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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.

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

Whatever Happened to Dazzer Adler, Silverback Star of Stage and Screen?

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...

28 likes

My best friend

John Rutherford

Submitted to Contest #273

“Remember at school, around second or third grade the teacher always prompted the class, with; I want you all to write an essay about your best friend. Title the story; My best friend!” He paused to reflect and visualize the small boy in the third-grade classroom, as the teacher announced the exercise. He continued. “The prompt by the teacher normally ignites excitement in the class. The children are eager, and proudly write and describe their declared friendship and devotion, perhaps to a classmate, and hope the same feeling is re...

27 likes

A Grander Mechanism

Submitted to Contest #273

I had read somewhere that when private detectives follow someone, they watch the feet rather than the back of the head, so the subject won't sense they are being watched. This is similarly taught in the SAS and in martial arts for when approaching an enemy from behind. So, I supposed I could at least rest assured it wasn’t a PI, special forces, or a kung-fu expert whose eyes had been burning a hole in my back since I left the restaurant.It was an early evening in late November, and the back streets of coastal Portsmouth were as grey and empt...

27 likes

The Year of What If

Kristy Schnabel

Submitted to Contest #273

Monday, October 16, 2024 Dear Diary,Today, the local news announced that someone here in Oregon won the Powerball lottery worth $1.3 billion dollars. A crazy amount of money, right?! That gave me the idea for my senior thesis. I'll be asking people what they would do if they won that much cash and then analyze their answers from a psychological perspective. Cool topic, right? I may as well start with myself. I don't play the lottery and don't gamble in general. When I learned in statistics class the chances of winning, it just seemed li...

26 likes

Open Session

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #273

Minutes for the Meeting on 4/14/2025 doc. by L. Root Pre-Meeting: Acknowledgment of C. Whitehall for bringing the snacks. C. Whitehall blushed. Questions about parking. Request to place questions about parking at the end of the meeting. Request made by G. Chives and approved by Chair Copson. Closed Session Initiated For notes from the Closed Session (doc. by L. Root) please send an email to L. Root at LRootMinutes.ClosedSession@cloudspot.com. Closed Session Ended Meeting Initiated - Open Session, Zero Members of the Public in Attendanc...

25 likes

From the Field Notes of Henry Rhanalrik

Martha Kowalski

Submitted to Contest #273

**contains excerpts from my “Books of Destinies” duology** for best experience, read with “Rewritten” and “Books of Destinies – Vol. #1.5” [cover: dark green leather Book with scalloped edges]October 6th, 1604: No significant event to report.October 7th, 1604: No significant event to report.October 8th, 1604: Why do I bother keeping this journal? The view of the cosmos sky changes little from night to night that tracking the incremental differences seems trivial. Surely these differences are far from trivial when expanded...

25 likes

Down The Dirt Road

Jerry Borich

Submitted to Contest #273

It was a beautiful sunny day in late summer and young Danny was preparing for a bike ride down the dirt road that went alongside his house. The route traversed back into the depths of the valley for about five miles until finally coming to an end at an old farm. Very few houses lined this dirt trail and there weren’t any other children that lived in the direction he was headed. But, being an adventurous ten year old, he was just off to explore as he loved to do and do very often.Danny’s older sister Lisa watched from her bedro...

25 likes

Ding, Dong…

Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #273

Mary Jenkins lived alone. This was not by choice, but by circumstance. Her husband, Patrick, died young, leaving Mary in a house on five acres just outside of town. In the early days of her widowhood, she hid from the world there, nursing her broken heart, keeping to herself. As time passed, it became habit, until, at sixty-three, she enjoyed her own company more than she endured the company of others, causing the children to call her the Witch of the West. No one knew her well enough to call her wicked.Mary’s life had been spectacularly une...

25 likes

Mature

Perseus Patroclus

Submitted to Contest #273

I stride in with my chest puffed out. The room is small, stuffy, walls splattered with different paints and posters. It's difficult not to feel insecure. I had spent a good thirty minutes on my fit- not that I had much to work with- and managed to pull together a black denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off accompanied by navy cargo shorts. Everyone turns to me, a little shocked."I saw the flier. You wanna drummer?" A beat of silence follows."How good are you?" The guy who responds is probably around 20, 25. He's smoking, sprawled across a...

23 likes

The Shadow Man

B.R Wilson

Submitted to Contest #273

The mind can be a dark and twisted place where shadows can take on a life of their own. I was being followed by death, and death showed itself as shadows. On this particular night, those shadows stretched longer, slipping into cracks and crevices of bark and earth like a cockroach scuttling for refuge. Among the encroaching gloom and obscure shapes was a man waiting and watching, and though I couldn’t see him from the heavy dusk, I knew his eyes were glued to me, glued to my house. He had been following me for some time, and I knew he...

23 likes

DON'T TELL ANYONE

Submitted to Contest #273

October 11.It keeps following me. All the time. I've been feeling it for days now - this eerie sensation of being watched. This morning, an envelope slipped under my door. No name, no return address. Just a single line written in red ink: "Come to the garden on Elm at midnight. Don't be late."My first thought was that it was a prank, maybe a mistake. But deep down, I knew it wasn't. I felt that same strange, heavy sensation in my chest - the feeling of being watched. Whoever's been following me wants me to come to this meeting.I should ignor...

22 likes

Jack the Ripper

Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #273

The police car sped past on the road outside, siren wailing and lights flashing.Jack gasped. They were onto him; he didn’t have much time. He had to make as many as possible for Them, didn’t they understand that? Still clutching the juice-covered butcher’s knife, Jack ran to the window and peered out.The car screeched to a stop before his neighbour Sam’s house. Two police officers burst out of the vehicle. They ran up to the door, hands on the butts of their weapons, heads twitching from side to side. The front door swung open before they co...

21 likes

Between You and Me.

James Scott

Submitted to Contest #273

Trigger Warning: Death, Grief.The coffin wasn’t right. Austin raced through a mental checklist, assessing each detail of the wooden box before him. The ache in his shoulder confirmed it was oak. It’s dark stain contrasted beautifully with the purple flowers arranged on top. The curved, brass handles followed the lines of the timber perfectly. Everything was as she had specified, so why did it look wrong? What was out of place? Then it hit him, it was the trim. His eyes widened in realisation. It had the right swirls and beads, but the patter...

21 likes

Love Letters from Belgium

KC Foster

Submitted to Contest #273

July 27th, 1914Last night, I said goodbye to Thomas at Chelmsford station. He looked so handsome in his green woolen uniform and helmet, bound for the war in Europe. He was excited, looking forward to the action with his friends, looking forward to killing some Germans from the Central Powers. I don’t really care, but I think all this talk of death is foul and I told him so. He laughed and drew me into his embrace. His coat smelled of pipe smoke and cabbages from his family's farm. I traced the lines of his face with my hands, trying to memo...

21 likes

How to Survive Until Tomorrow

Submitted to Contest #273

STEP ONE: First you have to kill the dog. If you don’t kill the dog you won’t be able to get downstairs, and the house is already going up in flames, so you really don’t have much time and the dog is always right there at the top of the staircase, growling at you.There are a few ways to do this. At first, I used the Phillps-head screwdriver from under the bathroom sink, but if you do that your hand and arm will be injured from the bites and you won’t be able to fire the pistol with any accuracy later. Then you're done.The best method is to g...

21 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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