Write a story about someone who doesn’t know how to let go.

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

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✍️ 121 stories

“Nine Years With Liam” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #185

Emma sat on the hardwood of her living room floor, but she could not feel the numbness in her bottom. She took another sip of red wine and wiped away a single tear from her face. She put down the photo in her hand and swapped it for another photo from the Amazon box. In this photo, Liam, Emma’s ex-boyfriend, had both arms around Emma. Looking at the photo, it brought Emma back to that day. It was Liam’s cousin, Noah’s wedding. She didn’t know if it was wedding vibes, but Liam could not keep his han...

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“Thick Thicks Save Lives” by Esti Klein

Submitted to Contest #185

Trigger warnings: Abandonment, Allusions to suicide/self-harm, drug abuse, Drug-induced panic attack and paranoia, Violence When I lived in Thorncreek I was able to convince myself daily that this town didn’t harbor a witch. I’d walk everyday down to the pier, which led out into a mammoth manmade lake, squat on the planks, and finger the tapering wood. From the woods around the edges of the lake I’d hear a chanting, abrasive and grating, like a taunt. Thorncreek was a small town. Since my birth I haven’t left Kentucky, but I haven’t ...

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“A Clutter of Cadillacs” by Richard E. Gower

Submitted to Contest #185

Arnold Webster’s love affair was impossible to have kept clandestine. Some people might lust after, or even surreptitiously maintain, a single sleek and sporty model under cover in a hideaway somewhere – most reasonable individuals being content to toy with just one, or, at least, one at a time – but Arnold’s obsession ran to variety. And the parade of illicit love-objects that sullied his otherwise sterling character were alluring and seductive. His inamoratas were also flamboyant and beguiling temptresses that had once epitomized the Ameri...

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“The Collector” by Sarah A

Submitted to Contest #185

I make a list of all the things I want to buy. A night splint for my sore foot, a bottle of wine, a pack of sharpies in all colors to while the hours away, stimulate the creative part of my brain somehow. Then I add up the dollar signs, and I don’t add them to my Amazon cart. Because I’m being adult and responsible this year. With Money. With Dollars. With the zeroes and ones, tens and hundreds and thousands in my bank account, written there in plain black ink, unt...

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“Two Days With You” by Joy Basile

Submitted to Contest #185

It’s been 27 days since I found out I have to move out of my house. I have to move away from everything I’ve ever known. My father has lost his job again, this is the 8th time. I usually don’t get too bothered by it, moving from school to school in Illinois, but this time is different. This time I have to move to a new state. Florida to be exact. We leave in 2 days for his new job as a hotel manager. I don’t understand what that job entails, but what I do know is I'm not ready. Even when I had to move around Illinois I was able to kee...

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“Soul Singers” by Jennifer Addison

Submitted to Contest #185

Soul Singers “Aliana! We’re not allowed up there until after dark!” Janisa swam behind her sister, flicking her shimmering tail as fast as she could to catch up. “I know, but I thought I saw another one!” “Do they usually come to us this early?” “They can come anytime. We have to stay ready.” “Where did you see one?” “Up on the bridge, like always. Well, I thought he would’ve been here by now. Wait, yep. Here he comes, over there.” The two mermaids sprang into action, a streamlined movement through the warm, salty waters to the...

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“A Dead Promise” by Evan Lockard

Submitted to Contest #185

She promised. Elliot and Lynn rested in the slightly damp grass of his backyard, staring at the black sky dotted with glittering speckles of light. It was much too late for them to be awake, but they didn’t care. Elliot fiddled with the collar of his shirt as Lynn mumbled something to herself. Suddenly, her face changed, and her tone turned serious. “El, I gotta talk to you about something.” Elliot felt his stomach drop and sat up next to her. “What’s wrong?” “I’m not gonna go to your school next year....

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“A story is never enough” by Milena Todorova

Submitted to Contest #185

A story can be too long or too short, appropriate or gross, inspiring or frustrating, digging in or flying away. There are all kinds of stories. But a story is never enough. My mother is a story-keeper. Like all mothers, I guess. They have lived for eternity and their memories are no longer the let-me-tell-you-what-happened prompts but rather well-packed novels with a beginning, an end and a moral. Always. I think that my mother was born a mother. And being born a mother, her job has always been to collect stories, sort them ...

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“364” by Amrita Pramanik

Submitted to Contest #185

*mental health, suicide364 days. That’s how long it’s been. Yet I can still feel the adrenaline pumping through me—metal bending and breaking in the ways it wasn’t made to do so—the blood on my tongue. Everything turned upside down, literally and figuratively. The horror. The fade into black like a movie transitioning into the credits. And there are a lot of credits. The first time she cried. Long nights spent singing lullabies. Cooing and preening. Then nothingness. No one talks about what happens after. The guilt of survival is worse than ...

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“Almanacs ” by Henrique Pasti

Submitted to Contest #185

The huntsman arrived at the old cabin carrying the equivalent in fur and meat to two full hunting weeks: hare, badger, and fox fur, salty boar and rabbit meat, smoked fish, lard, as well as some birds hunted at that very day, everything wrapped in new, firm leather. He knocked at the door, and the old resident called him in: she had seen in her runes he would come. He greeted her respectfully and with reverence, calling her the noblest titles he knew – mommy, aunt, grandma. The huntsman had always been dutiful and polite: he had learned fro...

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“2.17.23 9 a.m. est” by Chris Agnew

Submitted to Contest #185

The first things I think about when I’m talking to myself are always: what’m I gonna eat and whose fault is everything. That’s not a spiritual question, the first one. That’s practical. The second one is easy. The physics of the universe has brought us to this point. Of course that’s a bit dodgy. Physics I hear can be complicated. I wonder why I need any explanation in a place that is supposedly infinite. If that’s true, infinity, then doesn’t that answer every question. The answer is yes. And no. yes and no. Exactly. I wonder how many times...

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“Death of an Inner Child” by Aiden Garcia

Submitted to Contest #185

People spend most of their days worried about the future, about whether they are truly living. I believe that is nothing but past thought, something that isn’t necessary for a man like me. The timed ticks of the office clock warned the workers of the deadline. It was crawling closer as we had to ready the documents before the main boss came in. Terrifying it was, but not for me, as I had everything set; it was something I trained for. I had steadily made rows of information on documents day in and day out for this moment, and it was al...

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“Vaudeville is Dead and Maybe Captain Billy Too” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #185

Author's Note: The saga of the Good Tugboat Samson continues. Starting in Contest #180 and #184. Captain Billy Chunk and his crew face new challenges from outside and inside on the waters of Puget Sound.It was early Monday morning aboard the Good Tug Boat Samson. The crew was mustered in the Galley for a Safety Meeting. The topic of the Monthly Safety Packet was "Ladders: Step Up to Safety!". Ladders? A sense of Deja Vu washed over Captain Billy as he was certain he had heard this topic for the umpteenth time. The verbose Mister Mate Mark be...

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“CLEAR OUT” by ROB MOLAN

Submitted to Contest #185

I have to make a start today as I'm not sure how much time is left. But where to begin? I decide the bedroom should be the first destination. I can just about open the door and get in between the pile of magazines on one side and boxes on the other. I switch on the light to survey the landfill. The bed confronts me, the duvet pulled back on the side I slept on last night and an untidy pile of unused towels, pink, blue, white and all the colours in between, lying opposite. Reaching the window to open the curtains is a step too far as I will...

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“Just like the First Time” by Johnathon Henry

Submitted to Contest #185

It was just like the first time I walked with her. I saw her on the street when I ducked quickly out of sight, she was walking hand and hand with someone else who wasn't me. I still remembered how smooth her hands were, how her lotion would infect my own with a strong aroma of mangos, that the very smell to this day only infects me with memories of her. Most of all, I remembered how safe I felt, how her hand enclosing my own felt like a protective aura that shielded me from the world, for the first time in my life...I wouldn't have t...

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Write a story about someone who doesn’t know how to let go.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 121 stories

“Nine Years With Liam” by Madeline Honig

“Thick Thicks Save Lives” by Esti Klein

“A Clutter of Cadillacs” by Richard E. Gower

“The Collector” by Sarah A

“Two Days With You” by Joy Basile

“Soul Singers” by Jennifer Addison

“A Dead Promise” by Evan Lockard

“A story is never enough” by Milena Todorova

“364” by Amrita Pramanik

“Almanacs ” by Henrique Pasti

“2.17.23 9 a.m. est” by Chris Agnew

“Death of an Inner Child” by Aiden Garcia

“Vaudeville is Dead and Maybe Captain Billy Too” by Bob Banel

“CLEAR OUT” by ROB MOLAN

“Just like the First Time” by Johnathon Henry

🌟 Similar prompts

Someone’s beloved collection is destroyed. How do they react?

Start a story with someone saying, “It’s mine, and you can’t have it!”

Write about a dragon who doesn’t know what to do with their hoard anymore.

Set all or part of your story in a jam-packed storage unit.

Contest #185

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

138

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: