Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Posted in Angst on Jan 19, 2024

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 112 stories

“SURFS UP!” by Martin Geisser

Submitted to Contest #234

Surfs Up! DECEMBER 24, 1992; it was early Christmas Eve morning. Waking up at 3:30 a.m. on a cold winter morning with plans to take out my boat in sub-freezing temperatures would sound absurd to most people unless you were crazy, fearless, or a duck hunter. I was all three. When leaving the house this morning with my duck boat in tow, the last thing I ever expected was exchanging blows with the Grim Reaper while dancing with the Devil amid an unannounced winter storm. Arriving at the Faunce Landing boat ramp in Absecon, the Atlantic C...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Running Against the Clock” by Aaron Mooney

Submitted to Contest #234

Driving away from my high school graduation ceremony in high spirits, my slightly banged up red Ford Taurus was tuned to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," blaring on my radio. I can still hear that song ringing in my head all these years later, and part of me remembers the feeling of freedom I would never again attain. The wind from my open window whipped at my hair, and I felt like I could just—fly. I had become Icarus, trying with all my might to fly so that this time the sun wouldn’t melt my wings again. A month later I was havin...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Waiting” by Michael Robinson

Submitted to Contest #234

My time is coming. I don't know when the killing blow will come, or how it will be delivered. Will I be lowered into the Tullianum to be strangled, starved, or beheaded? Will a legionary be sent to run me through or force me to commit suicide? Maybe my end will be at the Flavian amphitheater, killed by gladiators or exotic beasts? Or maybe the Emperor has something else in mind: put adrift on a collapsing boat, being drowned in honey, or put into a bronze bull with a fire burning underneath?&nb...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Writer's block” by Ozcan Demirbas

Submitted to Contest #234

13 September 2017 I can't write anymore. Over the last ten years, I have enjoyed wealth and fame as a famous writer. My book 'Teeth' published ten years ago, made me known throughout England. I wrote my next book in four years. I worked slowly and carefully. I created many characters in this book. I kept pages of notes on each of them. I read what I wrote over and over again to make sure no detail contradicted me. I knew this book contained my best ideas. In almost all chapters, I had passionate dialogues that would draw the reader in. ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“That’s Life” by Andrew Venn

Submitted to Contest #234

‘That’s Life’! ‘One minute’ life and everything and everyone that I knew in this World seemed alright and I briefly and naively thought that I could relax enough to say “at last, I think I’ve got ‘this life’ ‘figured out’ and I’ll continue with what I am doing because this formula seems to be the right one! My life ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Death of a Killer” by Robin Turner

Submitted to Contest #234

My name is Garrett Whitfield. I am the governor of South Carolina, elected in 2026. Currently, in 2029, I hold a 55% approval rating and will probably run for a second term in 2030 although I am 65 years old. I have many issues to contend with, but one that is looming is the execution of an inmate on death row. In 2023, the S.C. Legislature passed a law stating a death row inmate could choose death either by electric chair or by firing squad. The reason for this was the lack of drugs necessary for lethal injection and also the many botched d...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Subconscious Fate ” by Melana Casmersky

Submitted to Contest #234

“The unconscious mind works in ways mankind could not even begin to understand." Harry declares confidently, securing wires to my head in four strategic points. The cold steel contrasts sharply in the warmth of the bar. "Maybe it’s best we don’t." I say as he clips a watch on my wrist. I want to tear it off. Like some child who just got fastened in a roller coaster seat and realizes pretending to be brave to impress their friends was no longer the most important thing in the world. Leah laughs from the seat acro...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Mary” by Joanna Turner

Submitted to Contest #234

The night was warm and the sky was clear. Mary sat silently in a broken down van at one end of a debris laden street. At the other end of the street sat a small two story house, which had a window on it's second floor illuminated. Mary's eyes had not left that window since it'd lit up. She'd sat there quietly and watched their shadows pass the light as they prepared to rest. They'd been on the road for a while and were surely looking forward to a good night's sleep, in a nice safe place. Mary had been on the road a while as well. She'd been ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Blow Behind Billy” by Séamus McNally

Submitted to Contest #234

Blow Behind Billy. Billy McSweeney enjoyed life again. The first fortnight after the diagnosis he stayed home, and wouldn't pretend now it hadn’t hit him hard. He didn’t care if people believed he had chosen a lifestyle that gave him an ironclad shot at an early jaunt in Grannerty’s hearse. ‘Doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do, it’s all decided the day you are born,’ He always said. ‘Written in indelible ink, sorted and filed, ready for delivery.’ He knew about sorting and delivering after forty years as a postman. Six months into...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Good Fence” by V Lauria

Submitted to Contest #234

The endless bing bing BING bing bing BING wakes me. I see her. I know she hears Puppy. I watch her connecting her hose to the front porch water spout. She is muttering under her breath. Same worn out construction boots. Same neon muscle shirt, same seasonally inappropriate cut off jeans. Everything is the same. The dangling cigarette. The emaciated frame. I nod off for a bit. Puppy startles me awake with his warning. His paws even hit the narrow glass panel surrounding the front door as she detaches her hose and sways back t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Riding the waves” by Gilbert Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #234

My shoulder blades clenched together; for a split-second things were calm. Then it was the abdomen’s turn to tense up, and the ocean water came rushing from my mouth. Immediately startled by the peculiar colour of my purge, I let out a horrified yelp. Looking around I noticed that I was on the floor of a moving ship, with nothing but glimmering water in sight. A distant chuckle guided me to land my eyes on a pair standing a few feet away. The taller one of the two, a well-built man around his late 20s, was leaning...

0 comments 0

Read story

“If I could turn back the hands of time” by Deloise Gambrell

Submitted to Contest #234

“If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time” The body of the man I loved and married just a few hours ago was lying on the floor in front of me, lying on his side, clutching the wound that was now seeping blood through his fingers and onto the floor. There was a look of pain and shock on his face. Moving closer to the body, I willed him to get up! Suddenly, there were voices and loud banging at the door! Shoving the gun in my pocket, I ran out the side door and into the street. It was New Year's Eve. The streets of Manhatten were full of liv...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Homecoming” by Chris Holland

Submitted to Contest #234

I gaze out of the window and see people, some in white coats coming and going through the large double glass doors. A blue uniformed attendant wheels a chair under the shady oaks, pausing next to a flower bed to allow the occupant of the chair to admire the blooms. I see the attendant bending down so as to hear what is being said and then carefully picking a large Chrysanthemum bloom and handing it, like a newly discovered treasure, to the person in the chair. Others stroll to the edge of the small lake, some alone, others with a blue unifor...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Devil's Time” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Submitted to Contest #234

George was sweating and it was 11:30 on Christmas Eve. The Devil was coming for him at midnight thanks to a difficult deal he cut early in the year. His sweet, beloved daughter was dying of an incurable form of cancer. A desperate man, George begged the Devil to save his daughter’s life and the Devil agreed—on one condition. George would kill one other person to take his daughter’s place by Christmas Day. The Devil thought that was quite fair as he was giving George almost a year to pay his debt. “Quite fair,” said the Devil. The problem ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Time to Decide” by Elle Green

Submitted to Contest #234

[This story deals with abortion] Willow bounced one leg and tapped her pen on her desk repeatedly. She was trying to focus on work, but it just wasn't possible. What should she do? She was running out of time, and she couldn't just rush this decision. This was life changing, she told herself, it deserved all her consideration. Less than 2 days ago, she had gone to a doctor's appointment, an annual checkup, and come home in shock. She was pregnant. She knew when it happened - her limited sex life left no doubts about that or about who the… ...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Character – 70 stories

Write about someone taking advantage of some unexpected free time.

Fluff – 31 stories

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

Dialogue – 71 stories

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

Narrative – 56 stories

Contest #234

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Time Out

$250

Prize money

340

Contest entries

132

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 26, 2024 EST

Won by David Pampu 🏆

Title: 6:47 PST

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 112 stories

“SURFS UP!” by Martin Geisser

“Running Against the Clock” by Aaron Mooney

“Waiting” by Michael Robinson

“Writer's block” by Ozcan Demirbas

“That’s Life” by Andrew Venn

“Death of a Killer” by Robin Turner

“Subconscious Fate ” by Melana Casmersky

“Mary” by Joanna Turner

“Blow Behind Billy” by Séamus McNally

“Good Fence” by V Lauria

“Riding the waves” by Gilbert Maxwell

“If I could turn back the hands of time” by Deloise Gambrell

“Homecoming” by Chris Holland

“The Devil's Time” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

“Time to Decide” by Elle Green

🌟 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

340

Contest entries

132

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: