Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Center your story around a character bargaining for something that's important to them.

Posted in Dramatic on Jun 14, 2024

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 43 stories

Well, You See, We Sorta Like Outside

Submitted to Contest #255

Oakaford, the captain of the Stumper Guard, stood in front of Lady Nimmo's desk with a confused look, hoping Lady Nimmo would change her mind. "Do we have to?" "Don't you want a home? I mean, everyone wants a home," she could hardly believe what she was hearing. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. It pained Oakaford to see Lady Nimmo frustrated, "Well, you see, we sorta like outside." He nervously tapped his twig fingers on his sides. "But homes are a place of peace and safety. Protection against the elements." She paused on t...

28 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

The red tie

Shortlisted for Contest #255 ⭐️

For the last fifteen years of our marriage, my husband always wore the same blue tie. Today, however, when he appeared for breakfast, he was wearing a different color. He sat opposite me and grabbed a fork. I stared at the tie. Red, so alarmingly bright. It was bothering me. “Everything alright?” he asked. It was not a big deal. Maybe I had just gotten too used to seeing that blue tie and didn’t like the change. But inside me, a small voice protested. “Yeah,” I said and took a sip of orange juice. It left a bitter aftertaste. I tried to eat ...

24 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

Fight Wife

Submitted to Contest #255

The comforting tar burned down my throat as I took a drag from my Marlboro. The cigarette felt sticky between my lips, coated with excessive cherry gloss. It’s a bad habit—the cigarettes, not the Lancôme—but I get a sick pleasure from it, doing whatever the fuck I want.Between puffs, I breathed in the briny air, pulling my leopard coat tighter around me. When summer decides to be over on the Atlantic, it’s over.Through my knock-off Tom Fords, I zeroed in on the digital sign outside the arena.Jordan Holly vs Frederick Callaway: Friday, Septem...

23 likes 22 comments 22
Read story

Promises – based on a true story

Submitted to Contest #255

When Jeannie, Gil’s wife died, he stopped going to church. He’d take his son, Cliff, to the twenty-minute Mass at the French church on Christmas and Easter. Gil preferred watching the ducks in the early light from atop the bridge in Cass Park. That was his place of worship. It felt more real. From that vantage he sensed the whole world arising as sunlight shone through the treetops.Before they married, he and Jeannie threw stale bread to the ducks and laughed at their jostling for morsels. Meadowlarks sang arias from the trees. It felt ...

19 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

His Name Was Iggy

Submitted to Contest #255

Iggy didn’t know his name for the first five years of his life. He was called other things, other names, none seemed right, some seemed wrong, some hateful, some scary. The loud ones, the ones accompanied with raised hands. Those scared him the most. Those were the ones that hurt, that brought hurt, brought pain.He learned to retreat, to beg, to pray, surrendering with his front legs raised high, on his haunches as close as he could to being on his knees. A promise. He’d do better. Please let me do better. I promise to change, to do better. ...

15 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Kintsugi

Submitted to Contest #255

Trigger warnings: Loss and dementia I got an email this week about submitting to a short story contest. The theme is The Five Stages. What stage am I in, spending my first Father’s Day thinking about the father I have in pieces? Is it selfish to say, “I want more of you”? Is it ungrateful to say, “There just isn’t enough”? I miss the whole. The parts that are left are too small, and the parts I remember are things I want to forget. They’re under my skin like shards of glass, and I need them to rub down into sand alright already, Jesus C...

14 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

Suck It Up

Submitted to Contest #255

Fred nurses his pint as though it’s the final part of his death row meal. He stares down into the amber depths contemplating all the answers that reside there. Answers reduced in size so that he can no longer see them. The fact of the matter is that he’s suffered that reduction. He is deflated and no longer has awe for the infinite. His part in this charade was written out long ago. He finishes his pint, then looks around him. He doesn’t look lost exactly, more perturbed that this is where he’s been washed up. A useless piece of flotsam havi...

13 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Ashwood Lane

Submitted to Contest #255

"Just bring them back to me." I plead, my hands clasped together tightly in prayer, bonded by the cohesion of sweat and the friction of skin as I tremble on my knees in the Lords Light. I know not to abuse prayer for selfish gain, but things are just really hard for me right now. I would hope that in all my time of serving the Lord, preaching his name, living by his rules, just once it could come back to me in an observable form.The rosary sits just above my bed. At this point, I know not if it guides me, or if it mocks me. The lord has alwa...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Eater

Submitted to Contest #255

A year to the day Steven left her, Kristen stood where he’d proposed when they were eighteen. An overgrown dell in the woods of Walnut Hill Park, just a few blocks from her apartment where she’d left her son Jake sleeping. The wisteria hung heavy as melancholic bells, marring the air with over-sweetness. She stood there, half wine-drunk and remembering, when she heard his voice: “Back again, huh?” Steven sat crouched in the hollow of a nearby tree, the same tree upon which he’d pressed her, kissing her, the night he’d slid a cheap ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Ladies of the Warehouse

Submitted to Contest #255

“I’m glad you felt well enough to come,” Jimmy said as they stepped out into the cloudy summer heat that would never feel like Valentine’s Day to Kathy. “I’d have hated to have to look at Mrs. Blodgett laid out in there alone. What a bloody awful day for a funeral.” “Is there ever a good day to say goodbye to your true love forever?” Kathy asked.  “But Valentine’s Day weekend most of all!” Jimmy replied. “All right, I know you don’t like that kind of thing as much as I do. It’s like the ladies at the warehouse all used to say, I’m a sap...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

At What Cost

Submitted to Contest #255

Elisabeth’s skirts fanned around her in a bright halo of white against the rough flagstones of the castle floor as she knelt in front of the throne. Her back was straight, hands held up delicately in entreaty, face twisted into the throws of agonized pleading: the very picture of a diffident suppliant.  No one would be able to tell that rage burned in her chest.  King Emlyn sat in front of Elisabeth on his throne of intricately carved wood. A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he fought to maintain the mein of a somber con...

10 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Weight of Things

Submitted to Contest #255

On the top of a wooden table he sat. Calm as a tree absent the breeze, calm as a chef without orders. He cleaned himself, like always: slow and methodical. Is it strange that I wonder at the texture of his tongue? Elegant as the creature might be, he rarely allowed for the kindness of touch. What an odd thing to find oneself lacking, after a husband, after a son, after a time when physicality seemed the only constant in whirlwind days. Compared to those fingers, or even this cat’s fur, the click of keys on my laptop leaves a cold mark. Where...

9 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

The parable of the general and his daughter

Submitted to Contest #255

There was a general, long ago, far away, who had earned the trust and the respect of his emperor. The general was swift, merciless and above all competent, and thus he amassed both wealth and loyalty from the soldiers he commanded. He lived well and deserved every accolade that came his way. The general had a daughter, whom he doted upon. She was raised to be a beautiful, skilled and well-spoken young woman, and she was the greatest accomplishment of his life. His riches, his career, the men who fought for him, they were nothing compared to ...

9 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

A WORN-OUT VIOLIN

Submitted to Contest #255

A WORN-OUT VIOLIN An unassuming pawnshop stood in the heart of a bustling city, in a dimly lit alley where the world's noise seemed to fade into a dull hum. The air inside was thick with dust and memories, items crammed onto shelves that spoke of forgotten lives and discarded dreams. Behind the counter sat Isaac, a middle-aged man with weary eyes who had seen more than he remembered. He is a man with a rugged appearance shaped by years of hard work and life's hardships. His face is weathered, with deep lines etched around his eyes and mouth....

9 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

The Fallen's Plea

Submitted to Contest #255

The Fallen’s PleaThe celestial courts of Heaven were a sight to behold, bathed in divine light so pure and overwhelming that it was hard to look directly at it without feeling a surge of reverence. Angels sang in harmonious choirs, their voices weaving an ethereal symphony that seemed to float on the very air. Their sounds were a testament to the eternal glory and peace that filled this sacred realm. The presence of God was everywhere, a palpable force that imbued every corner with an essence of unwavering love and justice.Amidst this celest...

7 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a someone who's in denial.

Character – 68 stories

Write a story about anger.

Angst – 64 stories

Start your story with a character in despair.

Dark – 89 stories

Write a story about someone finding acceptance.

Character – 97 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel