Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
A Mother's Inheritance
Michelle couldn't stop crying. How long had it been since the funeral? She hadn’t showered, and only got out of bed when absolutely necessary. People came to check on her, gave her food and kind words, though she didn’t say anything to any of them. Her phone was dead. The curtains remained drawn. Her only child, just barely older than she was when she became pregnant with him, was dead. For the past twenty-two years it had been just the two of them and now it was just her. Someone knocked on her bedroom door.
By E.L. Williams5 years ago in Families
10:05 to Heathrow
Colin clenched his fists and closed his eyes. He had read an article on conscious breathing and decided to try. He took a long, deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. His eyes were still closed but he could feel it. Wheels up. They were off the ground.
By Andre Hilliard5 years ago in Families
The Way Out of Nowhere
I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ever dream of something better for myself. I never hoped for a great adventure. I had long since convinced myself I was content with my favorite chair in the corner of the library, nestled secretly behind two book stacks no one ever seemed to care about. No one seemed to care about the library at all. I enjoyed the quiet, though. I didn’t like the people in this town, their small talk, and personal agendas. Maybe I was wired this way, or maybe that was the consequence of growing up in a small town with a population of 302, and no other town around for miles. In 1892, three years after the “discovery” of these western plains, the town was established and aptly named, Nowhere, Montana.
By Jordan Butler5 years ago in Families
Legacy Park
I cannot recall a single conversation with my grandmother in which she didn’t throw in an adage or truism she had picked up in her many years on Earth. She was an old-fashioned woman full of ancient and archaic wisdom and philosophy, mostly in the form of proverbs. Her favourite saying by far was the reassurance that, in life, ‘what is meant for you will not pass you.’ I loved my grandmother dearly, but I never truly believed this. We all know there are too many unhappy-ever-afters and could-have-beens in this world for it to possibly be true. Besides, even if it was true, what did that say about me? That minimum-wage shift work was meant for me? That my fiancé being called away for weeks at a time, leaving me at home with our young daughter and her infinite energy was meant for me? That watching Lulu, on the day she turned six, sit by herself on the living room carpet as she unwrapped the few toys kind relatives and my meagre savings had bought her was meant for me? All Lucia really wanted was a bicycle, even a used one, she pleaded, but I saw no sense in such a gift when we lived on the sixth floor of a city-overspill apartment block surrounded by fast multi-lane roads.
By L. A. Campbell5 years ago in Families
Knock
Johnathan stares blankly at the hospital bill, his eyes red with exhaustion. He can hear his wife putting their son to bed. She reads him a tale about a brave knight who took on a fearsome dragon, saving the kingdom from destruction and ruin. The knight was showered with praise and a fortune beyond imagination.
By Brittany Hancock5 years ago in Families
