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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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!

This week's prompts

Write a story about a meeting of a secret society.

Mystery – 155 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 – 421 stories

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

Dialogue – 78 stories

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

Novel – 101 stories

Stories

“In Search of Utopia” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #55

Perched atop the tallest building in the Zirconium Province, Fenwick looks down on a perfect world. Bodies moving along the roadway in seamless synchronicity. Whistling workers reporting happily to a day of manning the theatres, the grocery stores, and even the mines. Seeing all this joy, this merriment, this effervescent bliss Fenwick wants to kill himself even more.He remembers from the old movies how they would do it. One jump off the tallest building in town. He was on the tallest building in the biosphere. The taller the better. No pain...

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“Legimenanthi” by Mrudula Mohan

Submitted to Contest #55

A typical physics class, Shailaja teacher was continuing her class on big bang theory, she wasn't much concerned whether or not the children are grasping the class. She was trying to make the class as much as interesting as possible, the backbenchers were eating mixtures and other snacks in the middle of the class. The teacher moved to the theory of singularity .' Around 21.3 million years ago the universe that we see as today was formed from a singularity and that is what we call as big ban theory.', these words seem to have interested one ...

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“E. B. SECRET SOCIETY” by Kate MacDonald

Submitted to Contest #55

Books have always played a huge part in my life, but never more so than in the story I am about to tell you. I will take you with me to an age of innocence. The time was 1958, the place was Malta. My Father joined the Royal Navy when I was an infant. To me, he was a stranger who appeared every two or three years with nice presents, stayed for a couple of weeks then disappeared again. It wasn't until I was older that I equated the eventual appearance of two little sisters with the nice man's visits. He was stationed ...

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“The Butterfly's Gilded Cage ” by Ananya Bhalla

Submitted to Contest #55

Thomas rested his aching head against his palms, willing the headache to go away. It was only three a.m. in the morning and he already knew that it would be one of those increasingly frequent bad days. A cup of coffee that he’d brewed for himself lay abandoned beside an assortment of white pills on his kitchen counter. Thomas knew those medications wouldn’t work, tried to convince his wife of that, but she never budged. And in a way, it gave him comfort. Taking pills let him pretend that he was in control of his body and mind. But the fantas...

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“Long Shadows” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #55

When I was eight years old I turned, more or less overnight, from someone who kept a secret to someone from whom a secret was kept. Of course I didn’t know at the time. At the time all I knew was that Calvin was a TV personality, but that I wasn’t to boast about it because that was bad manners and didn’t make you popular, though I wasn’t to lie if anyone asked. Calvin sometimes called my Mum Auntie Nina, though more often than not he called her just Nina, but he wasn’t my cousin. That puzzled me a bit, but Mum explained t...

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“Nightborn (part 11)” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #55

Like fire and brimstone, the monstrosity erupted from the basement and flooded the first floor of the mansion with fire. The Lightbloods that got caught up in it disintegrated in front of Damien’s eyes, and he had to duck behind a corner to not meet the same fate. What in all hells is that thing? The monster was so tall that its head scraped the ceiling. Its long, thick arms and legs groped with unnatural strength, breaking doors and men with ease. It bore hellish yellow eyes and had skin as black as charcoal. Nightborn eyes. But a...

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“Book Club” by J.P. Gans

Submitted to Contest #55

Emma slowly placed the mini sandwiches on the plate and brought them over to the coffee table. “Why do I have to do this?” She moaned to her mother, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Sweetheart it’s a punishment.” Her mother said as she poured chips into a bowl. “I know that..” she rolled her eyes, “But how is joining your neighbourhood book club a punishment.” “Are you having fun?” She asked Emma grabbing her phone and placing it in her purse lying on the counter. “You get this back tomorrow.” “Hey! I guess I’m not having fun....

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“Fate” by Emma Lin

Submitted to Contest #55

“You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.” “Well, then.” Elizabeth ever so gently took Mr. Darcy’s hand and landed a loving kiss on it. “Your hands are cold.” Ok, Ok Elizabeth. I see what you are trying to do. Nice tactic. As the sun rises, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth come closer, their noses touching. But no kiss happens. Not even a French kiss. Grrrr. Is it asking a lot for two people, madly in love, to kiss? It isn’t like binding leather chains...

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“Consequence Equals Regret” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #55

Consequence Equals Regret Suzanne Marsh Her life was ebbing away in the sterile hospice room. I entered the room with her nurse; tears welled in my eyes. She had hospice call me informing me that she requested to see me, since I was her only niece. I had not seen Tante Maria for years; she had joined a cloistered monastery when I was a child. I could not imagine why she would want to speak with me now, but here I was. The nurse left us. I stood near the bed wondering if I should attempt to wake her or sneak back out. She began to stir and ...

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“Deceptions and Delusions Part 2 Maze Runner FanFic” by Vanellope Von Schweetz 🍭

Submitted to Contest #55

Anne woke to find that her soft pillow was not under her head. She put her hand around the paper pillow she had instead. "Ow!" she pulled back her hand and opened her eyes. She bolts upright and inspected her hand. "Man, a paper cut!" She looked around her surroundings. Aphrodite's homework laid finished in front of her. Chuck busted the door open, making Anne jump, causing a cup of water to spill on the one page she was working on. "Chuck!" Her eye's glared daggers at him. Chuck's eyes were filled with terror like a scared child...

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“Squint! Do you trust me?” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #55

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? What the hell is summer, anyway? It sounded like words to Germ, but the random string of sounds made no sense. Write a logarithm. Transmit some useful information. He wondered, how can I remember something with no context? Several days ago, his friend Welt, pulled him aside. Welt spoke so quietly, Germ needed to lean in to hear. Welt whispered, “Remember it. Tell no one. Got it?” “Okay, sure. Why tell anyone? It makes no sense, why would anyone care?” Welt demonstrated an intricate handshake. ...

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“Silence Broken” by Maurice Mullen

Submitted to Contest #55

I awoke with a start into the complete and utter darkness of the night. I lay there wrapped up in my sleeping bag straining my ears to try and find the noise from outside the tent that had awoken me from my slumber. I control my breathing taking deep slow breaths to be as quiet as possible. The heavy silence of the desert surrounded me completely. Did I only imagine the sound? I laid motionless letting my eyes rove around the tent trying to see anything through the darkness, but I could not even see the sides of my small single p...

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“A Hum” by Lisa Hines

Submitted to Contest #55

“Can you keep a secret?”The voice rose up inside Mildred’s mind, taking her by surprise.“Yes,” she replied aloud. She thought she could. She felt she would know the answer for sure if the question had stayed put. It had been just there, so close she thought she could grab ahold of it. But like so many things nowadays, it was slippery. She held very still, eyes squeezed tightly, eyelids making delicate tissue paper ruffles, feeling through the blackness trying to find it again.She opened her eyes and found she was alone. Hadn’t someone just a...

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“A Thousand Shining Stars” by Hailey S.

Submitted to Contest #55

Truthfully, I never thought it would come to this. Surely I wasn’t one of those kids that stayed out late after dark, roaming the streets with their pack of, as my parents would disdainfully put it, “hoodlums”. I never saw myself as the kind of girl who would dare to attempt at getting anything past the ever-watchful parental eyes that loomed in every corner of her life. No, I’ve always been a rule-follower, a weekly church-goer, an A-plus student. But then again, even God’s most perfect souls have their secrets. Now, I’m not saying I’m a...

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“Forever Will End Here” by Gianna Nevoso

Submitted to Contest #55

“Can you keep a secret?” The words leave Lexia’s lips, hanging in the air between her and Nevie. Without an immediate answer, Lexia stands up from her bed. She begins pacing her room, walking from one pink wall to another, even pinker, wall. Lexia focuses on the objects in her bedroom in an attempt to calm her. She passes her dollhouse, one people have told her a seventeen-year-old shouldn’t own, and her nerves pile higher. Nevie laughs. It’s a sweet sound Lexia would bottle and release when she needed euphoria if she could. “Of cours...

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$50

Prize money

896

Contest entries

0

Stories

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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