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#55: In On a Little Secret

One of The Hobbit's most memorable scenes is when Bilbo encounters Gollum in the Misty Mountains. We know Bilbo has the ring in his pocket, and that Gollum refers to the ring as his "precious." But Gollum doesn't yet realize it's missing, and Bilbo doesn't know who the ring belongs to.

This scene utilizes dramatic irony by providing readers with key information that the characters are unaware of. It creates suspense, tension, and immediately invests readers as we anxiously await the events we know will eventually unfold.

This week's prompts all revolve around the theme of secrets. We encourage you to get creative with how and when you reveal information to characters — and readers!

🥇 Winner

“Secrets for the Living” by B Easton

“Can you keep a secret?” She asked, and my first thoughts were, of course I can keep a secret, I’m dead. Who could I even tell? Her breath stank of half rotten food, and her decades old clothes barely fit her fragile body. Dirt raced up and down her body, some of it getting in her mouth as she talked, causing her every word to begin and end in coughing. As such, most of our games inv...

245 comments 245 WINNER 🏆

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Into the Icarian Sea” by Jonathan Blaauw

Can you keep a secret? Five simple words. This innocent question, posed as it was by a king, caused Daedalus untold grief. He had answered in the affirmative and remained true to his word, yet still King Minos had imprisoned him so that he may never speak of the monarch’s monstrous secret. The injustice of it burned Daedalus, but his true lament was reserved for his fellow captive – his son. The boy was just as innocent of wron...

79 comments 79 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“The Living Funeral Society” by Wake Lloire

Harold rarely read the newspaper anymore. Not the real, fold out while you have your morning coffee kind. He didn’t have to with news alerts set on his phone to deliver the most recent headline right to his device. Today, though, he had opted to put his phone in his sock drawer. He didn’t know what possessed him. His phone was his constant companion, and rarely ever even in his pocket these days. He was ...

20 comments 20 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“The Hitman's Dinner Date ” by Saad Masud

The weather channel was wrong the night Spencer and Rodney were set to have dinner together. As a man in a rather large overcoat approached the Wok n’ Roll, overcast winds threatened to tear down the delicate neon sign of the fast-casual Chinese joint. Technically at this point, the restaurant was only sometimes Wok n’ Roll because of the flickering sign making it infamous among the local crowd a...

6 comments 6 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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This week's prompts

Write a story about a meeting of a secret society.

Mystery – 156 stories

Write a story about an old family secret surfacing generations later.

Adults – 141 stories

Write a story that either starts or ends with someone asking, “Can you keep a secret?”

Kids – 422 stories

Write a story involving a conversation that’s packed with subtext; the characters aren’t quite saying what they mean.

Dialogue – 79 stories

Write a story where the readers are in on a secret that the characters are unaware of.

Novel – 103 stories

Stories

“Secrets for the Living” by B Easton

“Can you keep a secret?” She asked, and my first thoughts were, of course I can keep a secret, I’m dead. Who could I even tell? Her breath stank of half rotten food, and her decades old clothes barely fit her fragile body. Dirt raced up and down her body, some of it getting in her mouth as she talked, causing her every word to begin and end in coughing. As such, most of our games inv...

245 comments 245 WINNER 🏆

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“Secrets don't remain buried” by Keerththan 😀

Some family secrets are terrible when set loose, but mine was worse than anything I could have imagined. One fine Sunday morning, I was talking with my friends about family secrets."What's your family secret, Anand?" my friend Anirudh asked. He was a tall and strong man with silky white hair. I began to run away from him as he started to chase me."I'm not going to say," I said, taunting him. I wanted to get away from him and hide somewhere."It would be a food recipe," Anirudh said, laughing.<...

316 comments 316

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“Shape-Shifter Squad” by ᗩᗴᖇIᑎ ᖇᗴᗷᗴᑕᑕᗩ ✨🌈

“IIIIII HATE HIM!”Crash.“HE’S A JERK!”Bang.“I HOPE HE FALLS INTO A HOLE AND DIES!”Smash.“AARRRRRRRRRRGH!”I hurl my fist down on one more hollow wooden sphere and smile at the extremely loud but totally satisfying CRASH. My brows pinched with fury, I throw the remains of the ball down and stomp around the counselor’s office. As I survey the wreckage, the anger drains aw...

207 comments 207

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“The Choosings—Part 1” by ᗩᗴᖇIᑎ ᖇᗴᗷᗴᑕᑕᗩ ✨🌈

I sigh as I pluck my red sharpie from the magnetic holder stuck to my fridge. I bite the cap off and cross off today on my calendar.My eyes wander a box over, twenty-four hours from today. It’s the day I turn fourteen. It’s also the day of the Choosings.I have mixed feelings about my birthday. Not my birthday, exactly—I love my birthday. The thing I have mixed feelings about is the day it falls on—Mitzi 1st, the first day of the new year.The day where there’s a new Chosen One.I decide my feeli...

312 comments 312

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“Secrets Can Hurt” by Evelyn ⭐️

“Can you keep a secret?” Miley whispered in my ear. I had never been a good secret keeper. Well, at least that’s what everyone told me. In first grade, my friend told me she might be moving and not to tell anyone. The next day everyone at school knew. I don’t know how it happened. I could have sworn I didn’t tell anyone. “Yeah, sure. You know what yes. I mean not… um… I love secrets. Secrets are, well fu...

210 comments 210

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“To be Perfect” by Lynn Penny

Does any innocent child ever look up to the stars and wish to become a killer one day?Do they read about prosecuted murderers in the newspaper and hail them as their heroes?Valora never did this. She had respectable heroes, one’s who changed the world with their brilliant ideas and made the most magnificent masterpieces using the art of science. She had the perfect uprising, loving and caring parents who taught her the difference between right and wrong, and the value of hard work.She studied har...

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“Yellow Light” by Deborah Angevin

Just like a traffic light, I believe there are three types of people in this world.There is red: dangerous to be crossed over. These people are the ones who you will never befriend, the ones whose personality never match yours. And that’s Bella.How do I know this fact? Because I happened to overhear a phone call that she had in the old park behind the school building, the phone call that made me realize the personality of the school’s cheerleader squad captain.The phone call that made ...

171 comments 171

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“In Your Arms” by Pragya Rathore

Trigger warning: child death It is the time of night when its silence is not disturbed by whispered words, but by exhaled breaths. You shift in discomfort when loud snores disturb your delicate sleep. You extricate yourself from your husband’s loveless embrace and head to the adjacent room. In its musty darkness, you find him in his cradle, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars, as he always is. His open eyes glaze over everything in their sight. You take him in your arms and softly close them. You wh...

171 comments 171

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“Blueberry Banter” by Amany Sayed

Raiza sniffed at the poisonous blueberries on the table. “Are these, like, expired, or something?” she said, turning to her partner in the science project. “Pfft, I don’t know, can blueberries really expire?” Leo said, crossing his arms and leaning against his kitchen wall in front of the garbage can. Raiza cautiously picked a small squishy blueberry up from the container and popped it in her mouth. She chewed and after about 2 seconds, took a napkin and spit it neatly back out, balling up the napkin.

223 comments 223

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“She lied to you...” by Batool Hussain

Mia:It is a breezy March afternoon. I stare out at the scene before me as I note just how much the Season of Birth has made it's presence known. The lake is lined with a seemingly never-ending line of cherry blossom trees. The salmon pick petals are found in irregular clusters on the wayward branded of the trees. Daffodils are scattered across the landscape, their golden heads hanging low, staring at the ground below. The manicured lawn does it's job excellently in concealing the less eye-pleasing mud. Thin clouds of a cre...

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“Hope For The Girl In Pieces” by Doubra Akika

"Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness-" Colleen Hoover."Would you like to tell me why you're here, Miss Valencia?"Try therapy, they said. It would help, they said. I didn't need therapy; I needed to talk to someone.It was sad that I had to pay someone to listen to me.People suck."Can you keep a secret, Doc?"I expect her to look intrigued. Sadly, it doesn't seem like it's the first time she's heard that line. She gives me a blank loo...

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“A Girl's Girl” by BeInspiredAbstracts/Etsy SarahGreenwood

It was my final semester of nursing school and I was just diagnosed with diabetes (Type 1), how much worse could it get? Well, I was about to find out. “Oh my God Sarah, you can stay with me! It’ll be so fun,” Jennifer squealed at our nursing school study group. The doctor had suggested I live with someone while I got used to my new diagnosis. I had never lived with anyone besides my parents. Not only had I never had a roommate, I never had many girl...

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“The Mysterious Note” by Avery G.

“Mommy, can I please go to the meeting tonight?”“No, honey. You’re not old enough.”“I’m seven!”“Elora, conversation is closed.”Elora awoke to her alarm buzzing fiercely. It was 7:00 in the morning, but it was still too early for her. That dream, that memory; she didn’t remember it at all. She sighed. It was all the past. Look towards the future.Elora got up and had her morning cup of coffee. Black, with a splash of crea...

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“Ambitions Part 2” by Akshat .

As a child, Mathew Lawrenson had always been taught to play with fire, unlike most safety guidelines. His parents gave him a match and watched him play with it. He was free to do anything he wanted, burn the dog’s tail, burn some newspapers, and even let the matchstick burn until the end, while he was holding it.Eventually, his early training paid out for Mathew. He was inducted into FEAR. Later on, he’d gotten married and had two kids, both of whom were … disappointing. Conan, his older son, had been disowned. Huh. Like...

143 comments 143

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“Summer Break Blues Chapter 1” by C.J Dunstall

Part 1Don’t you just love the summer break? You can just sit on the beach with an ice-cream in your hand, soaking in the morning rays with your besties. It’s so refreshing. Unless of course, you’re like me that is a super omega klutz, who sees Travis Mulligan (a.k.a. the man of my dreams) and drops whatever they’re holding at the time. In this case a chocolate ripple ice-cream. Yeah. Sounds soo relaxing, doesn’t it? I think not. Especially when you had to go and buy a new pair of bathers last week because the same thing ...

116 comments 116

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Ended on 23:59 - Aug 21, 2020 EST

Won by B Easton 🏆

Title: Secrets for the Living

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.

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