Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Start your story with the line, “It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same,” and end it with, “[…] and that was all that mattered.”

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 178 stories

“75 Wedgewood” by Angela MacMurray

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. She stared blankly up the driveway at the house that used to be hers and felt a rush both of nostalgia and regret. The house at 75 Wedgewood Court had passed from owner to owner, a great starter home in a family-friendly neighborhood. Often families would buy the home for a few years only to sell it once their kids were a bit older and less likely to frolic with the children in the houses nearby. Rachel vaguely remembered a blonde girl named Brynn....

2 comments 2
Read story

“The Cabin” by Faith. M Troyer

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty- four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked the same. The large wooden cabin on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia was Rachel’s home away from home. She had spent most of her childhood there, growing up alongside her twin sister Aubrey; they were thick as thieves. Rachel hadn't been back to visit the family cabin in years, not since losing Aubrey to cancer when they were both eighteen years old. That had been a hard summer. Rachel saw the strenuous heartache that cancer put both of her parents through, and she ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Something like that” by Luna Martin

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same, same music playing, same drinks, same everything. There were even the same people, although she might not recognise them. They hadn’t aged so well. Dawn, on the other hand, had aged gracefully. Her slim form looked healthy, and her hair had just a couple white hairs in the thick, brown hair. She had shimmering brown eyes, beautifully done nails, and wore a dress that went down past her knees. I notice someone standing behind her. Maverick. He had...

9 comments 9
Read story

“She, of fire and strength” by Vameerah Darren

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The ground crumbled beneath her boot as she walked down the winding path. Rubble coating the ground, dust taking the spot where air should’ve been. Her throat dried in a matter of seconds, her eyes surveying the ruins of her old town. Destroyed decades ago, the destruction was still evident. Her hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of her sword. Solid titanium, embedded with diamond dust. Her white hair blowing through the wind. Ocean eyes lo...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Something is Missing” by C Britt

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Although in recent years, the white paint had started peeling off the wooden siding. Not to mention the shingles that had come loose in the latest storm. And of course, the weeds had nearly consumed both the flowerbed and the gravel driveway. But looking beyond all those ravages of time, Carrie could still see the house as it once was: the home her grandparents had built as newlyweds.She stands now at the corner of the yard, facing the old hou...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Constant Cloud in the Land of the Midnight Sun” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The short, forty-story blocks in a cluster at the head of the inlet. Below, the dock and boat launch, and even the fish farm boats seemed to have been frozen in time. The wind on the rooftop park blew Jak’s tangled curls of dark blue hair into a halo around her mahogany face and bright brown eyes. She put an arm around Sina. “This is pretty much the same as when I left here.” "It feels so small," Sina said. The afternoon sun gave her olive skin a...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Inner-Monologue of a Retired Assassin” by Yihong Chen

Submitted to Contest #68

Trigger warning: suicide   It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same.    The same tables and chairs. The same ink paintings. The same wooden statue of Buddha sitting next to the same old TV.    I almost feel like I can smell the same perfume in the air, and see the same her in the same dress sitting on the same small couch, smoking the same cigarette and smiling at the same me.    And I’d be standing right there in the same spot, in the same black suit, gi...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Our Own Sort of Paradise” by ∙𝕒𝕦𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕪 𝕡∙

Submitted to Contest #68

   It was a quiet fall evening, in which no birds sang, no cars hummed. The frigid air bit Abigail’s cheeks, and she shivered, wrapping her scarf tighter around her.   The bright leaves looked like flames as they fell and piled up under the old oak she used to climb. Abigail let out another breath, warming the air around her. Finally, she stepped off the old creaky porch and headed down the well worn path to the woods.    It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place l...

26 comments 26
Read story

“Old Fashioned Memories” by Kristy Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The furniture was old but well kept, except for Grandpa’s recliner. Grandma had done her best, she was sure, but the worn and slightly stained arms told a story of football games and wings and late night PB&J sandwiches.  She wandered through the living room looking at all the photographs. There were many from the latter years, Grandma in the garden posing next to a plant that had really flourished under her green thumb, Grandpa standing...

0 comments 0
Read story

“A New Start” by John Sherman

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Well, from the outside anyway. Twenty-four years ago on a cold snowy night, Joanne walked briskly along the wet sidewalk, pausing for a moment in front of the frosty window. It was the last night of the university-sponsored overseas trip and Amber was bound and determined to find the handsome guy that smiled at her in the Irish pub the night before. Peering through the window, Joanne had glimpsed groups of people huddled around small tables. Ever...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Memories from childhood” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Her grandparents’ rural homestead was still intact. The cluster of three-pole and mud huts had survived the test of time. Kundai’s reminiscing was drawn towards the heart of the smallholding, a circular kitchen with its thatched roof, black with soot where the smoke from the wood fire had swirled upwards and escaped from the open hearth. Opposite stood the square-shaped sleeping quarters with a sitting room, all under a corrugated iron roof held do...

5 comments 5
Read story

“All That Mattered” by Hannah Johnson

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same.  Her eyes locked onto the familiar face across the dining room.  After all this time he’d changed as little as the façade of his award-winning restaurant.  Only slightly gray around the edges of his face with deepened crows feet and those lovable laugh lines.  The cleft in his chin was still as defined.  His eyes just as sparkling as always, even at this distance.     She pract...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Saying good-bye.” by Patricia Green

Submitted to Contest #68

“It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same” She told me. I asked her then. “How much do you remember, or how much have you forgotten?”Jenny screwed up her nose and peered at the house“It does look the same, but there is an eeriness about it now. Perhaps my parents never left, perhaps they still roam the hallway at night!”“Well we can find out because it has been turned into a B and B now. We need somewhere to stay tonight, how about we stay here?”Jenny gave May a quizzical look. She re...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Avaritia's Life as a Messenger of Greed” by Ingrid K.

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The place of her first death, and the start of her second life. You sure like reminiscing, the voice in her head mused. Humans are sentimental beings, she replied silently, gazing out upon the glassy river surface. She had drowned herself to death as Park Seohee, and had awakened as Mammon’s apostle with the given name of Avaritia. It really had been a drastic change. Now, she was the closest thing to a demon a human could get. An embodiment o...

0 comments 0
Read story

“A MOTHER AGAIN” by Violetta Editorial

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same, blue sky, open air, with tall trees that reached the sky. Past the vineyards, beyond the trees, was the old house that was once home. Like a loaf of bread taken out too soon from the oven, it seemed to have collapsed inward on itself. The windows that were no longer rectangular had no glasses, and the termites had feasted on the wooden framed doors. The grass around the homestead was the same height as the oak trees that once acted as swings for he...

2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with two characters watching a sunrise and end it with one of them seeing the moon reflecting off a lake.

Adults – 301 stories

Start your story with someone admitting a secret and end it with someone telling a lie.

Dramatic – 180 stories

Start your story with someone robbing a bank and end it with two people driving on an interstate.

Dramatic – 86 stories

Start your story with the line, “This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives,” and end it with, “By then it was too late.”

Sad – 132 stories

Contest #68

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Meet in the Middle

$50

Prize money

877

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 20, 2020 EST

Won by FJC Montenegro 🏆

Title: Silence

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢