Start your story with someone uttering a very strange sentence.

Posted in Dialogue on Dec 22, 2023

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✍️ 52 stories

“Last Words” by Kay Reeves

Submitted to Contest #230

Trigger warning: This story deals with the death of a family member. "Quick, the sardine is melting." We looked at each other, then at Dad. The whole family was there, grouped round his bed. He gave a deep sigh and we all held our breath, hoping for an insightful pronouncement suitable to provide thought and solace for future generations. Sadly, there were to be no more words. Our beloved Dad had slipped away, hopefully to find peace and an end to the pain and humiliation of his final weeks. We said ou...

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“Gift of the Year” by Peaky Progger

Submitted to Contest #230

“You pulled the arm off, bitch!” Liz screams full savage, putting every ounce of muscle and every string of tendon and ligament into the swinging arc of her fist. A pressure release pop beneath her knuckles of porcelain wresting from gum. The clinks of precious white China onto tile. Viscous streams of crimson follow, gloopier than she expected. The moment sears into Liz’s psyche joining her first period and her first orgasm and her first boyfriend, and now this, her first time punching a bitch’s teeth out.The most desperate Moms take the bi...

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“atlas” by Aanya Rampuria

Submitted to Contest #230

cw: implied death"The sky is green!" José said, looking up to me. My imagination, however, fails to adhere to the gleam of his eyes, but a mere distortion of his youthful figure. Perhaps he's sitting right there, outside the room I'm currently in. Waiting for me, as he always has. The room beseeched around me is engulfed in ivory, excluding the standard balsa furnishes and the black screen staring right at me. It- doesn't look too black, however. But then again, when has my eyesight ever been that good? I don't know, frankly. But that's not ...

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“I SAW WHAT I SAW” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #230

"Look in the mirror." It was my better half, the person I used to be, who made me look straight down the rabbit hole I fell, into a squalor of purgatory. I had been fighting with the gang since who knows how long. "Hear no evil; see no evil." This was their mantra and I was made to swear to it from the moment I unknowingly made a bad choice in walking on the opposite side of the tracks. I ended up in a huge mistake in life by going down the wrong neighborhood street. It led to an unavoidable meet up with Hazy Sleeze Job and his boys. I...

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“UNHOLY ALLIANCES” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #230

UNHOLY ALLIANCES After a sumptuous meal, all six diners, one by one, made their way into the magnificent library. Small talk, well oiled by unlimited champagne, broke out among the various attendees, scattered around as they were in the comfortable chairs and sofas that abounded. Three of the four walls were lined, floor to ceiling, with impressive tomes. The fourth side of this vast room was taken up by a huge fireplace and, as Horst, the butler, moved discreetly between the gathering, dispensing liberal amounts of bubbly, their host, Si...

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“Just Another Wednesday” by Delilah G

Submitted to Contest #230

Just Another Wednesday Oh, you know, the grasshopper validated the porcupine’s obsession. But that doesn’t—well, if you give the moon a moment, it will ride with the hay. How does the variable align with the carrots? I’m not sure but I’d like to know how factoids cover makeup. But if we’re all in this together, how do the bees know when to hibernate? I bet I can soup the trees into submission. Oh, cats are just like me, but they have the foxes to thank. If octopi are equivalent to drowning, I overcooked the goose. Runnin...

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“Mushrooms in the Ceiling” by Elo Buzz

Submitted to Contest #230

CONTENT WARNING: Mention of blood, dead bodies. Blood dries, and when exposed to oxygen, it solidifies and darkens in color. This process doesn’t take very long, depending on how much blood was used. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. And yet, three rocket scientists stared at a wall in a room where no one had been in six months. The blood on this wall was fresh, dripping like rain, and a small puddle collected on the cracked tile floor. “What do you think it means?” Dr. Carter, a NASA astronaut, pulled o...

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“The Clock smith's Wake up Call” by Marguerite Diggens

Submitted to Contest #230

“The movements are deranged,” I utter, as I look in astonishment at the faces which surround me, their hands pointing to twelve. It is noon, but not a sound, not a chime, not a bell, not even a tick-tock. Perplexed, I look across the room at my dog, Ben. He is still sleeping. Feeling unsteady I flop down into my old leather chair. I close my eyes. Upon opening them, I see myself asleep in my chair. My heart pounds, chest tightens, and mouth dries. Maybe I am dead. I try to shout, and a bark comes out. I sound just like my dog, Ben. I look si...

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“Benny and the Chets” by Zoë Irene

Submitted to Contest #230

“We’re ready to test the time machine!” Benny shouted over its roar. “About time! I’ve been waiting all morning. Let’s get this experiment over with so we ca-” ZAP! The lights in the garage flickered several times, but at least they didn’t go out as they had in previous attempts. Defeated, Benny ran his hands over his face. He knew if the lights flickered in the garage, they would have flickered throughout the whole house. He looked towards the door expectantly. “Oh come on! No...

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“Penance” by Amy Feise

Submitted to Contest #230

"The money is in the trunk." The words tumbled out in between choked breaths and wheezing sounds as I smashed my shirt into the hole in his neck. "It's all there. Every penny. I swear. Don't hurt her. Please. Please." Shit. SHIT. "Stop talking ok!" There's too much blood. I jump up to call for help and his head jerks off of my lap slapping the ground with a disgusting thud like a steak on a butcher counter. I run to my car and grab for my phone but it's buried somewhere under glass and the crap from my seat. My heart is pounding in m...

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“The Bull” by Britten Barker

Submitted to Contest #230

“The Bull drove his crooked horn through the fair maiden.” the words escape as a raspy whisper from an elderly homeless man's cracked, dry lips. Just a whisper but it is carried on the wind too the young man sitting in the grass nearby. He is disheveled, clothes wrinkled and dirty from a night in the trees. He turns his head as if just realizing the old man was there in the grass next to him. “What was that?” the young man asked in a worn voice, as if he had been crying all night “You say something to me?” he stares at the old man tak...

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“The Cereal Killer” by Elaine Jones

Submitted to Contest #230

“He stomped on his Fruit Loops and became a cereal killer.” Paige turned from the sink to look quizzically at her 4-year-old son, Nathen. “What did you just say,” she asked him. He looks startled that she heard his muttering and furrows his brow slightly. “Kiki was telling a story about a cereal monster. He stomped on his Fruit Loops!” Nathen looks so excited to be sharing this piece of knowledge with his mother. Paige turns the water off and sits at the table, pulling Nathen in his booster seat closer. She...

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“Cellar Door” by Joseph Cillo Jr

Submitted to Contest #230

“Cellar door, most mellifluous syllables, the ironic appellation for the barrier behind which lay that murdered soul amidst the casks of unsampled Amontillado, murdered not for revenge, but by apathy and neglect, the soulless heart yet beating, yearning to love, forsaken, forlorn, rotting in the damp of her tomb—wilt thou not open with creaks yet more sonorous than thy sweet name, cellar door?”I raised an eyebrow and glanced up to meet the eyes of my client, a Professor Smythe of the English Department of the State University. “Why, yes...

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“Om Namo Narayani” by Stephanie Canaway

Submitted to Contest #230

“Om Namo Narayani” The words hit me with an intensity from behind. Their awareness and familiarity swept through me as a wave of goosebump like energy enveloped me as I felt a part of me remembering and responding to these unfamiliar words. I whipped around to find their source. An old man dressed in an orange cotton wrap contrasting his well-worn sandals against the maroon and gold thread embroidery at the base, took me by surprise. His cragged face wore the burdens of a harsh life, yet his eyes were hopeful as his smile wide...

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“Out There” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #230

“If we were in there, we wouldn’t be out here – does that sound too ... out there?”“Does that...? Whoa! Back up!”“Where?”“What?”“Back up where?”“What are you talking about?”“What are you talking about?!”“You started it!”“What?”“Don’t...!”“Okay. Let’s start again.”“Fine. Now, what did you say?”“When?”“For f… All right. Let me put it this way…”“Well?”“I’m thinking.”“That’s a first”“Hey!”“Sorry. So … you were going to put it some way or another.”“I was?”“That’s what you said.”“I’m a bit lost.”“You're not the only one!”“Let’s back up a bit.”“The...

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Start your story with someone uttering a very strange sentence.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 52 stories

“Last Words” by Kay Reeves

“Gift of the Year” by Peaky Progger

“atlas” by Aanya Rampuria

“I SAW WHAT I SAW” by Debbie Curtin

“UNHOLY ALLIANCES” by Charles Corkery

“Just Another Wednesday” by Delilah G

“Mushrooms in the Ceiling” by Elo Buzz

“The Clock smith's Wake up Call” by Marguerite Diggens

“Benny and the Chets” by Zoë Irene

“Penance” by Amy Feise

“The Bull” by Britten Barker

“The Cereal Killer” by Elaine Jones

“Cellar Door” by Joseph Cillo Jr

“Om Namo Narayani” by Stephanie Canaway

“Out There” by PJ Town

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story framed by a single scene: something happens, a flashback or inner monologue intervenes, and then the story ends with the rest of the original scene.

Write a story in which a character achieves a new level of clarity about how they’re really feeling.

Write a story that hides something from its reader until the very end.

Write a story in the form of a list.

Contest #230

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

359

Contest entries

108

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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