Write a story inspired by this quote from Ally Condie: "Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that."

Posted in Sad on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 161 stories

“Some Things Never Change” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #40

"Our roots will always be tangled."Nice thought. But like so many things--communism, universal healthcare, democracy--it only sounds good on paper. Makes for a nice plaque on the wall. A greeting card, maybe. A coffee mug. People will spend money just to have those words staring back at them every day, reminding them that somehow their "friendships" really mean something.I wasn't always this way. I'm a drag, I know. Looking at four indifferent, splintery walls. One ceiling, stained along the seam by amber remnants of past rainwater. Out one ...

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“a nice neighborhood barbecue” by Masha Kurbatova

Submitted to Contest #40

I hadn’t seen my ex-fiancee in twelve years and then I moved into his neighborhood. An accident, of course, I didn’t know he’d be there in a cute little gnome house with a pointed roof and brick walls and a turquoise door and a garden of pansies tended by a loving pregnant wife. I wouldn’t have ever found out either, I’m not big on mingling with neighbors, but my new fiancee is and he insisted we go to the big barbeque they were advertising with hand-drawn signs and smiley-face balloons. He wanted to settle in quickly, get ...

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“John Booker” by Anna Mosqueda

Submitted to Contest #40

I still remember the day that I saw John Booker moving into the house down the street. I saw his father yelling at him and I saw him flinch as he thrust a box into his arms. That night after dinner, I put on my yellow converse with mud on the bottom and ran to Johns house. As I got closer to the house, I could smell the savory scent of barbecue chicken. I smiled and walked around to the window that gave me a perfect view into the dining room. The faint glow of a TV was flickering through the dark living room. The dining room was also dark. N...

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“Sisters” by Maddie Lively

Submitted to Contest #40

Every day of the Lively Sisters' life was different.Annie was the eldest of the sisters. She loved organization, school, studying, memorizing, cleaning, social media, and family and friends.Maddie was the second child. She loved music, sports (Specifically football and basketball), hanging out with family and friends, reading, dancing, singing, acting, doing physical exercise, studying at the last minute for a test, and writing. Maddie loved her family and her three sisters but some days it was too much. She longed to get away at moments (ma...

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“Change: For Better or for Worse” by Caroline G

Submitted to Contest #40

Dear friend, Hi! How have you been? I hope you are doing well. I know you were probably shocked to find this letter in your mailbox. I mean, of all the ways I could have reached out, I chose to write you a letter. I know writing letters is pretty much outdated, but you know I’ve always been old school, even when we were still friends. Are we still friends? Nothing ever really came between us. We simply took different paths of life. I know we lost touch after I...

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“My neighbor ” by Prathamesh Chavan

Submitted to Contest #40

It was a clear night sky I had settled myself into the arm chair soon I heard shouts within the house a boy came shouting from far how the smell is getting worst it's like rotten eggs had been burnt didn't you are smelling awfully he stared at me as if early waiting me to agree with him.yes I insited in sclience it's worst perfume I thought .He said in anger you know exactly what it is?Which this word he stormed out of sight .The next day it was most happy and cheerfully as long as rohit would not come shouting it's ok for 12 year old boy I ...

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“The Best Of Friends” by Libby Carter

Submitted to Contest #40

They were the best of friends. It was a fateful day in art class when they met. The two little girls both loved drawing. Now, they weren’t extremely great for five year olds, but they loved it nonetheless. The class was full of older kids, no one else in their kindergarten class. Art was an after school class at Maelin School. So, the two became fast friends. “What’s your name?” One asked. “I’m Lizzy.” “I thought the teacher called you something else.”&nbs...

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“The Flight of Thaddeus Grey” by Arthur Tiberio

Submitted to Contest #40

The First Rail of Ans clattered across the aging landscape of the night. The higher strata of society was asleep after a fine dinner of steaks and wines and pastries with exotic names, and their cars bore a different name altogether. They called it the Jamrian Express, and its letters were seared in gold.At the other end of the train, painted in noticeably dimmer hues as if to blend in shame against the darkness, were the third-class coaches. The running joke was that they had only been added on after the last of the chairs had been allotted...

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“Her” by Helen Louise

Submitted to Contest #40

The first time I saw her will forever be implanted in my brain. It was exactly two months before my 12th birthday, a crisp November morning where people, bundled in fluffy scarfs, hurried past each other desperate for anything warm to unfreeze the blood in their veins. I was about to get on the school bus, trying to unzip the massive parka coat my mother had forced onto me when she just seemed to materialise. Running along the pavement towards me, fluffy boots and bright pink earmuffs on yet with a polka dot yellow dress streaming from her b...

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“Blood Sisters ” by Ivy Moonlit

Submitted to Contest #40

Me and Saddie were not blood sisters, but we should have been. Our mother’s met in kindergarten and they were said to be inseparable. Most people thought that they would be through with each other soon enough, but they never did. I just wish it was like that with me and Sadie. We were born on the same day, same hospital, rooms side by side. I’m sure we played together as babies, but the friendship didn’t sit well with us as we grew older, rather, it didn’t sit well with Saddie. I always looked up to our mother’s friendship. They were a...

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“Waiting for Good-bye” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #40

She was always waiting for good-bye. Her room changed. Different bed, different windows, different scenes. Bontoc mountains with green rice terraces, clothes waving from red rebars sticking out from flat concrete roofs, pig squeals, roosters competing, and the boy who played guitar. Shanghai lights, tall buildings, a golden fish pond, magnolias, and if the smog wasn’t bad, the Pearl Tower pinch-tall in the distance. Bright Honduran houses, cowboy men with big hats and long machetes, a tethered donkey waiting with a load of coffee f...

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“Melany Birch and John Oak” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #40

Deep within the lush green forest, yet untamed by mankind and ruled over only by the sun and the rain, there was a meadow of golden grass stalks. And in that meadow, a miracle of life was unfolding.Two stray seeds, a birch seed and an acorn, brought on the dancing winds not that long ago, were beginning to sprout in the pristine soil. Encouraged by water and warmth, they cracked their shells and dug their way through the earth, until their soft, gentle leaves touched daylight. The meadow grew larger by two.With life bustling all around ...

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“The Dead Tree” by Heather Laaman

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #40

I decided it was time to visit Laura when I saw the dead tree. I was hiking with Ryan, and didn’t initially see it, hunched in the shadow of the living one. When we got closer, I noticed how the roots of the two trees were tangled together in such a way that one tree was forced out of the ground by the growth of the other. Ryan turned back to see me standing in the center of the trail. “Are you looking at those trees?” he asked. “Pretty crazy.” I didn’t trust my voice enough to respond. The next day I filled out all the paperwork to visit La...

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“Friend Before Fatherland” by Kate Strong

Submitted to Contest #40

It all had happened slowly, first the uncomfortable silences filling the gaps where friendly quiet once had been, gradually turning into days stretching into weeks when they didn’t see one other anymore. There was much going on in the world, but to two boys who had once been more brothers than friends, nothing would have been able to keep them apart.Until 1937. Briefly glancing at his reflection in the mirror above the small sink that had long since ceased to bring water throu...

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“The Garden Party” by Dustin Softman

Submitted to Contest #40

All that was left was a chickpea. I can cut it in half if you’d like? I say. She says no, but I do it anyway and she accepts it with one of those smiles where only her mouth moves.We hover around the buffet table searching for something to say when a gloriously silver pigeon with a violet neck plume bats its wings before returning to its home in the fur tree.It’s… almost fortifying to know how bright their feathers get out here, I jibe.You know pigeons are covered with ticks, even in the country, she says. They’re like giant fleas, if you si...

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Write a story inspired by this quote from Ally Condie: "Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that."

Submissions are closed

✍️ 161 stories

“Some Things Never Change” by Gip Roberts

“a nice neighborhood barbecue” by Masha Kurbatova

“John Booker” by Anna Mosqueda

“Sisters” by Maddie Lively

“Change: For Better or for Worse” by Caroline G

“My neighbor ” by Prathamesh Chavan

“The Best Of Friends” by Libby Carter

“The Flight of Thaddeus Grey” by Arthur Tiberio

“Her” by Helen Louise

“Blood Sisters ” by Ivy Moonlit

“Waiting for Good-bye” by Adriana K. Maxwell

“Melany Birch and John Oak” by Harken Void

“The Dead Tree” by Heather Laaman

“Friend Before Fatherland” by Kate Strong

“The Garden Party” by Dustin Softman

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about two people who meet and become instant friends.

Write a story about friends who wind up on a misadventure.

Write a story about one event from the different perspectives of multiple friends.

Write a story about someone turning to a friend in a time of need.

Contest #40

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

622

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: