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#37 The Game is Afoot

The draw of a puzzle — be it a jigsaw, word cross, or Sudoku — is the opportunity to call on our skills of deduction; to start with what seems like disparate pieces of information, and end up with the complete picture.

Mystery novels are the same! They intrigue us by leaving a trail of clues, prompting us to try and work out what's really going on as the story unravels.

Our love of mystery books is what inspired our recent post on the 30 best mystery novels of all time, as well as this week's prompts. Come, writers! The game is afoot.

🥇 Winner

Your Move

Hayley Igarashi

Winner of Contest #37 🏆

This is a story about the man who wants to kill you. I have my doubts, not about the man or about the story, but about you. I fear I do all this for nothing. Listen: I would scream if I had a mouth. I have a story. So that is what I will use. You have seen him before. He might as well live in your periphery. He is tall and seems to carry his weight in his chest and shoulders. He has a narrow waist and legs that taper down to small leather shoes. Not that you've noticed any of this before. You've been distracted, haven't you? If I told ...

360 likes

177 comments 177

⭐️ Shortlisted

Drawing a Blank

Shortlisted for Contest #37 ⭐️

“Are you happy?”I look up, startled. The subway car was empty when my girlfriend and I got on. Now there’s someone sitting across from us; I don’t know how I could’ve missed her. I must have nodded off and missed a stop.She’s pretty. Auburn hair cropped at her chin. A smattering of freckles across high cheekbones. Copper eyes, bright, like newly minted pennies. A forlorn smile on her pale lips. I’ve never seen her before, but something (-----) tugs at me. A strange feeling in the back of my mind, like I’m searching for a file that doesn’t ex...

13 likes

The Thunderbird

Judy Gaver

Shortlisted for Contest #37 ⭐️

ONTARIO, CANADA 1891 I am in the tree again. They will kill me. I am in the tree again and they will kill me. They will whip new feathers along my arms and shins, blue and red and burning as lightning. A hundred new feathers, yet I cannot fly.I scrape the broken leaves from my hair and stumble down the branches.One. Two. Three. Four. Five.They remember the weight of my feet. I have been here many nights before. It is morning now and the fathers will be waiting for my empty bed to scream out like a white mouth, to tattle on me and spit u...

13 likes

This week's prompts

Write a story about a valuable object that goes missing.

Mystery – 91 stories

Write a story about someone who keeps coming across the same stranger.

Mystery – 181 stories

Write a story that takes place in the woods.

Mystery – 179 stories

Write a story that starts with the reveal of a long-kept secret.

Mystery – 128 stories

Write a story about a rumor making its way through the grapevine.

Mystery – 47 stories

Stories

Your Move

Hayley Igarashi

Winner of Contest #37 🏆

This is a story about the man who wants to kill you. I have my doubts, not about the man or about the story, but about you. I fear I do all this for nothing. Listen: I would scream if I had a mouth. I have a story. So that is what I will use. You have seen him before. He might as well live in your periphery. He is tall and seems to carry his weight in his chest and shoulders. He has a narrow waist and legs that taper down to small leather shoes. Not that you've noticed any of this before. You've been distracted, haven't you? If I told ...

360 likes

177 comments 177

Stranger Than a Stranger.

Cam Croz

Submitted to Contest #37

Why was it so hard to live it up? At the time she’d left home, Samira had thought it a great idea. She had graduated school with the high spirited desire to travel the world, live it up! Her plan had been to live her life like all of those bloggers out there who seemed to love nothing more than to tell the world of how great their lives were. Samira had simply wanted to have and express as much fun as they had. So, she’d started a blog. Straight out of school and ready to live it u...

84 likes

Far From Home

Submitted to Contest #37

The leaves crunch under my feet as I step. The wind howls in my face. I keep my chin up and my hands grip the straps of my backpack. I'm wandering far. Far from home.I start to study the trees. They cast shadows on the moonlit path. The noises of the forest soothe me. My cheeks are flushed. The darkness takes me in, like a mother taking a child. I long to be home. But I am far from it.They never wanted me anyway. Treated me like a stray. Filched my heart from me. I envied my friends, who had such loving families. Tears made their way to my c...

74 likes

Embellishments on the Memory Wall

Laiba M

Submitted to Contest #37

Materialism. It's "a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values", or so the online dictionary says. But what if an object is so important to one that they would sacrifice any and/or all of their loved ones for it? Does that label them as materialistic? How much importance can you give to an object before being slammed into the tiny, almost inescapable cage of materialism? Society gives no second thought to calling one materialistic, yet some of them don't look at their own lives and...

73 likes

Sairmonia

Lee Mar

Submitted to Contest #37

The low buzz of coffee machines and chatter filled Nari’s ears as she read through NASA’s latest post on Twitter. Three space travelers arrived safely at the space station four hours ago. Nari took a sip of her honey lavender latte, wondering what it would be like to travel through space. It had always been her dream to work for NASA, maybe even as an astronaut. Nari was only thirteen though, so she had a while before she was old enough.Nari observed her surroundings. Everyone in the coffee shop seemed to be working on something, except for ...

71 likes

Luche's Box

Submitted to Contest #37

On the porches the Venezuelans played salsa while it rained. Outside it was dark and the air was heavy, and the earth thick with loam and steam, but on the porches illuminated with lanterns and candles and flashlights it was bright and whirling, quick, flexible music floating from each house.Around the backsides of the clapboard houses the jungle was creeping in, trying to grab each house around the waist as if for a dance, intent on consuming the village. But the people beat it back each day, a refusal to dance.They said no, we’ll dance on ...

56 likes

Some Rumors Are True

Alby Carter

Submitted to Contest #37

The only thing worse than breaking up with my boyfriend was the whispers that followed me as I walked by. I had known he was trouble, but how much trouble? I needed to hear the rumors, for myself. I wanted to scream at people, but couldn’t make a scene. My ears hummed with the rhythm of the soft voices. They strained to grasp any word, and only caught the most familiar; MY name. Penny, they whispered, eyes alarmed when they felt my ice-cold chill as I walked by. Penny, the mean store owner said with near sympathy. Penny, whispered the aging ...

56 likes

Long Lost Family Reunited?

Niveeidha Palani

Submitted to Contest #37

I was an artist. Just a twenty year old, I couldn't do much but spend most of my time out in the wary old sun, speckling my brush with blots of coloured paint. I was different from both my parents, however. My father was the rare one with tanned brown hair with streaks of deep, glinting black. My mother had a pure chocolate river that cascaded beautifully down her back. I, however, had blonde strips with brown.I had always wondered where that blonde had come from. My mother used to tell me that it probably was a mixture of brown and black. I...

48 likes

SEX AND FERTILITY AGENT

Oluseyi Ogunnaike

Submitted to Contest #37

Michael Robinson is not the real father of her super teen daughter, Terri Robinson. They were joined together in holy matrimony twenty-something years ago, but there’s an intruder sometime, somewhere, somehow. Impregnated, but no one suspected that he was not responsible. The baby was born and grown up under his roof.‘’Michael’’ She whimpers.She only calls him Michael when something is serious or she’s done something very wrong. ‘’There’s something I need to tell you’’.The next door, leading to their room, half-open, unmindful. She suck...

47 likes

Goodbyes

Yoomi Ari

Submitted to Contest #37

Monday 13th April- 9:30 am The silvery mist licked at every surface. Rain fell on the forest canopy covering dense and tangled vegetation. Bowl-shaped plants caught the rainwater. Beetles, snails, flies and frogs continued their activities. The forest is the orchestra of my mind, playing one enchanting symphony after another. Her leaves dance to an unheard beat, whispering their songs to the wind. In here, sheltered by the mighty trees, is every kind of life, from the humble beetle to enchanting birds of every colour. I hold m...

46 likes

Abandoned truth

Yoomi Ari

Submitted to Contest #37

There are people who never need a disguise, like superman all they need to do is change a pair of glasses or a hairstyle and they are someone new. The girl was like that, she was every girl next door: not pretty, not ugly, not pale or particularly brown. She walked in a way that didn't even draw the attention of the street cameras. Her clothing wasn't overly fashionable or bright in colour. Everything about her made her blend in, as if the rain had smudged her into the sidewalk, as if she was only a shadow of no importance, more boring to ob...

45 likes

Him

Amiable Sorceress

Submitted to Contest #37

I know him, but I don’t. I see his shadows everywhere in my life, but it is where to place him that I am having all the trouble. When I look in the mirror, they’re there to haunt me. All of those strangers, all of the ghosts that crowd around, and in the center, it's him. “Anjali!!” I was trying to hear their voices when I heard my parents calling me. Did they know I wasn’t normal? As I walked downstairs, my memory had fogged up. What did I do and what have I yet to do? My answer; everything. I have yet to see myself properly, yet to fu...

44 likes

Ukcyo

Submitted to Contest #37

Knock Knock I jolted awake, and quickly looked around around my pitch black room, then my eyes set on the window beside me. I slowly set my feet on the ground, my legs were shaking non stop. I stood up, slowly walking to the window Ring Ring, Ring Ring I jumped in surprise, I calmed down realizing it was just my phone. My heart was beating fast and my breath was raspy. I felt li...

39 likes

Return of The Exiled

Katy S.

Submitted to Contest #37

A long, long, long time ago when the world was still young, and people trusted their hearts more than their minds, when proof from your eyes was not needed to make something the truth, there was a kingdom, a King, a Royal Advisor who was not listened to as often as he wished, and an enemy the King made for himself. Our tale begins with a rumor, and an argument. " Your Majesty there is a rumor that she will come." "She will not come." " But your Majesty, she would not have allowed the rumor to reach us without a purpose. " " She wo...

38 likes

Thief

Dalyane Deblois

Submitted to Contest #37

I wake up this morning, only to remember that my most precious good is missing. I do not panic. I do not get sad either. I think about yesterday, trying to figure out when I lost it. It is not easy; I have to remember everything that happened, everywhere I went, and everything I did. It is crucial that I find it.I woke up yesterday and I first made breakfast for my lover. I was happy and my pancakes were reflecting my emotions; the whipped cream formed a smile on each pancake. We washed the dishes together before taking the car. We laughed t...

37 likes

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Contest #37

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$50

Prize money

626

Entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 17, 2020 EST

Won by Hayley Igarashi 🏆

Title: Your Move

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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