Stories

Eric has done well in his life. Born at the right time. Invested at the right time. Walked in on his boyfriend at the right time. To find him cheating. His plans for a world sailing trip vanished and he decides to take a few weeks to sail to Hawaii. Once again. At the right time.

Prompt #385 –

Brendan Nelson had a tough week at work. He is a Project Manager at a small software company. Nothing went well on his current project. The last delivery to QA (Quality Assurance) was a total failure, the techs couldn't even install it. Add to that, a serious problem in the development of a new feature arose. Finally, on top of that, the customer was screaming about a bug that hadn't been fixed for months, and now it apparently crashed the system. As if things weren't bad at work, he had to come home to a surprise.

A recent college graduate has a painful coming out to his family but gets a surprising response from his father.

Liam Henderson is the king of Montgomery High. He’s a student body president and a captain of the football team. His family comes from old money, he’s very handsome and smart. Though Liam is a near perfect creature, he made a mistake. He grew up best friends with a nerdy kid named Dylan, who just couldn't fit in with the right crowd once they got into a high school. Liam ditched him and spent the next three years bullying Dylan with his jocks.
Senior year rolled in and Dylan blossomed into a beautiful swan. Liam found himself lost in his eyes. The only problem - after everything Liam did, proud blonde boy wouldn't even look his way.

Someone buys a house and receives a belated letter from the son of the previous owner. He is a Navy Seal, wounded and recuperating, unaware as he sent it that his parent has passed away. An unexpected friendship forms..

This is the story Enrique Alberto, just another ordinary guy. But not everything is as ordinary as it seems.

14-year-old Bryan Padilla is caught between worlds he doesn't feel connected to. Having been abandoned by their birth parents at a young age, Bryan and his younger brother, Caleb, were adopted by a family friend, Diego Padilla, and raised in a culture not of their own. Though it is the only life Caleb has ever known, Bryan inwardly struggles with his feelings about life, death, race and sexuality. Things escalate shortly after the death of his birth mother. Can Bryan come to terms with his situation as a figure from his past tries to upend his entire life?

Evan and Gene run into Snowmageddon. They find safety at a ranch in the mountains. While the snow never stops falling, Evan suddenly becomes ill, and Gene wonders if the rancher is who or what he says he is.

Being the oldest and growing up in a large family can be hard, especially when you are gay and the family is extremely homophobic. You are constantly being compared to your deceased father. A man whose stature and deeds are always increasing, as time goes by, and are held up as your goals. Anytime you reach those goals, your mother moves the goalpost further away.

You never seem to measure up. You are always being told that you are worthless and will never amount to anything since you cannot measure up to your father. It never mattered that you were a straight "A" student and that you were an athlete.

Owain returns to live in his home town, 20 years after leaving when he was disowned his parents for being gay. He needs to rebuild his life following illness and come to terms with his messy family history. There is much to learn and discover, along the way he meets Colin, a builder who has his own family issues. The two explore how to make a life the way that they want, irrespective of the weight of their family experiences.

The story takes place in Cheshire, UK. The main setting, Netherwich, is my invention based on elements of Crewe and Nantwich. The language uses some regional idiom.