Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story that begins in the light and ends in darkness, or the other way around.

Posted in Horror 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?

✍️ 382 stories

Angels Among Grief

Submitted to Contest #92

Before—everything mattered. Now? Nothing does. “It seems excessive—” the new angel says, eyes brimming with tears. “Grief descends on them so quickly.” He looks down again, keenly feeling each pang of despair, pooling in black waves around them like a treacherous sea.  “It does,” the old archangel agrees. “But in their particular realm, grief is usually conflated with fear. The ‘not knowing’ is the hardest part for them.” “My heart hurts,” the new angel laments, folding his hands together over his chest. “I understan...

121 likes 94 comments 94
Read story

The Shadow Tailor

Submitted to Contest #92

Working with shadow is difficult. It’s slippery and my hands always come away damp. The fluid slips through my fingers in ribbons, a glistening ebony the color of coal and spiders. All light is absent from the room since even a minuscule flicker can damage the material. Burning holes in something flawless yet fragile. Onyx curtains obscure the windows, as to not let even a wisp of twilight inside the secluded workshop. The fire in the corner is cold, the wood damp. I haven’t lit it in weeks, leaving the chalky ash left to settle in drifts on...

106 likes 74 comments 74
Read story

The Gift

Submitted to Contest #92

“It's been a wonderful summer so far" Bethany thought smiling to herself as she was driving with her daughter Emma, in the back, strapped to a car seat. She smiled at her daughter lovingly through the rear-view mirror as Emma returned her smile. “Are you excited honey?”  “Yes!” replied her daughter happily throwing her arms up and giggling. “Okay, just hang on, we'll be there soon” replied her mother. “Mommy can we go to the park today?” Emma asked after a while. “Sure honey whatever you want to do. Today is your day, and...

97 likes 36 comments 36
Read story

Father Tomassi’s Wet Dream

Submitted to Contest #92

No! It had happened yet again! As he slowly awoke from the deep sleep, Father Tomassi first felt fear, next anger, and then the waves of shame as he sensed the warm wetness through his pajamas and on the bedsheets. This was the third time this month and the month still had almost two weeks left in it. He tried not to recall the dream that had caused yet another unwanted nocturnal ejaculation but he knew deep down that it was the one that had been plaguing him since adolescence: the one about his junior high school teacher. The dream he hid i...

83 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Luminescence

Submitted to Contest #92

Normally, we all think it started with darkness, but what if it was light? What if light was as old as time itself? What if, what if, what if. So many speculations. Now what if I took those theories and turned them into laws? This isn’t something science can prove, so why should I bother? We all believe in science now anyways.  Where did the magic go? It has been washed away. Pushed to the side and labeled as foolish imaginings.  After all, fey cannot exist. Nor can pixies, nor can multiple deities, or even deities at all. Or can t...

78 likes 66 comments 66
Read story

Where the Sun Can't Reach

Shortlisted for Contest #92 ⭐️

So much dark, as far as the eyes behind my goggles could see. So much silence, save for the inhales and exhales of my air tank. The only movement I can sense is my own: flippers swaying 1,500 meters above the sea floor, where the sun can’t reach.A cable connects my torch to the battery canisters around my waist. A more experienced marine biologist would tell me to turn the torch off, to better find the sea life I’m searching for: creatures lit up by their own biology. Creatures I might miss capturing on film.But I can’t read my depth gauge w...

61 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Seeing In Black & White

Submitted to Contest #92

There was a world where light didn’t exist; where everything was dark, so the only way you could see anything was by the highlights on the objects. Many people wondered about the existence of the highlights because how could there be highlights if there’s no light at all?One of our character’s names was Cara: a modest name for a modest girl.School was decent for Cara: it wasn’t super fun, as the dictators made sure of that, but her favourite subject was History because she got to learn about things that seemed unreal. She was a quiet, coy li...

57 likes 245 comments 245
Read story

Call of Light

Submitted to Contest #92

The sun sunk behind the mountains as a canopy of gold, bright amid the blue, bidding the stars to take their place. As the light surrendered, every color changed vibrant hues to tinges of charcoal. There were days I wondered what we gave in return for such gifts of divine magic; perhaps it is our love, perhaps we radiated it into space; perhaps that is our connection to creation beyond the borders of our world, our reality. Perhaps inside I too am gold, a bright flame that burns for another kind. For me, that was a thought as warm as any bri...

55 likes 21 comments 21
Read story

and then you said goodbye

Submitted to Contest #92

The sun said goodbye to me And I laughed For the sun always says goodbye  When the moon comes out And the darkness begins to loom It is the only moment When I can count on someone else When I can count on you For you will never say goodbye Not now, not in the past And not before Because it is in that moment When the sun says goodbye That suddenly, all is lost And only then  Do you know that it can be found again Just before the morning The moon said goodbye to me And I cried For I had begun to care about that man Smiling from abo...

52 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

I Discover How to Stall Dying

Submitted to Contest #92

Warning: Censored curse words, mentions of alcohol. Note: This is part 3 of a series. If you have not read the previous parts (“I Discover that Someone’s Going to Die” and “I, Kamara, Discover that I’m About to Die”), please look at my comment in the comments section for more information. This story is for anyone who laughed while reading this series. ~*~*~ BRANDON The sun shined inside my car in bright rays. I could almost imagine that with the rising sun, the day could begin anew, and my problems would vanish along with the darkness ...

50 likes 33 comments 33
Read story

THE LESSON OF DETACHMENT

Submitted to Contest #92

 Just like a ray of light , Ritzy had entered into the Sinha family when everybody had given up the dream of getting a heir who’ll be taking the responsibility of the entire property of the Sinhas. Ritzy’s arrival had filled the family with smiles. Being born in a rich and a well established family, Ritzy didn’t know what hard work is. She had got accustomed to the luxuries. Everyday, when she woke up, slippers were brought near to her feet before she stepped on the floor. Her clothes were brought from all over the world. Being the one ...

49 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

An End To A Beginning

Submitted to Contest #92

This is it. I have completed it. The final stage.At this moment, I have fallen asleep for what will almost certainly be the last time ever. This time I will truly be asleep. ForeverUpon saying these words I have completed an eventful journey. One that has been most remarkable.Over the last few months I have not been well and have been told that I have an incurable illness and that the end was evitable. I would be dead before long.Well the sad thing is we all have to die someday. I know its terrifying for us all to know about that the very mo...

44 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Sun vs. Moon

Submitted to Contest #92

Definitions ~ In Greek, Selene means ☾ In Ancient Rome, Aelia means ☀ ☀☾ Spotty and white. That’s the colors of the moon. Or was it gray? Looking at it here I can’t really tell. But it sure is beautiful, this is what I have been waiting for, this is what I wanted to see. The moon. The magnificent moon. Its a full circle tonight, and we are sitting right in front of it. How lucky are we to sit right in front of it! The ocean reflects the moon sending ripples through its body. The stars paint the black sky with yellow spots. I see a shooting s...

41 likes 27 comments 27
Read story

A Different Blood

Submitted to Contest #92

It was war. The slashing of swords and the hammering of fists echoed in my ears as I hid behind a rubbish bin in a dark alleyway, hidden from view. I was a good guy, one of them, someone who supposedly saved everyone from evil.  But I wasn’t brave enough to fight, I was too weak to hold a sword. Too cowardly to overcome my fears of battle. I heard voices approach, so I hid further into the shadows. Two figures emerged and stood directly in front of me, they didn’t seem aware of the fact that I was there, but I could see them, smell...

41 likes 24 comments 24
Read story

The Day The Sun Went Missing

Submitted to Contest #92

The leaves and branches brush past me but It’s hard to pay them any mind anymore. The night is silent except for the pounding of my boots on the ground and the crashing I create through the thick greenery. The sky is pitch black. And it’s the middle of the day.  It’s not my fault that the guardian of the day decided that she could just leave her post. And yet here I am fixing it for her.  “That idiot!” I cry into the darkness. I halt suddenly. Panting in the middle of the woods like a mere human. She has brought this humiliation ...

35 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

End your story with a truth coming to light.

Horror – 183 stories

Set your story in a countryside house that’s filled with shadows.

Horror – 170 stories

Write about a character who thinks they have a sun allergy.

Summer – 117 stories

Write a story set in a city where the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.

Horror – 185 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