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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

An apologetic letter or email from an old flame suddenly arrives — many years too late.

Posted in Dramatic on Nov 22, 2024

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 74 stories

“Tuesdays Are For Closure” by Jessica Wheeler

Submitted to Contest #278

The letter arrived on a Tuesday. How fitting. Tuesday, the “middle child” day of the week. It’s not Monday’s fresh start or Wednesday’s hopeful halfway mark—it’s just… Tuesday. The handwriting on the envelope was unmistakable—slanted, jagged scribbles that appeared as though they’d been written while fighting off a swarm of bees. I had not seen this handwriting in years, but there it was, haunting my mailbox like a ghost unfamiliar with whiteout. I debated opening it for all of three seconds before curiosity won. The fringe-filled letter was...

2 comments 2
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“Refuge in movement” by David Dean

Submitted to Contest #278

Sally Padeira had always taken refuge in movement. When her relationship with Robert Bryant came to an abrupt end, she turned to the austere demands of her yoga practice. The studio was a narrow, minimalist space on the edge of São Paulo’s sprawling Avenida Paulista, its walls painted in muted tones of gray and ochre. The instructors, clad in white, spoke in hushed tones as if they were ritualists, and the classes were peppered with aphorisms about strength, mindfulness, and the necessity of discipline. The practice was supposed to quiet her...

3 comments 3
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“Each X, Each O” by LifeCycles Creative Media

Submitted to Contest #278

This story contains sensitive content, including mentions of sexual violence, mental health struggles, and emotional abuse. Reader discretion is advised. Behar's Letter to Nadine Dear Nadine, I don't know how to begin this letter, except to say I’m sorry — though I know how insufficient those two words must seem after everything I put you through. It’s been years since we last spoke, and even longer since I last saw you. The memories of what I did, what I destroyed, still haunt me in ways I can’t describe. I don’t expect forgiveness, and I h...

6 comments 6
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“Thin Ice” by Ed Friedman

Submitted to Contest #278

                               Thin Ice As I rummage through the bottom drawer of Kevin’s desk, looking for a deck of cards, I see the envelope. Kevin’s name is written in a beautiful cursive script. It was sent to his office. The return address includes a woman’s name I am unfamiliar with.I stand frozen for a moment. What do I do now? “Did you find them?” I hear Kevin calli...

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“The Elephant in the Diner” by Robert Pyke

Submitted to Contest #278

“Who in her right mind would want another date with you?” That was Donna DiFranco over the phone. She sounded angry. But wasn’t her voice strained, too emotional to be dismissive? “That was a long time ago,” I replied. “I was stupid. And lonely. Okay: not just lonely, needy. Doesn’t some kind of statute of limitations apply?” I could picture her rolling her big dark eyes--or, the ultimate turn-off, shaking the black curls on her head to clear it. “Bzzz. Time’s up. Thank you for playing our game, Boss.” “I haven’t ...

2 comments 2
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“The Love I Let Slip Away (A Letter 30 Years in the Makin) How Fear Stole My Forever and the Courage It Took to Reach for a Second Chance.” by MIKE VIGNAPIANO

Submitted to Contest #278

Dear Mike, It’s been so long since I last wrote you—or even dared to reach out—that I’m not entirely sure where to begin. But perhaps that’s fitting because my thoughts have been this way for years: tangled and jumbled when it comes to you. I can only hope that this letter reaches you and that I’ve guessed right, despite sending it to four different addresses. If you’re reading this, know that it has taken me decades to work up the courage to write these words. I can only imagine how they might land after so much time. I still remember the f...

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“To Infinity” by Sunanna Bhasin

Submitted to Contest #278

“Take care of yourself,” I stood with my back firmly pressed against the kitchen island of the condo I rented by myself as I watched the man I thought would be the only one I’d ever love glare at me with unforgiving eyes, as black as his crisp dark dress shirt. They were nice words to say, but they left my mouth bitterly, more as a scoff than a pleasant wish. He didn’t even try to respond. He simply put his shoes on and left angrily, without so much as a glance back, all while knowing we would never see each other again. It had felt like the...

2 comments 2
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“Mythos” by K. O.

Submitted to Contest #278

There was something uniquely enraging about seeing the bold and insistent text of an unread email. Em had naively thought pivoting away from a typical corporate environment would free her from the weighted dread of a full inbox, pointedly mundane in its begging to be managed, crowded with promotional calls-to-action, patronizing tips for Monetizing Your Creative Spirit, and outdated horoscopes. Em had mastered selective blindness for such things, though, making the one email from an unfortunately familiar and ancient name all the more impud...

4 comments 4
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“The Road Not Taken” by AJ Shaw

Submitted to Contest #278

October 12, 1857 Somewhere near Charleston Dearest Nathaniel, It has taken me years to summon the courage to write this letter, though I fear it will do little to mend the hurt I caused you. I owe you an apology—a true, unvarnished one. That night, the night you waited for me at the crossroads, I chose not to come. It was not the world that conspired against us, Nathaniel. It was me. I’ve spent so long trying to justify my decision, to find comfort in the lie that I had no choice. But the truth is simpler and uglier: I was afraid. The days b...

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“Lines” by Bruce Ma

Submitted to Contest #278

There was once a time where the bountiful treasures offered to me by this world would pique my interest and leash me onto never-ending adventures. There used to be times when the charm of Earthly desires lured me into everlasting journeys, and I would utilize every opportunity to express those cherished memories. Though after filling every notebook, every page, every line, you realize that no matter how much of your heart you ache to pour into your writing, it can never amount to those specific words spoken to that specific someone. Outside,...

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““Regrets, Romantic and Otherwise (Delivered by Carrier Snail)”” by Edward J. McCoul

Submitted to Contest #278

“Regrets, Romantic and Otherwise (Delivered by Carrier Snail)” By Edward J McCoul It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon in the town of Misfit Acres when Bernice Bumblethorpe received a letter that would alter the trajectory of her exceptionally uneventful life. Bernice, a 52-year-old beekeeper with a knack for overthinking and an irrational fear of dehydrated fruit, was inspecting her hives when the mailman, Jimmy Biggs, clattered up the gravel driveway on his rusty bicycle. “Special delivery, Bernice!” Jimmy hollered, holding up a bedr...

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“The Obit” by Marcia Calhoun Forecki

Submitted to Contest #278

The ObitBy Marcia Calhoun Forecki            My first thought when I saw the obituary was, “It’s about time.” I felt sorry for Judson, sure. I knew he would take his brother’s death hard, no matter how badly Lyle treated him all those years.            Judson Spray had been my foreman at North American Aviation in Fairfax, Kansas. I hired on in 1942. The huge plant (over 1 million square feet) produced B-25 Mitchell bombers. Men and ...

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“On Reflection” by Pietro Marino

Submitted to Contest #278

           Probably I shouldn’t have opened the email. But I did, and couldn’t stop reading and rereading it, to the point that I can recite some of it verbatim.   I shouldn’t have taken your breaking up with me the way I did.           Now, you have to admit that it was a combustible load you dropped on me, saying you didn’t like the person I became when I was around my friends—the sarcasm, the bitchy queenery—and the...

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“Last Goodbyes” by Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #278

My husband stands obliviously with his back to me, as I read the letter taken from the mailbox. I would recognize that handwriting anywhere.“Dear Antionette, how can I forgive myself after all that happened between us? I wanted to show you who I really was, I wanted you to see the real me. So, I determined to face your inquisitiveness head on. When you asked me why I am always so late out of bed, I told you the truth. That I was tethered to this game that demanded my time and effort each day. That I was essentia...

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“exempli gratia” by Darby Tanner

Submitted to Contest #278

A black bird glides down to the billboard outside Ellen's apartment. She sips a London Fog as the bird sidles into the crowded line of preening starlings, causing a jostling ripple to the unlucky few pushed off the edges. Ellen cranks her window open and invites the morning breeze into her home, then scoots her favorite reading chair, plush and checkered, toward it. The Argenta district bustles below her. It's cozy, with murals of dogs bursting from block letters "Dogtown Proud" on the opposite building, which houses a jazz bar, cafe-bakery,...

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