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

Posted in Dramatic on Nov 22, 2024

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✍️ 73 stories

Tuesdays Are For Closure

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...

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Refuge in movement

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...

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Each X, Each O

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...

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Thin Ice

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

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 ...

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On Reflection

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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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.

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

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...

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Mythos

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...

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The Road Not Taken

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

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)”

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

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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The Order of the Ashen Dawn

Submitted to Contest #278

Mara,I know it’s been a long time, and I don’t expect this letter to mean anything to you now. I don't know if you'll even read it, or if you’ll just burn it, as you have every thought of me for the past several years.But I have to write it. I’ve been carrying this guilt with me for so long that I feel like it’s rotting me from the inside out. I don't think I can go another day without saying what I should have said back then. The truth.You’ll probably remember the day it all fell apart. The day I made the choice to side with them — the Orde...

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star crossed...

Submitted to Contest #278

STORY: FANTASY FICTION LOVEshe held the letter, not in her hand but in her heart . she couldn’t even comprehend how that much time had passed…90 yrs ! she remembered thinking when she was very young ‘I probably won’t even live to 35’. At 12 yrs old 35 seemed like an impossible age to reach, she smiled at the childish thought. Now here she was living with her grandchildren, her daughter and her daughter's wonderful husband. she felt tired, but happy knowing she lived. it was by no means an easy life but it was never predicable or boring. yes ...

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