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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#42: End of Story

Reaching the end of a story is a bittersweet thing. Upon reading the final word of a particularly good piece, you’re often hit with a sort of story-hangover: the ache of wanting to stay in the world of the tale, yet knowing there’s no more story to be read.

A truly excellent ending can mitigate that pain — which is why, as a writer, it’s crucial to nail the end of your own stories! Of course, this can mean different things for different pieces. A great ending might underscore a story's theme, or it might pose more questions than it answers; it all depends on context and execution. For more info, check out our tips for crafting a memorable ending here, and then dive into our ending-themed prompts below!

p.s. — We're hosting a Live Copyediting Workshop! On May 20th, Editors Tracy Gold and Julie Artz will take to YouTube to copyedit passages submitted by writers like you! For a chance to have your writing featured, click this link to register for the event and you'll receive submission instructions by email.

This week's prompts

Write a story that ends with the narrator revealing a secret.

Mystery – 162 stories

Write a story that ends in the past.

Teens – 68 stories

Write a story that ends with a character asking a question.

Narrative – 260 stories

Write a story that ends by circling back to the beginning.

Short Story – 214 stories

Write a story that ends with one character waiting for the arrival of another.

Kids – 199 stories

Stories

“Circle on Circle” by Debbie Stelzle

Submitted to Contest #42

Voice recorder on May 1, 2246. ID number 452151956. My name is Thea, and it has been a long time since I used that name. I'm unable to sleep, been dark and cold for such a long time. I have little food and water left used most of my wood. I can only keep the fireplace on for a day or two. I'm dictating this so to those who will come after learning from our mistakes. We played with nature; we believe we had a controlled over the environment but discovered nature will have no master. Let me go back into the past to detail our hubris toward nat...

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“Endlessly” by Rin Sadow

Submitted to Contest #42

Nara left her phone downstairs. She couldn't believe it. She had actually forgotten to take her phone upstairs with her when she went to sleep in her bedroom. There was nothing wrong with this. She was tired and she did need that sleep. The phone wasn't even important to her; countless times she had found herself becoming bored of it. There was just one tiny problem. She would use it to stop herself from going to sleep and stay up all night. Of course, this was wrong. She would be tired during the day and would sleep for hours...

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“A Wannabe Poet Jumps a Fence to Impress a Girl, But She is Already Walking Away” by A H

Submitted to Contest #42

The stars may have been visible in that clear night, but they were vastly overshadowed by the blinding floodlights that stood vigil over the empty field. There was only one pinprick of light in the sky then, and it hung just over the evergreen trees, low enough that the tall girl who pounded out lap after lap on the red pavement could keep her eyes trained on it as she ran. She wore a tank top, black leggings, and white tennis shoes: her go-to outfit when she had something on her mind and needed to run it out. And that was how it was with he...

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“UNDER THE SHADOWS” by Emma Sangual

Submitted to Contest #42

It was my summers break and as always, we were all packed to spend yet another month in our farmhouse at Kashmir, as we always did. We had nowhere to go but there and though father always promised a new adventure, things always took the wrong road and the same boring days, greeted us. There wasn’t a place that hadn’t been explored by us, or as much as I could remember. As usual, it was quite a few days until all the others came (we always came early, as we did somehow enjoy the road trip), so it meant I was stuck all alone- and had to find s...

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“Petrichor” by Sandeep T

Submitted to Contest #42

" You know the worst kind of imprisonment Alex? The door is wide open but we cannot move as if we're chained by invisible memory threads of the past. It is then that we see the future through that ajar door, Living off it's faint light."" Hmm Does it hurt mum? When we die? "" Not more than it hurts the ones who are living. " *****I wonder why mum said that, what might have she felt at that moment. I didn't get it back then at my father's f...

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“Train to a Different World” by Abhik Sarkar

Submitted to Contest #42

Traveling makes me pensive. There was slight rain outside. The droplets pearled on my window screen and slid down obliquely under the two orthogonal forces of wind and gravity. The weather was just right to slip into a nap. A constant hum from the air conditioner could be heard over the damped sound of rain and the thumb of the heavy wheels against the disjoint track accentuated by veritable harmonious little jerks.I was under the influence of the ambiance, drunk with the picturesque countryside floating through the screen such that I failed...

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“A DANCE WITH LUCIFER” by RADIUS HAVWAALA

Submitted to Contest #42

Pwinga tossed sleeplessly on a wooden plank, blinking the eerie night away, his whole body was aching like someone who had collided with a train. His troublesome companions, the Mosquitoes kept singing irritating tunes the whole night as if they did not know how to land and rest. The buzzing sounds of mosquitoes in the vicinity were punctuated eternally with painful jabs on his exposed skin as if the tiny legged creatures were trying to drain his blood supply. He had no defense against this sly enemy being several kilometers away from his ho...

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“Forgotten” by Nikki Villalobos

Submitted to Contest #42

The sun felt good. It was chilly inside; the air conditioning had been running for ages already and the building never warmed up once it was on. But outside, in the garden, the flowers were blooming and the sun felt good. One flower caught Gina’s eye. She wheeled over and admired it for a moment. She’d heard that if you love a flower, if you think it is just the prettiest one you have ever seen, you would leave it where it grew. Gina picked the flower from the bush without even hesitating. She ...

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“The Stranger Twin” by Camille Bella

Submitted to Contest #42

Have you ever kept a secret? I mean a really big one? One so big you swore to never tell it to anyone until you were on your death bed? Or even already dead? Well, that’s what my mom did. She kept him a secret. For 18 years, I never met my other half. I found out when the lawyer read my mom’s will. His name was Mr. Something-or-other. I didn’t really care at the time so I never bothered to remember it. Anyway, when he read the will, it was the day after Mom died. I was tired from staying in the hospital room for nights on end and wasn’...

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“Death's Dancer” by Hayley Eden

Submitted to Contest #42

Abel is peculiar. Though perhaps that is mundane to say, as most human beings are peculiar, but Abel is especially so. One too many times he has stumbled close to mortal peril, tempting fate quite scandalously, to which fate herself has replied on ten occasions. On those ten occasions Abel has, of course, dropped dead. Fate, when she does bother, sure loves a challenge. Alas, with someone always at hand to assist him, Abel never stays dead. He performs a U-turn at the black gates and, one could say (after some rest, of course), he practicall...

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“Friday” by Chuck Waldron

Submitted to Contest #42

Friday, May 9, 1980 Amy listened to a fish crow outside her window, a distinctive bird call familiar to anyone living in Sarasota. Tourists called it the uh-uh bird. Sun filtering through inexpensive curtains formed an illusion of lace. She didn’t need an alarm clock today. She closed her eyes and smiled, thinking about Harry. Friday, ninth of May, she thought. At long last. I hope he’s not angry with me. What will he say?Will he be angry, the question like an arrow piercing her excitement? Sitting in the doctor...

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“Together” by Gertrude Appiah

Submitted to Contest #42

She sat all alone on the terrace. Her dad had locked her mum inside today too. They always quarreled about the same thing. She never understood anything, not even after her brother had patiently told her what their folk’s problems had been. 'Does daddy love mom?' she wondered, looking down and watching her tiny legs swing where the wind blew, 'Does he love us at all?' she let down her tears. Every day was like this, either her mom got locked up inside her own room while her dad went to visit her aunt, or he beat them and forbade them fo...

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“The Boy at 7-Eleven” by Cat Sparkles

Submitted to Contest #42

I rounded the corner of the street where 7-Eleven was at, peeking through the glass panels furtively. He was standing at the cashier. There were no customers, and he was drumming his fingers on the counter, glancing around with a bored expression on his face. His eyes suddenly flittered up to mine before I could hide myself.My face was red with embarrassment as I darted away and leaned against the wall. Of course, like the last two times, I had no business at 7-Eleven. I’d already bought more than a week’s supply of junk food and soda, ...

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“Waiting” by Emma Crawford

Submitted to Contest #42

“My little brother is probably still alive.” Eda replied, after placing a cup of tea down in front of me. “We were lucky, because the college we went to had an underground shelter. It was made for a nuclear attack, but it worked for this, too.” I took a sip of the tea- Red Oolong. She eased herself into the chair across from me, leaning her cane against the table. “Why didn’t you go in?” I asked, looking at the puckered red scars that spread across her face and down her neck, disappearing beneath her clothes. &nb...

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“Mikey ” by Sonora Johnson

Submitted to Contest #42

It’s been 4 days since we last spoke. The first thing I remember about seeing you was your curly hair. It’s rare to see people with hair like mine. Immediately I realized how sweet you looked. You wouldn’t disappoint. You sat right next to me and for the rest of the night we couldn’t stop talking. It was so easy with you. I told you too much. I called you Mike even though you were introduced to me as Mikey. I was drinking but not as drunk as our friends. Some of it is hazed over but the feeling is clear. You amazed me ...

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$50

Prize money

903

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 22, 2020 EST

Won by Phoebe Barr 🏆

Title: The Firebird's Answer

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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