A character finds an old roll of film, and takes it to be developed. What do they find?

Posted in Middle School on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 45 stories

“Unseen” by Rebekah Jordan

🏆 Winner of Contest #144

The canister had always been there, rolling around at the bottom of his duffle bag. Whenever he packed, his fingers would graze over the smooth, gray top, but he’d never take it out, never look directly at it. Sometimes when he unpacked, the canister would get wound up in a dirty sock or wedged inside a pocket, and it would come up with a handful of laundry as he went to chuck it into the machine. Whenever this happened, Jake would carefully retrieve the black cylinder and tuck it back into the bottom corner of his bag. That’s where ...

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“The Talk of the Town” by Kathleen Fine

Submitted to Contest #144

“Mom, there are some packages at the door!” Geneva hollered to her mother from the bottom of the stairs. “Be right there!” Holly shouted back as she clipped in her pearl earrings and double checked her crimson lipstick. She slipped into her floor length, satin gown and squeezed her feet into her uncomfortable patent leather pumps. She wasn’t Audrey Hepburn, but thought she looked good enough for the annual black-tie charity event that Colin’s company hosted every year. A night filled with small talk, fake smiles, champagne, and bite size...

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“The Disappearance of Elizabeth Conway” by A. Y. R

Submitted to Contest #144

Elizabeth Conway - reported missing on the 18th of November 1986. 5ft 5, slender build, brown hair and green eyes. Last seen leaving school premises on the 13th of November at roughly 16:00 wearing her school uniform (white shirt, navy blazer, tie, and tights), a double-breasted, brown overcoat with white buttons, and a black woolly hat. First missing person’s report of the victim. No previous criminal record, no records of mental illnesses, no reports of family conflict, no records of conflict at school. “So no reason to run awa...

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“Kodachrome” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #144

It began with my son. “Dad, what’s this?” We were clearing out the attic after his grandmother died. She was the last grandparent he had and Steven wanted to help me put everything in order and clean up all that we had to settle. I still remember the thick dust in that heat, all of the cobwebs, and the sunlight that was unmerciful through the windows. It streamed in and I felt the sweat and dust trickling down my body. “What’s up?” I turned, and saw that he found a box that I had not seen in a very, very long time. “What is, ‘You can’t take ...

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“Key to the Past” by Amanda Blackwood

Submitted to Contest #144

He picked through the rubble of what had been his childhood home, looking for anything that might be kept as a souvenir. Bryon meticulously opened drawer after drawer in the kitchen before moving on to the cupboards and then searching under piles of old papers and leaves that had been left to blow arbitrarily through the broken home, lifted by even the gentlest of breezes as it wafted through from the missing front door to the broken patio glass. He hadn’t been back there since that night.Memories would occasionally surface in his mind of th...

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“Torn” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #144

TornThere are things in life better left unseen, unheard, unknown. Truth is not always the best path.“Mommy, why do I have red hair?”“That’s just the way it is, Cal.”“Ricky and Jenny have brown hair. You have brown hair. Daddy has brown hair. Why do I have red hair?”“God picks the color, honey. You’re lucky. You have beautiful red hair.”Such explanations suffice for the very young. Not so much in the later years.“Hey, give me some of your popcorn, Cal.”“Get your own popcorn, Ricky.”“Gosh, you’re such a jerk. Jenny’s right. You must be a...

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“My Mystery to Solve” by Sarah Martyn

Submitted to Contest #144

(Contains elements of a sensitive nature, including grief, the supernatural, and implied violence) When you’re strapped for cash, and you’re already busy with school and working in your spare time, you find more work. For me, that was cleaning out basements for the neighbors. One particular day, though, I discovered a calling (albeit, short lived) much deeper than earning some extra cash. I was at Mrs. Carruthers’ place, tackling one of the most cluttered gold mines of a basement I’ve faced yet. She was a long-time friend of my grandmother...

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“Photographic Memories” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #144

So much stuff. Did Leo have nothing better to do than collect stuff? ‘What was he trying to tell me?’ “Gabe?” Sophie called down the stair well. “Down here, babe.” She descended a few steps and peeked into the basement. Gabe stood amidst the labyrinth of newspapers and boxes his father had left behind. “Wow…!” “Leo wasn’t a hoarder, but you can see it from here. He always knew that one article near the bottom of that rear pile would come in handy someday.” “What are you going to do?” “I need to work fast. The bottom layers are turning int...

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“FUZZY IMAGE” by Joseph Monachino

Submitted to Contest #144

Fuzzy Image By: Joseph A. Monachino George’s grandfather’s house has comfortable surroundings. George has just moved in after his grandfather, Bill, passed away one month earlier. He feels that when he gets married and has kids, this is the perfect place to live and raise kids. He goes to the bedroom to lie back on the bed to read a book. What is this he sees in the corner of the bedroom? It is a roll of undeveloped film. He wonders what could be on the 12 pictures of the roll of film. So, he brings it...

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“Star of the Stage and Silver Screen” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #144

It rolled out from under a steamer covered in dust and other detritus found in the attic. My father Vernon Hattford had passed away a week ago in hospice, leaving me as executor of his estate. He had lived in this house since getting his Veteran Administration loan to buy it after the war in 1946. I grew up, learned to drive, got my first kiss and a whole bunch of other memories in this neighborhood before leaving for college. It shames me to admit, I have never looked back until my dad got cancer. I helped set...

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“THE FACE IN THE DARK ROOM” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #144

THE FACE IN THE DARK ROOM Mark Ross, a bank clerk , liked very much taking pictures. He was a real enthusiast of the shot. Indeed it can be said that he couldn’t help but photograph. At home he had a well- equipped laboratory for developing the photos he took during his travels , during the holidays ( vacations), but even those he took on the street of his city every day as soon as he could, as soon as he glimpsed someone or something to frame, to capture in a photo. So it was ( had b...

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“110 Penitent Ghosts” by Benjamin Boxer

Submitted to Contest #144

Stepping onto his mother’s covered porch, I stiff-armed the purgatorial ghosts of pointless memories. Vague reflections looked up from a murky pond of rippling time, and even the ghosts that resembled me laughed with blame. Especially the ones that looked like me. Those familiars mocked attentively, the rest in spurts and fits.They came up from the ground like watery smoke and wafted through the rails. Sitting, standing, running, lying—they fought, they laughed, they hoped. They also huffed, sniffed, and puffed—rolling their bright potential...

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“Grandma's Secret” by Ginger Scharpe

Submitted to Contest #144

I thought I was ready for this, but now as I open the door to my grandmother’s attic, tears stream down my face. It has been two weeks since we laid her sweet body in the ground. I can still feel her here in the house. I told my mom I would help, but now I regret that. We have been staying at a hotel down the street because neither of us wanted to open the door and not see grandma standing in the kitchen. When we finally felt strong enough to come to the house and go through her things, my mom and I drove in silence to get the job done. I ...

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“Lessons in Forgiveness” by Madelyn Grace

Submitted to Contest #144

For Evelyn Brass, home is the smell of antiseptic, cold, stale air, and stiff clothes. Home is a sickly white bed with a paper-thin mattress, and a television on which she can never quite focus. Pale blue curtains spotted with bleach in the corners. An entourage of bent cards propped up against smudged glass vases, holding flowers that are just staring to peek on the wrong side of rotten. Evelyn Brass considers this to be her home because she does not remember having anything else to fill the definition. She thinks that, in the smog that c...

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“MM” by Lori Colt

Submitted to Contest #144

I was a mere peanut-sized being, blossoming in utero, when Daniel the second (my grandfather) and Daniel the third (my dad) both died. Odd to me, their deaths came one right after the other and under what seemed to be very suspicious circumstances that no one could ever really explain in a way that made sense to me. As a child, I would while away the hours staring at the few photos my mother had of both she and my dad, and my dad and grandfather together. The photos told me nothing other than my mom had been gorgeous during that time, a fa...

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Title: Unseen

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A character finds an old roll of film, and takes it to be developed. What do they find?

Submissions are closed

✍️ 45 stories

“Unseen” by Rebekah Jordan

“The Talk of the Town” by Kathleen Fine

“The Disappearance of Elizabeth Conway” by A. Y. R

“Kodachrome” by Kendall Defoe

“Key to the Past” by Amanda Blackwood

“Torn” by Murray Burns

“My Mystery to Solve” by Sarah Martyn

“Photographic Memories” by John K Adams

“FUZZY IMAGE” by Joseph Monachino

“Star of the Stage and Silver Screen” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“THE FACE IN THE DARK ROOM” by Mara Masolini

“110 Penitent Ghosts” by Benjamin Boxer

“Grandma's Secret” by Ginger Scharpe

“Lessons in Forgiveness” by Madelyn Grace

“MM” by Lori Colt

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with somebody taking a photo.

Write a story about a wedding photographer.

Write about a character who’s pathologically camera shy.

Write a story that centres around an Instagram post.

Contest #144

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

192

Contest entries

114

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: