Write a story about someone who's haunted by their past.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 69 stories

“The Toxicology Report” by Howard Englander

Submitted to Contest #2

That’s him! I’m absolutely certain of it, that’s him. Kenny Booth was not one to create drama. He avoided scenes and seldom made them. When he first spied the gangling, seventy-something man standing among the men assembled in the reception room he remained impassive, his double-take imperceptible. The Groucho Marx swivel was not in his repertoire or his personality. He simply blinked, his brain recording the re-scan of a high-tech facial recognition program, pixels and hues compared to archived files from a seldom a...

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“Wally, is that you?” by Gail S Kibby White

Submitted to Contest #2

The day started out like a normal Monday workday. Not being a morning person, when my alarm went off at six a.m., I reached over and punched the snooze button. Ten minutes later, I punched it again. At six-twenty, I forced myself to shut off the alarm, got out of bed, and began the mundane ritual of getting ready for work.Half asleep, barefoot, wearing the lacy pink nightgown Wally loved, I meandered from the bedroom, down the hall to the kitchen. I filled a coffee cup with water, added an Earl Grey tea bag and placed the cup in the microwav...

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“Jacky” by Robert Kibble

Submitted to Contest #2

Even after thirty years, her memory still consumed me. Seldom had a month gone by when I hadn’t done a quick Google search to see if she existed anywhere online, but to no avail. She was resolutely invisible, either as Jacky McCall or Jacqueline McCall. I’d even checked people she’d been friends with. Nothing. And then, without warning, the hurricane that was Jacky burst into my life, and left me driving a van with a dead body in it.It started innocuously enough. I was walking home from my security shift, same r...

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“Rotten Memories” by Tim Migeon

Submitted to Contest #2

My maternal grandparents, Madeleine and Sylva Therrien, were the nicest people in my life. They’d often help everyone they knew and their generosity knew no limits. As they got older, everything they ever owned, accomplished, or desired was slowly stripped away. Whether it be the house they built and lived in for thirty years, the fishing boat Syl used extensively during his retirement, their driver’s licenses, all the way down to their hearing, eye sight, and then finally their sanity. They were approaching seventy years of marriage when Ma...

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“A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS” by Reenie Z

Submitted to Contest #2

Have you ever felt trapped in an open cage where you can see the gateway yet can't escape?Well that's my life it's like a roller-coaster ride one minute you're up and the next minute you're down.You feel like a freeman but still have to look over your shoulder,like a bird that freely flies in the sky but it's afraid of been preyed on anytime,they say let by gones be by gones,be happy and don't let your yesterday ruin your today but my question is how?How are you supposed to let go of your past when it's your daily shadow both day and night?Y...

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“A Life Gone Awry” by Jackie Black

Submitted to Contest #2

The exciting and terrifying part of life is that you never know how it will unfold. You can make all the plans you want, but it will be in vain. Life tends to laugh at our carefully constructed plans like a witch cackling over a cauldron. If you don’t believe me, the story of my unraveling should be more than enough for you to see it my way. My name is Ellery Andrews and I’m as far off from my life plan as a person can be. My plan, in fact, has been discarded in the dumpster like yesterday’s newspaper. You couldn’t find it if you tried. &nbs...

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“Lost in Loss” by Kristie McCollum

Submitted to Contest #2

I came running down the stairs wearing my overalls and 1995 Janet Jackson World Tour t-shirt I had gotten last year. I could smell the chicken my mom was frying and couldn’t wait to eat.“Trick or treating hours are from 5 to 9 pm. Have fun out there and be safe!” the news reporter stated with glee in her witch costume. “Well guess you heard that, Cass,” my mom called from the kitchen. “Be home no later than 9:30, and I mean it.”Cass, my oldest sister, was beautiful and smart. My mom tried her best to keep her focused in her final year o...

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“Circularity” by Aaryana Rajanala

Submitted to Contest #2

I remember the flowers. They were so pretty, spread out in the fields, so bright and colorful, the way they complimented the sky, sang with the trees, all in sync with the gentle, lilting rhythm of the grass. And then I saw her standing there, staring at me. She wasn’t mad. She was never angry. There was never any resentment. She just seemed sad, ghostly tears falling down her deathly pale skin, thin hair framing her thin face and falling down her thin, frail figure. She smiled at me. I waved back. And in another moment, I was awake ag...

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“The Broken Smile” by Cathy Ro

Submitted to Contest #2

It's not my fault, it's not my fault." I tell myself as I rock back and forth on the cold tiles of my bathroom floor. Tears begin to flow down my face like a sudden spring shower. Is any of this really sudden though? I turn up the force of my bath water, not because I need the tub to fill faster but because I need to hide behind the sound it makes. The last thing I need to do is have my husband hear me crying. If he asks me what's wrong... how could I tell him the truth? How can I tell him that I killed a girl? A girl the same...

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Write a story about someone who's haunted by their past.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 69 stories

“The Toxicology Report” by Howard Englander

“Wally, is that you?” by Gail S Kibby White

“Jacky” by Robert Kibble

“Rotten Memories” by Tim Migeon

“A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS” by Reenie Z

“A Life Gone Awry” by Jackie Black

“Lost in Loss” by Kristie McCollum

“Circularity” by Aaryana Rajanala

“The Broken Smile” by Cathy Ro

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone trying to escape their situation.

Write a story in which someone experiences discrimination.

Write a story about someone who defies social conventions.

Write a story in which something seemingly innocent symbolizes something much darker.

Contest #2

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

171

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: