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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#273: Locked Away

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ReedsySecrets to share your stories (and potentially be featured on our social accounts)!

Ah, secrets. What is it about the unknown that’s so alluring? Do you relish the implicit power of knowing confidential information? Do you love the feeling of connection and exclusivity that being told a secret brings? Or do you enjoy dissecting other people in your head after you’ve discovered their deepest, darkest secrets?

This week, let’s write some stories that unravel long-buried truths — and maybe even a character’s entire life in the process.

This week's prompts

Write a story in the form of diary/journal entries about a secret or confession.

Short Story – 70 stories

Begin your story with someone either being followed or following someone else.

Dramatic – 54 stories

Write a story with the line “Don’t tell anyone.”

Angst – 80 stories

Your character is invited to a secret meeting. Who invited them, and what do they encounter?

Short Story – 41 stories

Write a story that hides something from the reader until the end.

Dramatic – 116 stories

Stories

“Altered State” by Harry Stuart

Submitted to Contest #273

“Don’t tell anyone,” the words whispered from her lips with a longing desperation. She had repeated the phrase to herself innumerable times over the years, hiding away a hurtful secret. She stared at Rory, challenging him to be present in the moment, to acknowledge her sacrifice. “I never did forget you, even after all these painful years,” she wrung her hands, her upper teeth digging into her lower lip, a blunting of physical hurt to quell the tears.Night was advancing, and she strained to see his form in the shifting light. She w...

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“Afternoons with Martin” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #273

Okay, just so I don’t forget…His name is Doctor Martin Gatsby. He’s tall and a bit lanky, his gazelle-like legs took huge strides when he approached my bed this morning. His slightly loose navy-blue button-down shirt hung over his jeans in that effortless yet posh way, and when he sat down next to me, I was cocooned in the smell of the Woolacombe sea breeze I had to leave behind for university in London two years ago and petrichor. When he greeted me hello and extended a large hand, oh how his peridot eyes sparkled along with that half-moon ...

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“Venus Buried” by Asia W

Submitted to Contest #273

The girl in the graveyard is your best friend, so you take her home. The night is a bruise between you, a blotch of rogue in the passenger window; the colour of fruit left out to fester. The body pries at her seatbelt, a finger, then two. The radio echoes static, the body shuffles in her seat. You study the face; the similar slice of jaw, the nose humped from where a baseball had hit her at twelve, just slightly off centre. The skin like a rain-licked plastic bag. The stink of musk and sulphur. You want to look away but you cannot. She's so ...

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“Senseless” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #273

SenselessI have come to feed my addiction. I can no longer control my cravings, the ache deep inside of me.Daily I have tried to restrain my need by performing each task as if it is a religious ritual. The egg is boiled for exactly three and a half minutes, the bread is toasted to a light golden brown. The bed is made with hospital corners. The laundry is done on Mondays, groceries are bought on Tuesdays and Fridays. I watch the news at six.Tears at six thirty.Family and friends come and urge me to join them. A movie, or the opera? A class a...

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“Mistress of Doubt” by Daniel Rogers

Submitted to Contest #273

Darn it! The Old Hag is following me again! I just can't, not after yesterday. Another day like that, and I'm finished as a writer.Doubling my pace, I cut through allies and shops, but I could still hear her high heels clicking behind me. Five shops and three alleys later, the clicking finally stopped. I pretended to look back at a passing bus to confirm I lost her.Darn it! Still there! What have I done to deserve this? Unlike me, she wasn't even sweating. It was ridiculous! Instead of looking frazzled, she looked like she came from a glamou...

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“Ancient Artist of the Orchid Cave - Voyages of the Ship Destiny's Dreams ” by Kristi Gott

Submitted to Contest #273

Thirteen-year-old Nube and her slender, hairless dog with grey skin, named Gris, gasped for air and ran for their lives.In the downpour of rain, the avalanche of mud and rocks came crashing down the mountain behind them.The air was full of their cries.It was in ancient times, over 1500 years ago, in the Amazon rainforest of South America, under the dripping canopy of trees in the Peruvian Andes mountains."Over here!" Her mama's voice called and the family rushed after her."But my paints. The red ochre." Nube's high pitched voice carried over...

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“The Forgotten” by Hazel Ide

Submitted to Contest #273

Not many people brave walking through the encampment, though its shortcut is unmatched. I don’t see what the big deal is; they’re just people. I’ve even made friends—kind of.Acquaintances, at best, but sometimes I bring a spare sandwich or two, and the locals leave me be. Today is no different from any other, apart from the cold. Early winter chill makes the sun feel warm and crisp, but it’s not enough to keep the nights above forty. Half these tents will be gone in the next few weeks, driven someplace warmer, further south. City ordina...

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“The Accidental Champion of Cringe” by Jim LaFleur

Submitted to Contest #273

Barnaby Hazelwood received the invitation on a gloriously mediocre Thursday morning. It arrived with the dull thunk of the post, nestled between a glossy flyer for a strangely enthusiastic armchair expo and an electricity bill that promised nothing short of devastation. The invitation, encased in an envelope so modestly beige it deserved a commendation for being inconspicuous, bore the tantalizing promise of “An Evening of Opportunities.” Barnaby, who fancied himself a man of burgeoning possibilities—or at least, a man who hoped his boss wou...

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“The Chase” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #273

A bright light shines from overhead, nearly blinding me. I squint to see a man climbing the steps that lead from the marina to Front Street. He looks shady; black jeans over black boots, black hooded sweatshirt, hood pulled up over a ball cap. His pace is quick, not so fast that anyone with an untrained eye wouldn’t find suspicious, but I’m a cop, and these things stand out. I follow him at a distance down Front Street. He enters Belfast’s, an unsavory dive bar where things get so rough they only serve beer, and it’s served in cans. He takes...

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“The Unravelling” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #273

I wasn’t surprised when they told me Danny had vanished from sight at the retreat. It felt inevitable ever since he embraced meditation to escape his everyday existence. Sure, life can be tough, but I felt forsaken, jettisoned like cargo from a sinking vessel. Christie had spotted the signs and suggested we kept diaries during my pregnancy. Trust me, darling, she’d said, knitting her brow. Journaling will keep you both sane. As a mother of four, Christie said it had saved her marriage time and time again. * * *I discovered Danny’s diary...

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“Corpses in The Closet” by Max Wightwick

Submitted to Contest #273

With his foot convulsing upon the floorboards, Raphael studied the wispy letter in full. Tranced, his eyes surveilled each word, sentence, and paragraph with the uttermost diligence. The writing itself was so corybantic that Raphael wrangled with decoding its hieroglyphical complexity, as if carved by a primordial dunce. A paragraph of particular significance went thus:“The police were incompetent. Fifteen years now, and still, they have left the case unsolved. How many died by their hand? Twenty? And yet the police decided to defer from per...

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“Wishing Words” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #273

Wishing Words ♫“Fairy tales can come true…”♫- Jiminy CricketDear Diary,Hank says diaries are just for girls. Let’s hope he never finds out I’m doing this… or any of the guys. Mom says...

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“Whatever Happened to Dazzer Adler, Silverback Star of Stage and Screen?” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #273

Don’t know why I thought of you then, as I slid along the pew. Not a guest as such, but a stand-in, Lisa’s replacement plus-one in light of her recent split from her partner. She couldn't possibly not attend, her being second cousin to the bride. But don’t flatter yourself that my thinking of you was in any way romantic – or the opposite, come to that - and it wasn’t because Lisa served as a reminder either. Good friends since college (acting school, if you like) we often touched based, but didn’t normally meet up in church. So, I guess it w...

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“Son of Satan” by Sophie Irish

Submitted to Contest #273

I awoke to a bright light streaming through a crack in one of the wooden boards I had put up, in a paranoid, booze- infused haze. It was June and the heat was stifling. My mouth was the kind of dry where your cheeks and lips stick to your teeth, the leftover taste of alcohol offensive. I sat up slowly, the usual nausea kicking in, my head pounding, room spinning. I looked down at my shaky hands, trying to steady myself as I half rolled off the couch, a sweaty silhouette of me left behind, my t- shirt stuck to me. I stumbled to the kitch...

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“The Book-Seller” by Kate Simkins

Submitted to Contest #273

“I know you’re there, Snicket.”The hobgoblin peeped around the old oak tree. “What? Hmm… what?”Hattie stopped walking and turned to look at him. “You may as well come out.”Snicket sidled out from his hiding place and looked around, feigning surprise. “Oh, Hattie. Didn’t see you there,” he said, pretending.Hattie raised her eyebrows and put her hand on her hip. “Really? You’ve been following me since the market.”Snicket looked down at the ground, kicking his feet in the dust.She sighed. “What is it you want this time?” Hattie put down her pil...

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$250

Prize money

361

Contest entries

165

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 25, 2024 EST

A winner will be announced soon.

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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