Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Posted in Angst on Jan 19, 2024

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✍️ 112 stories

“Two Buckets and a Rope ” by Thom With An H

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #234

Roy hadn’t picked a moonless night on purpose, but as he climbed under his blanket and lay his head on his saddle, he was glad for the happy accident. Out on the range—the only place he felt truly at home—no moon meant stars. Thousands, if not millions of them, stared back at him as he contemplated his life choices, especially the one that waited for him at dawn. A cowpuncher by trade, just as his father and grandfather before him, Roy had spent more nights than he could count far from the lights of the city. In fact, the quiet lowi...

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“All For Science” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #234

All For ScienceIt's a jungle out here. I'd been warned. Predators and prey of every size and description around every corner. Anywhere can be breathtakingly beautiful and equally breathtakingly deadly. Stay alert to stay alive.Even with safeguards in place I find myself in terrifying peril. Time's running out. The end is near. I fear no help is in the offering. I am on my own...no hope left. It's getting more... and more difficult...to breathe. Humidity so thick it's like...sucking a wet sponge. But I can't give up... yet. I...I see my short...

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“For Emily Whenever I May Find Her ” by Wendy M

Submitted to Contest #234

A gift, they called it, but would I have returned it unopened if I had known? I like to think I am better than that. The gift I give to you is untied. # On the first day we met, you bought me coffee from a machine; so hot it scalded my fingers. My last coin had fallen from my aching, icy hand, rolled along the ground, and was under my supervisor's desk. She stared at me, daring me to crawl on my hands and knees, my skirt hitched up, to find it; tapping her pencil on the desk t...

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“Vita Retro” by HC Edwards

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #234

12:01am The girl opened her eyes, the sound of a train whistle lingering in her ears. 12:00am The oncoming train blared at him, a bellowing trumpet like an angry elephant. He could see the conductor behind the glass, lit up from the instrument panels. There was a panicked expression on his face, and for that, Sarat was sorry. He tried to smil...

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“Not like anything on TV” by Ashley Quinn

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #234

It’s not like what we see on TV. There’s no abundance of family crying together as they watch their loved one die. Those words that have gone unspoken for years usually remain unspoken. There’s no glamour in dying, no glamour in caring for the dying. And that’s all I could think about as I watched my mom lay there, helpless, on her bed in the memory care unit. How she’d be alone when she finally passed, how she may not even be aware she’s dying. “Help!” she screamed, shaken out of a brief moment of rest that wasn’t really rest. Her rec...

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“Time was Precious” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #234

Twelve hours to go...I should be thinking about all the meaningful things in my life. I should be revisiting the well-thumbed memories in my mind’s catalogue of experience. I should be itching to see all the people I haven’t had a chance to catch up with. I doubt they’ll come. Would I, in their position? I should be making atonement for my past errors. I should be writing letters of apology. I should be doing all the things that you’re meant to take care of. All I can think of is my own body. All I can feel is the duvet wrapped around my mot...

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“TIME ON HER HANDS” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #234

***After 8 months hiatus from writing, 3 of the 5 prompts brought me back to Reedsy. Yay!*** ‘Scuse me ma’am. Would you mind if I ask you one simple question? Well, that depends on the question, doesn’t it? If I give you an answer, then I guess I don’t mind, but I don’t have a lot of time, young man. So what is your question? Well, actually, “time” is exactly what I wanted to ask you about. I just wondered if you’re obsessed with time? Now, why would you ask me that? Because I have so many wrinkles and grey hair? Of course I thi...

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“A Table For Two” by Andrew K Langley

Submitted to Contest #234

A fake floral arrangement and low-burning stubby candle at the table’s center awaited their only patrons of the night. The Bradleys took their seats across from one another, placed the table napkins on their laps, and exchanged warm smiles. “Not bad, eh?” Charlie asked his wife. “Not bad at all,” Mary agreed, “and what do we have here?” She picked up the wine bottle by its neck and spun it around, holding it at arm’s length by the candle’s waning flame for further inspection. “Cabernet sauvignon, from Chile,” she read, “Ooh la la!” “Vintage...

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“In Limbo” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #234

It was a bloodbath. All hands on deck trying to save my life as blood spilled out splashing in puddles on the floor. The pregnancy had been high risk; that was discovered during the first trip to the ER with bleeding even before my little baby bump was obvious. The months of bedrest at home almost got us to the finish line until the dreaded bleeding began again. “Three strikes you’re in,” I was told by the admitting nurse after showing up at the ER for the third time. The doctors explained the risks and comp...

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“Ginny Lives” by Aaron Wolfe

Submitted to Contest #234

The words fell like stones into the well of Harrison's reality: "rapid-onset amnesia."The sterile quiet of his doctor's office allowed the phrase to echo. He became a numb spectator to his life as the doctor told him about timelines and treatments. Everything blurred into a meaningless hum until he found himself in his apartment again.He had no particular love for his home. It was a place cluttered with the artifacts of the lives he tried to live. There was only one point of pride - a photo of his black labrador Ginny on the mantle. She smil...

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“Lost in the Bottle” by Jessica Hannon

Submitted to Contest #234

"We have all the time in the world" Miguel thinks to himself as he starts to plan a visit to his daughter online. It's 4pm and he's been drinking since 11am at least, and he is losing both interest and focus, fast. "I'll buy the tickets tomorrow!" he says as he enters 'nudes' into the search bar" Drinking is something new to him. Well, new like a second hand car is new to a different owner. Miggy, as his friends called him, was a drinker before but had put down the bottle 40 years prior after doing some time. He never thought he'd pick it ba...

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“Where the Blue Forest Grows” by Arpad Nagy

Submitted to Contest #234

The room was nearly without light, but Rose Bennet could see her daughter curled in the fetal position on the hospital bed. Daphne was a beautiful 14-year-old girl, and she was dying.Among the many other symptoms of Von Hippel-Lindau’s (VHL) disease was acute light sensitivity from the decay of the retinas. Rose’s mother, Ashley, had VHL, and it took her life before she’d turned 40. VHL was also hereditary, so there was great concern in the Bennet family that the children were at risk.But Rose and her older sisters, Iris (two years...

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“Letters To The Other Side” by Jahson Clarke

Submitted to Contest #234

Entry One 8/23/2012 Time isn’t on my side these days and I don’t blame it. I wouldn’t befriend a man like me either. Red splotched tissue paper inhabited my trashcan for months. I ignored the bloody coughs and now I’m here. Alone. In a small room, with faded- -blue walls, and annoying beeps. A sixty-three-year-old man with lung cancer, approximately one week to live, and a spillage of guilt. No one to mop it up. I severed most of my relationships with family after you passed. My nephew is the only person that c...

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“Love, Death and Raquetball” by Scott Winkler

Submitted to Contest #234

LOVE, DEATH AND RACQUETBALLJoe’s death was long and agonizing. The disease came and went, then came again a few years later and put the squeeze on like a giant boa. Terence’s was immediate. He lost control of the car exiting the highway, hit some pylons and the car exploded. Members of the Jewish burial society had to come with body suits and gloves to search for the pieces of him which all needed to go in the casket so that when the Resurrection of the Dead comes God can put him back together intact. His was a closed casket f...

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“Atonement” by Jesse Upchurch

Submitted to Contest #234

I tried the door again, but it was locked, just like it had been when I tried it the other half a dozen times. I banged my fist against it then, the metal ringing with each hit. “Hello!” I called out, hoping someone would hear me this time, someone would call back or open the door. “Is there anyone there?” “Just give it a rest, already.” The man sharing the room said quietly. “I promise you, you do not want the people on the other side of the door to open it for you.” He never even looked up at me; He just kept clawing at the razor-thin cra...

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Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 112 stories

“Two Buckets and a Rope ” by Thom With An H

“All For Science” by Mary Bendickson

“For Emily Whenever I May Find Her ” by Wendy M

“Vita Retro” by HC Edwards

“Not like anything on TV” by Ashley Quinn

“Time was Precious” by Keelan LaForge

“TIME ON HER HANDS” by Viga Boland

“A Table For Two” by Andrew K Langley

“In Limbo” by Hannah Lynn

“Ginny Lives” by Aaron Wolfe

“Lost in the Bottle” by Jessica Hannon

“Where the Blue Forest Grows” by Arpad Nagy

“Letters To The Other Side” by Jahson Clarke

“Love, Death and Raquetball” by Scott Winkler

“Atonement” by Jesse Upchurch

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone who wishes they could turn back time.

Write about someone taking advantage of some unexpected free time.

Start or end your story with someone saying, “We have all the time in the world.”

Set your story in a place that’s frozen in time — literally or metaphorically.

Contest #234

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

338

Contest entries

131

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: