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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

“Scars” by Jenne Gentry

Submitted to Contest #79

“Family is important,” her voice comes through the speakers of my cell phone in the same tone that used to send a chill up my spine as a child. I didn't need to have her in front of me to see her disapproving glare. A wave of disbelief passes over me at her choice of words and I can't help but note that family wasn't important to her when I needed it to be. Clearly, this is a recent development. Too little too late if you ask me, but she won't- ask me, that is. She never does. I turn my gaze out the window, hoping to steal some peace f...

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“I am a carbon being ” by Millie Spence

Submitted to Contest #79

Astronaut Daniel Stevens never expected there to even be life on planets, let alone for them to take him in when his spaceship crashed. He was surprised how similar to humans they acted; they slept , like humans, they ate like humans (albeit, the food was a bit funky), they even felt and showed emotions like humans. He found the place surprisingly homely and familiar. The whole planet was donned in bright neon coloured crystals. He always felt short of breath. He wasn’t sure whether this was due to the different levels of oxygen in the air o...

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“Sleeping With Betrayal” by M.W. Nel

Submitted to Contest #79

-WE NEED TO TALK!- Adley read the text as she walked through her cousin, Bronwyn’s front door. “How could you?” Bronwyn’s voice bellowed through the hallway. “I only got your text a minute ago. What’s going on?” Adley placed her handbag on the console table. “Oh don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.” “But I don’t know what you are talking about.” Her confusion seeped through her tone. “How long have you been sleeping with Theo?” Bronwyn spat out. “What?” “God, you are not that great of an actress, Adley.” “...

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“Mother?” by Miles Dale

Submitted to Contest #79

The room was bright, there were childish paintings on the wall and toys everywhere the eye could see. It somehow made me uneasy and I wanted nothing more than to go home. I stared down at the ground, not wanting to look at the person sitting across from me. Why was I here? Did I get in trouble somehow? Where was my mom? "Your name is Axel, right?" I snapped my head up. "Who told you that?" I let out awkwardly. The caucasian man leaned back in his chair, a mask covering his mouth and nose which made his expressio...

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“Episodic Memory” by David Antoine

Submitted to Contest #79

I’ve been standing on the curb outside baggage claim at BWI for 25 minutes, waiting for my brother, Gerald. The air feels brisk but not unpleasant, and I’m reminding myself that Gerald’s tardiness is most likely not an indication of rudeness or disrespect, but rather a symptom of a life in chaos. According to Google Maps, it’s currently a 22 minute-drive from his house in Ellicott City to the airport. Although he is a pathologically conscientious driver, he should be here by now, even if he didn’t leave his house until I called to say that...

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“To Be Decided ” by Alicia Solorzano

Submitted to Contest #79

Too focused on what her next meal would be, Tanya was watching her best friend's lips move, but was not able to hear what her best friend was saying over the growling of her stomach. The two friends had had it rough that year, that year was the year their friendship would really be tested. Tanya was an only child and her father was never in her life, he’d walked out on her and her mother when she was three. Tanya had basically raised herself, her mother had turned to an addict when her father left and she became a prostitute to help support ...

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“the destination between him and me” by Shirly Valmonte

Submitted to Contest #79

There was a girl name Cherry and a guy John. Cherry is a sense of dramatic person and kind of crybaby. There was an accident happen between the relationship to the guy named John. Cherry was born of the family of a Gospel minister .She happen to decide of herself as thirteen years old that one day he'll met the guy have oath promise to God when she was still a seven years old.If happens she will accomplish this mission through her , she will decided that she will respect the guy as her family. One moment, every hour she spend talking to...

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“ Not the family you choose; It is meant to be.” by Me Minez

Submitted to Contest #79

We do not get to choose our family, and not all of us are fortunate enough to have family. Then there are those family members we have and love, but are not close to . Then there are those whom you are related to due to your significant other. Sometimes those relatives end up being some of your close family members. Through out the time I have been with my children’s father, my mother-in-law and I have become very close. At this point in my life I would not want to go through life with out her she is very important just as my own mother. At ...

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“Other People's Shite: Patsy's Repurposed Designs (Part Two)” by S.N. Beale

Submitted to Contest #79

After bypassing security measure-men apprehending another faction worker, out past curfew, Ruby Kurtones III had arrived slightly late - and unnerved - taking a wrong turn to the alleyway to meet best friend Patricia ‘Patsy’ Murdock; at their agreed-upon site for a night of hobby. Sweating in her hazard suit and dragging along her oxygen tank with the busted wheel. Ruby began to find herself both weary and excited for her first night of thievery. As three siren blasts sounded in the distant squadron, signaling the appeasement tower's lig...

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“The best family isn't always human” by Horrendous Pegasus

Submitted to Contest #79

I see flashes of snow falling. The howls of the wolves ring out in the night.The temperature drops and the cold wind freezes my bones. I huddle closer to my companion- * * *“Hey Noel! Merry Christmas!”“Merry Christmas Jones.”Words are meaningless. Merry? Didn’t know what that meant. It was just a means of reply in December, something automatic. I barely even thought about it when I wished someone a Merry Christmas.Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone really means ‘Merry’ when they wish me. I suppose it’s a just a ma...

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“That day” by Anais B.R

Submitted to Contest #79

It is still difficult for me to talk about that day, a dark ink blot in the book of my life. However, I guess I’ll finally be able to let go of that lingering unease if I share my story here. When I was still just a child my worst nightmare became a reality. My mother was taken away from my side. Not by death or abandonment. She was caught by ICE while she was working at a local store. One of her co-workers called our home number and explained the situation to me, as she had been instructed by mom to do if such a situ...

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“Destiny's Hand” by Yvette Barry

Submitted to Contest #79

When she woke, the first thing she noticed was the smell of damp wood. Or perhaps moldy earth.Katherine could barely see in the darkness. Her head ached with that pounding reminder of a night of overindulgence, but she could not recall drinking. Her mind playing the events of the night before like a glitchy movie trailer, frazzling at the point when she stepped out of the elevator and into the underground parking lot.Her fingers tentatively explored the surfaces within reach, with the anticipation of an undesirable discovery. Her eyes desper...

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“The Family You Find” by Jackie Thomas

Submitted to Contest #79

My first sense to come back was taste. And it was blood, that familiar metallic which registered first. "Familia?" My vision was still fuzzy, but I didn't need to look up to know that I was in deep shit. "Familia," the masked man shouted again. "Nada," I replied as I spit blood onto the dirt floor. I knew how this worked, I would be held, and my family would have to pay a ransom for my freedom. There was only one hiccup in my captor's plan, I didn't have a family. I never had a family, and I liked it that way. I looke...

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“Black Water” by Emmanuelle Shemko

Submitted to Contest #79

We didn't know the sea would come to swallow our town whole between its jaws. Our people sucked into the icy belly of Black Water. I felt the earth shake. I was baking cookies in my kitchen, standing on a stool to reach the mixing bowls on the top shelf, when the cabinets swung open and barfed out tupperware and canned beans. I lost my balance trying to protect myself from the projectile and fell hard onto the tile floor. My eyesight blurred in and out of focus for a few moments, and when I fully regained it, I was hit with the rec...

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“The Crash” by Cat Price

Submitted to Contest #79

The saying that blood is thicker than water is a crock. While physiological speaking it is very true, yet when it comes to family at least in my experience it is only true for one, my sister Syd. With five years between us at twenty-one she is working on her masters at Northeastern, that is where I am going. After living in multiple countries throughout the world as well as forty-eight out of the fifty states, they have left again sending me to Syd after what happened with my eyes. Closing them as the plane begins to descend at sixteen I am ...

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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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