Start your story with an ending and work backward toward the beginning.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 203 stories

“Partners In Crime” by Anna Elizabeth

“Next time you want to play with me, learn the game.”Cassie levels me with a predatory smirk. I glare at her attempting to look mildly annoyed instead of utterly defeated. It’s unconvincing, probably because I’m sprawled out on the floor and she’s perched on top of the desk holding Marie Antoinette’s priceless, diamond necklace teasingly out of reach. I kick out, catching her leg with mine, and pull her off the desk. She stumbles, but doesn’t fall. As her eyes darken, I regain my footing. We both know it all depends on ...

48 comments 48

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“sea green eyes” by Amany Sayed

He will die, life and light fading from his sea-green eyes as he takes his last breaths. His soft grip on my wrist will grow even softer as he uses his last bits of strength to stay conscious, if only for a couple more seconds. The dagger in my hand will be sticky with his blood, and I will drop it. It won’t make any noise on the soft rug, and for that, I will be grateful. He will lean in and whisper his last wor...

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“Sign of a Haunt” by Cookie Carla🍪

She's everywhere. She doesn't do anything or say anything - just stands there smiling. Everything about her looks dry, but her hands are cold, clammy, and wet. Trust me, I know. When she grabbed my arm after I'd dropped my papers in the hallway, my wrist was dripping with water. The shadow of a wet handprint lining the outside of the pisiform on my arm.I jumped back, not because my arm felt weird, but because she shouldn't even be here. She left. There was no way she was still at Georgetown High. S...

130 comments 130

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“I don't know what to say” by Ari Berri

I think I followed the prompt. If not, oh well, enjoy the story anyway. There probably isn't going to be a sequel, by the way.“Jace, look!” Mike says, pointing over the side of the railing, and leaning forward. The wind blows his curly red hair out of his pale, freckled face. He’s tall and lanky, and clumsy sometimes.Charlie automatically reaches out to grasp the back of Mike’s shirt, and pull him back, not looking up from his phone. His black dreads are pulled back in a...

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“Beneath A Lazarus Moon” by Stevie B

Full disclosure: Paul Jones Palin was no longer the voice of a generation. His death assumed to have happened on August 31, 2010, had people talking all around the world because of its questionable nature. It wasn’t until September of 2017 that he was then declared dead in absentia. By that time everyone had not only stopped talking about P. J. Palin, they’d also pretty much forgotten all about h...

12 comments 12

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“A Horse Named Lionheart” by Nainika Gupta

The summer air tasted sweeter than it did four years ago. Somehow without all the pain, misery, death, and destruction coloring the air, the entire world feels lighter. Freer. If I closed my eyes, I could still feel the barbed wire cutting into my chest and hind legs. I can still feel the warm hands of the two boys who cut me free and then walked me back across the swath of earth they called No Man’s Land. But al...

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“The Traveling Rock” by Carrie O'Keefe

You hold me in your hand glaring and about to throw me. I may be a small pebble but I was once big. Some people think that small things are really annoying. Me, I think it might be an easier way to move around. I didn’t mean to hurt your foot, I just needed a ride to explore. I like to move around and see different things. I used to think staying in one spot was the thing to do but now I want to know what all there is out there. My only problem is that everywhere I go I leave a piece of me behind.Before I was in your hand getting r...

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“Justice In A Whiskey” by Radhika Diksha

March 21, 1957There is blood on the bed. His stomach ripped open, his left eye mutilated, and the side table is lying near the door frame. His wife is bawling her eyes out, and there is a half-empty bottle of whiskey under the bed. The cut on his body shows that he was attacked by a knife, and the incision is so clean almost as if the murderer is an anatomy genius. The mouth of the body is gaping open, and his neck has purple splotches. My friend who is an investigator clicks photos from all angles. W...

89 comments 89

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“Palindrome” by Michael Boquet

THIS...is the END...of the UNIVERSEEndless nothingnessUtter silenceComplete, all-encompassing blacknessEons pass. They are mere moments to the cosmosA dazzling flashAtoms vibrate in time to the rhythm of the universeMolecules form, linked by unbreakable bondsStars blaze, sending rays outward, illuminating the vacuumA...

51 comments 51

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“The Wrong Swipe Right” by Courtney C

Horror dawned in her eyes as she saw that he was not, in fact, her Tinder date's roommate. In fact, there was no real date, just a fake profile he'd made after hacking her account and tailoring his catfish version to her type. Horror turned to unadulterated panic, complete with hyperventilating, when no Daniel showed, and she realized that he had locked the door behind her from the inside. He advanced on her with a slow and unhurried gait.She threw her weight against the door once, then again, but it had been triple lock...

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“The lies we tell ” by Celine Aoun

I look at the clock. It’s 4 P.M. Only one more hour and another working day will be done. I text my son Jake to remind him to clean his bedroom and do the laundry because I’m too tired to follow you around, picking up after you like some maid. I reply to a text from my husband Alan telling him that no, I’m not coming home late today and that there’s food in the fridge. Then, I grab a pencil and doodle on a piece of paper. My hand traces a cat with two pointy ears and three whiskers coming out from each side of its face. ...

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“⥼Evergreen⥽” by 𝔘𝔤𝔬𝔠𝔥𝔦 𝔑.

⥼2050⥽ I walk around in my boots, my legs scruff the dirt. I stuff my hands in my pockets as the cold air blows my skin. “Its been almost 23 years since that day.” I whisper to myself. “Yeah.” Mark says as he walks up behind me. We walk silently in the world that is not as it once was. There is dirt for miles, yet no plants have grown. There are a few trees but that's all there is…a few. We wo...

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“don't unmute the group chat” by Natalie Strawbridge

“You know, Ells, I don’t think I’m coming next time,” I said, adjusting my duffel bag on my shoulder. “If there is a next time.” If I’m invited.Ellis moved his mouth, but no words came out, and I wondered briefly if I’d been dropped into a silent film. He tugged on the hem of his faded t-shirt. I remembered standing in line with him, our shoulders bumping, when he bought it at a concert. “Yeah, I know,” he finally said.“It’s just, they aren’t—”“I get it.” He ran a hand through...

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“A Good Death” by Valerie June

The time has come. I know it when the pain loosens. It’s calming. The monster that possessed me day and night is finally leaving me. A thrilling yet peaceful sensation veils itself over me, dampening my rising excitement. It reminds me of the mask they wound around my eyes and mouth, but this sensation’s different than that of the musty cloth. It was a better one. With more hope infused in it.I’m not scared of the way I’m squeezed into an impenetrable darkness by some unknown and invisible force. Instead, it feels like a mother ten...

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“Abroad” by Amelia Bowen

The old man’s suitcase was having none of it. She smiled slightly, trying her best to reassure its wrinkled figure that no unfortunate miscreant was lurking in wait of its corner. Now, she thought towards its sagging eye; hanging jowl, you might find a hand ready to rob you, but I should think your corner is safe. It continued to glower, and her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air. You’re going to set my head aflame with those angry looks of yours, she thought at it. Hairspray is quite flammable. The luggage harrumphed as the train lurch...

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Start your story with an ending and work backward toward the beginning.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 203 stories

“Partners In Crime” by Anna Elizabeth

“sea green eyes” by Amany Sayed

“Sign of a Haunt” by Cookie Carla🍪

“I don't know what to say” by Ari Berri

“Beneath A Lazarus Moon” by Stevie B

“A Horse Named Lionheart” by Nainika Gupta

“The Traveling Rock” by Carrie O'Keefe

“Justice In A Whiskey” by Radhika Diksha

“Palindrome” by Michael Boquet

“The Wrong Swipe Right” by Courtney C

“The lies we tell ” by Celine Aoun

“⥼Evergreen⥽” by 𝔘𝔤𝔬𝔠𝔥𝔦 𝔑.

“don't unmute the group chat” by Natalie Strawbridge

“A Good Death” by Valerie June

“Abroad” by Amelia Bowen

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that spans a month during which everything changes.

Start your story with a character taking a leap of faith.

Write a story where one person is trying to say goodbye but keeps getting interrupted.

Write about someone who is always looking toward the future.

Contest #89

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

729

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: