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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

“Wicked Obsession” by Mufidah Tahir

Submitted to Contest #79

Once upon a time Cole Russet had held his sister, Diane in high graces, but that was before his eyes removed the attires of blindness and opened to her patterns of lying, manipulation, and delusions of grandeur. Diane Russet made it into the Federal Bureau of Investigations having graduated from the California State University. Cole of course was proud of her achievements. Every twin had significant differences a keen observer would be able to detect. Cole and Diane, despite their gender difference, they were identical. From their shoul...

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“Revolutionary” by Audrey McAlister

Submitted to Contest #79

I can never trust anyone again. I know that now. I will never forget the pain of betrayal. My name is Jaylen Rivers. I am thirteen years old. I was born in Ewonne, the seventh realm, though I do not live there now. I write this from a military encampment. I have been thrust into war. Here is my story… My parents were all I thought I had, until last year. They were the brightest inventors of our time. The emperor of the seven realms called them to forge weapons for his own power a...

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“Coward” by Brooke Hall

Submitted to Contest #79

Looking across the room at her sister who was unable to return her gaze, whose eyes bore holes through the floor, Brin felt two steady arms guide her towards the interrogation room.One Day Prior. It had been ten years since Brin had last seen her sister, Scarlet. As she opened her P.O. box, she noticed a particular letter that stood out from her other bills. The letter was addressed, "To Brin. From Scar." Flipping the letter twice over, there was no sign of a return label. With a pounding heart, Brin quickly shut her P.O. box and rushed out...

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“How could you?!” by Izzie Miranda

Submitted to Contest #79

“Why didn’t you study more?! 86% isn’t good enough!” Sarah then launched the beer bottle she had grasped in her hand at Elle, but missed by a couple of inches, because she was too drunk to aim the bottle properly. Elle was petrified, but not because of her mom's behavior. She was used to her mom throwing glass at her, it was why she always had an absurd amount of cuts on her arms. It was her father she was afraid of. Her parents had always been alcoholics, and nobody had a clue. Her parents had a way of making sure no one knew how muc...

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“Half of a Whole” by Lisa M

Submitted to Contest #79

Justin left me ruined, left me in my loneliness, left me as a part of a whole forever. We were born on August 4, 1982. Him first and then I followed a minute later. I guess you could say that was the tone of our relationship, the way we were seen by our family, the way that the world would regard us. Our parents were ordinary— extremely ordinary; the only part of their lives that were out of the box were us— the twins. Mom didn’t have twins in her family and dad couldn’t remember if he had either. But somehow here we were— Justin...

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“Music or the streets” by Jacob97 Hoskin31

Submitted to Contest #79

warning I dont know the rules with swearing and If there is any, this story hits a personal note with stuff in my life a bit and was written to Express that and this subject just happened to line up with it."I love you", said Julie. She looked at Mason. "I love you to", Mason leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him as their lips locked. Just then his watch went off. He backed up letting go of her kiss."Awe crap I have this thing with my Cousin, I gotta run", she nodded smiling. Go get them sweetheart. Your gonna be ama...

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“Accountability” by Michael Young

Submitted to Contest #79

There’s a theory that goes like this; you can think of a relationship like two bank accounts. If you are helping and supporting each other, then you are making deposits and withdrawals with each other’s emotional accounts. If you need a hand and call on someone to help, then you are making a withdrawal. If you are helping someone else out, then you are making a deposit. Happiness, it is said, relies on the two accounts being in balance. It goes without saying that every now and then it’s possible for family and friends to go overdrawn. That’...

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“The power of magic ” by Pj Ortega

Submitted to Contest #79

Three bodies, lay faced down in the ground and covered in dirt. Two children, one boy, one girl, and a middle-aged woman. Blood drips from the mouths of them all except for the little boy. His eyes are wide open but lifeless. Directly across from his view lyes the little girl. Blood drips from her mouth and onto the Barbie doll in her hand. A bullet hole through the center of her neck gives sight to the bullet hole in the center of the middle-aged women’s head. Hours pass before the three are spotted by what we now know is the father and h...

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“The intentional Accident” by Patrick Hurley

Submitted to Contest #79

It was 12:36.No, “It was 12:36!” I shouted it, yelling at the top of my lungs because I had no other choice. Because I had lost the man I loved, the one who had been the first true love of my life. And because I was on the verge of losing the only person who, I thought, had been with me, on my side, for my entire life.“It was… How could you know that? I mean, they didn’t say anything about those kinds of details did they?”“Do you want to know how? I know because I looked at my phone right after we hung up. I thought about calling him back, b...

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“Cold Blood” by Mriganka Bhattacharjee

Submitted to Contest #79

The blade missed my nape from a second and it pierced through my back. Its arrowhead couldn’t penetrate deep but it had thrust enough. I clenched my teeth and clutched to my hunting knife, even tighter to swing it back and slice the head of the cowardly back-stabber. I shove my feet into snow and spin my arm to make a far extended swing, but when my burning eyes met the back-stabber – my arm dropped. A thrusting blade never felt so awful then it did on that winder afternoon because my own blood, my own brother, sta...

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“Bahay-Bahayan” by Hannah Calalang

Submitted to Contest #79

Family. I grew up watching nothing by fiction, in the darkness of my bedroom with the volume blasting and door shut, never anywhere out, I've always believed that the bond with family you've chosen is stronger than the people you've been born into. It’s what they have told me. It stuck with me. I liked that. It resonated with me. I wanted one. So I went and got one for myself. Perhaps I was lonely. Perhaps I wanted a journey. Like a hero would have. So, I started one. I marched my little pale stocky limbs outside, like a train ...

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“Searching for Someone” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #79

How can she do this to me? I don’t want to be alone again. I’ve spent my whole life trying to find a partner, not just the romantic kind, but my chosen partner always left me. For the longest time I did not want children in my life. The thought of being tied down and woken up early filled me with dread. Over time those reservations melted away and the idea of pouring my love into a small creation of my own became insatiable, but like most things in life I left it too late: the biological bus had left the station before I found someone I was ...

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“Truly alone? ” by Phoebe Nortey

Submitted to Contest #79

Maya huffed as she glanced upwards, squinting at the intense sunshine. It was near unbearable. The heat causing her clothes to stick to her back uncomfortably and her curls to become slick with sweat. Disgusting. She didn’t even realize you could sweat in your hair. The sun seemed to sap at her energy with every step she took but she trudged on. She shrugged, there was nothing she could do about it anyway. It was a Thursday afternoon and she was done with school, some of her friends had decided to go straight to the mall afterwards b...

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“Olly Olly Oxen Free” by T MM

Submitted to Contest #79

Even a scar became a wound if you picked at it long enough, and Charles was a prime example of someone just the level of neurotic necessary for such behavior. Beneath his impeccably tailored appearance laid an insatiable impulse that settled deep within his veins. And while it seemed to pump his blood, it was intolerable to observe as an outsider. “You’re late,” Oliver said, managing to slip an edge of frustration into an otherwise dull tone. Charles threw him a half-assed smile. “Sorry, Ollie–you know how it is: busy, busy, busy.” "I ...

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“Hopeless” by Dimitris Mpoukompidis

Submitted to Contest #79

I feel the sun burning my face. I can even see it with my closed eyes. I cannot say that it woke me up, I am not even sure when I am dreaming and when I am sleeping any more. The hunger has crushed my body and the thirst started to obscure reality. I am so tired I cannot open my eyes, I cannot even close them tighter to block the sun - I just stay there, unable to move, I suffer. Hopeless, I try to keep a log of the events in my memory to keep my mind busy - maybe even keep it sane. But it always comes up as flashes of horror. The first im...

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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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