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#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.

🥇 Winner

Venus Buried

Asia W

Winner of 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 ...

172 likes

⭐️ Shortlisted

Piccadilly

Vladimir Stefan

Shortlisted for Contest #273 ⭐️

Middle carriage. The one I enjoy most and the one people avoid most. There must be a widespread belief that the middle is the busiest. Life’s examples of Bell curves, I suppose. The train pulls up, so I take my waiting spot on the platform like a responsible citizen. I feel my armpits sweaty, so I keep my arms close, just in case.The breaks are applied, and I’m perfectly aligned with the door. Years of the same job, same route, same carriage work wonders. Sometimes I play mental games to measure how far I am from the split between the doors....

41 likes

Don't Tell Anyone.

Shortlisted for Contest #273 ⭐️

Don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell anyone. Tell them what? I want to ask what you mean, because somehow, I think I forgot. You told me to keep quiet, but what was it I was supposed to stay hushed about? I believe I may have hidden it somewhere deep in my head. Too hard to dig out. I know that it was painful, because my heart and lungs, they remember. They remember so vividly. My heart skips its beat sometimes and my lungs fill with cement, but I am not so sure why. The only thing I can remember is that you told me to forget.May...

34 likes

This week's prompts

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

Short Story – 68 stories

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

Dramatic – 51 stories

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

Angst – 78 stories

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

Short Story – 39 stories

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

Dramatic – 109 stories

Stories

Venus Buried

Asia W

Winner of 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 ...

172 likes

Altered State

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...

88 likes

Afternoons with Martin

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 ...

67 likes

Mistress of Doubt

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...

51 likes

Ancient Artist of the Orchid Cave - Voyages of the Ship Destiny's Dreams

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...

46 likes

Piccadilly

Vladimir Stefan

Shortlisted for Contest #273 ⭐️

Middle carriage. The one I enjoy most and the one people avoid most. There must be a widespread belief that the middle is the busiest. Life’s examples of Bell curves, I suppose. The train pulls up, so I take my waiting spot on the platform like a responsible citizen. I feel my armpits sweaty, so I keep my arms close, just in case.The breaks are applied, and I’m perfectly aligned with the door. Years of the same job, same route, same carriage work wonders. Sometimes I play mental games to measure how far I am from the split between the doors....

41 likes

The Unravelling

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...

41 likes

Corpses in The Closet

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...

36 likes

Don't Tell Anyone.

Shortlisted for Contest #273 ⭐️

Don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell anyone. Tell them what? I want to ask what you mean, because somehow, I think I forgot. You told me to keep quiet, but what was it I was supposed to stay hushed about? I believe I may have hidden it somewhere deep in my head. Too hard to dig out. I know that it was painful, because my heart and lungs, they remember. They remember so vividly. My heart skips its beat sometimes and my lungs fill with cement, but I am not so sure why. The only thing I can remember is that you told me to forget.May...

34 likes

Wishing Words

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...

32 likes

The Request

Submitted to Contest #273

“Hear me, oh master, as we submit to your will for our meager and groveling desires! We beg and ask you to feel our souls as they bend and call to you, oh master, for your mercy and favor upon us now!“We beg you to hear the thoughts of us all: Kevin, Robert, Dave with the Beard, Dave without the Beard, Steve and Stephen, Roger, and…yes, my little brother, Brian.“We have brought ourselves to this place on this very cold and difficult day to ask you for your assistance oh master…and please respond pretty quickly because my brother is driving m...

30 likes

Son of Satan

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...

30 likes

The Book-Seller

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...

30 likes

The Matchmakers

Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #273

"So, have you ever tried following someone, you know, without them seeing you?" Theo asked to break the latest awkward silence."That's stalking…" Katie, the psych major seated across from him in the Cafe at the Loren let her silence hang, as if accusing him of some unspoken crime.Theo had thought her shy at first, but over the past 20 minutes bordering on infinity, he'd come to see that she reveled in these painful pauses. Like some self-satisfied boa constrictor, she'd squeezed the life out of every attempt at conversation while staring wor...

29 likes

Jonas

Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #273

Caution: mild references to sexual abuse of children and pedophilia.Katy hadn't seen Jonas in years. Knowing he would be at his father's funeral was one thing. Would he acknowledge her? This was another matter entirely. Jonas had always been the type of man to turn heads. If he didn't have such dark and irresistible looks, some things, including embarrassing moments, may not have happened. They had affected her, still affected her, in ways he had no clue of. It's the horrible feeling one gets after the right words aren't spoken at the o...

28 likes

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Contest #274

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

345

Entries

156

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 25, 2024 EST

Won by Asia W 🏆

Title: Venus Buried

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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