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

“The Robin” by Malia Kao

Submitted to Contest #238

The sun touched the fertile landscape with its golden fingers as the cockerel crowed triumphantly. The rhythms of the dawn swelled with the growing light, marking the end of the night's dominion. Amidst the celebration of nature, a young man lay quietly in his bed, shades drawn and windows shut, and he stared contemplatively at the ceiling above him. He felt ill this morning, not of the body but of the mind. He had begun feeling this way every so often since the death of his father about five years before. His friends had tried their best to...

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“I am because You are” by Nic Silvestris

Submitted to Contest #238

I am because You are “Yes, I understand that…no you don’t need to remind me.” An “I love you; you know?” emitted from one end of the phone, waiting to be reflected. “I … need to go. I’ll talk to you soon”. As she hung up the phone and folded her hands around her furrowed brow, a slight imperfection in her makeup became more apparent under the diner’s hanging light. She sat alone in the corner booth, her essence...

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“I Think It's Fair to Say We Tried—” by Jessica Wolf

Submitted to Contest #238

“I think it’s fair to say we tried—” I started. “But—” He started over me. As my words reached his ear on the other end of the line, on the other side of the country, I held my breath; he repeated, more pointedly this time, “BUT—” His insistence on continuing to speak rather than listen was all too reminiscent of our current and past conflicts, contradictions, contraindications. “Go ahead,” I prompted him, letting my point go. He wanted to make his point instead. He insisted on talking over me, interjecting with the second ‘but’ as my ...

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“The Unfinished Sentence” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #238

“The reason that I called this meeting is that…” Those were the only words heard by the employee audience as the speaker, Jason, the owner and boss of the company, fell down apparently unconscious, not even moving, just lying on the floor. There was a collective sharp intake of breath from the 70 – 80 people in the company meeting room. The people in the front row did not visibly react. They were younger members of the speaker’s family. It did not take long, however, for several unrelated people in seats farther back...

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“The Orange Monarch” by Alex Lansey

Submitted to Contest #238

The Orange Monarch was a peculiar character. Every high-ranking official in the palace was somewhat peculiar, but among them all, the Orange Monarch was the one who seemed so out of place and yet precisely where he needed to be. The Imperial Palace swarmed with a variety of officials and titleholders, most of them got the position due to the fortune of good lineage or wealth, after all, nepotism and plutocracy were the two preferred ways of promoting talent into the ranks of the palace residents. The Orange Monarch was the second son of a me...

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“How did you....” by Michelle Salamanca

Submitted to Contest #238

What I would define now as being blessed, is what I considered then a natural response to my greatness. I mean an attractive, extroverted female of 19 was all but great to anyone she came across, right? Any self-centered 19 yr old would tell you the same.Early evening, I’d arrived upon my brothers’ doorstep. I’d packed up from where I lived in L.A. I left my job as an AT&T long distance operator as a result of dating the men with whom I was connecting person to person calls. In giving out my telephone number, I was led through adventures...

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“Virgin” by Peter Fulton

Submitted to Contest #238

“Holy shit,” I breathed, my eyes dazzled and my spirit stunned. “It’s so-” “Awesome?” my hiking companion offered, green eyes excitedly peering at me from a cocked head, gauging my reaction to the sight that greeted our long, steady hike. My gaze doesn’t leave the vista of a pale orange sky, the burning bronze orb of a foreign star sinking low to a horizon of rolling mountains and an ocean of swaying trees, leaves that should have been green are now burning red from the light of the sunset and swirling in the lazy breeze, hypnotizing unw...

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“The Carcass” by Teng Rong

Submitted to Contest #238

Already it was dawn but the air was still cold and the rains were colder yet. I lay waiting for the children under the cover of a gnarled pine where the earth was dry and the darkness of night found its last respite. The rain fell in sheets. The scent of elk saliva and marmot droppings hung densely in the air the way a stillwater pond trapped the smell of fish and bugs. The graying dawn. I watched a trickle of rain run between the digits of my left paw. My belly growled. The rain slowed to a drizzle.By the time I heard them, the autumn sun h...

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“Out of Luck” by Mojave Green

Submitted to Contest #238

"I should buy a-" I caught myself before finishing the thought. A moment before the words came out of my mouth, one of the most sad and stressful memories I had flashed through my mind. It was thirty years ago. I was a typical suburban pre-teen living across the street from my best buddy Jeff Gilman. My mom was always working, and I was spending more time at Jeff’s house than my own. His parents didn't mind. They were always giving me rides home from school and would let me hang out with Jeff until my mom arrived. Whenever ...

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“My Death Letter” by Stevie Lewis

Submitted to Contest #238

*Story may be a trigger for some readers with talking of death and terminal illness* How do you tell your family you're dying? I mean… They know I've been dying for years. The tumor kept coming back no matter what the doctors tried. But how do I tell them the cancer has spread and I only have days or if I am lucky weeks left to live? I can't even comprehend this myself let alone my family who has to survive it once I am gone. My suffering will end, but they have to live with the fact that they have to outlive their baby girl. “Dear mom and ...

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“The Witness Stand” by Curtis Jackson

Submitted to Contest #238

Advisory: Themes of crime, criminal insensitivity, and victims’ impact.“If your emotions flicker by the slightest degree. He has you. You’re done.”The saying was among the coached words of Warren’s legal counselor, Richard Attenborough. After the noon break, the defendant, who faced the death penalty, would endure more grilling by the district’s assistant prosecutor, Nod Beacons. It was after a lengthy city-wide search that most citizens concluded the body was expertly disposed of, mafia-styled.The months-long investigation never steered far...

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“Your Mother Was Right” by John Martinez

Submitted to Contest #238

The rhythmic thump thump of the wipers’ frantic attempt to rid the windshield of raindrops glimmering in the passing streetlights came and went in Jonah’s sight. A thin layer of water about the lonely street glistened in the headlights. His breaths were heavy between the squeal and thump, thump. “Your mom was right, you know?” were the words Julia, his wife had said. The street lights stretched across the darkness then vanished over her reflection in the rearview mirror revealing only a split second of the shimmer in her eyes. Th...

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“Man's thirst for dominance and space” by David Nutt

Submitted to Contest #238

Man’s thirst for dominance and spaceThe date was 4th August 1914 a warm, dry and sunny day. Nature was asleep under the summer sun, the farmers’ animals throughout the countryside like the human population were enjoying a lazy day. Then came the news that the British prime minister had declared a state of war with Germany. It seemed as though that precious isle set in a silver sea was covered by an electric storm that propelled the population into the unknown with such violence that took the peoples’ breath away.Two days later I called three...

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“A Long Drive Home” by Allison Stoll

Submitted to Contest #238

I think I’m autistic.The thought rages like a hurricane in my mind, a frenzied, feral beast on a terrified rampage. I imagine it with horns and giant talons and hot, sour breath, puffing out in clouds of green smoke. My mom sits next to me in the driver’s seat, tapping her thumbs on the wheel. I wonder briefly if she’s mad at me for something, if the night didn’t go the way she’d planned, if I should have accepted her offer and ordered a drink at the bar. I give the beast a top hat and a bow tie to make it less scary.“That was real...

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“The Rest of My Life” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #238

I crash through the door, the bell hanging from the handle jingling wildly. I’m breathing heavily, chest aching with more than the need to draw a good lungful of air. There are only a couple of people in the small diner at this hour of the night: the late-shift cook behind the counter, a couple of teenagers in a corner booth.And… her.“Something wrong, buddy?” the cook asks me, an annoyed expression on his face.I shake my head, a dismissal of his question and his very existence. At that moment, nothing has any meaning except her.She’s sitting...

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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

“The Robin” by Malia Kao

“I am because You are” by Nic Silvestris

“I Think It's Fair to Say We Tried—” by Jessica Wolf

“The Unfinished Sentence” by John Steckley

“The Orange Monarch” by Alex Lansey

“How did you....” by Michelle Salamanca

“Virgin” by Peter Fulton

“The Carcass” by Teng Rong

“Out of Luck” by Mojave Green

“My Death Letter” by Stevie Lewis

“The Witness Stand” by Curtis Jackson

“Your Mother Was Right” by John Martinez

“Man's thirst for dominance and space” by David Nutt

“A Long Drive Home” by Allison Stoll

“The Rest of My Life” by Ian Gonzales

🌟 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 🏆

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