Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
The Choice
The first thing he noticed was the carpets in the room: blood-red fabric laced with a hectic array of beige and black lines that didn’t seem to follow any pattern. The air felt heavy as he took a seat in the guest chair. A wiry man with circular glasses and a mismatched suit sat opposite him at a large oak desk, behind which were dozens of bookshelves ranging from law encyclopedias to directories of funeral services. If someone had asked him to describe what he expected to see today, he would have described this down to the last detail.
By Wen Parker6 years ago in Families
A Candle in Darkness
Light in Darkness At the age of 5, Anaika lost the person she loved the most, her father, George. She used to wait for months for her father and he always had stories to tell to his sweet daughter whenever he came back from the army. As an army officer, George could only spend one month with his family over three months. He would often describe the different places he has been and how he saves lives by risking his own life. Anaika eyes light up the room when she spends time with her dad and realized family means the world to her.
By Kiara Phillips6 years ago in Families
The sign is better
Picking up the small new black notebook and writing... I am grateful for.... The phone rings it is grandma again. She keeps forgetting that I can't help her like I used to. I wish it was different but the accident left me well, in this chair. Looking down at my little black notebook and thinking you helped save me from a life of self-pity. I am so glad I made a commitment to live a life of gratitude before the accident happened.
By Nicole Payne6 years ago in Families
The Little Black Book
My Grandma’s always been kind of weird… Well I guess that’s no way to start a new journal is it? Besides, I never know, maybe this will be the next journal to be largely published and become famous in my death; or at the very least it’ll be made into some sort of crazy science fiction fantasy epic with all the big budgets and everything that comes with those type of big Hollywood affairs. After all these words that I am about to write down will seem pretty farfetched, I assure you though, this all really happened. I suppose I should introduce myself then, just in case there’s someone else who’s going to be reading this. My name is Sue Hardy, and what I’m about to write down in these very pages is nothing short of mind blowing.
By BWS Studios6 years ago in Families
My Second Skin
She sat looking at the letter in her hand in disbelief. Her Uncle John had passed away a month ago and the service had been short because of the pandemic. She never thought that she might be getting a bequest from him. They were not even very close. But the letter was right in front of her. $20,000.00 was hers. She had been given the money for no reason she could come up with but here was the letter, and now she had to decide what to do with it.
By Denise Paynter Peterson6 years ago in Families
Stanley
Stanley was not supposed to live. His people say he was born sideways. His nephew said he was normal until he fell down the front steps. Others say his mother is paying for the way she lived by having a ‘retarded boy.’ They say it sweetly as not to be insensitive, but it’s all the same, all the theories of why Stanley is the way he is. I just know that when he came to live with me everyone around him had given up or was just too busy with life to care for him.
By Romus Simpson6 years ago in Families
Love is a Journey
Jenna was a calm spirited girl. Her eyes were golden brown, filled with the tears of her past trauma and heartache. Her thoughts and feelings were fueled by the disappointment and trauma of those who she loved dearly, but had not returned that same love to her. Her curly rose gold hair fell to her shoulders like a calming ripple in a beautiful lake on a windy day in the Fall. She searched for purpose and searched for the love that she knew she deserved. She looked for love in all the wrong places and believed truly that she was broken and would never find someone who genuinely loved her. She decided that maybe the years of abuse that haunted her would disappear if she moved as far from the city where it happened.
By Dani Sunshine6 years ago in Families
The Magical Notebook
I was clearing off my last table of the night when I found a little black notebook hiding underneath a napkin. It was a classic Italian leather-bound hardcover notebook. It had an elastic closure, smooth rounded corners, and a matching black bookmark ribbon tucked inside crisp ivory pages, along with a convenient pocket in the back of the book. It was actually quite beautiful and very simply elegant.
By Melanie Rose6 years ago in Families
Passed Time
Lorraine and Melvin got married twenty four years ago, and their clock stopped working twenty one years ago. The clock was a wedding present that sat atop their mantle, hands unmoving for eternity, or at least until they replaced the batteries. But they had been procrastinating buying new batteries for twenty one years. Originally out of laziness, but by now the batteries had grown more expensive than it was worth to invite that incessant ticking back into their lives. It would be nice to have the clock work again, but Lorraine had to admit she enjoyed having a quiet, peaceful living room to read in. Her father had loved it dearly when he owned it, for it was his oldest antique given to him by his father, but he decided to give it away along with his daughter so she could have a piece of her dad with her for the rest of time. And for that reason alone, Lorraine couldn’t bring herself to get rid of that broken old clock.
By Grace Flowers6 years ago in Families
