Think of someone who stood on the periphery of your childhood memories (a classmate, a teacher, a neighbor) and cast them as the main character of your story.

Posted in Middle School on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 31 stories

“Ramona” by Keith Maynard

Submitted to Contest #164

We lived in a small, historically insignificant town snuggled up next to Elmira, New York. We lived in the Town of Southport, New York. The last touchstone on the way south to the Keystone State, several miles away. We lived across from each other on a tree-lined street dead ending at the railroad yard. A quiet neighborhood occupied with, I always assumed, normal, middle-class families. Stay at home moms. Dad’s working somewhere, Monday through Friday, with weekends free to mow the yard or, like my dad, wash and wax their pride and joy und...

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“Whatever Gets You Through” by Reagan Emmerling

Submitted to Contest #164

Every Thursday after school, three sisters, Reagan, Ellie, and Mya, came with their mother to my office. Each appointment started much the same way. Beginning with my standing at the end of the drab grey hallway, just out of view, watching them. Psychology was as much watching as it was listening, and each girl gave you the tiniest glimpse into their heads if you were so inclined to pay attention. Mya, the youngest, clung to her mother’s hip. In fact, some days, she had to be pried away from her mother just to go into her session. Most days...

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“Surprising his favorite teacher with a special telephone call” by Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #164

Shoes—c'mon—what 11-year-old boy looks at his teacher's feet? She was always standing where he couldn't see over the heads of his classmates, except during tests when she sat with her feet behind her desk. Maybe he should have looked, given that Mrs. Arrington was his favorite teacher. It was 1962 and he was 11 years old. He had just moved to big city Seattle from faraway Farmington, New Mexico. It was the "Century 21" World's Fair and for a boy on the verge of growing up, that was an irresistible attraction. Sixth grade in a new school wa...

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“My favorite part of the week” by Paige Ladd

Submitted to Contest #164

Ten minutes to gunshots.“I am the dead end for food,” I said as I shoved another piece of celery into my mouth. “I’ll never be as notorious as her, but I’ve at least I have all the celery I want.” I nodded toward my sort-of rival.“Feeling gloomy today?” Rachel asked.Our lunch room wasn’t the raucous kind. Sure, it was a public school, but we weren’t barbarians. Angie was putting down her tray next to the choir kids this week. I am a great observer. She rarely ate three meals in a row with the same group of kids. I wondered if that was what m...

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“DuVall’s Fantastically Awful Day” by Emily Grace

Submitted to Contest #164

(CW: Swearing, mental illness, reference to bludgeoning) It was wet. The left side of his face, that is, was sopping wet. He registered that much as he opened his eyes. He looked up at a neon blue bulb hanging overhead. It burned into his eye sockets and decorated him in phosphorescent colors. He squinted. He’d have to switch bulbs again; this time to a dimmer purple. Maybe even green. Whichever color worked best with his ceiling fan. He smacked his lips together and tasted a bittersweet liquid. Ink. He turned, leaned up, and met h...

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“Mysterious Mary ” by Shannon Mabrey

Submitted to Contest #164

For Mary. May we forever show our love for others.Mary, the sweet, elderly lady who sat in front of my Mother and Father at church. I vividly remember her, standing a little under five feet tall, weighing a hundred pounds max, wearing huge framed glasses, which she constantly pushed up onto the bridge of her nose. She had a gentle look about her. Her smile, a perfectly straight set of pearly white dentures, brightened a room the moment she approached it. And she always smelled of peppermint, which I always assumed to be the shampoo she used ...

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“The Man I Never Knew ” by Jeneane Vanderhoof

Submitted to Contest #164

"Your grandfather was always the silent type", people said, many times, throughout my life. Most of all saying this, his wife. I always thought it was an understatement, he went well beyond this description. Silent about everything in his life; past, present and future. Everyone in the family knew very little about him and I always felt that I never really knew him as a man, a grandfather, not even as a person. That he had been ever present in my life until he died, when I was in my early twenties, made the lack of knowing him hurt even...

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“Sunshine girl” by Melissa Stark

Submitted to Contest #164

Warning: this story contains accounts of eating disorders and abuse. If you are easily triggered by these things, please consider not reading it.The first time it was said to me was at birth, not even old enough to open my eyes. Swaddled in my mother’s arms, the words fall from her lips: “My sunshine girl.” I’ve heard stories of when I was still waddling around on two chubby legs, my hair sticking itself out like a wispy mane. I was always laughing and smiling. The world was my...

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“Hemi The Hori” by Pene Worth

Submitted to Contest #164

ADVANCE NOTE: This an NZ story. dairy = convenience store kumera = sweet potato kai = food hangi = ground oven whanau = family boil-up - pork bones and puha boiled for long time. puha - a common spinach-like weed. I was home for a family dinner, back in the old hood. It had changed a bit. The big Pak’n’Sav supermarket had never been here when I was growing up. It sits where the fish’n’chip shop was that gave me my first after school job. There was a dairy here as well, and a stationer. Those and a whole bunch of houses had gone for a f...

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“THE BRIGHT STARS IN THE SKY” by Vijay Likhite

Submitted to Contest #164

THE BRIGHT STARS IN THE SKY - 2990 WORDS Mr.Ramnathan at the age of 75 was on the terrace of his house in a suburb of Mumbai. That was an evening of summer. The sun had just set. The twilight was making the entire atmosphere pleasantly golden. He looked above in the sky. A lot of stars were glittering. A few were bright enough to catch attention but many were twinkling with their might to get noticed. “What are you looking at Sir?” Satyavrata, a young boy, his student, broke the thinking chain. “Oh, Satyavrata! I was looking at t...

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“Don't Be So Dramatic” by Persephone Girl

Submitted to Contest #164

Disclaimer: This story contains sensitive themes, including mental health, physical violence, gore, abuse, and suicide. Admittedly, I struggled to remember Lyla’s name for the first couple of weeks that Barbie and I taught her. After that, I would consistently mix her up with the other dancers. It wasn’t until her second year that her name would remain engrained in my mind. It was flu season, so three of the kids were out sick, one was on vacation, and another was performing in his preschool play. That only left Lyla. She was t...

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“Moley” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #164

There were stories about Mole. Allegedly, he had once been seen in the town centre sporting green eye shadow. Another time, sparkly nail polish. If I was leaving my house as he was coming out of his, he would immediately go back inside. The people who shared his drive said that they had once offered to help him cut his hedge, and he had promptly dropped his shears and run indoors shouting. They weren’t sure what he was yelling. Unremarkable is the best description I can give of his appearance: average height and build, slightly balding, alw...

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“Nobody Was Coming to Save Her” by Nicole G

Submitted to Contest #164

I am cleaning out my parents’ house as my husband and I prepare to move to our new home. I find buried in the attic a pink heart-shaped box with a paper rose as a bow that Amelia gave me for my birthday in 1998. “To Cassie: Happy 8th Birthday. Love, Mellie.” I haven’t seen or even thought about Amelia in years. I have no idea where she might be. I don’t even know if she’s alive. **** I wouldn’t say that Amelia and I were friends, exactly. Our parents were natives of all parts of New York City and lived near each other in the East Vil...

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“A King's Remembering” by Jessica Schilling

Submitted to Contest #164

I’ll be damned. This blue mug has another chip. I told Felix I wanted the yellow ones with matching saucers, but he never seems to listen. Most times he doesn’t even clean the table when I ask. Good help is truly hard to find. Well, too late to change everything now. I’ll need to hurry if I want to freshen up before my guests arrive. “Hey, Mr. King! What’s the good word?” Caught in my clean undershirt, I turn to see Matteo and Jack peeking their heads in the door. These two morons, I tell you. No matter how many times I remind them that Th...

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“Wherever the Wind Blows” by Kyle Jones

Submitted to Contest #164

***This story contains violence, drug abuse, and explicit content. "Yo Ricky, you think I could get a five?" "The fuck you mean? We been in line for 30 minutes and you mean to tell me now that you ain't got the dough to get in the joint?" "Common homes, you know I'm good f'r it" Ronnie replied. Ricky blurted out a laugh then said: "I know for a fact that I'll never see this five dollars again," he paused for a moment before handing him the wrinkled bill which they both used to slam down a line of smack off the dash of a '91 Cavalier ...

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Think of someone who stood on the periphery of your childhood memories (a classmate, a teacher, a neighbor) and cast them as the main character of your story.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 31 stories

“Ramona” by Keith Maynard

“Whatever Gets You Through” by Reagan Emmerling

“Surprising his favorite teacher with a special telephone call” by Michael Heavener

“My favorite part of the week” by Paige Ladd

“DuVall’s Fantastically Awful Day” by Emily Grace

“Mysterious Mary ” by Shannon Mabrey

“The Man I Never Knew ” by Jeneane Vanderhoof

“Sunshine girl” by Melissa Stark

“Hemi The Hori” by Pene Worth

“THE BRIGHT STARS IN THE SKY” by Vijay Likhite

“Don't Be So Dramatic” by Persephone Girl

“Moley” by Sharon Williams

“Nobody Was Coming to Save Her” by Nicole G

“A King's Remembering” by Jessica Schilling

“Wherever the Wind Blows” by Kyle Jones

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character saying “Where I come from, …”

Write a story in which someone returns to their hometown.

Write a story about coming of age in a big city.

Write a story where a local takes a newcomer under their wing.

Contest #164

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

235

Contest entries

91

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: