Write a story that involves a flashback.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 71 stories

“Moonjars” by Shea West

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #140

My horse Echo, idled at the hitching post with her reins looped loosely around it, as she wasn’t the kind of horse that I needed to tie down to keep near. Shotguns were pulled at high noon around these parts and her tail whipped away at pesky flies completely unbothered by the reverberations of the occasional bullet whizzing by her head. Echo was steady and ready the way a marshal’s horse should be.I’d mount the saddle on Echo’s back every nightfall and ride her through the canyon past the giggles that evaporated into the starry skies and ac...

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“Egg Casserole for Christmas” by Kathleen Fine

Submitted to Contest #140

“This was one of the best Christmases I’ve ever had,” Hope said, leaning down to give her mother, Alice, a kiss on her furrowed cheek. Clara smiled and held up her glass of fizzy citrus to cheers her sister. “Merry Christmas,” Clara said as she swallowed a mouthful of her mimosa, spilling a dribble on her fleece, snowflake patterned pajamas. “This was second to the Christmas when we got that amazing Barbie dream house.” “I want a Barbie dream house, Mommy,” Clara’s daughter, Meg, said as she took a bite of Alice’s famous breakfast cass...

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“My Dear Doctor Mortem” by Hannah P. Simmons

Submitted to Contest #140

“in vita et in mortem… in life as in death” My Dear Doctor Mortem, I am writing to you on behalf of one of my most difficult cases. I thought perhaps you could help me. Yes, I realize this is highly irregular, given the nature of our individual practices, but I find myself at a loss. My patient is one Leanna Richards, and before you start, I assure you that she is much too young to have earned a file in your cabinet just yet. Then again, so was Henry. I believe he came to you as a result of the plague. You’ve gotten a good ...

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“Stake My Breath Away 🦇🐺” by PJ Aitken

Submitted to Contest #140

Moving one catch and then the other, Simon wrestled open the shed door as quietly as someone at 4.30am could manage. Once inside he began to move paint pots, ladders and soil out of the way so he could reach the main event. Covered in dust and dried paint, Simon felt a wave of regret knowing he should have done this years ago. With all of the items off to one side Simon grabbed one end of his late Grandad Abraham’s old chest and dragged it into the main part of the shed. Flipping the main catch on the front of the chest, Simon grabbed the du...

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“There Go I” by Bill VanPatten

Submitted to Contest #140

She wore bitterness like it had been carved into her face by a mad sculptor. Each wrinkle, each line in her advanced crow’s feet, each gin blossom bore witness to a heart that long ago must have stopped feeling anything other than resentment. Her peppered hair was untamable in its greasy need to flop-flop with each lumbering step. An oversized t-shirt blared “Chukchansi Casino”, and faded blue jeans hugged her double-wide hips. I imagined her as a homeless person—straddling the gap somewhere between menopause and old-age dementia—pushing a s...

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“LUCKY ME” by Jennifer Claire Pulling

Submitted to Contest #140

If you were a first time subscriber to Bright’s Lending Library you might be excused if you thought you had wandered into the drawing room of a country house. There were comfortable armchairs and sofas, a deep piled carpet and overall the genteel atmosphere of neatly dressed helpful assistants. Bright’s offered a haven to bored housewives, retired military men and titled gentry. Here they could browse, climb sturdy ladders to reach a desired title, or settle themselves for a good read. The library had existed since Mabel Bright, wife o...

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“Anhedonia” by Charlene Simon

Submitted to Contest #140

(This story contains the loss of a loved one)The fingers of light pouring through the glass floor-to-ceiling windows of my apartment draw the curtains of sleep from the haze in my mind and let consciousness diffuse in. I have a fleeting thought to get out of bed, and almost will myself to, but something leaches my strength. I struggle to lift my hand to filter the light hitting my tear-stained and watery red eyes and rub at a pulsing spot in the space between my brows. Even such rudimentary actions eat away at my remaining strength, so I jus...

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“How We Used To Be” by Shelby B

Submitted to Contest #140

You spend years of your life with someone. You get to know their favorite foods. You get to know what their hair looks like first thing in the morning. You get to know about every single detail of them. You find yourself in love with everything about them, even the bad parts. You think there won’t ever come a day where you would despise that person. You would be wrong. You would be so completely wrong. I could be biased, but I’m just speaking from experience. I hate my husband. I hate when he comes home from work and goes straight to the cou...

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“Katyusha” by Arya Peterson

Submitted to Contest #140

Three months after The Incident, everything fell. When a rat got out of its cage at the local lab, it knocked vials of chemicals against each other, attempting to escape the scientists. After mixing two highly toxic chemicals together, it exploded. The explosion caused the chemical to spread, not just across the city, or the country, but the whole world. Now people rioted in the streets and fire raged through the crumbling cities. It was kill or be killed. After around a month, the food supply around the world almost completely diminished. T...

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“Waiting” by Rama Shaar

Submitted to Contest #140

"See how it's different when you cook with love?" Dean said while helping himself to more Lasagne. Leah looked at him and continued chewing quietly. "....and he continued to be his stupid self. He just loves ordering me around as if I were a temp or something. What an impostor!" he shook his head. She recalled her conversation with her colleague earlier that morning. He had come into the staffroom bleary-eyed to make his morning break coffee telling her how his baby girl kept him up most of the previous night because they couldn't find h...

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“No More An Innocent” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #140

Symon Kishka sat in the passenger seat of his father’s car, transfixed on the brightly glowing tracer bullets of an opening salvo from a Russian armoured personnel carrier rapidly finding its range. Moments before, Symon and his father had been speeding along a deserted Ukrainian highway, their successful mission to rescue the two dogs they left at their abandoned farmhouse, well underway. The road had been clear throughout the drive towards their home of many years. In the wake of the Russian invasion, an ...

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“Autumn ” by Daniel Deschenes

Submitted to Contest #140

Are you coming to the party tonight? Bryan hadn’t wanted to but he nonetheless made the short drive. After all, Cade was his best friend and it would mean a lot to him. Bryan rang the doorbell and waited for someone to come to let him into the party. He had never felt particularly comfortable in groups of people that he was unfamiliar with but tonight that feeling was particularly pronounced. I’ve made a huge mistake, he thought, as his mouth started to dry. Sweat began to bead on his back and slowly rolled downwards, only making ...

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“Jesus In The White Horse” by Minerva Noiropp

Submitted to Contest #140

Sudden realizations rarely happen to us as they did to darling Saul on the road to Damascus. Yes, sometimes the lightning bolt of consciousness can hit us as we sit in a chair, contemplating why the devil has sent his evil creatures, his fakes, snakes, toys, and noise after us.It came in the form of a flashback, sitting and doing that very thing which I just explained. Except, this flashback wasn't from this lifetime. It was one that took me 2000 years to the past.The crowd was jeering at me. The people were devoid of technology. This was th...

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“Owain the Mighty” by Jordan Williams

Submitted to Contest #140

When people talked about the raiders they said they would come by boat. That they would leap from their beast headed longships to burn and raid and rape. Bearded killers with long hair and coats of mail, wielding swords and axes that did not worship the nine or fear death. I was told over and over to be wary of the horizon and the distant waves. To fear the Viking and all the death that he bought with him. When they did come to my home, they came on horses from inland. I was as surprised as anyone. They were unmistakably Da...

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“Breathe” by D. Thorne

Submitted to Contest #140

2022 I pass Lincoln Center with the click-clack of my boots. I look toward the illustrious theater and breathe it in, smiling to myself. I feel heads turn. It seems as though an old lady with poise is one worth staring at, or perhaps it is my red lipstick that manages to turn heads. Crazy, though they call me, I can only wear high-heeled shoes. I am tall enough, and I walk with an elongated neck due to years of practice but the shoes, however, remind me of my youth as a ballerina. The paradox of maintaining an ethereal disposition of a wom...

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Write a story that involves a flashback.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 71 stories

“Moonjars” by Shea West

“Egg Casserole for Christmas” by Kathleen Fine

“My Dear Doctor Mortem” by Hannah P. Simmons

“Stake My Breath Away 🦇🐺” by PJ Aitken

“There Go I” by Bill VanPatten

“LUCKY ME” by Jennifer Claire Pulling

“Anhedonia” by Charlene Simon

“How We Used To Be” by Shelby B

“Katyusha” by Arya Peterson

“Waiting” by Rama Shaar

“No More An Innocent” by Chris Campbell

“Autumn ” by Daniel Deschenes

“Jesus In The White Horse” by Minerva Noiropp

“Owain the Mighty” by Jordan Williams

“Breathe” by D. Thorne

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with the narrator or a character saying “I remember…”

Write about a character with an unreliable memory.

End your story with total oblivion.

Write a story inspired by a memory of yours.

Contest #140

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

333

Contest entries

170

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: