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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 – 69 stories

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

Dramatic – 53 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 – 40 stories

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

Dramatic – 113 stories

Stories

“Your Head on my Wall” by Kaitlyn Krieser

Submitted to Contest #273

{TW: Abuse, and Physical Violence} There is trash everywhere, take-out boxes strewn across every surface, and beer bottles and cans, lots of them, everywhere. On the dining table, the counter, the side tables, and all over the floor. It's all I see as I open the door and step out of the basement for the first time in four years.Last night, I had been half asleep when I heard the familiar sound of the key grinding in the lock of the door. And the man, my kidnapper had come down the stairs with water and a sandwich with smelly cheese and sligh...

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“Taco Night” by Hope Flinchum

Submitted to Contest #273

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. That’s what everyone always said right? Somehow in the grand scheme of the universe we have all managed to live our lives with no regard for the consequences for our actions. We always assume things will work out in the end, and we always assume that the resolution will be less horrifying than the means that bring us to the bitter end. We are wrong to assume. People will fight wars and end lives in the name of peace and somehow, through it all, they still convince themselves that they are the her...

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“I've got a secret Don't tell anyone” by Bertha Blankenship

Submitted to Contest #273

I had been working as a receptionist for a local Dentist office for the past year. The schedule being Monday through Friday working 8 am to 4 pm works perfect for me. Especially with me having weekends off and all major holidays. Plus, the staff here is amazing. During the past 2 weeks Doctor Davidson has a male Dental Assistant working with him that is so dreamy and very handsome. He is an all-around great guy from what I can tell. I would love to get to know him, but I am just so afraid of being rejected and heartbroken. I decided to speak...

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“The curse of the dragon’s child ” by Bogdanka Kos Ilić

Submitted to Contest #273

It was December. The wind was mercilessly swinging dry branches of the trees, whipping them against the hospital windows. On that Friday the 13th, a newborn baby's cry was heard among the faded olive-green walls of the maternity ward. Hands wrapped in surgical gloves handed her the shrunken but strong body of a screaming male child. Exhausted and sweaty from giving birth, his mother held him firmly but carefully, whispering gently into his ear: "Cry, my child... Cry out all of your tears now. Wise people say that when a c...

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“International Spy ” by Molly Alderson

Submitted to Contest #273

I've just received a letter, a letter in the mail.The letter asked thatIJoin the League of the International Spy.Yes, you heard that right. Me.A spy.Internationally.The first one in my family.What an honor, what an achievement. They've asked me to keep it a secret.So, it's important that you don't tell anyone, not a soul. If you do - I'll find out.When I'm in my next role.What's that, you ask? Well, let me tell you - I've been thinking of a plan - but keep it between us two.I will quit my job at the bank. No more bank telling for me. No tell...

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“White Jacket” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #273

It was a Tuesday. As Melinda walked beside her guardian, she watched swifts weave their aerial paths above Castle Street, flying and feasting on their breakfast in mid-air. Someone talking rapidly distracted her. She glanced down the side street and watched a business suited man clutching a mobile phone while carrying a laptop under his other arm.With practiced ease, she disengaged, not wanting to find out what lay beneath the spikes of frustration, though envying him both gadgets. Everyone had technology at their fingertips except her.Child...

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“The girl and I ” by Ky Lev

Submitted to Contest #273

“Don't tell anyone,” I whisper, to the girl in front of me. I turn around anxiously trying to make sure no one heard, as cold sweat breaks out on my skin. She nods, slowly at first, then faster, when she sees my trembling hands. She knows I'm scared. She tries to reach out, tries to comfort me. But I pull away- I…I don't need her comfort. The rising sun peeks in and out of the swaying trees, casting fleeting shadows in my room. They dance a peculiar dance, trying to invite me into never-ending darkness, tendrils of black stre...

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“The Edge of Nowhere” by Vera N

Submitted to Contest #273

Zane Carter didn’t trust anonymous invitations. As a journalist, he'd long learned that anything cryptic usually hid something dangerous beneath it. Yet the unmarked envelope that had arrived on his desk a week ago seemed to draw him in, as if he’d been waiting for it his entire life. **“Come to the island. We know what you’ve been searching for. You will find the answers you seek.”** There was no name, no return address, just a flight ticket to a remote Pacific island and GPS coordinates. He debated ignoring it. What sane person would follo...

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“On Womanhood” by Hanna Brauncajs

Submitted to Contest #273

Josie found the note, on one of those wishy-washy afternoons, at her office desk where it was peeking out from the pile of still-bound-to-be completed worksheets she’d ought to wrap up for her boss hours ago. Unsurprisingly so, she hadn’t. Unsurprisingly so, she wasn’t planning to anytime soon either. Being preoccupied with her usual stewy reveries it took Jodie a while to detect the message, though when she did it was apparent who left it there. She groaned not at all flummoxed by the heart-shaped, written in an overly twee m...

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“Resurrection Men” by Grace Bruno

Submitted to Contest #273

Is there a flaw more fatal than my loathing of normalcy? My self-inflicted imposter syndrome amongst anything less than beguiling, it brings me a detestful perspective of my past; a childhood of quiet rooms, disposable friends, and afternoons amongst limited company. I say this, not to scold my parents for being so characteristically pedestrian, but to help you understand what led me here. College was not particularly thrilling, save for the Ethics professor who lacked basic morality (the irony gave me a kick). I was not interested...

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“The Kitchen Meeting” by Jacki Glisson

Submitted to Contest #273

Drip drip drip. A drop of water landed on the wet clump of cold oatmeal in his bowl. Drip drip drip. Sherwin was so used to the drippy old roof and peeling concrete walls that he would’ve felt unsettled if it were any other way. Drip drip drip. He took spoonfuls of gray sausage and began stacking them in the large sets of pans. It was 4:30am. Breakfast would be served in a prompt 30 minutes. Prison inmates don’t get a choice when it comes to breakfast. Wheeling the large carts stacked with tubs of gray sausage and old clumpy oatmeal to the s...

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“Patsy” by Lottie Waldeaux

Submitted to Contest #273

It’s the middle of the night when I arrive. The door is a polished blush with peach accents forming swirls around the top, a portal into the world of cotton candy and pink lemonade that is Danielle Manorla’s hotel sleepover. Danielle and her friends have weekly sleepovers in her apartment at Patsy’s, a pink high-rise hotel in West Hollywood that her starlett grandmother owns. It’s normally just the four of them, except for a few elusively popular girls who slide their way in like the movie stars who came and went during the hotel’s pri...

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“Burn This Note” by Kendall Gianakos

Submitted to Contest #273

Burn. This. Note. The thought races through my head as I pore through the open woods. I shouldn’t be here–I should leave–this note was not meant for me. But like gravity that pulls in the tide, something about this message makes me keep walking, keep looking, keep waiting. Leaves and twigs crunch and crack under my feet, synchronizing with the song of the birds in the trees. Now and then I glance at the map scrawled on the back of the note. Lightly marked in pencil, lines and arrows point to the ...

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“The Neophyte” by Brian Webb

Submitted to Contest #273

Tyron is a babe in arms again. He savors the comfort of his mother’s embrace, breathing in the sweet essence of her pachouli as he snuggles against her breast. He looks up at her smiling face, her sandalwood brown eyes, and the rich curly locks of auburn hair cascading around her shoulders. She kisses his nose and whispers “I love you sweet boy”. He can feel her breath and the soft brush of her lips against his ear… “Tyron. Wake up.” With a mild jab of his staff Tyron’s squad ...

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“Friends for Life” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #273

It was full dark now, but Simon didn’t want to go home. She might still be up. He got off his bike at the cemetery gates, left it propped on the old wooden fence. The low gate screeched its displeasure like an old gargoyle disturbed from its sleep. He winced involuntarily and put his hands over his mouth then winced again, the sharp pain of his bloody lip ignited fresh memories of earlier that evening when she’d thrown her half-empty Budweiser bottle at his face. He’d told her he was glad his father had left because she’d deserved it. ...

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$250

Prize money

355

Contest entries

162

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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