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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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.

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 – 67 stories

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

Thriller and Suspense – 21 stories

Stories

“Saved, But Only Just” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #125

The road from Alarston had been a long one, with only endless miles of farmland to occupy the mind. Luthar was frustrated and uncomfortable sat on Stepper for so long. Each night he would make the camp and prepare Chadwick’s meal for him, rub down the horses and try to sleep in the cold darkness. The only thing keeping his mind on the job was the debt he felt he owed Chadwick for the armour he’d bought him. They’d been on the road nearly a fortnight now, headed for the Port of Elliath, the most southern city in the three kingdoms. Chadwick...

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“Better Late” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #125

Lionel dressed in a hurry, which he often did when he wanted to get somewhere on time. He would put his tie on once he arrived at his destination, or get someone to help him with it at the church. It had been a long time since he had put one on, and he felt that he did not have the time to stumble through it now. He rushed out the door, and ran to the bus stop. Once there he kept tapping his feet while he waited. His car was in the garage, so he had to take alternative means to travel the 90 miles to his destination. T...

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“Better Late Than Never” by Allie Kratzer

Submitted to Contest #125

You don’t see it, do you? The way you have a tendency to tilt your head towards the sun when you walk outside or how to rest your chin on the palm when you think. You don’t see how your hair hangs just over your eyes and makes you look tough and adorable at the same time. You don’t see how you can light up a room with your smile or how you wrinkle your nose right before you laugh or how your lips form a perfect little O when you mouth I love you from across the room. You never could see the way your eyes and face glow when I walk in or how y...

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“The Connecting Flight” by Anthony Gauthier

Submitted to Contest #125

I look at my watch. 9:34 a.m. Out of the corner of my eye I see the chips in my nails that weren’t there when the flight started, I can still feel the pain in my ring finger where I bit a little to hard. My flight is coming in 15 minutes late and last I checked my connecting flight was still on time. This means my connecting flight, which leaves from gate 68, starts boarding right now and is set to take off in about 10 to 15 minutes. I don’t even notice my leg moving up and down as my eyes attempt to burn a hole in ...

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“The Resolution ” by Connie Elstun

Submitted to Contest #125

"My destiny has a lot to do with the old photograph I have in my carry-on. I'm giving it to my nephew for Christmas this year, and as a bonus, it has a story."I said this to the pretty young woman with the earphones on. She was seated beside me before she got up and moved over by the window. I did not follow.I waited a few moments more, and a young man, 30ish, sat down. I reached out my hand in a friendly fashion and said, "Frank Sullivan and your name?" No response, just crickets.I continued, "I'm only 71 years old; my antique body is ...

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“Tardy” by Mark Baxter

Submitted to Contest #125

"WAIT!" Robin gasped, as she ran up the steep driveway. The massive oaken doors were already swinging ponderously shut. "Wait!" Robin's book bag banged against her hip, as she sprinted the last few yards. She desperately reached for the closing door, catching the handle in a hand slick with rain and sweat. Max, the door guard, seemed not to notice the rain. He was in the process of hauling the schoolhouse door shut; he had to use both hands. Gnarled, old man's knuckles stood out underneath white, kid-leather gloves. His perpetual scowl de...

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“The beginning of the end.” by Marie Cunningham Davidson

Submitted to Contest #125

The beginning of the end. The first weird occurrence was when everyone woke up late for work. We had no idea of the time because every clock, watch and mobile phone in the world, had stopped. Time stood still, yet it was fluid, and the world had changed. Buses and trains couldn’t run because there was no way to coordinate services without time. We couldn’t go to school because there was no way of knowing when we should attend. Teachers would turn up, and there would be no students. Students would turn up, and there’d be no teachers. ...

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“Red Flags” by Anne Sellers

Submitted to Contest #125

It was the longest night of the year. A strong, cool wind was stinging her face, rolling over the lake. There was a campfire somewhere in the distance, the smoke drifting through the trees. As she walked up to the cabin, the only sound was the pine needles crunching under her boots. This was it then, she thought. She was alone in a cabin in the woods. Numb. Empty.Last spring was hopeful. She was meeting her goals that were carefully laid out on her vision board. Things couldn't have been better. She was healthy, successful, and secretly in l...

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“A Bird with Teeth” by Hannah Barrett

Submitted to Contest #125

[Contains brief violence and fictionalized accounts of slavery and misogyny] It didn't take long for them to reach Bur-al-Mahdi. Careful star mapping pointed the direction, and by the grace of cool desert nights the journey was over in just three moons. But the journey was never going to be the hard part; convincing Pash Fazim to relinquish his claim on Jena was the task they all dreaded. Pash Fazim was a slight man with skin like wetted cowhide and tight, white curls. His eyes were rheumy but the color of cut emeralds, and because o...

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“Smart And His Musings” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #125

“ If I swear for you, if I dare swear for you ah, I tell you, you would never amount to anything in this world” That was usual line the of Smart Igwe's mother to him cum his siblings when he was in primary school. It seems to him as if that line of anger expression was passed down from generations to generations. He have heard it being used by his aged grandmother on everyone not just his grandkids. It has been the favorite line of his mother to all her seven kids. To think that Smart older and younger sisters started using the same line...

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“The Right Time” by Zoraida Colon-Munoz De Collado

Submitted to Contest #125

Why was the clock in her car always off? Daylight Savings or Fall Back, she could never remember to change it on time. So, is it 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. now? "Oh, well,", she thought, "I'll be a half hour early or late.". Even as she said it, her Tia's displeased look, which she was sure to get, again, crossed her mind, and she half smiled. Being late, or early, was one of Tia Tona's pet peeves, and the source of many a lecture on responsibility and timeliness over the years. So, it's a Saturday, and very early for most working people...

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“The Fall of Kabul” by Patrick Hemmons

Submitted to Contest #125

The cab wove its way through streets choked with cars, motorcycles and minivans. Black exhaust belched from a truck in front of them as men dressed in perahan tunbans waited for breaks in the traffic before striding across the streets. They moved quickly, a sense of urgency in their stride. Market stalls on the sidewalks were empty, most looked like they had been abandoned in a hurry. One had tipped sideways and newspapers lay strewn around it. It was early in the morning, the sun rising in the clear blue sky. No clouds could be seen - as if...

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“Mom's for Christmas” by Anne Sellers

Submitted to Contest #125

It was mid-November when Anna realized that she didn’t have plans for the holidays. She had family, her mom and brother, but she avoided them as much as possible. Last Christmas, she promised her mom that she would start back in the fall, but she had made the same promise many times. She meant it each time, but then life happened and months turned into years, every semester with a different excuse. She lived above a bar in downtown, where she worked as a bartender four days a week. She was basically the perfect employee, if you did...

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“Midnight Mass” by Troy Chavez

Submitted to Contest #125

The birds sang a song of death this morning… as they did every morning for Pastor Marvin Humphrey. He dreaded the dew and coffee. And food didn’t taste the same no more either. It was the dullest of lives. He was numb in every orifice, and paralyzed in the brain. He only knew one thing anymore: how to reside over funeral processions… barely. “Fuck...” Grumbled Pastor Humphrey as he pressed snooze on his phone. ...

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“Peanut Boy” by Hamzah Malik

Submitted to Contest #125

Once upon a time there lived a boy known as Peanut Boy. This peculiar nickname had been given to him at birth, when people in his village had noticed his body was shaped like a small peanut, and that his skin was rough like its outer shell. Even though he looked different and was smaller compared to other children, Peanut Boy’s parents loved him very much, and never let him feel like he was unwanted. As Peanut Boy became a young boy, he ended up looking exactly like a peanut, waddling around the village and smiling warmly at everyone.&nbsp...

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$250

Prize money

164

Contest entries

113

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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