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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#238: Aposiopesis

An ancient figure of speech, literally meaning “becoming silent,” aposiopesisis a very fancy word for a very common predicament. Aposiopesis occurs when a sentence breaks off and is left unfinished, suggesting the speaker is too overwhelmed to go on. Think “I’m so angry, I could —”, “You don’t think they…?”, or “I just thought…”


This week’s prompts are inspired by unfinished utterances, communication catastrophes, and those times when you just can’t quite...

This week's prompts

Start or finish your story with a speaker unable to finish their sentence, perhaps overcome by emotion.

Angst – 93 stories

Write a story in which a conversation takes place where the true subject is only implied.

Dialogue – 40 stories

Write a story including the line “I can’t say it.”

Dialogue – 59 stories

Write a story in which an important message is cut off, leaving characters to wonder or puzzle out what was left unsaid.

Mystery – 49 stories

Set your story at a silent retreat.

Angst – 44 stories

Stories

“The Silent Killer” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #238

Running through the woods, I was in a mad panic.  Damn. Lydia was going to have my head for this, that’s for sure. I couldn’t believe I overslept on the morning of her weekly staff meeting. Get ready, girl, it’s about to hit the fan. I entered the staff building and ran down the steps two at a time saying a little prayer that I didn’t fall and break my neck.Entering the dark cramped room, I found the staff lined up in their uniforms with their hands behind their backs. Lydia, walking back and forth in front of t...

12 comments 12
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“Expiration Date” by Kristina Hopper

Submitted to Contest #238

The sky was pitch black. The air was still. There was no distinguishing reason foreseen. It was a vast desert land; the lack of life was not visibly suspicious. The only oddity was the time of day. The watch on Cassidy’s wrist read three in the afternoon. The flashlight, that normally resided in her backpack, was in her hand, lighting the way. She had also shone the light on her watch, to determine the time. She trudged through the desert land, step by step. It did strike her for a second that the sky being pitch black was a concerning event...

11 comments 11
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“Are You On Instagram?” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #238

Biting into my sandwich, I began to chew, despite the choking sensation I was feeling. I should have made it lighter, less slices of cheese perhaps, but then again how sparse can a sandwich be before it’s just bread on bread? I forced it down with a small sip of the bottled water brought from home. Watching my coworkers casually chat at the Keurig, I heard the whoosh of the machine as the aroma swirled around the room, trying its best to tempt me. The journey across the small room through the mingling employees kept me se...

16 comments 16
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“The Writers Workshop At Lake Manitoba ” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #238

 A grin exploded across his face as Harold Jones walked through the rows of desks to the front of the class to receive his award for the best story of the day.  He could be a great writer, knew he had amazing stories stacked up inside him like shelves in a library, but just couldn’t get them them.  He had always known this Writers retreat, held at the historic Arts Building at the University of Manitoba, would be the key to unlocking his success, and he finally was on his way. The writers gave up technology to create stories...

12 comments 12
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“The Devil's Choice” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #238

The summons comes at midnight."He demands your presence, Milady." With the door between us, Cedrik's voice is muffled."I will wait for my maid to bring my clothes. Tell him I will be there when I am properly attired.""Forgive me, Milady. He said for you to come at once.""Surely, he doesn't expect me to leave my chamber in my night clothes!" I protest."I apologize, Milady. I have orders to drag you there, if need be." I hear the distaste in his voice. Until two days ago, he had been one my guards, showing featly to me, taking orders from me.^...

23 comments 23
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“Maddux's World - Volume #04” by M.R. Simon

Submitted to Contest #238

It starts like a normal Saturday, until we get the call. We are the closest unit, so we take it. My name is Maddux Marlow. Being a cops for the last fifteen years has not been easy. Besides the work my daughter died five years ago and my wife suicided one year later. I have had the same routine for the past five years. I get a coffee at Miller brewing co. Then get my partner John. but not today, I woke up late, went directly to John’s house to pick him up. Then, the call came in. The call is neighborhood disturbance with gun shots.On site, a...

8 comments 8
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“Nature's the Bomb” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #238

Landan’s phone pinged again, disturbing the peaceful mountain hiking path.Woodrow Alfredsone’s right eye twitched from the tension building up in his body. It grew like static electricity in the air. ‘Will you turn that damn thing off? This is a relaxing father-son hike. It’s hard to enjoy the beauty of nature with your mobile beeping like a bomb.’‘Shh, this is important. Tensions are escalating in—’He acted without thinking. He’d been absent for most of Landan’s upbringing – gone in the mornings and evenings. He was missing most weekends, a...

21 comments 21
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“The Fulfillment” by Nicolle C

Submitted to Contest #238

Swathes of red and blue intermittently flooded my vision. Beneath the flimsy plastic, my limbs still pulsed with adrenaline. Initially, the barrage of sirens and shouts was an audible assault, but now my thundering heart drowned most of it out. An officer loomed over me, his mouth forming words that failed to reach my ears. The paramedics seemed to retort, much to his chagrin. I cast my gaze upon the modern structure ahead, an incandescent glow piercing the night. Panels of glass stared back like watchful eyes, knowing the truth of what lay ...

6 comments 6
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“A BAD CASE OF APOSIOPESIS” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #238

What’s more confusing than Abbott and Costello with “Who’s on first.”? The Banters of course, especially when Martha comes down with a bad case of APOSIOPESIS! Matthew! It’s happened again!What’s happened again?I’m…er…stuck.Stuck? Stuck where? In traffic?In my…ah…In your car? In a …Bar?No…I can’t say it!Say what?What I’m trying to say.What are you trying to say?I don’t…um…For heavens sake, spit it out woman. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?I wish…I wish…Wish what? I wish I had more…um…more…Money? We don’t need more money.No,...

38 comments 38
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“Cold” by William Simon

Submitted to Contest #238

The research station existed as a tiny speck of humanity in a screaming white wasteland. The temperatures were relentlessly inhospitable, regularly hitting fifty degrees Celsius below freezing, gale force winds shifted constantly trying to find some purchase on the station to blow it away. At this time of year, the darkness was never ending. I arrived seven months, three weeks, and two days ago. Life before felt like a fading dream of warmth and abundance. The isolation was acute and would have been completely overwhelming if it wasn’t for ...

2 comments 2
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“Lucy” by Vid Weeks

Submitted to Contest #238

“So, what’s going on? Helen told me you were going to the middle east or something.” “Yes, I’ve been called,” she said, with that warm but shy smile as if she was admitting a crush. Its Lucy’s smile I remember. She wasn’t beautiful really but her face drew your eyes to it. Strong straight eyebrows and a pixie nose. Her mouth was a bit crooked and more so when she smiled. “Called, what do you mean?” “I’ve been called by God.” “Are you ready to order.” I absent mindedly waved the waitress away. “Oh, sorry, could we have a couple of minutes pl...

7 comments 7
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“Into the 2Q Print” by Luca King Greek

Submitted to Contest #238

It was much like any other meeting room, a boardroom table, a Polycom phone, a video screen on the credenza, leather chairs, too many, cluttered, slightly stuffy. We might have been anywhere, San Diego or Boston, but we were in Palo Alto. The receptionist, a bored young woman of about my age, offered us coffee. Tom declined, so I did too.Visitors normally get the view, it’s a thing, but Tom was having none of it and we sat with our backs to the briefly glimpsed parking lot with the eucalyptus trees shimmering in backgroun...

9 comments 9
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“The Pinch” by James Moore

Submitted to Contest #238

ELCv 28 (Earth's Last Chance vessel 28) Was slowing down after 5 months at ‘Elevated Distance Speed’. The 3 person crew were starting to feel the ‘pinch’. The ‘pinch’, as it had become known, was the phenomenon whereby the greater the distance from Earth the more the human heart and brain would become... panicked. Fatigued, strained and 'lost', as though there was an invisible bungee attaching everyone’s core to the planet. There wasn’t yet an acceptable scientific explanation for this effect. But the crew of the ELC 28 were really feeling i...

7 comments 7
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“Silence of the Full Moon” by Nicholas Thomas

Submitted to Contest #238

      Life is full of stressors. Monotonous jobs whose days make the worker feel as if trapped in a singular moment in time, bills that reach up to your neck, and, of course, the noise. When the noise can get so loud, and so invasive, it feels as if ants are crawling over the surface of your brain.           That is what Sarah felt. She had moved to the big city just over three months ago with the promise of a new job. But lately, she felt that it was all be...

4 comments 4
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“Undying Devotion” by Karen Hope

Submitted to Contest #238

Lori plopped down in her desk chair, looking around at the walls of her cubicle. She remembered when she was first assigned this space three years ago. How excited she was to be hired as an investigative journalist at The Herald. Fresh out of journalism school, she’d had visions of solving great mysteries, changing the world, but that’s not how it worked. Much of her work was mundane stuff like investigating why a store was inflating its prices or why so many kids were suddenly absent from a school. Viral outbreak or something more sini...

10 comments 10
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$250

Prize money

285

Contest entries

98

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 23, 2024 EST

Won by Weronika L 🏆

Title: Five Turns of the Hourglass

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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