Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write about a character on the road — and on the run.

Posted in Adventure on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 40 stories

Deer in Headlights

Submitted to Contest #110

The truck stop beacon is a 50-foot tall neon waitress trapped in an endless purgatorial motion of kicking one high-heeled foot back while holding an immortal tray of drinks, her faceless smile, faceless wink beaming out on the interstate for miles around in the falling dusk. The advertisement seems unnecessary considering the only other options are a decaying Exxon that you passed an hour ago and the uncertainty of the long night ahead. Robin feels that the giant waitress is a kind of lighthouse. A sort of north star for the weary traveler, ...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Towards Her

Submitted to Contest #110

(TW: homophobia) Clink. My empty energy drink can hits a pile of others after I toss it into the backseat. It’s only my first one today considering it’s barely 4 am. I crack open another, driving with one hand as I stare out into the darkness and at the unbelievably mind-numbing road taking me through New Mexico. Believe it or not, I normally don’t consume two energy drinks by 5 am. I also normally am not driving at 5 am, but it just hasn’t been a normal 24 hours. I guess “normal,” though, is the kind of thing that goes away once your ...

10 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Somewhere Getting Gone

Submitted to Contest #110

Thursday, 1/1/151:32AM In retrospect, I don’t know why I thought that eight months of delivering pizza was going to make me an expert on the highway interstate system. I mean, I’ve memorized the backroads of Williston damn near as well as I know the winding valleys of freckles spotting my face and limbs. I know North from South; East from West. I know who Dwight D. Eisenhower is. What else is there to know, really? Wrong. It’s not a convenient moment to be humbled, frankly. I don’t have the time. I waited until the grandfather...

10 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Marvin's daughter had a cat

Submitted to Contest #110

TW: suicide, violenceThere wasn't much to do. It was going to be hard no matter what, but she put herself into it as she always did. Someday, maybe, she would have someone to help her and stay with her - and leave with her. But she now knew it wouldn't be this town, this time. She had a few boxes left in the living room, books on bookshelves, several dishes and pans that she had left in the kitchen. And the litter box. The bed was stripped. The bathroom bleached. Everything she had touched for personal use had been donated or thrown away at ...

9 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Will Work for Food

Submitted to Contest #110

The discreet wooden sign by the side of the road read, "Peaceful Cove Hotel." Under it, a less discreet sign announced, "This week only, Pierre Maitriser." I eased my bike off the road and studied the sign. I didn't care who was singing in the lounge. I wanted a meal. My last five bucks had gone into the bike's gas tank. I'd rather ride with an empty stomach than push with a full one. I didn't know what back road I was on. It didn't matter. I'd be moving along soon. It's easy to run away from mistakes. Mine had been tossed into the trashcan ...

9 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

'There is a Tide In Affair of Dogs...'

Submitted to Contest #110

'THERE IS A TIDE IN AFFAIRS OF DOGS, WHICH TAKEN AT THE FLOOD LEADS ON TO FORTUNE. OMITTED, ALL THE VOYAGE OF THEIR LIVES IS BOUND IN SHALLOWS AND MISERIES.' The spring settled in for good by the time Barry the Beagle finally realised he was not being appreciated by his people. He endured years of being mistreated, disrespected, poorly fed, talked down to and radiculed, had his feelings hurt too many times to count and decided it was high time to make some changes. Four years is a long time in dog’s calendar. -There must be a b...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Joyride

Submitted to Contest #110

Despite the pouring rain, he kept the window down of his recently acquired BMW 5 Series. He would’ve struggled to explain it, but even the rain felt different from the insides of this dream of a machine. He caressed the steering wheel with motherly affection, enjoying the night and revelling in his latest triumph. Cruising effortlessly in the night, it seemed incredible to him how only yesterday he was wondering if he was too old for this game. Right now, his joy left no room for doubt in a car meant for five. He’d been doing this for abou...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Place Called Home

Submitted to Contest #110

Scenarios like this stay afloat in Jenna’s mind as inevitable. There’s too much she doesn’t remember; like how she wound up in the driver’s seat of her car with the girl she hates more than anything in the passenger’s side next to her, her best confidant in the back, a thick layer of crisp leather, polyvinyl, glass, and what feels like hundreds of miles rippling between that comforting presence and her brain. Life was always and never fair that way. Always giving her things she thought she did or didn’t want. “Drive. Faster”, The snake nex...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Anti-Vaxxer

Submitted to Contest #110

CW: gun violence, murderAnti-VaxxerBy B. B. KempCopyright 2021It’s not like I went out an’ asked for this shit-storm, but here I am, my thumb stuck out tryin’ to hitch a ride with less than a hundred bucks in my pocket. Why did I leave everything behind and go on the road? It had to do with a woman, but don’t go an’ get excited, there was no romance involved. Sometimes, if a man is pushed too far, he has no other choice but to take drastic action. Didn’t Cain slew Able over who’d wear the hair shirt? Standing here on the side of the road, wh...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Refugee's Road

Submitted to Contest #110

My feet hurt. It’s a low dull ache that starts in the soles and burns in my calves and clenches in my back. I try to count the pebbles I kick from the dirt path to distract myself from that ache, but my mind returns to it again and again like a tongue probing the empty space a tooth once sat.  I’ve learned that every place has a feeling--the combination of the experience of the senses with the emotions of the heart. This place is the feeling of abrasive sand between my toes despite the fact that I am wearing socks and tennis shoes. Thi...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Traveling man

Submitted to Contest #110

                                     Traveling Man                                       1989The man is dog tired and looking haggard having driven for over six hours....

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Chicken Nuggets

Submitted to Contest #110

Yes’m. Ol’ Grandmammy Lou used to always say right then in that pretty little knitted saffron shawl of hers, “That boy wouldn’t do no harm to nothin.’” Sweet and precious grace, Granny Lou. The most honest, heartfelt soul in Dixie.  I cross myself: Father, Son and Holy Ghost and — oh, heck.  I wipe my hand across the steering wheel and there’s still a smear of sweat. You didn’t do no nothin’ wrong. You’re a good boy, an awfully good one. Ain’t no one and anything on this here road to tell you otherwise. Just dirt and trees, a...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Silence is Freeing

Submitted to Contest #110

Ten days I'd been in this area. Ten days of no running... Taking time to breathe. It was quiet, modest sized, and secluded. The ideal spot hidden away. Somewhere to blend. To disappear. So I rented a room on the edge of the town, and haven't been out since. An incredibly lonely existence, but it was safe. Safe from him.  I'd been running for a few years. From place to place and everywhere in between. Never over staying my welcome. Never sticking around long enough to leave an impression...never leaving roots. I'm merely a shadow of the...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Adder's Kiss

Submitted to Contest #110

(Content Warning: Gore and Violence) Dawn approaches with the first rays of light glimmering on Adder’s body, flashes of red and blue trailing behind him. Adder didn’t understand why they were chasing him, or trying to shoot him down. So he continued to run. He would run the road crimson with his blood if he had to, if that meant getting his wife to a hospital faster. Mara had collapsed in front of him, and he had no idea why. So, he did what any caring husband would do, pick her up, and run for assistance. Yet, everywhere he went, they wo...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Untethered

Submitted to Contest #110

On a Tuesday night, after feeding and bathing the children, after packing their backpacks and lunches for school, after ironing my husband’s shirts, I walked out the back door. I only meant to get some fresh air. I thought I’d sit on the porch for a bit, maybe look for constallations. But I walked to the end of the porch and then I walked to the end of the drive and then I just kept walking. By the time I crossed into Georgia I wondered if it was a federal offense to kidnap yourself. I dumped my cell phone before I crossed state lines. The...

6 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a roadside diner.

Dystopian – 59 stories

Write about a couple who fall out on the road.

Valentine's Day – 16 stories

Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

Horror – 46 stories

Start your story with the line “We have plenty of time,” and/or end it with the line “We were never going to make it.”

Angst – 47 stories

How to Write a Novel

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

How to Write a Novel