Write a story about a pathological liar.

Posted in Dark on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 40 stories

“The Liar” by Kathleen Fine

(Trigger: Death)“How you feelin’?” you ask as you adjust the pillows behind Astrid’s tiny five-year-old head. You try to reposition her frail body upright to help drain the excess secretions from her nose and throat. She grimaces. You force a smile.“I heard Santa is visiting today,” you say as you turn the almost-empty IV pump to hold, hang the new bag on the pole taking the stopper off, remove the tubing from the old bag and insert the tubing into the new bag.You see Astrid’s eyes lig...

81 comments 81 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“But wait—there's more!” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Are you staring at your phone, waiting impatiently for a monosyllabic message from your mercurial lover to magically appear?Are you tired of sharing the intimate details of your life over cold nachos and watery margaritas with some bae from Bumble—only to be discarded three weeks later?Do you find yourself being a magnet for megalomaniacs, a sucker for swindlers, a filling station for philanderers? If so, you need to find out if You Are Being Ridiculous!™ During your next crying jag, downloa...

74 comments 74

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“Pants on Fire” by Sharon Hancock

The first time she made me do it was the day after Mama died. That shiny black car stirred up a cloud of dust when it skidded across our dirt driveway. Daddy was nowhere to be found and hadn’t been around for weeks. Anyway, even if he had been there he wouldn’t have done much good. He never did. Before the red dust cloud settled and even before that wheezing woman with the hairy mole got out of the car, ...

31 comments 31 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Baphomet” by Hannah P. Simmons

I sense his presence before I ever lay eyes on him.It doesn't surprise me, really. Baph is the type of entity who always enters announced.He is the syncopated tap of stiletto heels that echoes across a tile floor.A whiff of musk that rides the air till it finds your inhale.Double doors that open with intention.The crescendo of the music.And now, that announced entrance is staring at me from across a crowde...

22 comments 22

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“I Am Not A Liar. ” by Seán McNicholl

I am not a liar. That’s the truth.Well, I mean, in all honesty, we do all tell little lies, little fibs, half-truths, or omissions. But those aren’t real lies. They don’t make you a liar.You know what I mean; when you tell a girl her dress looks well, or that she hasn’t put on weight, or that you’re still attracted to them. Those little white lies don’t count. There’s lots of different types of lies too. Sure, look at my tinder profile for example. It’s not exactly the most accurate representation of ...

21 comments 21

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“The Art of Inventing Untruths” by Richa Jain

“I miss you.”I lie through my teeth, knowing that when she gets my message, Jane will be sobbing and begging for me to come back. I lie about it all, telling her I find the way she can’t ravish a meal if two different foods are touching each other endearing, as if she weren’t a twenty-six-year-old woman who behaved like she was ten. That I miss the way she’d wake me up by jumping on our bed, as if I found it comical and adorable and not incredibly aggravating. I tell her everything I know she wants to hear, be...

9 comments 9 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Love Is a Con” by Graham Kinross

TW: Swearing and sexual references. Darius Reaching across the table, Darius told the first lie of the evening to his date. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone looking as beautiful as you do now in my entire life.” In his mind, the image of a girl from his high school superimposed itself over the woman smiling in candlelight. “I love that dress,” he said, entirel...

11 comments 11

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“The Liar's Bout” by Mike Panasitti

Chris Gomez is not a thief—an aging auntie indulges him and obviates any temptation he may feel to shoplift. He is, however, a liar, and Foley Gaspers is tired of Gomez’ lies.“Chris, you want to get high after school?” Foley asks the compulsive fibber in second period English class.Chris’ reply is similar to those Foley has heard several times before, “Hell, yeah. I want to stay high. I smoked a joint this morning. I was so stoned I could barely ride a straight line on my wa...

16 comments 16

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“Fabian the Fibber” by Christina Reynolds

When Fabian’s father left to get a pack of cigarettes, he said he would return before sunset. He just didn’t say which one.Fabian looked out the window for many weeks, wondering why the cigarette store was so far away. But his mother didn’t miss his father, so Fabian decided he didn’t either. At school, the other 3rd graders weren’t as generous.Your dad is gone, they teased Fabian. Your dad bought a bus ticket to Milwaukee and he isn’t coming back.“My dad got a call f...

4 comments 4

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“Eduardo” by R W Mack

I'll start where it's easiest: Eduardo died September 16th, 2021 at the age of thirty-nine. He's survived by his girlfriend, two daughters and a son just old enough to remember who he was. Eduardo's greatest fear was that his son wouldn't have a father figure either. I'd told him Viktor would be fine, but what did I know? I was just some scumbag salesman getting dragged behind his final grand adventure.I met Eduardo on the side of the road outside rural Ellington. I had vacation hours to use-or-lose, so I took a reviled ...

10 comments 10

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“DDoIS: Parallel Geodesic Lines intersecting at Curved Space-Time Infinity” by Rajiv Iyer

“Hey there boy. Sky's the limit. Aim for the stars. You’re a blank slate. There’s infinite possibilities ahead. You can be anything you want to be. You’re not constrained by anything or anyone. You just have to put your mind to it & it will happen. I’m right there with you.” - were the exact words my father swore he said to me when I was first born & brought into this big bad world.As the years went by, he would stick with lesser versions ...

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“Only Words” by Caroline Smith

We strayed in far corners of your library, slow-dancing in a wood-paneled and wool-carpeted room. The paintings stared at us in disapproval, even the canvases with nothing but inanimate objects painted on their once bare bodies.I can just see a paintbrush tickling the white rough surface. The brush’s ends are stained a deep purple, the color of your favorite kind of grapes. Once purple meets white, there is no returning, no going back to a blank slate. You finish what you started or you get a new canvas.

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“Life, After Life” by Randy Murrell

Bobby Boyd bit the big one. And he is the subject of our following tale. It is important to know a little bit about Bobby before we go any further. Bobby as a child was not like the other children; he had wild ideas and an even wilder sense of adventure. He also never got along well with the other children in his school, he was different and hurt him because he knew he was different too. Bo...

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“Pants On Fire” by Howard Seeley

I can’t understand how my situation got out of control, considering how simply it began. It all started when I crawled out of bed this morning and decided to go fishing. I listened to the thunder rumbling from afar and to the raindrops tapping on the roof. It wasn’t going to be a pleasant day for fishing, but a little wet weather wasn’t going to dissuade me. So, as soon as I got dressed, I grabbed my fishing gear, hopped on my bike, and rode to the spillway at Eaton Brook Reservoir.For two hours, I sat there letting the rain beat o...

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“The Conversation” by Jed Cope

“It hurts.” Good. That’s good. “Hurting is good?” Don’t you think so? “I hadn’t thought about it.” Well, why don’t you take the opportunity to think about it now? “I don’t want to.” And why do you think that is? “I told you. It hurts.”

5 comments 5

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Write a story about a pathological liar.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 40 stories

“The Liar” by Kathleen Fine

“But wait—there's more!” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“Pants on Fire” by Sharon Hancock

“Baphomet” by Hannah P. Simmons

“I Am Not A Liar. ” by Seán McNicholl

“The Art of Inventing Untruths” by Richa Jain

“Love Is a Con” by Graham Kinross

“The Liar's Bout” by Mike Panasitti

“Fabian the Fibber” by Christina Reynolds

“Eduardo” by R W Mack

“DDoIS: Parallel Geodesic Lines intersecting at Curved Space-Time Infinity” by Rajiv Iyer

“Only Words” by Caroline Smith

“Life, After Life” by Randy Murrell

“Pants On Fire” by Howard Seeley

“The Conversation” by Jed Cope

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about two characters arguing over how a past event happened.

Write a story where a character is experiencing parallel realities.

Write about false news coverage of an important event.

Start your story with a character or a narrator saying, “Don’t you remember?”

Contest #156

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

217

Contest entries

95

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: