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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

“Ghost of the Past” by Claire Hinz

Submitted to Contest #42

Zaalia was young when it happened, too young. She tried not to think about it, but the memories were always in the back of her mind, lurking. They threatened her if she ever tried to forget, trapped in her own mind. Her deadbeat dad was often at a bar drinking away his liver or losing games of poker, leaving her mother with little money to raise and look after Zaalia. Well-tempered and always patient with Zaalia, her mother was much too caring for her abusive dad. It confused her, why her mom ever married her ...

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“A Broken Family” by Anonymous Mouse

Submitted to Contest #42

Waking up without her there in the house was the most unfamiliar sensation. I ached for her snappy retorts and sly remarks. And the sparkle in her eye when she told a joke at our dinner table. I missed the aroma of her dollar store perfume, the one she assured me was just as good as the expensive brand. I listened for the sound of her skirts sweeping against the linoleum kitchen floors early in the morning. It was no longer there. I knew I would never see her again. At least not in that life. The day my mother passed, I withdrew from the wor...

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“Into Silver City” by Scarlet Noble

Submitted to Contest #42

It happens in the middle of the night, in a city that never sleeps. Vehicles stopped moving on the newly paved road. Wild and tame animals alike stopped running the streets, yards, and sidewalks. The lights of several buildings went out. Streetlights fell silent. Even the river goes still, its fish burrowing into the muddy bottom and finding rest. A disturbing hush fell across Silver City, a city that now sleeps. A thick fog descends upon Silver City's land, clinging to skyscraper and two-story homes. Its source is unseen by the occupan...

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“Bittersweet Failure” by Rose Chiccy

Submitted to Contest #42

Some things are bitter sweet. Everyone has that one thing that just tugs on their heartstrings, and for me, it’s this. Watching as this story unfolds. This is not the beginning, not really. It started years ago, when the heroes lost their leader and friend. The loss gave them a thirst for vengeance, an incurable drive to avenge their lost friend, and that, is what brought them here today, after years of planning. Three figure crouch behind a boulder, whispering among themselves. Shrouded in shadow, their similar builds making them seem indis...

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“Beware of Falling Asleep!” by Massiel Alberto

Submitted to Contest #42

I find myself in a deserted area where everything is dead, no sign of vegetation is seen. It is like a piece of nothing in the suburbs. Maybe I shouldn’t get out of my house, but I think if I've stayed, I would be dead by now. It all started when at three o clock the sky darkened. I thought it was an eclipse, although I didn’t hear anything about it. When it was 3:15 PM, the darkness wasn’t proper of that of an eclipse: it was like the sun turned off or the sky was covered by a giant black cover.I turned the tv on to watch the headlines, tho...

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“Clean” by Hope Lawson

Submitted to Contest #42

The cleanliness is what gets you. More so than the silence, or the stillness, or the emptiness. It’s the cleanliness that jars. There’s an unnerving dissonance in this place of white floor, red and yellow walls, squeaky clean chairs that don’t squeak anymore when they twist like reeds by a river. So calm and clean.And the smell! It’s gone! Bigger somehow in its absence. Like how the small noises are bigger in the silence. Like when an airplane rumbles overhead and everyone, all three of you jumps, looks up out the windows and stares, as if a...

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“Circle” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #42

Most geometry students learn there are 360 degrees in a circle, 180 degrees in a semicircle and 90 degrees in a quarter of a circle. What I’m about to share with you as to how I did a 360 degree circle in my one sided fantasy relationship with a hat check girl named Adelaide Müller. In the summer of 1947 I was stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base a United States Air Force installation. It was home to the 52nd Fighter Wing, which is supported by various subordinate groups that specialize in operations, maintenance, logistics, medical and personn...

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“Innocence, meet End. ” by Maya Molina

Submitted to Contest #42

"Innocence, meet End." a distant voice said. Sunlight went through the windows and filled the room with light, birds sang beautifully in the background, a new day had started. A figure raised from her bed, glow emitting from her as if she was a small star, she moved her covers and sat at the border of the bed, looking out to the world. "Good morning! It is such a bright day, I will enjoy it to my full potential." She walked to her wardrobe and grabbed a gorgeous orange dress, it was simple but somehow perfect to this girl. She dr...

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“SHACKS” by Barry Truman

Submitted to Contest #42

One doomed mortal always trudged off through a driving snowstorm on a vaporous, gloomy, full mooned night - wolves howling and prowling - to hunt or shop or otherwise provide for luckless earthling #2, who stayed alone in the shack. One of them died horribly and the other went crazy and also had a tendency to perish eventually.Crazy Alice was found dead in her rocking chair on the front “stoop” of her “hand-hewn, one-roomed shanty.” Her husband had taken off at night to find provisions(provisions are a lot more accessible at night and he rem...

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“rose petals and glitter” by Kiley Hatch

Submitted to Contest #42

There were rose petals and glitter on the stairs. Italian a cappella music was echoing out from the upstairs gable bedroom. The windows were all locked shut against the rain. The oven timer was going off. It sounded like a weary, but resilient and cranky old gentleman pressing the front door bell at equal intervals -- you could feel his annoyance and abhorrence for everyone who lived within through the incessant pattern of sound. We’d been stuck inside for a long, long while now. Long enough that the days were all bleeding together in ...

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“Home” by Audrey Villanueva

Submitted to Contest #42

I’ve been asleep. Not completely gone. Not yet anyway. I don’t know if I’m going to wake up. But to be honest, I don’t know if I want to. If I were to wake up, I’d be stuck with my family again. I don’t know what I did wrong that forced the universe to put me in this family. I’ve been fairly independent my whole life, but my parents always seemed to judge any of my independent choices and I always feel obligated to do things based on them just for the sake of avoiding their judgement. On the other hand, my little brother, Bennett, didn’...

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“Fifty Shades of Envy” by Dion Greer

Submitted to Contest #42

"I'm sorry...who are you?" Alex stood up from the bench with a confused look on his face.Ty looked at his friend next to him. Jack stood there as if he knew he wasn't supposed to be there. So, instead of making eye contact, he just stared at his shoes as if he forgot he had some on.Alex looked at his old best friend. "Ty, I thought we were going to hangout. Just us."Ty looked at Alex then at Jack, then back at Alex."We are. I just...I thought it would be fun to bring an extra friend." Alex's chest was beating faster than before and his pale ...

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“The Old Guitar” by C.A. Simonson

Submitted to Contest #42

“My life savings are wrapped up in that old guitar, Son. One day, she’ll be yours. Take care of her for me, will ya?” he said with a wink. Those were the last words Dan’s father ever spoke to him. Town folk rumored his old man was rich, but he never lived like it. His dad and he never did see eye to eye. When he'd stormed off to college, they hadn't spoken until his father got sick. Reluctantly he went back home to see his dad one last time, hoping to get some needed money – something to get back on his feet. But all he received was h...

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“Imelda” by Chidinma Ihezue

Submitted to Contest #42

My name is Imelda Azubike. I am the only surviving child of this family, conscious enough to tell our story.Growing up my mum used to tell us a joke; said the first time I dropped into this world, my crying took the shape of “why?” In my family, we are blessed with early speech: if you do not testify, “I hate this life, I hate my life” you do not originate from the Azubike family. I spoke on the seventh month after my birth, started walking too.Being a child brought up in the ghetto was fun, having neighbors you could peep at but forbidden t...

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“Olin Hall” by Joseph Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #42

The problem with Olin hall is that it has the most, and I must emphasize most, comfy seats of the whole campus. In my undergrad I could barely help myself from falling asleep every time I went to a physics lecture. It wasn’t so much the dryness of the content that brought about my slumber, but the plush, tweed seat that I sunk into, and in its warm embrace could dream about the phenomena the professor was talking about. I dreamt about space and great orbiting bodies. I put myself in the position of the lecturer’s space-traveler, approaching ...

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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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