Start or finish your story with a speaker unable to finish their sentence, perhaps overcome by emotion.

Posted in Angst on Feb 16, 2024

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✍️ 93 stories

“Letting Go” by Janna Benton-White

Submitted to Contest #238

*Trigger Warning: Parent illness, hospital imagery, death* "But I- I…" My eyes widened in horror and disgust. "I can't do that!" "Yes, you can. You can do anything you put your mind to doing. Watch." I sat speechless as I watched my father, covered in sweat and dirt from the rich Alabama forest, lift the wriggling grub worm, toss it in his mouth, and begin to chew. His face was stoic while his jaws worked. "That’s so gross!" My eight year old self was repulsed. "I think you mean 'nasty,' or 'sick'ning,'" he said. "'Gross' means large. I pr...

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“MIDNIGHT RAIN ” by Salkah Hashmi

Submitted to Contest #238

The petite hand of a pregnant mother was placed gracefully on her swollen belly as she waddled behind her mischievous twins, Judy and Jeremy. The twins laughed at their mother's struggle to keep up with them, and a victorious smile graced their chubby faces as they witnessed their mother huffing and finally settling down on the recliner to catch her breath. “What happened Mommy? Aren't you going to scold us today?” Their innocent question brought a chuckle from their tired mother as she ruffled their hair and kissed them feverishly, savourin...

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“Abandoned Warehouse ” by Rachel Wanzer

Submitted to Contest #238

We ran screaming for the car. Jesse fell twice on the way. The first time I helped him up as he looked behind us. The second time I could hear the thuds. The water held in the pot holes were vibrating with each thud. Either he would make it to the car, or he wouldn’t. I heard him scrambling and scraping on the wet asphalt trying to get traction in his Vans. Great shoes for boarding, terrible shoes for running away. “Shit, shit, shit,” I heard Jesse repeat over and over again as he loped for the car i...

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“The Incident” by Edd Baker

Submitted to Contest #238

Leonard stared at his chipped and faded CU Denver coffee mug, the vortex of Columbian ground beans almost a black hole of doom that threatened to pull him in. Though he didn't consider himself old (only recently turning thirty), he noticed that time moved faster the farther he progressed in age. This last week, however, seemed to crawl at the pace of a snail in a race determined to lose. To be fair, Leonard usually felt this way. Since back when he was a boy even. A creeping expectation of nebulous dread. That at any time, for any reason, so...

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“Dad” by Ace Slaughter

Submitted to Contest #238

*Trigger warning* This story alludes to substance abuse and struggles with mental health. No substance abuse is graphically depicted. No self-harm or violence is depicted. "Dad is..." My brain was unable to process how to finish that sentence. You'd think it would be an easy one, considering the life he'd led up to that point. The ending wasn’t a surprise. We’d been expecting it for years. The most my brain could do was run screaming backwards in time through every catalogued memory of him and picture every story I'd ever heard about his lif...

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“Dangerous Times and Dog Crimes” by Eleanor J Winstanley

Submitted to Contest #238

A weary, bowing forest framed the dwindling lake, which presently still served as a mirror, for those tall, failing trees; they seemed to gaze at their undisturbed reflections with a hushed acceptance of their desperately aged appearance. Breeze was absent and the oppressive, unrelenting heat battered Tanvi’s shoulders while she slowly bent forward on her branch, observing those still trees across the ebbing lake and the sanguine surface of its water. The loaded air was absent of sound. She breathed in deepl...

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“Oh My...” by Timothy Motley

Submitted to Contest #238

“Oh my…” Jalen was annoyed by the words. How dare she interrupt his silence. This was his time. His daily trek around the sharp, steep curves of the mesa was the only time Jalen could find peace. High school was a never ending torment session of boredom. His home life was a tumultuous dance around the many eggshells his neurotic family loved scattering about the floor. This walk was his time. His only time. How dare she shatter it. Jalen glared at her. Kandice was her name. Everyone called her Candy, probably with a k, because people...

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“Susan's Wish” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Submitted to Contest #238

(This story contains one sexual episode) Very early in the morning, Susan walked down to the lake’s edge to watch the ducks. Gentle light drifted above still, calm water. Mirror like, the lake reflected the great green forest that surrounded it. All was peace. Except Susan. Susan stood bathed in grief and sadness. Marianne was so close to dying now with her unique form of cancer, uncurable even untreatable. Fortunately, she was not experiencing much pain. It was a blood cancer that after about four to six weeks jus...

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“Auf wiedersehen…” by Paul Simpkin

Submitted to Contest #238

“Goodbye darling, I’m sorry but…” She seemed to be getting upset. She was almost in tears. Then she walked out of the house. She was leaving me. I felt like weeping but I couldn’t. Why had she gone? Why had she abandoned me? What had I done wrong? I had so many questions but she didn’t explain why she was going. I always tried so hard to communicate with her but usually I felt she wasn’t even trying to communicate with me. Perhaps I knew in my heart that one day this would happen. My happiness couldn’t last for ever, could it? Mmmm. Yes, I...

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“Another lousy month?” by Bill Miller

Submitted to Contest #238

"I can't believe we posted ANOTHER month of results this BAD!", Tom fumed as he wagged his finger at the latest red dot on the chart. "November was NOT supposed to end up HERE!" The red dot on the conference room tv that Tom's finger was now firmly pressing down upon represented yet another disastrous month of losses for the company. The horizontal axis of the chart showed months going back in time to the beginning of the year when the new product line started up. The trend line looked like a crack across the center of the gla...

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“The Propagandist of Death” by Joseph Cillo Jr

Submitted to Contest #238

Death is the sweetest…A knock on the door. I dared not finish the sentence before opening—that might make it a prophecy. Prophecy? My job was to dispel such superstitions, to propagandize death for the Society of the New Way. But surely the attorneys of the Society would want my missive completed, and bound by their incessant legalism, no one but I could complete this last sentence. The editor could only change it after I had submitted it for review. The New Way Society, headed by lawyers, determined when usefulness had b...

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“The Audition” by AJ Key

Submitted to Contest #238

Ten past five and Harry was late. He climbed out of the car and pushed the yellow Pork Pie Trilby hat he’d borrowed onto his head. While the hat and his shoes, Oxblood Brothel Creepers apparently, went out in the sixties, he didn’t care. He slid the car keys into the pocket of his loose-fitting blue-jeans, their cuffs rolled up, and set off at a run down the sidewalk. Ahead and atop a freestanding sign, large golden letters declared the offices of Phoenix Studios. The sign read, “A Streetcar Named Desire auditions today…” but he ...

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“The Colours of You” by Emily Cummins

Submitted to Contest #238

In an ocean of starlight, on an ancient wooden rowboat stained with centuries of service, we sail in solitude through the night sky, towards the After. There is no scenery here. No mountains to frame the world, nor seas to divide it. The rower drives an ore into the shadows and ink laps against the sides. On this final voyage, conversation does not flow as freely as the water in which it takes place. The passenger usually studies the stars in silent contemplation, while the rower rows. Eventually, an invisible milestone is spotted among...

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“The Curse of the Aposiopesis ” by Leslie Kirc

Submitted to Contest #238

The Curse of the Aposiopesis I sat staring at a woman in a devil tee shirt and a cotton east Indian hippy skirt mid-sentence. I don’t know where the thought went. My head was empty. She looked at me kindly and let the thought come back to me. It was hard to figure out where I was with my thoughts, that I had been putting into words. Her incongruous attire didn’t seem right for a Christmas party. Maybe I was tense from the helping hand I had lent to make the party happen. My good young friend had his kitchen redone and it didn’t look ...

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“How Much He Hurt Me” by Heidi Poole

Submitted to Contest #238

I can’t understand why he did it. I suppose this is the problem between girls and boys, they are so fucking different, right down to the biology. But even still, why! Does it not cross his mind for a second how this might have impacted me? No. Clearly not. I backtracked our friendship right to when it started, five years ago. I was sitting in the dingy art classroom doing a hideous painting of seashells. The radio was on in the background, there was occasional chatter between students but nothing exciting. I was new, just started at the scho...

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Start or finish your story with a speaker unable to finish their sentence, perhaps overcome by emotion.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 93 stories

“Letting Go” by Janna Benton-White

“MIDNIGHT RAIN ” by Salkah Hashmi

“Abandoned Warehouse ” by Rachel Wanzer

“The Incident” by Edd Baker

“Dad” by Ace Slaughter

“Dangerous Times and Dog Crimes” by Eleanor J Winstanley

“Oh My...” by Timothy Motley

“Susan's Wish” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

“Auf wiedersehen…” by Paul Simpkin

“Another lousy month?” by Bill Miller

“The Propagandist of Death” by Joseph Cillo Jr

“The Audition” by AJ Key

“The Colours of You” by Emily Cummins

“The Curse of the Aposiopesis ” by Leslie Kirc

“How Much He Hurt Me” by Heidi Poole

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which a conversation takes place where the true subject is only implied.

Write a story including the line “I can’t say it.”

Write a story in which an important message is cut off, leaving characters to wonder or puzzle out what was left unsaid.

Set your story at a silent retreat.

Contest #238

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

285

Contest entries

98

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: