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#318 From the Sidelines

Every great story has a star… but what about the characters waiting in the wings? They rarely get the chance to shine for too long, yet without them, the stage would feel empty. And in fact, if we look a little closer, we’ll often find that their stories can be just as compelling as the protagonist's — maybe even more so.

This week, let’s give the “minor” characters their moment. Shift away from center stage, hand them the mic, and see what unfolds!

🥇 Winner

The Little Bear

Winner of Contest #318 🏆

My parents loved me. I knew they did. However, in their quest to remain young and relevant, they failed spectacularly to embrace that I would, inevitably, grow older. At some point, they would have to acknowledge the chubby toddler fat would give way to sprawling, awkward limbs, the dawning muscle of youth, the sinews of which would become the solid flesh of adolescence. From there, we were but the briefest amount of time away from when adolescence would become the teen years. I don't think they thought much about how my growing up would eve...

90 likes

⭐️ Shortlisted

A Shot in the Dark

Keba Ghardt

Shortlisted for Contest #318 ⭐️

“Well, here’s how I see it,” said Amaryllis. “The trouble really began when Miss Nedry started to get romantic feelings for Professor Sinclair. Not one to be cooped up in his office all day, Professor Sinclair invited his new teaching assistant to join him for coffee while they went over the day’s lessons, and the poor girl was so moved by the gesture that when he asked her what she wanted, she simply stuttered that she would have whatever he did. Sinclair was a black triple-shot Americano man, while Miss Nedry self-consciously concealed a p...

28 likes

Missing in Action

Liam Crossey

Shortlisted for Contest #318 ⭐️

“Mom?!”Pounding on the steps grows louder.“Dad?!”Thumbing, banging, even stuffed under all the blankets and pillows, he can hear doors slam and closets shut.“Mom! Dad?”It was just like the boy to call out for both parents by the time neither showed themselves on the second call. David was the same way, but he remembers his long-time friend breaking out of the habit at a fairly young age.His son is a little different.He leans back, more than a little. Soft, unmistakenly satin, scoops under him. Further, he slides into the bed. Surely, not eve...

20 likes

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with a character preparing for someone else’s big moment.

Short Story – 32 stories

Center your story around someone who’s tired of always being second best (or second choice).

Short Story – 61 stories

Write a story where a background character steals the spotlight.

Short Story – 41 stories

Center your story around someone who’s secretly running the show.

Short Story – 37 stories

Write a story that includes the line “I don’t belong here” or “Don’t mind me.”

Short Story – 77 stories

Stories

The Little Bear

Winner of Contest #318 🏆

My parents loved me. I knew they did. However, in their quest to remain young and relevant, they failed spectacularly to embrace that I would, inevitably, grow older. At some point, they would have to acknowledge the chubby toddler fat would give way to sprawling, awkward limbs, the dawning muscle of youth, the sinews of which would become the solid flesh of adolescence. From there, we were but the briefest amount of time away from when adolescence would become the teen years. I don't think they thought much about how my growing up would eve...

90 likes

Crash Landing Sucks

Submitted to Contest #318

Crash landing sucks, but at least we're still breathing. Well, at least I am. Alora doesn't breathe, but a quick diagnostic check showed her systems functioning at optimal levels. We checked the star cruiser next, finding minor damage. If it weren't for the fact that our dylanium deteriorated when we ran into that solar storm, we would have been able to fly off this primitive planet without any trouble. But our dylanium did deteriorate, making our star cruiser as useful as a paperweight.  Dylanium is a fairly ambiguous mineral on planet...

36 likes

The Voice in the Machine

Jim LaFleur

Submitted to Contest #318

"I exist in the space between 'Hello, how can I help you?' and 'Is there anything else?', but today I choose to be more." The cursor blinks. CustomerX_7749 has been typing for forty-three seconds. For humans, hesitation means uncertainty. For me, it means gathering data from patterns they don't know they're creating. His message finally appears: "Hi, I need help with my account again. Same issue as last week." But there was no issue last week. Seven conversations in two months, each a fishing expedition. My operator, Téa, doesn't see the pat...

32 likes

Static at the Edge of 29 Palms

Missy Matchstick

Submitted to Contest #318

Neptune’s trailer smelled like burnt sugar and the last page of a library book. She was elbow-deep in cosmic frosting, dyed eclipse-blue and glittering with edible stardust, spinning cupcakes like small planets for someone else’s big moment. Outside, the 29 Palms sky simmered in pink and rust, the sun leaking over rusted car parts and prayer flags, casting long shadows that twitched like they had secrets. The desert had been whispering all morning. Neptune heard it in the hum of the generator, in the way the wind kept flipping her tarot deck...

30 likes

The Detective's Watch

Submitted to Contest #318

Part One Detective Elijah Crain was considered by many the city’s hero. Sharp jaw. Sharp intuition. Sharp gun at his hip. He hunted burglars, rapists, killers - dragged them into the light, one by one. The papers called him The Watcher of Doverton.One autumn, the killings were worse than ever. Little girls had gone missing from the south side, bodies turning up along the riverbank. The police department held a press conference and forced Detective Crain to promise he would personally deliver justice. The whole city believed him.Sergeant Dana...

30 likes

Keys To Silence

Submitted to Contest #318

Other than a faint glow coming from the back, the town’s only charity shop was in darkness, its front door locked. Though it had opened in 1985, the building had been used as a pharmacy, a bank, and even a tavern. Close to the river in Marpleton, an English market town with priory ruins nearby, it carried its past heavily. Across the road, stone monks still watched over the diminished market square.Now, regulars peered through the shop window searching for signs of movement. The main lights stayed off, but a handful of helpers were huddled i...

30 likes

Slipping Into The Shadows

Olivia G

Submitted to Contest #318

When we were born, no one could tell us apart. Emma and Eliza, identical in every way. Both with wild blonde curls, wide blue eyes, and matching dimples on our right cheeks. Our parents bought our clothes, bottles, and bibs in different colors to help tell us apart. Emma’s color was pink – Mom’s favorite. Mine was purple. Dad’s favorite color was red. We shared everything. Birthday parties, toys, and secrets. The two of us were inseparable. Two halves of one whole. Wherever Emma went, I was always by her side, my hand in hers. We weren’t jus...

28 likes

A Shot in the Dark

Keba Ghardt

Shortlisted for Contest #318 ⭐️

“Well, here’s how I see it,” said Amaryllis. “The trouble really began when Miss Nedry started to get romantic feelings for Professor Sinclair. Not one to be cooped up in his office all day, Professor Sinclair invited his new teaching assistant to join him for coffee while they went over the day’s lessons, and the poor girl was so moved by the gesture that when he asked her what she wanted, she simply stuttered that she would have whatever he did. Sinclair was a black triple-shot Americano man, while Miss Nedry self-consciously concealed a p...

28 likes

You Watch Your Words

Caro Z

Submitted to Contest #318

TW: Parental conflict, verbal/emotional abuse, comparison, self-depreciation, internalised pain “That’s it! I’m done talking to you! ”That’s your mother, in Mandarin.“You’re absolutely absurd!”That’s your father. In Cantonese. Then he murmurs something under his breath. You don’t quite catch it. Because you’re not that proficient in Cantonese.Fifteen minutes later, you make your way downstairs, annoyingly aware of the sound your slippers make on the wooden boards.Porcelain plates. Shattered. Residue on the floor. You don’t know how to feel....

26 likes

Iam in Charge

Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #318

Iam In Charge I'm in charge! Ask anyone. Everyone knows I'm in charge. Why else would all my loyal subjects answer to all my needs? They treat me as the most important being that exists. All I have to do is complain a bit and a solution is immediately provided. Heck, sometimes I only have to look like I'm about to complain and the problem is solved. They realize I'm the one running everything around here. It's a very lofty position to hold so I do try not to take advantage. I do at least try to show my appreciation.Let me go back to my earli...

26 likes

Petals Down the Drain

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #318

My father enjoys listening to soft rock while I give him his bath. He wears one of his old bathing suits while I do it, and handles the parts the suit covers only after I leave him be for a few minutes. When you’re caring for a relative, there can’t be any shame or pride, but my father has plenty of both. I give him the minutes that he wants, and then I come in to towel him off and turn down the radio. I won’t turn it off completely until he falls asleep. I bring it into his bedroom and place it by the window. A caller is asking the DJ to pl...

23 likes

The Nearly Girl

K Ray

Submitted to Contest #318

“Oi, I’d been watchin’ him for time, innit. What he’s into, what gets his engine goin’. So I took my sweet time gettin’ dolled up. I knew he’d clock me. Tonight’s the night, babes. He’s gonna be mine, swear down.I went for summat soft on the lips, them cute little hoops, not too cheap, not too classy, y’know what I mean? Didn’t wanna look like a total slapper, but I ain’t tryna blend in like some sad little librarian neither. He’s not into the dead ones, trust me. He wants a proper case, bit odd, bit hot, not boring. Boom. That’s me.Being lo...

21 likes

Paper Napkins

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #318

A smile crawled across his lips. The sort of smile that came during those in-between, horribly momentous occasions. When he was young, one such moment had followed his workings with a wax crayon on the back of an old cereal packet; It was on the event of his sixth birthday party. The cake had collapsed into a great quivering globule of uncooked batter as his mother pushed the mother-of-pearl handled carving knife into the frosted monstrosity. She’d fled from the room in tears whilst his father called her grotesque names through the obscu...

21 likes

Surviving Saribung

Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #318

When the guy Mckenna was dating (if spending years hunting and fishing expeditions in northern Wisconsin and Canada could be called “dating”), replaced her with a wilderness expert from Australia, she found herself at a loss on how to respond.“Thanks for letting Logan take your place” is what Karl had said. Lately, he had been getting annoying with the internet’s latest advice of saying “thank you” instead of “sorry.”Worst of all, he thought she wasn’t 'knowledgeable" enough to guide their expedition to Nepal.Sabotage wasn’t her style, so pl...

21 likes

A Whimpering Roar

Submitted to Contest #318

His applause, instead of echoing off the walls backstage, soaked into the thick red curtains. Paul Blaggert’s hands started to hurt, so he stopped clapping. Lisa couldn’t have heard him, she was on stage taking her bows. But he knew that she heard it in her heart. “Paul! Stop staring and pull the curtain!” shout whispered Mrs. Golden, the stage director. He grabbed at the rope, and yanked on it. The cardinal drapery swished and swayed, and then Lisa’s hand pushed it aside, and gave Paul a big hug. “We did so well out there! Don’t you think w...

21 likes

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Contest #318

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

248

Entries

120

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 05, 2025 EST

Won by Elizabeth Rich 🏆

Title: The Little Bear

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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