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

Posted in Adventure on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 40 stories

“On The Run” by Sentwali Amen-Ra

Submitted to Contest #110

The ominous rumble of thunder above vibrates through my bones as I quicken my pace down the lonely road. With no time for an umbrella, not even a coat, my body tenses as it anticipates my enemy, the rain. It always comes with pain. As the first drop splashes on my face and runs down my cheek, the memories come flooding back. The many times I hid in my room with endless tears soaking my pillow, while Mama screamed in pain. His fists were his weapons, and he used them well. Black and blue eyes and busted lips were their specialties. On extr...

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“No One Understands” by Sabin Cunningham

Submitted to Contest #110

Journal Entry #142 (Earthen Cycles) I got a visit from the royal guard again today. It’s been so long since their last attempt I thought they’d given up and moved on. Three whole years of peace and utter bliss has lulled me into a state of confusion. I should’ve known they’d never stop. So now I have to remember why I’m here. The vibrations of car engines soothe the raging space pilot in me, that’s one of the main reasons. Gyrating through the mysterious wonder of space and stars above can always be interesting, but I’ve only ever been so ...

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“Hit 'N Run” by Trina High

Submitted to Contest #110

(Content Warning: profanity, violence, murder)MADDIEMy story? Well, I had me a husband by the name of Goosey...weird name, right? But, in hindsight, he did kind’a resemble a goose, what with his long neck and nose and beady eyes. And he weren’t no swan, I can tell ya’ that; I ain’t mistaken’, here. I only married ‘im cuz he seemed like the best option at the time. He did a decent job providin’ for us and our dog, Lucy. We lived on a farm and he was out milkin’ cows and whatnot for most of the day, then he’d sell the milk and sometimes a cow ...

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“The Road Take Me” by A Naomee

Submitted to Contest #110

“Thanks for driving me home.” Jenn leaned on Abby, eyes half mooned, breath ripe and sour. Abby gripped the wheel tighter and squinted out into the foggy night. It was nearly 2 AM on a Sunday, but even so she’d never reject an S.O.S. call from her best friend. “That was some intense shi—”“Jenn, lean that way.” Abby grumbled and shoved her off a bit. She tried not to let her frustration surface. “I can’t believe you drank so much, again.” She lectured, but Jenn was so out of it, she only erupted with laughter and somehow… it transitioned...

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“Onwards” by Sam Hoyle

Submitted to Contest #110

Country roads wind and weave their way through the countryside, littered with the disregarded trash of some and the smashed cars of others. Like a labyrinth, salvation is within reach: each turn or junction can lead one closer to freedom, but can all the same suck one deeper into the maze, until they happen upon a beast or lose their mind, reaching the end of the road, one way or the other. Pursued by fantastical beasts and lost in the labyrinth of the English country was Sean Butes. Sean inspected the rearview mirror; a mud-splattered four-...

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“Hollywood Audition Call” by George Lies

Submitted to Contest #110

Home for the holiday season Alison Houston held onto the hope of making her family proud by starring in a Hollywood film, given her recent experience as a bank robber on the run. On Thanksgiving Day after turkey dinner and all the trimmings, she mused how she had gotten to a nearby town, stole an unlocked sedan at a shopping mall, and made off with a large amount of a bank’s cash—all without a fuss. Not bad for a 30-year-old female actress, she thought. Beats waitress work while waiting for an audition call.Imagining...

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“Wasteland Flower” by Mo Colby

Submitted to Contest #110

TW: references to violence and elder neglectI see Luck twice before I let him inside my car. Before I stick my head out of the window and say “Where are you heading?” and he slides into the passenger seat as if it was made for him. He is all sunburn and dangling silver necklaces and he says “Anywhere.”The sun was sticky, trickling down my skull like someone had cracked an egg over my head. A physical weight that constantly made me brush over my hair to check if something was caught in it.There were forest fires in Florida and California and ...

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“Flight” by Michael Vowles

Submitted to Contest #110

Angela remembered how, in that moment, the night felt infinite. The further she drove the smaller she felt. The downtown lights in their blended multitudes became sparse bars of strip malls and gas stations, until the only light left came from the starlike beads that lined the highway north. The treeless plains passed by in darkness without depth. She kept going. Dawn broke to spiderlike lightning that printed softly pink on an off-white sky, as though reaching down across the Midwest to pluck her from her northward escape. Looking at it rem...

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“Over and Out” by Paul McDermott

Submitted to Contest #110

Over and Out John slowed as he approached the corner of his street, took out his mobile phone and checked the message again. It was short, unambiguous, impossible to misinterpret. “ 2 x 200 missed. Tues pm. We know where you live” The final phrase was one that nobody in Liverpool wants to hear or read. John had spent all his Student Loan before Easter, and to keep body and soul together during his final year he’d been obliged to turn to Loan Sharks with punitive ‘interest charges’. Inevitably he’d missed payment dates – two, now – and the th...

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“The long hike” by Cohen Firth

Submitted to Contest #110

A truck pulls up alongside the line I look up from the dark brown mud I am marching on and see an injured hitch hiker being huddled into the open rear of the mud-stained truck. My boots slap the soft mud in rhythm with the others ahead and behind me the rain pours out of the sky like a shower, a cold, harsh shower. The rumble of guns fills the air dimming slowly every hundred metres or so. This what retreat feels like. Hundreds of rag-tag conscripts and a few hard veterans from the first few years of this godforsaken war. My father’s war was...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 40 stories

“On The Run” by Sentwali Amen-Ra

“No One Understands” by Sabin Cunningham

“Hit 'N Run” by Trina High

“The Road Take Me” by A Naomee

“Onwards” by Sam Hoyle

“Hollywood Audition Call” by George Lies

“Wasteland Flower” by Mo Colby

“Flight” by Michael Vowles

“Over and Out” by Paul McDermott

“The long hike” by Cohen Firth

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a roadside diner.

Write about a couple who fall out on the road.

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

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.”

Contest #110

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

209

Contest entries

144

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: