me: pale skin, pale b...

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“Broken Ties” by Emma Ruth

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #79

“I’ve started going to therapy,” my mother says quietly, looking at her hands. They are clasped together on the table, her thumbs mindlessly picking at her nude fingernail polish. Flakes of it lay scattered on the dark tablecloth, their stark contrast like a sprinkling of snow on pavement. This is the first declaration she’s made since entering my home a few minutes ago. I look at her, quizzically, unsure of what I’m supposed to make of this comment. I don’t feel any pressure to fill the silence, so I just wait. I don’t owe her anything, I t...

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“A Typical Loveless Engagement” by Jasey Lovegood

Submitted to Contest #79

A TYPICAL LOVELESS ENGAGEMENTDear Elaine,I recently heard the news of your engagement to Duke Amory. Congratulations, my dear student. Your mother seemed quite hasty about it all, it showed in her letter. I never thought I’d see the day Helen Jordanian would write in such an unreadable script. I know one should not ask such a question, but, do you admire him as much as your mother wrote, or did she twist the truth? I await your reply, Miss Jordanian. Or perhaps I should write Duchess Amory? Too soon? Your teacher, who is in dire need of...

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“Baobab Trees” by Claire Lindsey

Submitted to Contest #79

She is enthroned on my desk in a photograph where she stands, enthusiastically pointing at a large baobab tree. The center of the tree is hollow, the size of a small bedroom, and the branches spread, short and thin, above the swollen base. If I look closely, I can see the shadow I cast on the ground while I took the picture with a pink disposable camera.***Neither of us were from Ethiopia, but that is where we met. Our fathers were childhood friends who had not seen one another in longer than either of us had been alive. I remember being uns...

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“It’s All Good and Well” by Carrie O'Keefe

Submitted to Contest #79

TW: domestic abuse Just another day. Melissa thought to herself as she stared at her black eye in the mirror. She leaned forward and touched her puffy eye and searched her bloodshot eye to make sure it was still intact. One day he will get help. “Hey, you little Tramp. Get in here.” Her husband Jack called out. Melissa wiped a tear off of her cheek and tucked her brown hair behind her ear. She slowly walked down the hall shaking in anticipation of what her husband was going to do next. No telling what he could muster up to yell at her. He’d ...

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“Mrs. Henderson” by Jason Miller

Submitted to Contest #79

Jared unbuckled and stepped out of his car just as the first few flakes of snow started to dance their way to the ground. He saw Mrs. Henderson, his only neighbor, gathering grocery bags from her old minivan. She was in her 70’s and lived alone like him, so he started across the dirt yard to see if she needed any help. As he made his way to her property line he called out to her. “Hi Mrs. Henderson! Need any help?”. She looked back and saw him and a big smile broke out on her face. “Sure!” She smile...

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“Flight Risk” by Kate Winchester

Submitted to Contest #79

Mama? I see her, or at least I think that’s her. After twenty years, I can’t be certain. I assess my surroundings. People have flocked to the baggage carousel. Everybody’s eyes are on the first suitcase as if it will magically transform into theirs; it’s bright blue. It’s doubtful that it will go home with the wrong owner, yet people ponder it just the same. There’s an exit to my left. Has she seen me? I’ve grown up; she might not know who I am. I could bolt, but something grounds me. Wh...

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“The Black Sheep” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #79

Jenny’s stomach clenched when she looked at the calendar. It was the day after Halloween, and that meant that the holiday season had officially begun. Over the next few months, there would be family dinners and get-togethers. She felt the clenching sensations and endured nausea and inclination to throw up. Once again, Jenny would have no choice but to endure being in the same room with her. No one else seemed to see or care about how the old woman treated her. And it was always the same. When they greeted one another at the door, everythin...

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“The Songbird” by Jody Serey

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #79

The latest round of counselors had seemed as exhausted with this kid as I was. When the shock of encountering his illegally-acquired underage pornographic tattoos had worn off, I was just tired. I looked into the face of his psychiatrist and knew that she was thinking the same thing I was: “Why bother?” But I couldn’t put it all into a folder and stack it on my desk for next week. Under his inked skin and dirty nails, my blood flowed. Or my heart’s blood anyway. He was my adopted son. I wasn’t free to mask my impatience behind a clinical s...

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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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