Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Set your entire story in a car.

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 28, 2023

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?

✍️ 94 stories

The Driving Snow

Winner of Contest #209 🏆

I tied and untied my Converse in the passenger seat, knees tucked close to my chest and sitting very still in the empty Southwest High School parking lot. One by one, snowflakes fell from a gray and motionless sky, only to land and melt instantly on the windshield, transforming into nothing but a dot of clear liquid, almost as if it were raining. It was New Year's Eve, my last year of school, and I was miserable.  Suddenly the driver’s side door flew open and a burly man holding a clipboard leaned down. The driving instructor.  “Co...

162 likes 70 comments 70
Read story

Perfect

Submitted to Contest #209

I successfully flag down a taxi, which is no mean feat in this day of Uber this and Uber that. I hadn’t planned on catching a taxi. In fact, I hadn’t caught a taxi in years and I’m a little unsure of the correct taxi protocol. So, I suppose the first thing is to tell the driver where I want to go. I open my mouth to do so, when the other passenger door is wrenched open and a froth of tulle and lace tumbles in breathlessly.“Follow that limo!” an urgent voice from amid the silky concoction demands.“Um, miss, this is my taxi...

43 likes 49 comments 49
Read story

Childhoods of Confinement

Submitted to Contest #209

“We’re locked in,” said Karen, sullenly. “What’s new?” asked Phil, picking at the bobbles on the fabric of the seat. It'd had a speckled texture to it when it was new, but it hadn’t aged well. “Something exciting might happen, you never know.” “Does anything exciting ever happen?” Karen peered out the window. There was no one around them, except a few vacant cars with no other passengers locked in the back seats. Driving to the pub wasn’t unusual then, neither was driving home. “What do they do in there for so long?” Karen asked. “Drink t...

24 likes 19 comments 19
Read story

Are We There Yet?

Submitted to Contest #209

Are We There Yet?Caution: Not intended as a horror story though circumstances may be horrible.Circa: 1963Conveyance: Puke-green V-8 Oldsmobile sized more like yacht rather that roller coaster; built before seat belts were ever discovered or children's safety devices were devised. Still questionable whether it would hold all the proposed cargo.Occupants: 6 children ages 5-15 including two 'big girls',Thelma 'n Bette; Bruce, aka 'Bruiser', 'the little ones' Robert, aka 'Chopper' (something cute he said when he was two) and Debbie; plus one ext...

24 likes 34 comments 34
Read story

So help me, I'm Yours

Submitted to Contest #209

-1-Merryl Schenosi has a paper bag because she cares for the Earth. She’s on my porch in heels, a blue skirt that matches the blouse coat, a realtor’s badge near the place reserved for handkerchiefs. “It’s time to evacuate, Mr. Goround.” My realtor has come at 10:02 pm on a Sunday before the Dance of Cyclones, opening storm, 2023 because she cares. Someone gave her a copy of my car keys, or she must have broken into the dealership? Or we were lovers and I forgot.“Everything you ever needed is in the bag.” Alright. She can guid...

23 likes 22 comments 22
Read story

The Champion

Submitted to Contest #209

The Champion It was a small car but I was a small person, fitting between the cooler box and the window. If I was quiet, they would forget I was there and I could lay my forehead against the cool glass and watch the country flash by me. I was their star gymnast and they were taking me around the country to various summer training camps. It was a privilege, setting me apart and making me an object of jealousy for the other girls on my team. It didn’t matter. I had never socialized with the team much anyway. I couldn’t go out for a burger...

21 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

Let's Play a Game...

Submitted to Contest #209

“Okay, we still have a ways to go… Wanna play a game? “Okay, let’s play, ‘I spy with my little eye…something that begins with the letter…’ Anyone? “Let’s start with L. Right, let’s see… Laptop – put that away, Billy; you got a phone. Laura, my amazing daughter…now scowling. Lilac air freshener. The love of my life… “So, what about another letter? “Anyone? “Okay, a different game. Maybe we should do a new one called ‘Review’. Ever heard of it? “Of course I just made it up. So let me explain the rules: each one of us is going to talk about wha...

20 likes 15 comments 15
Read story

Dinner and a Movie

Submitted to Contest #209

In the back seat of our cherry red Impala, my sisters and I fought for elbow room as we tooled up Ina Court. I took in the smells of the car from the center seat, the stream of fresh air slipping over the cracked windows, the plastic seat coverings and grease from door hinges, my father’s aftershave, and my sisters’ innocent scents from the woods and fresh soap. We were off to eat at a restaurant. My father cruised through the intersection of Waterloo Road and Arlington Street and came to a pronounced stop in the restaurant parking lot. As ...

20 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Commute

Submitted to Contest #209

The rain came down torrentially as Randall did his best to slide down into the driver’s seat. Despite his efforts, water poured in defiantly through the cracked door, fully soaking the leather that his pants would now have to rest upon for the next fifty-seven minutes, according to his GPS. Great.  Disgruntled, and now uncomfortably wet, Randall reached over and set the soggy paper bag that contained the chocolate-covered nuts he was currently marinating his pants in rainwater for onto the passenger seat. Up until this point, he had be...

19 likes 15 comments 15
Read story

Gas Light

Submitted to Contest #209

“My hand hurts. I’ve been doing this for hours. Can you take it from here?” Meg begged. “No, not while I’m driving! I need to concentrate a little on the road. Please Meg, just a little more. We’re so close now.” Jeff pleaded. I sat in the backseat, pretending to be asleep, listening to it all. If Jeff knew I was awake he’d want me to help. It was close to midnight and we had gotten lost three times in two hours. My boyfriend Mark was sleeping on my right side. He could sleep through anything, and anywhere. That’s why he didn’t eve...

17 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

Voluntary Hostage

Shortlisted for Contest #209 ⭐️

**Warning: Possible Triggers! Explicit Language, Mental Health, and Some Violence** “I HOPE WHEN YOU GET HOME, YOU GET DRUNK AS FUCK AND YOU BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF WITH A SHOTGUN, FUCKING BITCH!” The voice; screaming , spittle flying, from the backseat through plumes of thick cigarette smoke belongs to my fourteen year old son. I am eighty-four days sober and am about to drive without a valid license to take him, for all practical purposes, to a ‘mental institution’ roughly seventy miles away. Smoke continues to roll toward the fro...

17 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Unspooled

Submitted to Contest #209

The car zipped through the treacherous turn.“Are you crazy? Stop the car, leave us on the road! Life is dear to us if not to you!” Tania fumed.“Ok, darling. I’m so sorry. I was swept away by the melody of the song and transferred the same energy to the accelerator.” Zafir apologized.“This ‘sorry’ word I hate; I don't know who invented this word! You disregard an emotion and then walk away with it. Please do not use this word again, at least not with me!” Tania extended her rant.“Remember, we are supposed to be on a trip, not a slanging match...

15 likes 18 comments 18
Read story

Submerged

Submitted to Contest #209

“What happened and why are my feet wet?” Monica thought to herself as she slowly opened her eyes in the driver seat of her car, her head resting against the steering wheel. The haze in her vision was beginning to clear but the haze in her mind was not. “What happened and why are my feet wet?” she continued to ask herself until she realized she couldn’t see anything out of the windows except dark, murky water lit up by the dying headlights of her car. Panic began to sink in as Monica realized why her feet were wet. “I’m sinking! The car...

15 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Submitted to Contest #209

Get Your Kicks on Route 66“You sure about this, Zak?”“A little late for second-guessing, Cal.”The ’55 Chevy was packed to the gills, and the wheels were already rolling out of the driveway of Zak’s parents’ home within a stone's throw of Lake Micigan in Evanston, Illinois.“It’s just such a big step.”“No kidding, Cal, but you’ve had like 50,000 hours to think about it. There’s no turning back, partner. California here here we come!”And so the sky blue Bel Air convertible, tagged with a sign on the back reading “California or Bust!”, headed fo...

15 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Lollipop

Submitted to Contest #209

Lint-rolled lollipops are delicious. There’s absolutely no other satisfaction when you take your “Cherry flavored” lollipop at a low price of 3.99 a bag from Walmart and gnaw it (rebelling from your mother is the best way to get cavities and fulfill your hunger), and drop it on the floor of your crust covered Honda Civic, as starting fights is the number one thing siblings are for. You make an “I’ll kill you” face at your sibling (whether or not they notice,) because your mother doesn’t allow “potty words”.  Going against the tigh...

15 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about two strangers who are both heading to the same destination and agree to do a long distance drive together.

Character – 32 stories

Write a story about someone going on a life-changing journey.

Adventure – 56 stories

Write a story about someone getting lost, but discovering something they didn’t expect along the way.

Dramatic – 34 stories

Start your story with someone walking into a gas station.

Dialogue – 52 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