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

“Who Needs Her?” by Patsy Shepherd

Submitted to Contest #21

The thing was, she already had a perfectly good sister, had had her for most of her life, so what in heaven’s name did she need another one for? A brother: now that was something different. She didn’t have a brother, never had had one, and if there was one thing it would have been nice to have, it would have been a brother. To do things. You know, like the car things, the yard things, the basement things, all the things that she had been responsible for all along.But no, there was God up there, snickering as He always seemed to do whenever H...

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“Auntie Hester Comes to Call” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #21

I usually find it quite easy to at least MAKE a New Year’s Resolution about spending less money on magazines. Keeping it’s another matter. But pre-Christmas magazines get on my nerves. I was about to say that if you’re a bloke you won’t know what I’m talking about, but that’s shameful stereotyping, and after all, they do regularly print photos of their male readers, often, admittedly, on the same page as the dogs and cats that appear to be fans of them. All the same – and no point to denying it – i...

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“The Best Christmas Gift” by Eva Gryder

Submitted to Contest #21

For as long as I remember, I was an only child. That was why I was so shocked to discover that I had a sister. Let me take a small step back. One day ago, on Christmas Eve, I heard a loud knock on my door. I was still in my soft, plush robe with a large cup of steaming coffee in my hand. "Who in the world could that be?" asked my husband, Michael. "No one was supposed to come until noon." I just shrugged and shook my head as I half-walked, half-slid in my bedroom slippers towards the large oak door. I peeped out the window a...

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“Doppelgänger” by Angela Roberts

Submitted to Contest #21

Luisa made her way up the escalators towards the shopping center and through the temporary grotto. Glistening globes hung everywhere. Silver icicles dangled from the vaulted ceiling; several meters high. They seemed to spin in time to the Christmas songs playing over the speakers. Last Christmas by Wham! The day had gotten off to a rotten start. Luisa wasn't in the mood for Christmas crowds. Screaming little monsters hyped up on candy canes. But as usual she had left her Christmas shopping to the last minute. Besides, she needed to buy more ...

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“Stranger at the Door” by Linda Peterson

Submitted to Contest #21

Just as I was putting the finishing touches on my Christmas decorations, I heard the doorbell ring. Who would be coming at this time of day?, I mused. It wasnearly seven o'clock on a Friday night. I didn't expect com-pany for at least another hour or two. It seemed to me there were always fewer hours to accomp-lish the holiday shopping, baking, cleaning and other tasks accu-mulating than there were hours to do them, especially, now thatthis year,it was our turn to host the O'Brien family Christmas. My husband, Harold, was in another...

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“I Don't Need a Dad” by Janie Cruz

Submitted to Contest #21

"Sweetie? Can you come down here for a minute?" "Yea Mom!" I put my notebook down and went downstairs. A dark haired, dark eyed, tan guy stood by the fireplace, on the opposite side as Mom. "Wow....You....you look just like your Mom." He breathed with a smile. I looked at Mom. "Who is this?" "Kacey...Let's sit down." They sat on the couches, but I stayed standing behind the loveseat. "I'm good." I said, eyeballing the man. She just nodded. "Okay....Kacey, when you were 7, you asked why you didn't have a dad. I told you he wasn't a good pers...

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“That Which Connects Us. ” by Sally Gallagher

Submitted to Contest #21

She heard the clanging before she saw the girl ringing the bell beside the fake black cauldron next to the donation sign. The red Santa hat on her head bounced along with her singing of jingle bells.That particular sound awakened something sad in Betsy. She always quickly walked by, never making eye contact, and never making any contributions. It was silly, but a little shiver ran down her spine this cold December day. Betsy knew this melancholy would pass, but the beginning of December always started this way for ...

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“The Legacy” by Alvin Johnson

Submitted to Contest #21

The LegacyJesse Weeks and his wife, Delores, who lived in Summerville, South Carolina, had just finished dinner when Jesse’s cell phone rang.On the cell phone screen, it read “Private” and Jesse was ready to decline the call, as he did with all calls where he did not recognize the number.But something told him to answer this call.“Hello.”“Hello,” said the voice on the other end, “is this Jesse Weeks?”“Yes, it is.”“Mr. Weeks, my name is Robert Witherspoon, Charles Conyers gave me your name.”“Charles from Sumter?”“Yes. I’ve been recently worki...

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“A cupid Christmas ” by Ruth Owota

Submitted to Contest #21

The first time I saw him, I didn't really see him, just the pile of books in his cart. My dad and I were in the mall for our last shopping spree before Christmas and I was at the book section, scouring through the shelves when my attention was drawn to him. Him whose face I couldn't quite figure out from the distance I stood. The mall was in full bustle as it was expected during the whole holiday fever and amidst the crowd, I caught the name of the book he was flipping through "To kill a mockingbird" by Harper Lee. My curiosity eventually go...

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“Fancy Not Knowing That!” by PASCALE DENANCE

Submitted to Contest #21

I overheard Mother telling the maid to prepare the yellow room (that’s one of the chambers facing the inner courtyard). “Rowena is an orphan”, Mother said to me later, “she is my late sister’s only daughter and she is coming to live with us”. I had so many questions “So she is my cousin? How come I never heard about her?”, but I knew better than to ask Mother, whose lips were even more firmly pressed together than usual. My sisters have to be dressed up all the time. But Rowena came to us wearing jeans and flat shoes. She is so weird! When ...

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“Tradition” by Sahar Khanpour

Submitted to Contest #21

Every Christmas retains the pungent smell of Iranian stews and dog shit. It’s more comforting than it sounds, really. A tradition of ours is to go up to our grandfather’s house for Christmas day after all, and two spoiled Havanese pups aren’t going to change that. My siblings and I always look forward to the exciting night; food, partying, and money are all proper forms of motivation. Every year has been essentially the same for the past ten years or so, and no one expected this year to be any different. We were incredibly wrong. ...

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“Stella's New Old Gift” by Jeff Bittleston

Submitted to Contest #21

Stella’s New Old Gift It was Stella’s 35th Christmas Eve on this planet. It hadn’t been a great year for her. Her extreme social awkwardness had gotten worse, there was her ugly breakup, followed by the depression, which was followed by the relapse of drug abuse. On the bright side, she didn’t need to worry about her job getting in the way of her holiday fun. She’d been let go from her first grade teaching gig because of the failed drug test, but that was a couple of weeks ago, and she’d been sober for the last 9 days. So things were l...

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“HISTORY REPEATS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #21

Suddenly Susheela asked me, "Why not we go to Thirukkadaiyur this time?""What for?" I questioned. "Your birthday, that is falling next week. Thirkkadaiyur is not any ordinary place, it is Markandeya Kshetram, a holy place marked for seeking longevity in life."Getting irritated I said, "You know I don't believe in such rituals. All spiritual activities have lost their spirits behind them - only rituals are abound. Rituals without involvement of the performer are mere show off. I am not for such fanfare. First of all, who told you birthdays ha...

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“Olive’s Victory” by Lily Lavender

Submitted to Contest #21

December 21. Winter Solstice.The winter solstice, hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice, also known as midwinter, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun.I don’t know why this comes to mind because I’m locked in a cell the size of a closet. Maybe it is because I’m a sucker for science or maybe it is because Christmas used to be my favorite time of the year.Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day. None of that crap mean anything anymore. In here I’m just a number.There are days I wake up in a mist of confusion. I...

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“Royals and Cousins” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #21

It all started the day my dad said he couldn’t pick me up after school. He said I had to walk home because he was out of town. It was all fine with me. I loved walking and listening to music, and that’s exactly what I was planning to do, from the second I walked out the school doors. I forgot to mention, it was the last day before the Christmas break. So I plugged in my earphones, turned on my music, and started the twenty minute walk home. I had just walked on to the main sidewalk when I noticed something white that didn’t really look like ...

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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

“Who Needs Her?” by Patsy Shepherd

“Auntie Hester Comes to Call” by Deborah Mercer

“The Best Christmas Gift” by Eva Gryder

“Doppelgänger” by Angela Roberts

“Stranger at the Door” by Linda Peterson

“I Don't Need a Dad” by Janie Cruz

“That Which Connects Us. ” by Sally Gallagher

“The Legacy” by Alvin Johnson

“A cupid Christmas ” by Ruth Owota

“Fancy Not Knowing That!” by PASCALE DENANCE

“Tradition” by Sahar Khanpour

“Stella's New Old Gift” by Jeff Bittleston

“HISTORY REPEATS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

“Olive’s Victory” by Lily Lavender

“Royals and Cousins” by Unknown User

🌟 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 🏆

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