Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story where a character is exploring their religious or spiritual identity.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 26, 2022

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?

✍️ 58 stories

Inshallah

Winner of Contest #132 🏆

04/02/2022Mama has been to the hospital quite a few times before, but she always comes back home eventually. So, when she went to the hospital this morning I thought this time won’t be different. Baba even insisted that I go to football practice today as well. I’ve been playing for the Shooting Club in El Dokki, Giza, for almost 6 years now, so when Mama went to the hospital, Baba called the coach, captain Abdallah, and told him that she was ill. Captain Abdallah apparently told my teammates because when I went to practice they all asked if ...

193 likes 100 comments 100
Read story

The Gospel of Tea

Shortlisted for Contest #132 ⭐️

My daughter’s house smells like a cup of London Fog. Black tea leaves and orange bergamot kissed with vanilla. The scent permeates everything, even her clothes, so she carries it everywhere. When people ask, she excitedly explains that it’s her favorite tea. My husband and I joke that she has been called to preach her doctrines to the coffee drinkers of the world. She’s already had a number of successful conversions. I watch as she spoons sugar into a porcelain teapot as the leaves steep. Bright purple violets decorate the body, and a thin ...

74 likes 80 comments 80
Read story

10-year anniversary

Submitted to Contest #132

Jack pushed the door open, stumbling in. He drunkenly fumbled for the lights, then he gave up. What did it matter anyway?It was dark in the apartment but even in his drunken haze he knew the way. Five steps forward and you’re in the kitchen. Five more and you’re in the lounge. Two steps left, three more forward and…“Ouch!”Maybe drunken steps are different. Longer maybe? Or maybe it’s the wrong apartment. Jack fumbled around, found a switch and flipped it.The lights flickered on.“Hmm” he mumbled. He was in the kitchen. The halos of light boun...

29 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

He Took His Wings, And Fled

Shortlisted for Contest #132 ⭐️

It was in an impassioned service of worship at Water's Edge Evangelical Church, sitting at the far end of a packed pew, that Mateo decided he did not want to believe in God. He didn’t disbelieve. Rather, he didn’t want to affirm belief. If it came his turn to profess, he intended, like a nervous freshman on the first day of class, to answer, “Pass.” A sweating, invigorated preacher stalked the stage in premium denim and a tailored silk button down. “Satan is on the prowl!” he insisted. “He just wants to waste your time. If he can’t make yo...

28 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

COVID Tutors Rescue a Student

Submitted to Contest #132

Warning: Some sexual patter and innuendos.The day started off in a normal way. I was scheduled to tutor Michelle at her usual time of 10 o’clock in the morning. She logged on and I was waiting for her. We began our session with our usual greeting. Everything seemed normal with her at that time but events quickly deteriorated.“Good morning, Michelle,” I said. “Are you ready to get to work, starting with our math drill? We are a little behind but don’t get discouraged. We can easily catch up.”“I’m not so sure about that, Gordo. I’m not in...

21 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

Are You Ready?

Submitted to Contest #132

Age 8“Welcome back, Child,” the old gods whispered through the leaves.Maddie flopped into the grass just short of the forest’s tree line and held her arms out with a grin.  The trees were impossibly tall, towering over her and casting their shade over the village. At their bases, the shadows condensed themselves into a tiny kitten that bounded into Maddie’s open arms.“Hi, friends,” Maddie cooed, rubbing her cheek against the kitten’s cool darkness. Maddie had been drawn to the forest since she could remember, but she neve...

21 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Dead Things

Submitted to Contest #132

Dead ThingsBy Elizabeth LuceZelda was born with the glorious dream of creating a zoo filled with rare animals, and by age eight, was well on her way with three long-haired hamsters, a nest of baby mice, a chinchilla, a cat, two newts, two parakeets, an aquarium of fish, a bowl of turtles, an iguana, and a box of dirt containing pill bugs. It baffled her parents as to how this had happened. If asked in advance if they would have allowed it, the answer would have been an emphatic “no.” And yet there they were, their home the hub of the neighbo...

20 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Freedom

Submitted to Contest #132

Paula met Stephen outside the ER on his release. “Hey Sis…” He walked stiffly and groaned when they embraced. “You okay?” “Fine. A little sore from the fall, but… nothing broken…” They walked to her car. His clothes hung loosely. “You’re too skinny, Stephen. Don’t you eat?” “All the time. You cook for me. My metabolism’s efficient. So sue me.” “You can’t keep doing this, Stephen.” He kept quiet. “What, this the fourth time?” The door lock clicked and he climbed in. “I hope this knocked some sense into you…” Connecting the seatbelt took so...

18 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Aberystwyth

Submitted to Contest #132

I had been entirely alone in the carriage when the clunking electric mechanism of the hissing door alerted me that someone else was entering. I looked up from my book and read the broad sign on the platform – Bow Street. Beyond the sign, in giant, ugly letters on the side of a pretty little white farmhouse, someone had scrawled in black paint, WELCOME TO HELL. The sentiment was so far displaced that I laughed aloud to myself. It was a lone man who had entered the carriage. I glanced briefly at him – young, heavy set – stubble, slightly bucke...

17 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

The Man he Becomes

Submitted to Contest #132

The sword was dull, almost black. Luthar passed it from hand to hand, trying to make sense of it. He’d not had the time after his promotion to inspect it properly, let alone practice with it. As soon as he’d retrieved his gear from his new quarters the party had set off at a blistering pace. The guild was a pack of angry wolves, bearing down on their prey. Now he sat in their hastily prepared bivouac in the freezing cold north feeling disappointed and confused. Yan was a good smith, one of the best in Teraditha, so why would he forge a dull ...

17 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

The Journey Home

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you a believer?” asked the monk who showed him to his room. Before Thomas could answer, the little man added hastily: “I’m sorry, it’s none of my business.”Thomas smiled thinly. “Actually,” he said, “I’m mostly here for the peace and quiet.”The monk nodded: “A good thing. Even mealtimes are silent here. You are of course welcome to talk outside of the monastery’s walls. But overall you’ll find silence a welcome break from the world.”Thomas couldn’t have agreed more.*“You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Bernard had assured ...

17 likes 18 comments 18
Read story

Dew Drops on Peonies

Submitted to Contest #132

(Warning: Contains Death related to Holocaust) “Our Father…who…which art in Heaven…hallowed be thy name—”            “Start again, without stuttering.”            Ruth could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as her mother’s lack of patience thinned.            “Our Father which art in Heaven…hallowed be thy name….”           ...

16 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Blue Baptisia

Submitted to Contest #132

Sweat beads at the powder-blue nape of my dress and rolls down my back – slowed only by the training bra my mom insisted on buying me this spring. “Are you ready to go inside?” she sighed and looked me up and down that morning – acknowledging that my body was developing into a woman’s, bearing less likelihood to the little girl she would always see. But why is it so hot in this chapel? It is August, but the committee added central air conditioning last summer, courtesy of the Bible School fundraiser. Grandma joked only certain gals (using w...

16 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Eclipse

Submitted to Contest #132

It is the night of my 18th birthday and I am on fire. After collapsing into my skeleton of a bed, the black wireframe creaking like a cage of weary bones, and rapidly dropping into an oppressive sleep, my body had forced itself into a conscious state again at one am. I know this because I am staring at the pill-shaped alarm clock on my bedside table, its red glow spelling my fate in harsh fluorescent lines.  The blankets are hot and heavy around my legs. It feels nice in a sweaty, consuming kind of way. I don’t usually let myself feel...

15 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Night Vision: Remembering the Future

Submitted to Contest #132

I’ve been to such a place so unimaginable, that even after sharing my experience, you would not be able to fathom what I have seen, felt, or witnessed. But…this is my attempt to share with you what is beyond. Beyond comprehension. Beyond what we’ve been conditioned to believe to be real or fake. It was a Wednesday late afternoon, November 18th to be exact. I finally arrived home after a long day at work. My feet are throbbing, I’m starved, and ready to crash. Eat or sleep first? Those were the options that faced my evening. I could barely th...

15 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character saying “Are you there, God? It’s me…”

Dialogue – 108 stories

Write a story about a couple with fundamentally different beliefs.

Valentine's Day – 23 stories

End your story with a character saying “Thank you, God. Thanks an awful lot.” (sarcastically or not).

Dialogue – 43 stories

Write a story about a teenager whose family is moving.

Teens – 46 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