On their deathbed, a relative/friend/partner admits to a horrible crime. Will the narrator reveal the secret or keep it hidden?

Posted in Dramatic on Nov 22, 2024

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✍️ 66 stories

“A Crime Against Her” by Hally_ Bally_

Submitted to Contest #278

(TW: Domestic Violence) I always knew my mother was a hypocrite. It didn’t take brains to know that she lied when she said “I love you” to Pa. All her ‘love’ that she projected onto him was just as fake as I was, when I had to do the same. Pa, was a horrible man. It was a rule declared that the person, no matter young or old, would be punished for his slander. It was usually a cut-tongue, and worst cases led to exile of the ‘useless liars,’ and the ‘unneeded wastes of space.’ That’s how he dumbed it down for a 5 year old me. But, if I ...

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“A Family Secret” by A Vittoria

Submitted to Contest #278

My great grandfather had found me when I re-entered Gayndah, Queensland, and checked back into Hover and Grove’s Caravan Park. No clue how, no clue why. Sure it concerned me, considering the safety measures I put in to ensure my family did not know I was investigating my mother’s and grandmother’s suspicious deaths.The receptionist at the park had handed me the letter from who claimed to be my great-grandfather wanting me to see him at the Maryborough nursing home. Dear Edwina,I am John, your great-grandfather on your mother’s side of the fa...

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“When Hel awaits” by Monika Denham

Submitted to Contest #278

Like a skeleton with wispy hair, and skin like leather, she lies there, propped up against her old pillows with the worn and faded rose patterns on the pillowcases. The ancient mahogany queen-size bed looks enormous around her. There is a smell of rotting flesh in the room, mixed with the lavender she always insists on having on her nightstand. It’s making me nauseous, but I try to appear unfazed. She looks like she is hanging on by the thinnest of threads. However, her eyes are still clear and piercing. She is looking at us all, one at a ti...

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“The Secret” by Jane Jennings

Submitted to Contest #278

The SecretAugust 1878 Melbourne VIC Australia“Lie back, Mum and try and relax. Remember the doctor told you that getting agitated would not do you any good’ Martha gave her daughter a confused look, not really knowing who she was.“I took him lunch, every day, every single day”.“I know you did, Mum. I remember”.Maggie recalled as a child her softly spoken and hardworking mother delivered her father a packed lunch every day. At the time she did not think this was strange, it was just part of their routine. She and her brother would stay with t...

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“The Missing Girl” by KS Kalev

Submitted to Contest #278

After uttering his last words, he closed his eyes and never opened them again. His mouth was still open, as if he had run out of energy halfway through closing it. He inhaled the tiniest bit of air, savored it one last time, and after letting it escape, he was goneThere lay my father. Or rather, there now lay his body - a vessel of flesh that had housed his immortal soul for the past eighty-seven years. What had been a strong and solid home at first had grown fragile with the passing years, until in the end it was nothing but a decaying unin...

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“Not Everything is Black and White” by Lucy Wetherall

Submitted to Contest #278

I sip my water, hoping it might wash down the bile rising in my throat. "What do you mean my father didn't die in a car accident?" I move closer to her bed, hoping I misunderstood what she just said. "I killed him. I did it to survive. You're nothing like him, I was worried, but you're nothing like him. My name isn't Naomi Briggs. It's Amanda Storey. I'm sorry, Abigail. I'm so sorry; I should have told you. I just loved you too much. Remember that," she squeezes my hand, and with that last effort, her heart stops. I sit there beside her bed,...

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“The Last Confession” by Alex Marmalade

Submitted to Contest #278

“Death isn’t a thief,” Dr. Amelia Grant whispered as she adjusted the morphine drip, her voice thin as paper. “It’s an accomplice.” The words hung in the sterile air of Room 517, where the smell of antiseptic mingled with the inevitable stench of mortality. The man on the bed, Gerald Worthing, was skeletal, his skin stretched taut over brittle bones. He barely resembled the towering figure I had grown up admiring—and fearing. Gerald’s eyes fluttered open, cloudy but fierce. “I need to tell you something, Ellie,” he rasped, using my childhood...

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“One Last Thing” by Peggy Dotson

Submitted to Contest #278

The room was dim, filled with the soft beep of machines and the sterile smell of antiseptic. The air, thick with the weight of illness, seemed to hold its breath as if the world itself knew that something important was about to happen. Outside the bedroom, the sun had begun to set casting shadows across the walls. Little did I know that this would be our last conversation. I sat at the edge of my sister’s bed, watching her sickly form. My once strong sibling was now bedridden. She was barely recognizable under the thin hospital sheets. The i...

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“Bless me” by PL Ormosi

Submitted to Contest #278

‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned…’ The confessional chair broke painfully into his bony knees. He slowly fidgeted to make himself more comfortable but the only thing he achieved was the loud creaking of the old wooden structure, which muted what he was going to say.‘I’m sorry, son, I can’t hear you,’ someone said from the other side of the latticed opening.He stopped wriggling, and the wooden prie dieu hastily reminded him why he wanted to move in the first place. His mind fired a blank. All the things he memorised in preparation have be...

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“He Bought the Farm” by Lisa Spargo

Submitted to Contest #278

He Bought the FarmThe wide staircase yawned before me. I climbed it slowly, knowing what was waiting at the top; my grandfather’s bedroom. The prison he had been condemned to for the last weeks of his life.When I was a child, I would sit in the huge window with him and look down on the paddocks where the horses would exercise. There were a dozen in all. All day, thoroughbreds would be put through training. They were so beautiful and expensive. Every once in a while, grandfather would say, “You have no idea what these anim...

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“The Bonds of Family” by Andrea Krist

Submitted to Contest #278

CW: Themes of violence, murder, and emotional distressA deep wheeze shook the man's frame like the gales of a hurricane. His voice trembled as he tried to speak, the volume rising then falling beneath a coughing fit."Save your strength, father." Trevor leaned over the grey-haired man with a cup of water but it was waved away."I must speak to you... and your brother."Trevor returned the cup to the nightstand then glanced at the door. Conner had gone to "take care of business," which could be code for just about anything. There was no wa...

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“The Shadow of the Past” by Janelle Holt

Submitted to Contest #278

The Shadow of the Past In the depths of the hospital's darkest ward, I sat beside my grandfather's bed, the only sound the faint hum of the life support machines. The air was heavy with the stench of decay, and the flickering fluorescent lights above cast eerie shadows on the walls."Kiddo," he whispered, his voice like a rusty gate creaking in the wind. "I got something to tell you."I leaned in close, my heart racing with anticipation. "What is it, Grandpa?"He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling with the effort. "I was involved...

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“Forgive me ” by Lyle Closs

Submitted to Contest #278

“How dare you?” the priest yelled. I shrugged. “The confession is sanctified. It is between the penitent and God. You had no right…”“Why do you need a confessor then.”“What?” “If it’s between the penitent and God, why does the penitent need a confessor?” “The confessor’s role is to listen and to understand, not to judge.” “So you help people to avoid the judgement of their fellow men.”“No, we enable them to admit their sins, to unburden themselves.”“And then you let them go free because…?”“If we didn’t then people would never confess th...

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“The Silence of Serpents” by Teddy Kwan

Submitted to Contest #278

There is a smell Leon associated with the dying. He had grown to recognize it from all the terminally ill clients he had had to visit over the years. In hospitals, hospices and in private homes and bedrooms of clients too ill to come to his office. He had been in the bedrooms of many people ‘living’ through their final days and hours, but none of the rooms that he’d been to compare with the opulent bed chamber of the famous billionaire, Richard Lyons.The bedroom reminded Leon of a miniaturized version of the rooms found in the palace of Vers...

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“All For My Grandmother’s Ruby Earrings ” by Jaiden Blazi

Submitted to Contest #278

I’m currently dead now and I was 25 years old when I was murdered. My name is Ruby Sheridan and my story started when I was 15 years old.It was about one year ago whenever my sister and I first moved in with our grandparents.Our dad, Felix Sheridan was accused of a crime. Even though he hated me for some reason, he was angelic to the rest of the world it seemed.So it honestly didn’t make any sense to me that he was in jail. Maybe because he loved my sister more than life itself, but I guess I got leftovers whenever he was not angry.However, ...

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On their deathbed, a relative/friend/partner admits to a horrible crime. Will the narrator reveal the secret or keep it hidden?

Submissions are closed

✍️ 66 stories

“A Crime Against Her” by Hally_ Bally_

“A Family Secret” by A Vittoria

“When Hel awaits” by Monika Denham

“The Secret” by Jane Jennings

“The Missing Girl” by KS Kalev

“Not Everything is Black and White” by Lucy Wetherall

“The Last Confession” by Alex Marmalade

“One Last Thing” by Peggy Dotson

“Bless me” by PL Ormosi

“He Bought the Farm” by Lisa Spargo

“The Bonds of Family” by Andrea Krist

“The Shadow of the Past” by Janelle Holt

“Forgive me ” by Lyle Closs

“The Silence of Serpents” by Teddy Kwan

“All For My Grandmother’s Ruby Earrings ” by Jaiden Blazi

🌟 Similar prompts

A family argument gets out of hand. Neither side will budge, requiring a mediator with unusual methods.

A character gets caught red-handed breaking the rules, but they refuse to admit any wrongdoing. What happens next?

An apologetic letter or email from an old flame suddenly arrives — many years too late.

A court or disciplinary hearing is taking place — but the person accused does not know what they’re apologizing for.

Contest #278

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

262

Contest entries

101

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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