Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write about someone telling their family they won’t be continuing the long-standing family business.

Posted in Sad on Oct 31, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 174 stories

To the Lowly Dove

Winner of Contest #69 🏆

It was always Amrak’s job to deal with the birds afterwards, and he had always hated it. Every Temple day after the service he would have to wait for the worshippers to leave, then hang around while Father and the other priests finished up. As soon as they were gone the work began – mopping up the spilt blood, gathering the dirty robes into a basket to take outside to the waiting washerwomen, piling up the silver bowls to carry to the kitchen to be cleaned. Amrak had asked his father many times if he could rather wash the bowls, sweep the st...

349 likes 148 comments 148
Read story

Sweet Truths

Shortlisted for Contest #69 ⭐️

  I look at my father’s sugar-crusted hands, his shocked eyes, and I know that I am breaking his heart. It is the worst time to say anything, to just blurt it out like this, while we are cooking and preparing the house for guests – especially because my father is busy doing the one thing that I am about to tell them that I will never do. But I can’t hold it in any longer, and I need to say something now, otherwise I’ll just be delaying the inevitable and probably have an anxiety-induced breakdown in the meantime. We are standing in t...

110 likes 54 comments 54
Read story

Rianne's

Submitted to Contest #69

When I pushed open the peeling door and stepped onto the dirty tiles of our family store, I was immediately encompassed by the smell of mildew and rotting wood. My high heels clicked on the floor as I walked past the empty clothes racks to the small counter in the back. I was glad I left my purse in the car. I wouldn’t have wanted it to touch any surface in this building. This wouldn’t sell. It had become so neglected that nobody in their right mind would want to buy it. I turned around slowly, surveying the cracked, moldy paint on the ...

89 likes 226 comments 226
Read story

The Assassin's League

Submitted to Contest #69

I tapped my foot nervously, my hands trembling. A foot from across the table kicked my shin, and my head snapped up.  I looked across the table to see my sister shooting daggers through her dark brown eyes. I made a face and waited for Fallon to apologize but quickly realized she had kicked me to get my attention.   “Keiran? You all right?” Mom asked, rubbing my shoulder.  I met Mom's eyes and bit my lip, nodding.  Mom grabbed my trembling hands and rubbed her cold, icy fingers over them.  “And you're feeling alrigh...

67 likes 42 comments 42
Read story

Bye bye Sweet 'n' Treats!

Submitted to Contest #69

Title: Bye bye Sweet 'n' Treats! Author: Haripriya Author's note: Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a happy Tuesday! This story is a bit more sad and depressing. Though I still enjoyed writing such a dramatic story about a family who won't be continuing their business. I hope you have a lot of fun reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this story! Darkness, everywhere I turn. It used to be such a lively place. Filled with people, lights, and smiling faces. That is what I loved about our bakery. Until my mother and father told me ...

60 likes 98 comments 98
Read story

Destinies Aren't Set in Stone (Backstory of Adira's Father)

Submitted to Contest #69

Authors note: This is the backstory of Adira's Father in Flawless Imperfection, so I would suggest you read that (if you haven't already) before you read this story. Thank you! :)Destiny. It’s your destiny. The words swirled around my head, making me want to scream. But I refrained, knowing that my parents would be downstairs. All my life, my parents told me that someday, I will be the next great Equal, that it was my destiny. That I would do things no human has ever done before. And I used to dream about that day, the day I become an E...

59 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

Family Dinner

Submitted to Contest #69

Cool water splashed against the sides of the goblet as it was poured from the jug, dampening the crisp cloth. “Oops, I’m such a butter fingers! Never mind,” Aunt Daisy giggles, patting one of my cheeks. I sniff as subtly as I can as the smell of moth balls reaches me. My cousins, seated around me, grin. They know I have an announcement to make. I have their support at least, even though they won’t stand next to me. If I can make a change, so can they, but if it all goes wrong, they’ll still be okay. The golden children of the family. I can f...

52 likes 18 comments 18
Read story

A SHADE APART

Submitted to Contest #69

“That would be 4500 rupees.” Her hands are trembling, she hastily removes her pocketbook and shuffles out some notes. She is in her mid 30’s, her eyes seem to be puffy and her hairs are messy. Beside her is a cute little damsel, must be 11 or 12 years old. She has beautiful chocolate brown skin with soft curls and big eyes. The woman seems to be a lot stressed, I couldn't control my curiosity. I asked “ Mam is everything alright? Are you ok? She replied “I craved for bread and tea when I was pregnant with her. But my mother in law said that...

43 likes 78 comments 78
Read story

The Blessing of el Rojo Gigante

Submitted to Contest #69

To understand this story, it helps to understand something about my parents. And that is that my parents go big. On everything. I mean, just look at their restaurant. It’s called La Gran Torre de las Pupusas. That translates to The Great Tower of Pupusas. And the pupusas themselves….my God, they’re almost as big as an entire plate. If you don’t know pupusas, they’re generally not much bigger than the circumference of a roll of paper towels. They’re filled with cheese, beans and pork. But my parents’ pupusas...

39 likes 37 comments 37
Read story

Diagonal Lines

Submitted to Contest #69

Trigger warning: suicide Our night first began at the graveyard. It was about five o’clock, the time where most families would be laughing and clanking pans and talking about politics. But there we were, our feet sinking in the wet grass, the smiles gone from our faces. The daisies that Josie held were bending and hiding their creased faces. She clutched them in one hand, her fingernails making brown indents in their stems. “Do you know where they are?” she asked, her voice cracking through the silence. “No,” I replied, wiping a ha...

38 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

Small Walls

Submitted to Contest #69

I took a deep breath.  You can do this. I told myself. I opened the garage door and turned on the car. The seat was sticky and I shifted to try to find somewhere comfortable. I had been sitting in the car for hours debating back and forth on whether or not I could do this. You can still turn back. But I shouldn't. Doing this will be for the better. Will it? If I did this and I told my family I wouldn't be continuing the business they would be heartbroken. But I couldn't stay there any longer. I wasn't happy there. I turned on the ra...

37 likes 14 comments 14
Read story

Family: The Unseen Pandemic

Submitted to Contest #69

In the beginning, there was everything. Then, a singularity appeared - something split off of that everything and became separate from it, individual. That something was you. Ever wondered why babies cry when they’re born? It’s the pain of being cut off from infinity of ‘nobody’ and becoming a ‘somebody’, someone in a body. It is worse pain than dying.  Birth is a traumatic experience and we all go through it. There has not been a single person in this world in the history of mankind that did not come here other than by birth. The momen...

33 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

Jedendrum Baltimore

Submitted to Contest #69

(Genre: Space Western/Space Opera)“Vent her.”“No, I’m not lettin’ ya.”“Oh? What gun’s ya totin’ then, boy?” His marred cheeks crease with resentment. He likely wishes I was never born. After all, it was just happenstance I was conceived. No serendipity about it. Just a drunken thief and a concubine treading the river. Then me; a bundle of fishnet. I’m the only thing this man’s caught in years. If only I were more akin to bubonics—or, the like.“I—”“—None. Kid’s playin’ a fit and expectin’ us to care.” Laughter churns from the crew. Perdin. Ma...

27 likes 22 comments 22
Read story

Be Kind, Please Rewind

Submitted to Contest #69

“You are one rotten son of a bitch, Marv,” Jerry says.   Jerry is my younger brother, and yes, he’s always this pleasant.  “Jer, there’s literally nothing I can do differently to get this place to be even the least bit profitable,” I say, gesturing to the small monitor on my desk.   The CCTV feed cycles through the various cameras in the store, each shot is as devoid of human life as the last. What I’m saying is the truth, and Jerry knows it. I can tell by the way he’s nervously chewing on that bushel of a...

25 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

An Improved Version

Submitted to Contest #69

One day, Mrs Sharp stuck her pointy nose where it did not belong. This was not so particularly unusual, as Mrs Sharp was the sort of woman who thought her nose belonged wherever she put it. In her defense, she was trying to be friendly.“Have you been to see your parents lately?” She asked Andreas, her tenant. She was bringing in the mail; Andreas had a letter from his mother.“Of course,” Andreas answered distractedly. He hadn’t; he’d been avoiding his mother for a long time. She had different ideas about what he ought to do with his life tha...

24 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a family adapting a holiday tradition to take place over video chat.

Holiday – 59 stories

Write about someone who falls back into childish behaviors whenever they’re around their family.

Kids – 66 stories

Write about someone who didn’t get along with their family as a child, but has since found an appreciation for them.

Teens – 112 stories

Write about a family’s first holiday after a parent has gotten remarried, and now there are new faces at the table and new traditions to be honored.

Holiday – 98 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel