Just before Valentine's Day, a long-lost relative you've never heard of enters your life.

Posted in Valentine's Day on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 53 stories

“In the soul orphanage...” by Iris-Alexandra Vavilov

Submitted to Contest #21

Hi, little kid! I am Aroon, the philosopher from the last bench that you surely met in school. I... am an orphan... and that means I don't really have a family. My mom died when I was born and my dad left me... I am 14 years old and I'm struggling with a strange feeling... It's not depression for sure. I've red about mental illnesses and I am pretty sure that I'm fine. I... am... feeling lost... abandoned... I'm not sure of my self-identity... Lots of psychologists say that "you are like your parents", "you are the results of how well you've...

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“The Letter” by Tiffy H

Submitted to Contest #21

Two days before Christmas, I received a letter in the mail from a man claiming to be my long lost brother. The letter stated that the guy’s name was Clinton and he was 32 years old. He was the oldest.He claimed that when our mother gave birth to him, she gave him up for adoption because at the time she did not want kids. He said he was told that the reason she did not want kids at that time was because she was not married. A year later after Clinton was born, she gave birth again. She was not married then either, but she kept the baby.The le...

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“The Mother, The Maiden, and The Crone” by Bree Kokiri

Submitted to Contest #21

The mail arrived at 15 Maple Lane as it does every day around 1 pm. I pull back my green bedroom curtains and watch as the mail truck pulls away, before shouting “Mail’s here!” and calling down the stairs to my dad. There are no packages, birthday OR Christmas. Bummer. Dad claims he has to beat our Rottweiler, Daisy, to the door before she becomes a “shredder with legs”, but she’s old now, and she hasn’t chewed the mail, or anything else for that matter since she was a pup. I can’t help but wonder if there’s more to it. Maybe dad just wants ...

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“A Blessing Within A Curse ” by Monique Mortimer

Submitted to Contest #21

Christmas day started just like any other year. Family preparing for our day out. Except this Christmas, Ma had other plans. She got up early to cook. Variety of meats in large pots, boiling away as I made my coffee. I tried to stay out of her way, making my coffee with a ninja like reflexes.But it was too late.“Brinda, start chopping the carrots” she gestured with a large knife.I sighed loudly, “Ma, I just made coffee. And are we not going camping like we always do?” Ma looked up at me with sadness in her eyes. Ever since the sta...

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“Eerie-Cheery christmas” by Tiana Gabel

Submitted to Contest #21

“Having a jolly ol’ time?” My older sister Janice hits me on the back of my head with a pink folder as she runs past. “Hey,” I yell after her, my hands tightening around my own baby blue folder. She smiles teasingly, moonwalking easily across the pine wood. “Don’t ruin Christmas for everyone.” I try to move to chase her, but crossing the hall suddenly feels a daunting task. The family portraits stare down at me, their faces cast in menacing shadows. A draft whispers about my ankles as I take a careful step, my eyes glued to a wic...

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“Evanora & Lucian” by Laurentz Baker

Submitted to Contest #21

I believe in the supernatural. The things that happen that are not easily explained. And against my better judgment, I will tell about the time I met a fifth cousin. I saw the headlights before I heard the knock. Who is this at eight o’clock at night. I thought to myself. It’s not a delivery truck. Fed Ex or the Post Office. They do make deliveries in cars. Christmas or not, I haven’t ordered anything that would be arriving this close to the holiday. Christmas is in two days for crying out loud. They knock again. “Hold on,” I say not l...

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“Emma, the stranger” by Ariga Arkian

Submitted to Contest #21

The doorbell rang. The family was decorating the tree. They looked at each other.-Bella, can you open the door, please?Said the mother of the family.Bella, the seventeen-year-old daughter, opened the entrance door. A lady with pure white hair was standing there, her back to the door.-Hello?Said Bella.The old woman turned around.-Oh hi. Is this… Jean's family’s house?-It is.Replied Bella and looked at the woman hesitantly.-Oh, my name is Emma.She reached her hand toward Bella Jean.They shook hands.-Who was at the door, Bella?Called father fro...

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“A Surprise Visitor” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #21

A Surprise Visitor It was four days before Christmas. There was a knock at our front door. I knew that because our Amazon parrot started to say “Hello”, repeating her message several times. She only did this when there was someone knocking at the door or when the phone was ringing, which it was not. We don’t usually get drop-in visitors around Christmas, so I figured that it must be someone selling something: air duct cleaning, a tankless water heater or meat for a freezer that we don’t have. But it wasn’t that. It...

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“A Golden Christmas” by Anna Brittain

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #21

Heavy flakes fell unrelentingly from a leaden sky, so I could barely see where I was placing my feet – treacherous indeed as the mountain pass was perilously close to the edge, so I was grateful for each reassuring creak revealing I was on firm ground. The only signs I was near the forest were the tree-tops, which poked out of the monotonous whiteness like witches’ hats, and the cries of woodland birds sketching charcoal patterns in the sky as they made their way home. The icy air felt like a blade against my face and I wished I too were nea...

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“My Dearest Jovie” by Lizzie Ross

Submitted to Contest #21

Christmas is a lonely time of year for many - I've always thought so. In the way that the push of "family" reminds you of exactly what you don't have. The bitter cold seeps like acrid honey into my old joints, this time of year. Most mornings the pain makes it hard to even get out of bed. Christmas has always reminded me that I have never had someone to take me by the elbow and guide me in those painful early hours. I have done my best to not let my own experience with Christmas turn me bitter, like those other old ladies you see in the supe...

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“Uncle Reuben” by Nina Zhang

Submitted to Contest #21

The snowflakes outside were fat and fluffy, tiny ice crystals icing into spiraling shapes and patterns. The wind howled restlessly, a lone wolf crying out to the stars in the sky, like diamonds embedded in a black cloth. I traced my finger over the foggy window, leaving a path of pellucid glass. The cold air radiated off the panel as I pressed my nose close to it. The fire crackled in the room, it’s warmth coursing through the air, claws reaching for us but never finding flesh. I curled into a tighter ball, the smells of spicy, exotic ...

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“Aunt Gertrude” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #21

Aunt GertrudeI come from a small family without a lot of Old World tradition except a Presbyterian religious background that is not binding to church attendance. The God I knew was a distant one and when I opened my travel agency, I was convinced that God would not interfere with my daily life or so I thought. My sister and only other sibling, Mandy paid a bit more attention to bringing her three sons up in a more traditional religious atmosphere, but I continued to resist any sort of affiliation that would bind me to something I did ...

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“MY COUSIN NATHAN'S TUXEDO” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #21

This is not a story of how I came to believe. At best, it’s the story of how, with Hanukkah and Christmas colliding into each other, I came to believe that there might be something to believe in. # # #He cut quite a figure entering the cocktail reception, not only a cummerbund but tails and a stripe on each trouser leg, a tuxedo like from Tuxedo, where they were invented. And the guy in the suit wasn’t half bad, either. I gave the hi-sign to my friend Priscilla, pressed into service as the guest-welcoming flautist. ...

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“Uncle Jasper” by Jamie R

Submitted to Contest #21

This year for Christmas I asked for a DNA testing kit. I wasn’t actually expecting to receive one (it was one of the higher-priced items on my wish list), but it was one of the gifts I wanted the most. My family’s ancestral makeup has never been well-defined; I know that I’m Irish and English, but there’s never been any sort of roots with which I’ve been able to trace my family back. In fact, the amount of research and digging I’ve done has produced only a few results: I can now confidently follow my lineage as far back as one hund...

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“Fate” by Pauline Breatnach

Submitted to Contest #21

'December at Brampton is my favourite time of year,' Eduardo mused, as he strode along by the stables. The mares, 'Ginger' and 'Silky' whinnied contentedly beneath the dim light of the stable lantern. Through slits in the stable door, Eduardo could see Silky's whitish, grey mane where it flowed along her sleek neck. Eduardo lingered for a while.'Silky's time to be delivered is near,' Eduardo murmured. He noticed her rounded, full belly. This would be her fifth foal. Silky's foals were much sought after. Eduardo revelled i...

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Just before Valentine's Day, a long-lost relative you've never heard of enters your life.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 53 stories

“In the soul orphanage...” by Iris-Alexandra Vavilov

“The Letter” by Tiffy H

“The Mother, The Maiden, and The Crone” by Bree Kokiri

“A Blessing Within A Curse ” by Monique Mortimer

“Eerie-Cheery christmas” by Tiana Gabel

“Evanora & Lucian” by Laurentz Baker

“Emma, the stranger” by Ariga Arkian

“A Surprise Visitor” by John Steckley

“A Golden Christmas” by Anna Brittain

“My Dearest Jovie” by Lizzie Ross

“Uncle Reuben” by Nina Zhang

“Aunt Gertrude” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“MY COUSIN NATHAN'S TUXEDO” by Andrew Grell

“Uncle Jasper” by Jamie R

“Fate” by Pauline Breatnach

🌟 Similar prompts

You live in a neighborhood where lots of people go out of town for the holidays. But lately, this has been resulting in an increased number of break-ins.

Write a short story about a work Christmas party that goes... awry.

Write a short story about an inn-keeper wondering whether this will be their last holiday season in business.

You are a bartender working a night shift when a group of people come in on a Valentine's Day pub crawl.

Contest #21

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

168

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: