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Write about a relationship or friendship that was unexpected or so outside your usual type that you kept it a secret from your loved ones. (Bonus points if it didn’t stay secret for long!)

Posted in Nonfiction on Nov 8, 2024

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✍️ 22 stories

How I Met And Married Your Mother

Submitted to Contest #276

Dear Mila Elena & Bjanka,"How I Met Your Mother."Remember that show on TV? Well, my story might be even more awkward! Before I begin, let me just say this: I know what I'm about to tell you sounds a bit crazy, maybe even too strange to believe, but I promise it's all true.I met your mother...on Facebook.Yes, I know how it sounds. But before you laugh, let me explain.Back then, Facebook was still new - a place where people could find new friends, join random groups, and feel part of something bigger. I didn't know many people, so I joined...

49 likes 55 comments 55
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Sarah

Submitted to Contest #276

When I was in middle school, around the age of twelve or thirteen, I was the class reject. My father did not have all the money in the word, being a single father of three kids... two girls and a boy (myself, the only boy of two female siblings) I had a challenging time sharing the bathrooms in the morning. I often was forced to stand outside holding my bladder, before I was soon to inadvertently wet myself there in the cold hallway on chilly autumn mornings. We got along about as well as expected at this age, bitching and moaning as young a...

13 likes 10 comments 10
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Knowing Jane

Submitted to Contest #276

I never imagined being best friends with my ex-husband’s first wife. We bonded after I divorced him and moved back to Jacksonville from Chicago. To my amazement, Jane became a curative person in my life. Jane One (she was his first) shared openly with me (Jane Two), her successor, about the husband we had in common.At first, Jane One and my stepdaughter Lauren lived near us in a beach town bordering the Atlantic Ocean. At the time, I felt grateful to have a good husband, the opposite of my gambling, womanizing father. I believed him when he ...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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A Learning Experience

Submitted to Contest #276

My parents had always been overprotective throughout my childhood and adulthood, so when I had a crush on a man who was my father's age, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I will call this man Ryan. Ryan was a teacher, and in the classroom, he was really the best version of himself. He perfectly combined discipline with a genuine concern for his students. But teachers often seem to have dual personalities, much like a performer on stage. For example, if a teacher is extroverted in the classroom, he is more likely to be introverted in real life...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Absalom!

Submitted to Contest #276

“Oh, I forgot to tell you". You pause, readjusting your tone. We were just talking about lighter things: my sister's drab new boyfriend, our Friday night date, the cinnamon tobacco breath of my history professor because he leans in real close to answer questions, your physics fellow making you work after hours. But then your voice drops. You're trying to be respectful, we're on the phone after all, and this sort of news deserves delicate delivery. It shouldn't be dropped in the middle of three other mundane anecdotes about our day. Ideally, ...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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My Third Silent Promise

Submitted to Contest #276

Trigger Warning: This story contains themes of emotional distress, toxic relationships, and familial judgment that may be sensitive for some readers. In March 2023, I met Esmir in an online space where I had hoped for connection and safety. After three marriages—two to immigrants—I wasn’t looking for love. I carried the weight of heartbreak, judgment, and insecurities, convinced my best chance was to focus on my children and myself. Then Esmir appeared. His words were kind and his charm magnetic. He promised me the one thing I had been afrai...

7 likes 3 comments 3
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Thoughts for Five Dollars

Submitted to Contest #276

We met online, which is what I usually tell people when they ask. Most people are content with that answer, but a curious few will prod and ask more questions, like "Was it tinder or plenty of fish?"And then I'll sigh, look off into the distance as if remembering a romantic first date, look at the questioner with sincerity and say,"I hopped into a party chat, and he was in it."Eyes usually widen at this, and nine times out of ten, they have no clue what I mean. Maybe they'll place a hand underneath their chin, begging for me to elaborate&nbs...

7 likes 4 comments 4
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Some secrets are best kept secret, yet more exciting when spoken about

Submitted to Contest #276

Relationships and friendships are hard to distinguish between one and the other, because they are considered separate, yet similar in more ways than one. How can we know which is the beginning of the other or which happens at the same time, where they become inter woven as one? Seems that most of the time we find ourselves wrapped up in the moment, wrapped up in the discovery of something new, that we lose sight of which is which and whether one may lead to the other. How can a secret be kept, if the secret should never be kept at all? How c...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Mary Ollen's Diary

Submitted to Contest #276

Mary Ollen's diary When we were little, we always were together – we were neighbours, you see. I wanted to weave a happy ending through the entries in my diary. We laughed together, played together, studied together and married each other. It was all going well when he had a stroke in his youth – my dear poor Mike – and following that he lost his ability to walk. So it fell upon me to raise our two kids and earn bread for our family. We had come to Russia a while back. We had to go far off from the place where we grew up, to avoid those snak...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Just Friends

Submitted to Contest #276

Piece includes subtle mentioning of an abusive relationship + mental health. Reader’s discretion advised.I knew it was wrong for me to let it happen. When he walked through the library doors where I worked, something shook within me. His face was somehow new to me. Something lost in time to me. Could this be a face I knew from seven years ago in middle school? I had wondered. But this story really begins with that day. When I had realized I was giving in to a decision that would alter all I thought I knew.Suddenly, the old draw to hang ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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What Am I Gonna Say?

Submitted to Contest #276

I knew she would ask. She always does. What am I gonna say?   Of course, the story doesn’t start there. Yikes, I wonder where it does start? I guess the second week of 7th grade is a good a place to start, when Jenifer rushed up to me with a secretive gleam in her eye, “I know who likes you, Linda?”  “Who?” “Mark Truman.” “Who is Mark Truman?”  A day or two later someone pointed him out playing catch with a football in the hall. A skinny guy with a crew cut and a strange point of hair co...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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Two Peas in a Pod

Submitted to Contest #276

At fifteen, I held someone’s hand while they died. My grandpa passed away from cancer in a hospital bed, and when his spirit left his body, the goodness in me seemed to go with it. Afterward, I became as hostile as a yellow jacket, always hovering just above my friends’ and family’s skin. Over the next few years, relationships crumbled as I went from “the nicest person” someone ever met to “why don’t you just put a knife in me” kind of disappointing. I’d been on a rotary of psychiatric medications, and yet I still counted calories and lacked...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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A love affairt to remember

Submitted to Contest #276

Prologue:“When you feel nervous or are having a breakdown, just close your eyes and imagine that your parents and siblings are standing next to you, cheering you on and boosting your confidence. They are your biggest fans and believe you can do anything you set your mind to. Hold on to that belief which will make you strong and resilient. Believe in yourself and put this into your heart and mind that you can do it no matter what. Open your eyes and speak from your heart whatever you have in your mind, and you will do great I promise. Remembe...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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After Hours

Submitted to Contest #276

I remember adjusting my designer blazer and smoothing my skirt for the hundredth time that evening. At 9 PM, the 47th floor of Morrison & Blake was nearly empty, save for the gentle hum of a vacuum cleaner somewhere beyond my cubicle. Being a first-year associate, I was sternly advised that leaving before 8 PM was considered practically part-time."You're burning the midnight oil again?"The unexpected gravelly voice made me jump up in terror. Lifting my chin from my overheated laptop, I saw Jim, the night janitor, who stood in the doorway...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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Javon and Kimberly

Submitted to Contest #276

My name is Javon Jackson. I’m a twenty-nine-year-old black cop in a black high-crime precinct in Newark, New Jersey. Besides my service revolver, I carry a blackjack. Often, the blackjack comes in handy when I need to show some perp that I mean business without threatening or, God forbid, using deadly force. Like most cops, I keep a backup piece at home: a Glock 22 semi-auto. It's under lock and key in a gun safe. The combination is my daughter's birthday.New Jersey is heavily blue and controlled by Democrats. As is their wont, they spend ot...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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