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Write a story in which a character discovers that a truth they've believed their whole life is either false or not the whole story.

Posted in Dramatic on Feb 7, 2025

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✍️ 72 stories

The Family Dinner

Submitted to Contest #289

Kiana picked up the framed picture from the dresser. “She’s so beautiful,” she said. “I know,” Jamari smiled, walking up beside her, his hands gently squeezing her shoulders. “You look just like her—especially around the eyes,” she said. Jamari’s beam brightened further. “I know,” he said. “I wish I could’ve met her.” “I really wish you could’ve, too. You would’ve loved her. More importantly, she would’ve loved you. Just like I do.” He kissed her forehead, making his new fiancée gush. “Yes, she would have,” inserted Jamari’s father, J...

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The Unveiling of Hidden Paths

Submitted to Contest #289

In the quaint village of Elderton, nestled between rolling hills and lush forests, lived a young woman named Elara. From a tender age, Elara had been told the same story by her parents, elders, and every history book that lined the shelves of the local library. It was the story of the Great Fire, a cataclysmic event that had ravaged Elderton centuries ago, reducing it to ashes and shaping the community that stood today.The tale was simple yet profound. It spoke of a lightning bolt that struck the ancient oak in the village’s heart, igniting ...

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Memories of My Father

Submitted to Contest #289

Emma grew up believing her father Russell Maddox was as good a man as any and better than most. He enlisted in the Marines out of high school, earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in Vietnam, returned to marry her mother Denise, bought a refrigerated semi tractor trailer and earned a good living hauling frozen foods from state to state. ~ “Goggles secure, ear and nose plugs inserted,” the lab tech reported as he strapped the subject securely to the gurney. “BP 110 over 8...

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The Lies we become

Submitted to Contest #289

CHAPTER ONE – THE SHADOW OF DOUBT The Castle Gates – A Step Into the Unknown Drake stood at the towering iron gates, his pulse steady but his mind a storm. The castle loomed ahead, black stone swallowing the light. The air was thick, cold, humming with something unseen. He had seen castles before—ruins, relics of forgotten wars. But this was not a ruin. This was something alive. A monument to something that had never died. He exhaled, stepping forward. The gates groaned open before he touched them. Like they had been expecting him. The Hall ...

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Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom

Submitted to Contest #289

My dad lives in this time and space, riding his motorcycle about the neighborhood barefooted, in cutoff jeans and old t-shirt, black curls blowing high above his forehead in the breeze, round sunglasses flashing sepia light shining through 1970’s Polaroids. Thanks to him, I have the impression all life began here.Within a few years immoderate facial hair will absorb his features, cutoff jeans will grow into filthy dungarees, heavy work boots will cover his bare feet. The body will grow puffier - caked in bits of drywall mud - on his trousers...

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Time to Call DaNA

Submitted to Contest #289

Time to Call DaNA Carlotta stared at the letter in her hand. It was drawing her to open it, but she resistedthe urge. It had been a long day, and she just did not have the mental capacity toconsume one more thing. She laid it on the table and walked to the couch. She floppeddown on it and closed her eyes.“Good afternoon, Mrs. Reyes. Is Carlotta home?”Carlotta heard the voice of her best friend Oscar as she walked down the hallway.“Yes, Oscar, she’s home.” Mrs. Reyes always loved how polite he was.“Can she come out to play?”Carlotta slid clos...

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The Daughter of the Sky and Sea

Submitted to Contest #289

Year 22026, Aetheris  Aetheris was a sight to behold when Lunara rose the moon each night. The glittering spires were golden beneath its reflective light, blending with the warm glow of the skyfire lanterns. The skybridges that stretched toward the surrounding islands pulsed with the ethereal shimmer of celestial crystals, their power illuminating the city like woven strands of starlight. The docks of the Celestial Spire stood empty, the Armada of Aetherium ships having sailed toward the borderlands at dawn.  Across the observation...

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A Mother's Lies

Submitted to Contest #289

         Alison was always raised to respect Cherokee teachings and land, and people, She thought she was part of that world. When she got into her 40s and one of her nephews had done one of those DNA ancestor kits, he had found not a single drop of indigenous blood anywhere. A very confusing result to Alison. There was no way it was correct. Her sister had gone to school on a tribal scholarship. Of course, she had to do her own test. Aside from finding all sorts of relatives that she hadn't known...

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The Taste of Success

Submitted to Contest #289

[Warning Note: Elements of poor mental health, cursing, and self-harm.]Dinner doesn’t taste the same as it used to.The mashed potatoes feel more like wet sand, and the steamed green beans like anchovies.You’re sitting at a table with four other people, and yet, you might as well be alone.The dining room light feels incredibly bright, and the darkness it fends off, immensely pitch. Shadows stark, table ashen, body cold. The scabs on your back itch, and you want to pick them off to eat yourself again. Your dead skin tastes better than anything...

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The Magic Box

Submitted to Contest #289

"My mother. She is the best. If she could still perform all the high kicks and jumps of her former cheerleader self, I'm sure she would not be a 50-something fighting old lady aches and pains like a bum hip, lumbago, or sciatica. She would probably have ACL and meniscus ailments, but not the other stuff." I flipped to the slide of my mother in the early 1980s, and could that girl jump. The next photo that floated onto the slide was my mother cheering in college. The photographer caught her mid-air, mid-jump, and I was consumed in this this e...

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Crazy Grandma

Submitted to Contest #289

CRAZY GRANDMA I learned when I was young that when I was old I would be weird. Weird like Grandma… She had hair that “came down to her fanny” as she said. This was something I longed for, but never understood why she twisted it around and around, then pinned it into a bun. She left black, u-shaped hairpins in a cup by the sink in the bathroom she shared with my younger brother and me. But she left her dentures in a glass by the sink in the kitchen. I hated the look of them, the gray pink of the gums holding spooky rows of false teeth. I had ...

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Living A Lie

Submitted to Contest #289

“What?” I whip around and look at my older brother. “I…yeah. You heard me,” Hunter says, looking a bit nervous. “No, no, no, no, no. You cannot just say that.” I scoff slightly and look at him with a hint of anger and surprise. “I can and I did, Julia.” He crosses his arms, looking back at me. “You’re telling me I’ve been living a lie? I thought our parents died in a car crash and now you’re telling me that they are still alive?” I say as I step closer to him, still not believing him. He stays silent, his sparkly blue eyes wandering everywhe...

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The Lesson

Submitted to Contest #289

 Endion School sits on a hill in Duluth, Minnesota at 46°48′19″N 92°4′37″W, for those who rely on precision. Minnesotans love precision. The Scandi-Germano-Caucasian DNA demands a sense of order even if that order is liberally sprinkled with alcohol, fish, and shattered Super Bowl dreams. Endion School, from the outside, fits any number of imagined purposes: prison, asylum, rectory. The brown stone façade seems to counter the large windows. One refuses light, while the other gathers it by the handful to fill the structure, keeping it f...

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Girl Missing

Submitted to Contest #289

After moving from the nearby city, Fleur Grantham started at Rutherford High School. When Jasmine first saw her, everyone remarked how similar they looked, albeit Fleur has dark hair and bangs while Jasmine slicks back her fair hair into a ponytail. They are both energetic and agile. Jasmine has always been a track, field, and gymnastics enthusiast - running, jumping, and doing anything athletic have been her life pursuits. Fleur has danced for years and loves cheerleading. She quickly signed up to be a cheerleader. Jasmine signed up, too. S...

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Fifteen Seconds

Submitted to Contest #289

                      (This Story Is Based On True Events.)                                                                ...

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