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#125 Better Late Than Never

Everybody has that one person in their life who’s perpetually late. For those unfortunate souls, time is never quite on their side, no matter how hard they try.

Whether your characters are rushing to make it, or deliberately taking it slow, this week’s prompts are an ode to the latecomers among us, and to those who don’t give up, even when time is running out.

🥇 Winner

The Heart Specialist

Shuvayon Mukherjee

Winner of Contest #125 🏆

The esteemed Dr Maharaj was the only cardiologist at St Agatha’s Hospital. Although I met him many years after he first arrived from Kashmir, the nurses told me everyone had taken to him right away. How could they not? There was a sincerity in the way he spoke; a strength in the hand he put on your shoulder. And when a patient’s heart was beyond repair - because there was no way he could save them all - he held their hand and promised to help them through until the very end. Dr Maharaj was the doctor that patients would kneel next to their c...

199 likes

142 comments 142

⭐️ Shortlisted

Medic

Alex Sultan

Shortlisted for Contest #125 ⭐️

According to the Geneva Convention, firing at a medic wearing a clear insignia is considered a war crime. The rule, by no means, rendered medics invulnerable. Rowe sprinted across the battlefield. Frozen branches snapped under his boots. Snow broke beneath him, artillery fire shook trees, and the rattling of machine guns echoed throughout the forest. Bullets struck the ground beside his feet as he ran.He held onto his medical kit, slung around his shoulder, light and low on supplies. Rowe ignored the calls to take cover, sprinting. He stoppe...

76 likes

Late Forever, Amen

Rob Ryter

Shortlisted for Contest #125 ⭐️

Monday 20 December 19:30UTCMax Swanson sweated in the back of the Uber and read the electronic boarding card on his phone for the fifty-fourth time. Flight BA247 from London Heathrow to São Paulo, scheduled departure 21:10, gate to be announced, last bag drop 20:10, one hour before departure. Snow fell lightly, flakes melting and sliding down the windscreen before the intermittent wiper blades swept them away. They edged forward in the solid traffic.The driver didn’t seem to have much sense of urgency.“How long till we get to terminal 5?”“GP...

27 likes

Exactly The Way It Is

Shortlisted for Contest #125 ⭐️

Arlen didn’t know that graveyards could close. Yet here she was, idling at the front entrance of Holy Hope Cemetery, iron gates frowning at her tardiness in an all too familiar way. Brick posts blushed and glowed in the sunset, embarrassed on her behalf. “I want something in time for her birthday,” Mom had said. “It’s just so hard to get out there, with the shut-downs and holidays coming.” “It’s fine, Mom, I’ve got it.” Except she didn’t. She tried. She planned. A schedule of useful tasks ending with lunch at a favorite restaurant on the ...

14 likes

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character who is always running late arriving somewhere just as it closes.

Thriller and Suspense – 19 stories

Write a story about a late bloomer.

Spring – 12 stories

All clocks suddenly stop. Write about what happens next.

Science Fiction – 45 stories

Write a story including the phrase “Better late than never”.

Angst – 66 stories

Set your story in an airport, as someone rushes for a flight.

Thriller and Suspense – 21 stories

Stories

The Heart Specialist

Shuvayon Mukherjee

Winner of Contest #125 🏆

The esteemed Dr Maharaj was the only cardiologist at St Agatha’s Hospital. Although I met him many years after he first arrived from Kashmir, the nurses told me everyone had taken to him right away. How could they not? There was a sincerity in the way he spoke; a strength in the hand he put on your shoulder. And when a patient’s heart was beyond repair - because there was no way he could save them all - he held their hand and promised to help them through until the very end. Dr Maharaj was the doctor that patients would kneel next to their c...

199 likes

142 comments 142

Medic

Alex Sultan

Shortlisted for Contest #125 ⭐️

According to the Geneva Convention, firing at a medic wearing a clear insignia is considered a war crime. The rule, by no means, rendered medics invulnerable. Rowe sprinted across the battlefield. Frozen branches snapped under his boots. Snow broke beneath him, artillery fire shook trees, and the rattling of machine guns echoed throughout the forest. Bullets struck the ground beside his feet as he ran.He held onto his medical kit, slung around his shoulder, light and low on supplies. Rowe ignored the calls to take cover, sprinting. He stoppe...

76 likes

The Christmas dinner

Ruth Porritt

Submitted to Contest #125

Note: This story is a funny, Christmas-themed horror tale. Trigger warning: Self-harm, and mental health. However, these themes are not the primary themes in this tale. Story rating: PG-13 until the end of the story, which I give an 'R'.*****"I honestly don't know what takes you so long, sometimes," said Brian. "It took fifteen minutes for you to put the goose in the oven.""Really?" said Naomi. "You were counting? Don't you have anything better to do?""Why don't you let me help you?" said Brian, as he started to get up from the dining room t...

47 likes

Fix it

Thomas Giorgione

Submitted to Contest #125

The boy stood in the center of the kitchen with a blue disposable razor in his mouth, and his father paced around him. He would fix the boy’s speech impediment at last. He worked on the device most of the previous night: he removed the blades, melted a small plastic block into strips, and arranged them to the speech therapist’s specifications.Mark looked at his five year old son, Jerry, whose red shorts sagged, and his white t-shirt hung down below his knees. Jerry was such a late bloomer that it was hard to find clothes in his size, but Mar...

33 likes

A Christmas Fire

Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #125

(This story was inspired by "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.) Hearts weigh heavy worldwide as Christmas Eve springs to life. Overdue bills and too much spending tend to make most people weary with doubt, and they often forget what the holidays are all about. Wealthy people hold on to their riches and care not for the agony of others. The poor gather what they have and make the best of things despite their peril. True happiness can’t be achieved without someone else’s suffering, an undeniable fact that is often denied. Fo...

28 likes

Late Forever, Amen

Rob Ryter

Shortlisted for Contest #125 ⭐️

Monday 20 December 19:30UTCMax Swanson sweated in the back of the Uber and read the electronic boarding card on his phone for the fifty-fourth time. Flight BA247 from London Heathrow to São Paulo, scheduled departure 21:10, gate to be announced, last bag drop 20:10, one hour before departure. Snow fell lightly, flakes melting and sliding down the windscreen before the intermittent wiper blades swept them away. They edged forward in the solid traffic.The driver didn’t seem to have much sense of urgency.“How long till we get to terminal 5?”“GP...

27 likes

Lunchbox Delivery

Submitted to Contest #125

Derek checked his watch for the third time as the plane slowly pulled into the docking area of the giant maze of an airport. Everybody on the flight was restless about the hour delay, but him especially. His legs bounced anxiously under the large white box he was cradling on his lap as the smooth, yet dull voice of the flight attendant announced over the intercom, “Ladies and gentleman, today’s weather in Atlanta, Georgia is a blissful sixty-...

26 likes

Rabbit Moon

Anna K Firth

Submitted to Contest #125

He only intended to bring down the moon. That was what the rabbit in the tall hat and red cape told the boy. A simple trick, he said, though it had to be done exactly right. “Wait and see,” he said, winking one of his big black eyes in the boy’s direction. He sat down on a bale of hay and began gently plucking at the strings of his violin, putting down his long ears over it and twisting the little pegs at the top. “What will you do with it?” the boy asked. “With what?” “The moon.” “I’ll put it in my pocket for ...

23 likes

The Late Doctor Late

David Brown

Submitted to Contest #125

Doctor Jack Late slumped on his drawing room couch, and nursed the last dram of his third fifth of London Dry gin directly from the bottle, while lamenting his latest failure. His throat burned and his nostrils were imbued with juniper when he quaffed the final nip and threw the empty flask into his fireplace. Shards from the glass container skittered across the hearth where two other bottles were already shattered.He hadn’t properly bathed in over a week, and his jet black locks drooped onto his shoulders, matted and tangled like a heap of ...

20 likes

Thirteen

Sarah Rich

Submitted to Contest #125

Tick. Tick. Tick. The clock thumped with a peaceful echo in the dimly lit hallway. As it always had, the pendulum swayed with the turn of each second. It was one of Theo’s favorite sounds. He appreciated the exaggeration of it whenever the house was empty of everyone but himself. Sometimes, he’d mindlessly pace to the beat and knocking. Today, for Theo, it was one of those days. Tick. Tick. Tick. He also noted that he always counted in threes. It was a calming practice that he’d committed himself to for so long. Without it, his m...

19 likes

Memories of Time

Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #125

The freezing salt-water splashed his face as he pushed his tired arms through the surf. He’d been swimming for what seemed like forever---his heart was racing and breath struggled out of his lungs. The soaking wet tuxedo he wore only managed to make it harder for him to propel himself through the water. Thomas had been traveling from his home in England to a new adventure with his bride-to-be, an American woman by the name of Lorna. He’d gotten her on a lifeboat when the ship had somehow sunk. In the chaos of the night, they loaded th...

18 likes

The King Who Would Not Believe in Dragons

Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #125

King William Thomas Francis meandered through the courtyard watching blue birds land on a pink flowered tree, oblivious to the panicked yells and chants of the protesters surrounding his palace walls. The voices carried with such a strong, echoing projection, it seemed impossible to believe he couldn’t hear them, but the King’s face showed no indication he had. A lanky man wearing clothes he had clearly outgrown scurried after the King. “King William Thomas Francis, I must have a word with you.” “Oh what is it now?” The King gr...

18 likes

A Very Important Date

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #125

Did I make it? Did I-- Oh, sorry. Almost got my tail caught in the door there. You know, it’s a small tail, but it still manages to-- Did I make it in time? I see you’re counting the money in the cash register, but when I checked online it said you close at ten and I believe it’s-- Well, when last I looked at my watch, right as I was entering your fine establishment, I saw that it was sixty seconds until ten and it surely did not take me a minute to enter what I would argue is a rather large doorway, and so I-- Goodness, I ...

18 likes

3:17 am

Charlene 🧙‍♀️✨ Boyce

Submitted to Contest #125

It’s a full moon night, so I plan a photo mission. I load up 90s dance tunes on my phone and cruise social media to see what’s happening downtown. I keep getting ads for this special effects photo app, LoveSnapCraft, so I download it into my Visuals folder where I keep Canva and Boomerang and Layout.. Daisy calls to tell me she can’t come over, but joke’s on her, I never expected her to. Ever since we kind of hooked up a few months ago she’s been drifting away. We hadn’t been hanging out that long. I think she is into me and just not...

17 likes

Sunset

Elisa T-K

Submitted to Contest #125

[CW: Character death (not particularly graphic, but still)] “You took,” says the young person in the garden, looking up through the fronds of the willow tree without any particular expression on aer face, “A very long time.” The lady stands on the outskirts of the tree’s branches, lit up by the fading sun. The shadows from the willow smothered her face, but ae know she is beautiful. “Better late than never, I suppose.” Ae continue. “I have always preferred sunset over sunrise, anyway.” “You…” The lady clears her throat, and tries ...

17 likes

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Contest #126

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

163

Entries

112

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 24, 2021 EST

Won by Shuvayon Mukherjee 🏆

Title: The Heart Specialist

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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