Your main character is approached by their long-estranged parent who wants to reconnect. How do they react?

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 31, 2021

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✍️ 193 stories

“Rear-View mirror” by Diogo Cunha

Submitted to Contest #79

My dad left when i was only 3. He and my mother had been in a troubled sitution for quite a while. Plus the booze. One morning, the argument was so bad, he left out of the door. He just couldn't admit he had a problem. Since then, we've struggled to stand and reconstruct life. We've managed to find a small one-bedroom apartment, in another town. Pretty nice, actually. My mom found a new job, i kept studying and getting great grades. Eventually, my mom met someone else. Samuel. Samuel always treat me like his own, which i'm thankfull for. Sa...

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“Mama No More” by Gianna Girod

Submitted to Contest #79

I wish I could say I was excited to see her. It has been a while, five years and eight months to be exact. She left when I was seven, when I had just started to remember things and figure out who I wanted to be when I grew up and stopped in and out of my life. She always came when I was optimistic but, really, it could not have been a worse time because I was open to the world and its opportunities and how Fate played into it all; thinking maybe this was the time it would be different. After being put into foster care, I felt like life ju...

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“"Happy Family"” by Chiagozie Okoye

Submitted to Contest #79

I was awake long before I opened my eyes. I lay on my back, my head resting on a plush pillow and facing a window, the sunlight red against my eyelids. There was some warmth from the burning orb on my dark face. There should have been an overwhelming sensation of pain, but I felt nothing. My movements were restricted. I listened intently to my surroundings. The beeping of medical machinery was audible. There were hushed voices outside of my room. Finally, realizing there was nothing to fear, I opened my eyes. A mistake. Seated in fr...

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“Why Now?” by Toni-Jovanka Glenn

Submitted to Contest #79

The chime of my phone stirred me from sleep. I narrowed my eyes, trying to dilute daylight as I scanned the room. I recalled my night before…and the guy. He was gone. My sleep haze lifted, my heavy lids gained vigour. With a wide grin, I plucked my phone off the night table. “Hey,” the text read? Hey? It wasn’t a “hey” kind of night. It was an “I hope you slept well and I want to see you again,” kind of night. At least, it was for me. I think. I read the three letters over and over trying to decipher the meaning concealed by those three lett...

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“Nothing Like Family” by Michael Sadler

Submitted to Contest #79

I know they say there’s nothing like Family, but anyone who says that clearly has never met my Father. He hadn’t spoken to me nor my brother in years. I’d like nothing more than to just pretend that he didn’t exist. Unfortunately, in life we rarely get what we want. I guess it would only be fair if I started a little earlier. It was about two weeks ago when I had to pick up my brother on his last day of high school. I was mentally preparing myself because I just couldn’t believe that the time had finally come for my little sprout to finally ...

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“Moving on” by Lisa Greghi

Submitted to Contest #79

"Move, move!" screamed Henry at the top of his lungs, inside the supermarket. With age, he had become bored of people, thinking that everyone looked alike and had no personality. He had not always been rude, but loneliness had condemned him to become the worst version of himself. At sixty-three he was not very old, but loss had drained his motivation to live, he barely survived. Existence for Henry was made of frozen ready-meals, loads of boiled cabbage stench that soaked his clothes, and dust, that he didn’t care to wipe away. His apartment...

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“Peter, Paul, and Mary” by Catty Elder

Submitted to Contest #79

Some days you just want to crawl into bed and shut out the world. Paul longed to walk away from the small ceremony and hide under the covers with his hangover, but no, he was stuck here at least until he’d delivered his stepmother’s eulogy. It was a short speech, with little information about her early years, as Paul had never really been interested in her life before she married his father, Peter. He didn’t know, or care, about Mary’s childhood. She was the woman who swept in and married his dad the year after his mother...

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“A walk in the park. ” by S. Lothcraft

Submitted to Contest #79

He raised his head to the infinite grey above him, as though trying to take in one last breath before he drowned in the well of emotions that was slowly consuming him. When did it go wrong? When did I become so broken? Today felt weird. Feeling devastated from all of the fights and misunderstandings and hostility, Alan grabbed his jacket and left the house in the early morning. It was already clear that everything was falling apart. He felt desperate, and he hurt. Pushing life’s responsibilities aside, he just wanted to get away, eve...

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“School of Thought” by Troy Lane

Submitted to Contest #79

Mary rushed inside the house, locked the door behind her and shuffled slowly to the kitchen. The kitchen, that’s where it was, waiting for her. She was in no hurry to get there plus she was out of breath. Her brisk walk truly was a workout. Going for a walk was supposed to make one feel better, not so in this case. Entering the kitchen, her eyes fixed on the letter resting on the bench by the sink, it was from her mother. Daring not go any closer she parked herself at the dining table and stared at the envelope. Her name in beautiful cursive...

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“Do I want to know you?” by Madalyn Youngbauer

Submitted to Contest #79

I think I don't want to go to school today. I don't want to see that look. That look of disbelief. That look of confusion. Then, that look of understanding. That horrifying look. I've seen that look a lot in my life. Every time I go to a new school. Everyday, on the first day, when my teacher asks, "Why did you switch schools?" Such an innocent question. Such a personal answer. I've tried to lie, tried to say "I wanted to take Spanish" or "You have a better sports team" But I've seen so much lying. I don't want to become a liar. So instead...

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“Remembering before deciding” by Michelle Odimgbe

Submitted to Contest #79

A year ago, I was made to make the decision that will change my future, that will determine love between hatred. My story started ten years ago. I grew up with parts of my life jumbled up everywhere, from parts of it on the streets to parts in Calfornia to Temple, Texas to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Danville, Illinois to bad houses to Boston then finally to Kent. I was born with the worst parents in the world, my father abused my mother and they were both drunkards. They would go out dealing, leaving three years old me in a shed. I remember...

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“A Secret Place” by Izzy Bavaro

Submitted to Contest #79

The Charleston family comes from very old money. They have dirtied their hands with destruction of lands and communities over the last hundred—or take a few decades. Jane wanted nothing to do with the family business, in fact she hated the way everyone made her dress, feel, and act. When she was young, she was not allowed to play with the other children her age unless her parents had business with theirs. Jane had a daily schedule that her parents held her to while growing up. Unable to establish connections with the people around her, and a...

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“When She Came Back.” by Ella Rawdon

Submitted to Contest #79

December 22nd I woke up to the usual sounds of the home. Bethany was crying because she wanted her daddy. Michelle was staring out the window again because her mom had promised she would be back on December 20th. All of us, except Michelle, knew she wasn't coming back. I was used to the crying and the anger. My dad was never around, and I never understood why. When I was 5, my mom decided she wasn't mother material. She said she just needed a break and wanted me to stay at the hotel for the night. I soon realized the "hotel" was actuall...

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“The Heart of Avalon” by Emmeline Stirling

Submitted to Contest #79

I can’t thank my Dad enough for raising me in Avalon. It’s one of the greatest places in California, and I’d argue, in America. It’s small, quaint, and everyone knows everyone. Your business is his business is Avalon’s business, and we all breathe as one, and you feel it as soon as you set foot here. You’re not one person in Avalon, you are a piece of here. We are the heart, pumping and working to keep it alive. The people here are one. That’s why I know that on my eighteenth birthday, when I got the letter addressed to me from Joan Young, w...

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“Re-Connecting the Pieces” by Pandora Anderson

Submitted to Contest #79

Ray pulled his glasses from his face and bent over to rub and brush out the wood shavings from the neat groove he made. He blew and brushed at it again. As he was sliding the glasses back into place, his door opened. He held back a sigh, turning to see who it was as he pulled his glasses off. “Raven!” It was his twin sister, Rosa, and she was waving something excitedly in the air. Paper. He was starting to wonder what was on it, then realized that that was why she was in there in the first place. “Raven!” She repeated, her wide grin was infe...

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Your main character is approached by their long-estranged parent who wants to reconnect. How do they react?

Submissions are closed

✍️ 193 stories

“Rear-View mirror” by Diogo Cunha

“Mama No More” by Gianna Girod

“"Happy Family"” by Chiagozie Okoye

“Why Now?” by Toni-Jovanka Glenn

“Nothing Like Family” by Michael Sadler

“Moving on” by Lisa Greghi

“Peter, Paul, and Mary” by Catty Elder

“A walk in the park. ” by S. Lothcraft

“School of Thought” by Troy Lane

“Do I want to know you?” by Madalyn Youngbauer

“Remembering before deciding” by Michelle Odimgbe

“A Secret Place” by Izzy Bavaro

“When She Came Back.” by Ella Rawdon

“The Heart of Avalon” by Emmeline Stirling

“Re-Connecting the Pieces” by Pandora Anderson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone who decides it’s time to cut ties with a family member.

Write about someone who discovers the only family member they have left has just betrayed them.

Write about two characters who’ve gone through something so intense they now feel like family.

Write about a “found family” who are finally able to get together again after a long time apart.

Contest #79

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

905

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: