Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who yearns for something they lost, or never had.

Posted in Angst on Oct 26, 2022

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.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 111 stories

“Whitewater ” by Kat Davis

Submitted to Contest #120

Ella’s room was dim, illuminated only by the rising sun through the window and a melting wax candle still lit on her bedside table. She rubbed the crust off her eyes and watched the candle burn beside her. This week it rained every day until the paint peeled from the exterior walls of her uncle’s beach house. Ella stayed inside for six days. She did yoga, she meditated, she rubbed essential oils on her wrists until her skin turned red. When she was done with her exercises, she cleaned the house. She wiped the windows until they shone and ref...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Voyage” by Rob Ryter

Submitted to Contest #120

It was the first time for Miles Levenage. He couldn’t believe what he was experiencing. He’d had the laptop almost a year - rather fittingly, it was coloured ‘space grey’ - and he hadn’t tried out the speakers until today. What had he been missing? How could they do that? It was just a laptop, with no hidden extras, small and light enough for him to bring along. Yet, as the track played, drums and hi-hat emanated convincingly from a point about a foot to the left of the device. The vocals, similarly, were coming from somewhere well east of t...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Girl in the Window” by Sarah Rich

Submitted to Contest #120

I walked along the empty streets of my city. Lights flickered and hummed over my head as the air never felt so cold to me. It was the fifth time I’d been tossed to the streets. After the third time, it was easy to shove aside the hurt. In fact, I found that I wasn’t hurt at all. I hated that place and those people, so it was a gift over a punishment. The air continued to chill my bones with its winter bite as I realized I’d been thrown out without a jacket again. I sighed and stared at the warmth of my breath being casted into the open ai...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Saudade” by Omar Alvarez

Submitted to Contest #120

Diogo, pt. 1          “Back in my day, we knew how to dress.” Diogo said as he flipped through old photos of the family during one of their visits.          “We know, avô!” His grandchildren exclaimed. “You tell us every Sunday! But that was 40 years ago!”          It was a different time back then when war had ended. Diogo immigrated as a child with his family from Brazil then later served in the A...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Protect & Serve” by Sheri Girgenti

Submitted to Contest #120

The police officer adjusts his badge over his savior complex and approaches the car. He sees the female driver's reflection in the side mirror. She reminds him of his sister. They all do.  "Is there anything wrong, Miss?" He tilts his head for a better look. Her eyes are red rimmed and tired. "My car broke down. I'm waiting for a friend to come get me." Her tone matches her eyes. "Alright," the officer replies, "Any idea what happened? Maybe it's something I can help with." "I don't know. It just died," the woman says. "Why do...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Go back to sleep” by Ruth Zschoche

Submitted to Contest #120

The van wasn’t white. It had been white, but not anymore. An inch of dust matted it like a wet cat let out to play. No windows were free of the grime. There was no seeing in or out save through a center patch on the windshield.This wasn't a commercial vehicle. It had been a van to drive to soccer practices and little league. Camping trips and the beach.But not anymore.It swerved first left, then right, then managed the middle of the lane. Always just inside the lines, until this once. Over the outside line. Back down the middle. Left, a long...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Memories of the Marble Stairs” by Dmitriy Galashin

Submitted to Contest #120

“Thank you, darling. The way you serve the tea brings back the memories...” Good. Kinda hoped for it. “I recall having tea after our first concert in the Palace club, just like that – white porcelain of the pot, and tiny cups around, and cubes of sugar, and milk – rich and cold, and most remarkable – that vapor, how it fills the room, thick and redolent...” Gosh, I love listening to her. It’s like walking into another world, rediscovering places as she guides you through.  “And the boys: Tommy still nervous, twitching; Charlie s...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Three Chords and the Truth” by Melissa Sandford

Submitted to Contest #120

“Now I know it ain’t somethin’ I said ‘cause we ain’t barely said nothin’ at all,” Laura served her best offense as her defense, “I just don’t understand it. It’s like I don’t exist no more.”Billy stared blankly into the fire, partly wishing she’d stop looking to him for all the answers and partly wishing he had them. “Ma, you’re probably reading too much into it. You have a real talent for that, you know?” “There was a time he woulda dropped anything, even his own mother to be with me. Woulda left work early, told-e...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Grandparents” by Flower Queens Adventures

Submitted to Contest #120

"Awww oh my gosh your baby is so cute" Dressed in a white buttoned down colorful polka dot shirt paired with bright yellow drawstring pants. He was no more than two years old and I could practically hear the wonder in his eyes. So young, new, innocent. His grandparents were beyond proud to stroll through Landblurberry Park showing off the beauty of their newest DNA strand. Later that day they window shopped through 10 stores holding up Outfits and commenting on the beauty of their little one. They put him in tiny tuxedos, duck Outfits, a sai...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Goodbye Artemis, Goodbye Icarus ” by Evan Lanning

Submitted to Contest #120

Beloved, gaze in thine own heart, The holy tree is growing there; . . . Gaze no more in the bitter glass. ~ W.B. Yeats, “The Two Trees”              The sun stretched out over the sky with a ferocity akin to the thrashing wings of lore. All the daylight poured into the decaying garden, and affected it faster than did the approaching night. Scorched, wilted, brittled, shorn of all life.            Young Luther writhed...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Home of Light ” by Maria Lilith

Submitted to Contest #120

I’ve always loved the light. It’s one of the first things I said to Ben when we were looking for a house. I want a home of light. Sunlight. And now it feels like I’ll never see the sun again.                                                         . . .  &nbsp...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Round 3” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #120

How dare you keep this from me? Because she asked you to? Because you both knew how I’d react? Can you really see into my dreams, where I’m twenty-five again, back home where the octagonal cage surrounds me? I tackle Ryan to the mat. I cling to his back to keep him from standing. My arm folds and tenses around his jaw; his screams muzzled, but the cameraman zooms in on his eyes jumping out of his skull. My shoulder pulls my arm back slowly until I feel the pop, the dislocation. Justice for my Sarah. Our Sarah. Because you were the wis...

4 comments 4
Read story

“"What I Missed"” by Julius Howard

Submitted to Contest #120

My name is Lewis Collins and I'm 26 years old. I grew up as an only child and was raised by a single mother who was not only a mother but a protector of sorts. She always had my back and made sure I didn't go without anything that I needed as a growing boy. When I would grow out of my shirts and pants, she made sure that I wasn't the kid who didn't have anything decent to wear to school. My mother would also buy enough clothing and shoes to give me options, basically I had variety. Mom had had my back in the sense of her child looking decent...

0 comments 0
Read story

“What Could've Been” by Samantha Milhaven

Submitted to Contest #120

I wasn’t always this way and I think that’s the hardest part. I look in the mirror now and see who's staring back and I think “Who are you? What did you do to me? Why did you do this?” I sit by the window a lot, try not to bother anyone or make a fuss. I used to do a lot of things, things that these people would marvel at. I took my clothes off on stage in France and danced on table tops in Italy and kissed boys whose names I forgot in Poland.  Sitting by the window here though helps me see the world, even just for a little. I used ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“White Crown” by Della Killeen

Submitted to Contest #120

White Crown 2022 was the first year they didn’t return. It was the second year in to the pandemic and she had been too distracted to notice their absences. When finally, after her third vaccine shot, she turned her mind back to enjoying some of her past activities did she begin to wonder why she hadn’t heard one. At first she thought they must just be late, got derailed by smoke or storms and that they would eventually show up. As September became October and October rolled in to November she felt a sick feeling inside. She didn’t really hav...

2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with the line ‘Back in my day…’

Adults – 28 stories

Write about two characters’ different perspectives of the same past event.

Middle School – 36 stories

Start your story with a character looking through an old family photo album.

Fluff – 44 stories

Your character has always viewed the past with rose tinted glasses. Write about what happens when they’re finally confronted with the truth.

Angst – 25 stories

Contest #120

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Nostalgia

$250

Prize money

244

Contest entries

163

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 19, 2021 EST

Won by Rebecca Loften 🏆

Title: Meditation

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!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢