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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#241: Et Tu, Brute?

“Beware the Ides of March!” In Shakespeare’s play, these fateful words are thrown at Julius Caesar during a procession through Rome, warning him of the day his compatriots will betray him. In the play, and in reality, this warning came to fruition. On March 15, he was stabbed thirty times by his fellow Roman senators, including Brutus, someone he thought he could trust. As that date is just around the corner, I find myself thinking a lot about Caesar’s story, and about other stories of betrayal.

It’s the ultimate breaking of trust. You thought they were a friend, a mentor, a close confidant, a person you could trust through thick and thin — only to find yourself stabbed in the back at the most inopportune moment. What leads people to make such a drastic decision, and sever a once unshakeable bond? How do you move on when your faith in the people around you is shaken? These are just a few of the questions to consider as we look towards the fateful Ides this week.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who is convinced they’re going to be betrayed.

Dramatic – 55 stories

Write about someone who is stuck between two opposing sides and can’t decide which one to choose.

Fiction – 49 stories

Set your story at a tense event where everyone is unsure whose side they’re on.

Thriller and Suspense – 27 stories

Start your story with an unexpected betrayal.

Adventure – 81 stories

Write about a backstabbing (literal or metaphorical) gone wrong.

Horror – 43 stories

Stories

“Aeterna” by Nicolle C

Submitted to Contest #241

Candlelight danced in flickering leaps across burgundy walls, wax bleeding with each passing minute. Gaze fixated at the head of the table, she took a lengthy sip of wine, not breaking eye contact. Despite the heat of her glare, the recipient continued unaware. “I want to thank you all for coming tonight,” the head of the table boomed. The charcoal suit he sported was expertly tailored, hanging from his frame–a frame that was looking increasingly toned as of late. His beard, once peppered, was now a perfectly manicured onyx. As he proceeded ...

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“The treasure” by Krissa Svavars

Submitted to Contest #241

“You told me you like the dark, so I know that you are going to love this!” That was the last thing he said to me before he dragged me over to the basement door and pushed me down the stairs. I have been locked in this horrible, abandoned house for close to three days now. Or I think it has been that long. Thankfully I had some food and water in my backpack, but it will soon be gone and then I will starve. I am truly starting to hate this place. It’s pitch black and full of stuff. Just getting around has been so difficult, even after I foun...

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“The Last Party” by Aimee Bettencourt

Submitted to Contest #241

I shivered as the sea spray misted onto my skin. Though it was mid-August, the air so thick you can almost drink it, the sun had started to set, and the air seemed to finally cool off. I reached for my hoodie to throw on over my bikini top. Thankfully, Mike had decided to slow down the pontoon boat, deciding that he’d found the perfect spot to anchor and get the party started. It was the summer between high school graduation and the start of our new lives as “adults”. Soon, we would all say goodbye and move to our respective universities, sc...

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“Strange Weddings Call for Strange Guest Lists” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #241

The couple couldn’t make up the guest list. They didn’t have enough friends. There were very few attending friends and family members: not enough to fill out more than a couple of rows. The venue was hired. It was grotesque in a gothic sort of way. It was an odd place for a wedding, but weddings have been held in odder places than that. “Hey!” shouted Carl, across the aisle, “Why are you all so deathly quiet?” The abruptness of this question made everyone fall into uncomfortable mumbling. Not a word could be made out in the vast theatre. T...

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“Home” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #241

Six years, five months, seventeen days, nine hours, and twenty minutes since the Trippers, as they called themselves, came through the portals. They claimed to be from another universe nestled in between ours and one more that was pretty much just like the cosmic wonderland we called home, and theirs was experiencing a year we wouldn’t see here for another millennia. Their scientists had long since discovered time travel was perfectly possible…with one specific hitch. It turns ...

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“If the Spirit of Trungen Ain't Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy” by Daniel Rogers

Submitted to Contest #241

Oakaford, the captain of the stumper guard, frantically searched throughout the village of Jorton for Lady Nimmo. He was uncharacteristically nervous for a magical tree stump. Several times, he knocked over a cart or bucket, muttering his apologies, and absent-mindedly continued without helping clean up, which was unthinkable for a stumper—they love to clean."My goodness. My goodness," Oakaford uttered under his breath. "Have you seen Lady Nimmo?" He asked a young man sitting outside his cottage, who nodded no."Not good. No, not good at all....

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“A Dish Fit For The Gods” by Peyton Fleek

Submitted to Contest #241

My leg bounces up and down, the tic of a nervous person. I will my leg to stop. In replacement I begin biting my nails. I’ve been sitting at the kitchen counter repeating these nervous tics for about an hour - leg bouncing, nail biting, finger tapping - forcing myself to read this play. I begin spinning my wedding band around my finger. I check the clock. 4:15 PM. I look down at my page and reread the paragraph… “Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.. . . And, gentle friends,Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;Let's carve...

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“The Storm of Betrayal” by D.F. Francischelli

Submitted to Contest #241

A storm outside roared like a dragon, only nature able to conjure up such mythical sounds. It offered no comfort this night, as it shouldn’t. This night wasn’t a warm summer evening where children frolicked in the gardens or a cold winter where someone could light a fire and ponder the philosophy of life. This stormy night was a herald of what was to come. For, inside the walls of the castle, another storm was forming. In the dimly lit chamber of Lord Grayson's castle, Sir William sat hunched over a flickering candle, his brow furrowed in de...

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“The Eye Of Ludum” by Kenneth Penn

Submitted to Contest #241

"We shouldn't be here," Elna whispered. Jochen turned his head towards her but didn't stop moving forward, though Elna's face troubled him. For an elf, her complexion looked unusually pale in the torchlight. He knew better than to ignore her words, in any case. Elna's foresight had saved his skin at least half a dozen times. He gave Elna’s hand a gentle squeeze. Sapphire eyes gazed into his own, filled with apprehension. "Don't worry," he whispered back, "we're going to be fine." In truth, Jochen couldn't shake the feeling they'd been b...

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“Meant to Be” by Annie Hewitt

Submitted to Contest #241

If asked, the guests at their wedding in Sage Chapel on the campus of Cornell University where they met would say that the bride glided down the aisle (not walked) and that she was transcendent in her diaphanous dream of the softest pale pink (not white) dress. It was as fine as gossamer. It should be. She ordered the fabric flown in special from Milan and it cost her father a fortune. But it had to be perfect. Everything had to be perfect. She was a perfectionist. The groom waited for her at the alter (as grooms do) in a white dinner jacket...

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“Abby and the Fugitives” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #241

Abagail sought solace in her sitting room and worried over the latest servant foible. Likely, her husband, Nabal, would hear about it, overreact, and explode. She sighed and thought about the many dramas she had averted by intervening in the nick of time. Her husband behaved like a wild bull in a field of wheat, for the most part. He had never suspected any betrayal on her part to date.She asked one of her maids to give the servant a signed letter, which provided an out. Permission for him to immediately ‘visit a sick mother’ in his hometown...

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“Small Comforts” by Paul Keene

Submitted to Contest #241

“Father! Father!!!” I screamed as I burst into our house. “FATHER!!!” Heavy footsteps descended the stairs. “What is it boy?”“Violet,” I squeezed my twin sister’s name in between desperate attempts to suck air into my burning lungs. I had sprinted all the way here and my throat felt raw from the violent ferocity with which I was sucking in air and immediately regurgitating it. “Violet’s been-” “Calm down boy,” he said, fully coming down the stairs and placing a firm hand on my shoulder. He guided me towards the kitchen table, and we sat. He ...

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“A Revolting Date” by Brian Haddad

Submitted to Contest #241

"What did you say?" Megan demanded, her steely gaze laser focused under a furrowed brow.Brad knew he'd messed up, but he had no idea how. This woman was too complicated. He couldn't even compliment her without it somehow becoming an insult. "I said you're beautiful," he choked, his mind racing to find a way out. They sat across from each other at a little outdoor table where they were waiting for dinner to be served. The cool evening air did nothing to help the cold sweat that was collecting on his forehead."That's not what you said.""Well, ...

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“My neighbour, Percival” by Herman W Clarke

Submitted to Contest #241

Under clouds heavy with rain, a herald carrying the Earl’s banner arrived in the centre of Avebury village. He dismounted his horse, and in the time it took him to retrieve the scroll of parchment from the saddlebag a throng - wrought with apprehension - began to form around him.The thatched homesteads and hovels emptied, village folk whispering of war, who it might be with, and how many of the village’s men might be called upon to join the Earl’s levy.The herald held out the parchment at an arm’s length and loudly began his announcement: “A...

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“Was It Love or Was It...” by George Beasley

Submitted to Contest #241

According to Wikipedia, betrayal is defined as “the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals.” Is this a story of betrayal or the story of a mother wanting to save the life of her son? You be the judge. At the age of five, I trailed behind a group of individuals, accompanied by my mom and the evil person she had married. We were entering what would be my new residence. I had been removed from my home because of th...

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$250

Prize money

255

Contest entries

116

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 15, 2024 EST

Won by Liz Grosul 🏆

Title: When I Read Beckett

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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