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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

“Can You Truly Change?” by Alexis Porter

Submitted to Contest #42

The tall building was just one of many that scraped the clouds. My polished shoes squeaked under my feet and the dress shirt was tight against my chest, not as loose as it had fit previously. The deep gray color of my slacks were also pulled tight against the thick muscles of my thighs. The change in professions may have been hard and much more work, but at least it helped me out in that sense. I looked down at Emily, who was gripping my hand tightly and slightly tucked behind my leg. I couldn’t help the genuine smile that flooded my cheeks ...

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“Endless” by Virginia Wanner

Submitted to Contest #42

Miles upon miles of parched desert sand. As far as the eye could see, that was all Chad saw. Despair welled up. How was he ever going to get back to his group? He couldn't even see them. There had been a freak sandstorm yesterday, and somehow he'd gotten seperated from the caravan. Now, without realizing it he was wandering farther and farther away. He'd run away from home three days ago. Chad resented his parents forcing him to come to this awful place with them. It was ugly, hideous. Nothing but dry parching wind, and sand. Ugh! H...

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“Cinnamon Sweet” by Elise Hartevelt

Submitted to Contest #42

No one had ever died in this room.I had seen it coming and the doctor had seen it too, but the shock came anyway. My aunt Mary had known it as well and now I saw her crying in the corner as if she hadn’t known. Her shrieks echoed through the white-panelled house we lived in and I walked to the window that overlooked the road with the baker on the corner that sold those cinnamon rolls that made the house smell like brandy. My father had liked brandy. I looked at the creases in my hands and at my fingernails that had mud underneath them from t...

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“The good guy ” by Honor Jacobs

Submitted to Contest #42

A week ago, I was a good man, a husband, a lawyer. Now, here I am with a glock19 in my hand and Frank fucking Laine at my feet with a bloody hole through his wrinkled forehead. I’m not kidding, I thought I was a model husband. My wife Loretta was about to have our third child, a girl finally, just like she wanted. We had the perfect little family, the perfect house, and perfect friends. I was a civil rights lawyer, I always thought of myself as a wholesome human being. One day my oldest son had a party for his tenth birthday. He has always b...

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“If A = B Then What...” by Christine Urbanski

Submitted to Contest #42

I don’t remember how the conversation started or why we were talking about it even, but when he offered me a chance to try weed in exchange for a blow job, I stopped. The thought was tempting, not the weed part but the sexual interaction. I had to think about it really hard because it would be my first time and I was unsure of the current situation.We were in math class together and the only two that were in it. I was doing very well in this class because it was so easy for me. Our teacher had a habit of leaving the c...

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“I Want A Chinese Friend” by Lin Lin

Submitted to Contest #42

The rain pecked the window drawing my attention from the deep daydream that was repeating in my head. The smell and the mood of rain awoke the drowsiness and the negativity hung heavy on my heart. My mom had taken time off work to try the mother and daughter bonding. It was a surprising choice as she is a workaholic. It was her first day off in two years. I should be happy but the patter from the rain keeps luring me back to my depressed state. From my deep reoccuring sighs and my stares, my mom suggested we go pick out outfits for each othe...

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“The Nothing Something” by Bianca Orfila

Submitted to Contest #42

The air in my room turned stale, cold unlike the gentle summer’s breeze that blew my curtains from their resting drape across my open window. I opened my closet with a creak, stopping my movement when I could hear my parents stirring from their room. I tied on some shoes and hoisted my backpack onto my shoulders and stepped onto the windowsill. With a steadily rising heartbeat, I stretched out onto a branch and held fast to the overgrown oak try beside my house. Carefully, I climbed down the trunk until I reached the ground. I landed with a ...

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“Nova” by Bruce Lorenzo

Submitted to Contest #42

Nova sighed, taking in the sights of the stars amidst the inky blackness outside of her window. Sitting in the captain’s seat, there were many buttons and levers laid out before her, screens displaying complicated visuals that would have made sense to somebody more learned in the ways of piloting than her. Floating aimlessly through space, she was stuck on the SS Nebuchadnezzar - what that name meant she would never know.She hadn’t chosen to be there. Well, sure, she had chosen to be in that particular seat in the ship, but the ship part was...

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“Airplanes” by Quinn Yetman

Submitted to Contest #42

"But what if the airplane falls to the ground while I'm on it," I began. "Or what if it runs out of fuel mid-air, or blows up?""That's not going to happen," Keara assured me."But what if it does," I countered."If it does, you can haunt me for the rest of your time on Earth.""But I'll be dead," I protested. "And in the middle of nowhere, so there is a strong chance that I won't even be able to find you.""Well, you'll just have to hope that you can teleport.""If I do end up dying, how long will it take you to move on from me..." Keara looked a...

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“The Story You Already Know the End To” by Daniel McMurray

Submitted to Contest #42

Mr. Finley lived the kind of story where you already knew how it would end. The story you might find collecting dust on the shelf. The story that you’ve read a million times and the ending just doesn’t wow you like it did on the first reading. Mr. Finley was brought up in a middle-class family along with a few other siblings before and after him. His parents had met in college and decided that they would spend their lives together, settled down in a suburb where they would raise their kids and send them to a nice school. And so Mr. Finley we...

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“The Final Scene” by Tobi Thomas

Submitted to Contest #42

I looked up at him as he floated down, resplendent in his superiority. His wings catching the dying light, the flames of destruction quieting down almost as if in anticipation of this moment. He landed softly, folded wings, sad look on his face, but firm eyes. He knew it would come to this. I told him it would come to this. Several times in fact. He walked forward his taking in everything. The horror I rained down on the nation I once called home. I warned them all that this would be the result of them defying me. They did, with his blessing...

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“Hello, Mama.” by Steven Pittaro

Submitted to Contest #42

Light. Piercing, white light, blinding. My eyes flutter open, taking in the world. My wings beat back and forth, but I stay on the ground. I am a bird. This I know. I have wings, but they don't work right now. I am in this green plant, hiding from the bright, and the predators. I do not know what exists out there. I need worms if I am to survive, but I have found no worms. No mother to bring them to me, or to chew them up. I have a vague memory of my mother feeding me worms, a few days ago, but now she's gone. A predator may have gotten her....

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“Cold Blood” by Audilia Kalyana

Submitted to Contest #42

It was July when Casey first understood what tragedy meant. She woke up, blood coating her arms and trickling down to the porcelain floor in staccato beats. Her lips were blue and trembling, her throat hoarse from the screams that reverberated on the walls for the entirety of last night. She didn't realize that she was still shaking. She stumbled out of bed, disoriented and slightly confused. She braced herself against the walls momentarily, before continuing her stride; she was pursuing answers, Her one-track mind led her to an old, rickety...

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“desert marigolds” by Avya Sood

Submitted to Contest #42

I got him flowers on the 14th of February, as a token of my everlasting love for him.________________________________________ November 3. I was in my room, lying on my bed when I heard the bell ring it's usual high pitched sound. Answering the door, there he was. Just your average 25 year old, in khaki shorts and a marshmello tshirt. 'I'm sure I'm wrong, but are you Mr Douglas?'There was something about his grey eyes that...pulled me towards him. It was like hypnosis, if I could just get close enough to look-'Hello? Are you alright...

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“Caleb's Comics” by Claire Lemieux

Submitted to Contest #42

Caleb pulled the cord to signal the bus driver that he wanted off at the next stop. As the bus gilded through the intersection, he looped his backpack’s straps over his shoulders, grabbed a pole, and stood up. As the driver braked, he took two big steps to the rear door, and pushed the yellow bars that triggered the opening mechanism. He called a “thanks” to the driver, stepped off the bus, and continued up the block to his comic book store. He pulled his keys out of his front left pocket, found the right one, and unlocked the door. He...

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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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