Begin your story with someone either being followed or following someone else.

Posted in Dramatic on Oct 18, 2024

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✍️ 53 stories

“Mistress of Doubt” by Daniel Rogers

Submitted to Contest #273

Darn it! The Old Hag is following me again! I just can't, not after yesterday. Another day like that, and I'm finished as a writer.Doubling my pace, I cut through allies and shops, but I could still hear her high heels clicking behind me. Five shops and three alleys later, the clicking finally stopped. I pretended to look back at a passing bus to confirm I lost her.Darn it! Still there! What have I done to deserve this? Unlike me, she wasn't even sweating. It was ridiculous! Instead of looking frazzled, she looked like she came from a glamou...

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“The Chase” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #273

A bright light shines from overhead, nearly blinding me. I squint to see a man climbing the steps that lead from the marina to Front Street. He looks shady; black jeans over black boots, black hooded sweatshirt, hood pulled up over a ball cap. His pace is quick, not so fast that anyone with an untrained eye wouldn’t find suspicious, but I’m a cop, and these things stand out. I follow him at a distance down Front Street. He enters Belfast’s, an unsavory dive bar where things get so rough they only serve beer, and it’s served in cans. He takes...

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“The Matchmakers ” by Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #273

"So, have you ever tried following someone, you know, without them seeing you?" Theo asked to break the latest awkward silence."That's stalking…" Katie, the psych major seated across from him in the Cafe at the Loren let her silence hang, as if accusing him of some unspoken crime.Theo had thought her shy at first, but over the past 20 minutes bordering on infinity, he'd come to see that she reveled in these painful pauses. Like some self-satisfied boa constrictor, she'd squeezed the life out of every attempt at conversation while staring wor...

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“The Book-Seller” by Kate Simkins

Submitted to Contest #273

“I know you’re there, Snicket.”The hobgoblin peeped around the old oak tree. “What? Hmm… what?”Hattie stopped walking and turned to look at him. “You may as well come out.”Snicket sidled out from his hiding place and looked around, feigning surprise. “Oh, Hattie. Didn’t see you there,” he said, pretending.Hattie raised her eyebrows and put her hand on her hip. “Really? You’ve been following me since the market.”Snicket looked down at the ground, kicking his feet in the dust.She sighed. “What is it you want this time?” Hattie put down her pil...

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“Cold To The Touch” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #273

TRIGGER WARNING: StalkerWe both drove up the coast last night, walked barefoot on the beach as the sun set. You let Jasper chase a stick in the sea foam, then run along the sand as the sky streaked orange. Strictly speaking, dogs are not allowed on the beach, but you always bend the rules. I’m not the only person who knows this. Your Insta followers are well aware of what you let your Doberman get up to. But then you have him well trained from what I see.I checked your likes at dawn, a little lower than usual. And they’ll miss the details I ...

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“A Grander Mechanism” by Colin Wadeson

Submitted to Contest #273

I had read somewhere that when private detectives follow someone, they watch the feet rather than the back of the head, so the subject won't sense they are being watched. This is similarly taught in the SAS and in martial arts for when approaching an enemy from behind. So, I supposed I could at least rest assured it wasn’t a PI, special forces, or a kung-fu expert whose eyes had been burning a hole in my back since I left the restaurant.It was an early evening in late November, and the back streets of coastal Portsmouth were as grey and empt...

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“The Shadow Man” by B.R Wilson

Submitted to Contest #273

The mind can be a dark and twisted place where shadows can take on a life of their own. I was being followed by death, and death showed itself as shadows. On this particular night, those shadows stretched longer, slipping into cracks and crevices of bark and earth like a cockroach scuttling for refuge. Among the encroaching gloom and obscure shapes was a man waiting and watching, and though I couldn’t see him from the heavy dusk, I knew his eyes were glued to me, glued to my house. He had been following me for some time, and I knew he...

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“Shame” by Rebecca Hurst

Submitted to Contest #273

This story is based on recent, documented historical fact which some readers might find upsetting. Will is keeping his distance from an older woman who’s walking along Bishop Street, using shop fronts to keep from the rain where she can. A cathedral looms in the foreground, a mid-Victorian structure which lacks the grace of earlier temples by simply trying too hard. Everything is damp, grey, driving monochrome. He had been hoping to catch up with her when she left her home, but the flat Georgian frontage in a terraced, pastel street, of...

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“The Stalker” by Dita Dow

Submitted to Contest #273

Suri pulled her coat tighter as she hurried down the dark, rain-slicked street. The chill October wind whipped through her hair, carrying the musty scent of wet leaves. Streetlights cast eerie yellow pools on the glistening sidewalk. Suri's heels clicked rapidly as she walked, echoing off the brick buildings lining the narrow street. She couldn't shake the feeling of being followed. Suri glanced over her shoulder for the hundredth time, seeing only shadows and empty storefronts. Still, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She quicken...

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“Shadow” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #273

I saw her several days ago. Only I refused to accept what I was seeing. She was careful, but not so careful that I wouldn’t be afforded the sight of her. Some of that care added something to her steps. She was slowed by her caution. I didn’t have such a burden, and so I closed the distance between us over those days. That was when I had to do something about the sight of her. Think about what it was that I was seeing. She was older than me. Something in her gait spoke of those years and there was a weariness in every movement. I ...

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“Goodbye” by Cara Murphy

Submitted to Contest #273

“Alex, come on. You promised me a date to the movies. I told you I didn’t want to do this again,” Silvia whined, tugging on my arm. She shivered. The chilly October night made her breath fog in front of her. “We will,” I assured her. “But first we do this.” I held up the Ouija board I had tucked inside my coat jacket. “You haven’t stopped complaining about it since we met, and who better to help you face your fears than your own boyfriend.” I smiled at her, taking her hand in mine. She gave me a look of hesitation in return, biting the tip o...

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“Run Rabbit Run” by Maria Wickens

Submitted to Contest #273

Run Rabbit Run Trees were my only memory. I wandered through the woods for so long that all I remembered was fighting my way through branches. I had to reach a destination, although the location and my purpose were long since erased.I had hurt my head so badly that I forgot myself.Time was irrelevant. Not tired, nor hungry or thirsty. Day and night were indistinguishable. One foot after the other. Stay ahead of... what? Was someone chasing me? I just knew I had to keep going, hold back another branch and move onward.Onward?No. Stuck. Fl...

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“The New York Retreat Weekend” by Carol Busby

Submitted to Contest #273

Maggie looked behind her again. The sidewalk was empty. But she was sure she’d heard footsteps. The feeling had been with her since she got off the train at Penn Station for her annual theatre re-charge weekend in New York with her soul mate Iris. There are just a lot of people here, she told herself, compared to Eugene, Oregon. So, it makes sense that you’d feel someone behind you. The trouble with that was that no one was there. An empty sidewalk in New York was a strange thing, and most unusual. She stopped under one of the sad, dust-encr...

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“Doppelganger ” by Lee Kendrick

Submitted to Contest #273

DoppelgangerLee KendrickDetective Sergeant Inspector Cummings of Scotland Yard was assigned to follow the man fifty yards in front of him. The man wearing a grey Macintosh raincoat with a brown fedora hat was known to Interpol as a master criminal. But why he was in bombed-out East London puzzled both Interpol and Scotland Yard.The man crossed the road walking towards the ruins of what used to be a pub and some shops. He seemed to be in a hurry. He then climbed on the rubble of the bomb site. Fifty-five-year-old Cummings followed, climbing b...

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“Dissonance” by Darcey St. Amand

Submitted to Contest #273

This story contains mental health, minor violence, substances and swearing. At this hour, there was an uncanny silence in the street. Although it wasn't the cold that caused my chest to tighten, I repositioned my coat and pulled the collar up to protect myself from the chill. Once more, I was following her. Despite the uncertainty in her stride, she walked with purpose. This had become a habit—something that provided purpose to my meaningless existence. I told myself it was curiosity when I followed her for the first time. After fol...

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Begin your story with someone either being followed or following someone else.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 53 stories

“Mistress of Doubt” by Daniel Rogers

“The Chase” by Ty Warmbrodt

“The Matchmakers ” by Robert Egan

“The Book-Seller” by Kate Simkins

“Cold To The Touch” by Katharine Widdows

“A Grander Mechanism” by Colin Wadeson

“The Shadow Man” by B.R Wilson

“Shame” by Rebecca Hurst

“The Stalker” by Dita Dow

“Shadow” by Jed Cope

“Goodbye” by Cara Murphy

“Run Rabbit Run” by Maria Wickens

“The New York Retreat Weekend” by Carol Busby

“Doppelganger ” by Lee Kendrick

“Dissonance” by Darcey St. Amand

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in the form of diary/journal entries about a secret or confession.

Write a story with the line “Don’t tell anyone.”

Your character is invited to a secret meeting. Who invited them, and what do they encounter?

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

Contest #273

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

355

Contest entries

162

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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