Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.

Posted in Kids on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 256 stories

“Life and Death” by Ally Clark

Submitted to Contest #74

It took him ten seconds to die. There’s a lot he could have thought of in those ten seconds. Likely among them was how he didn’t want to die. There’s a fear of the unknown in the heart of every human, an awareness that one day the end will come, that you won’t have any control over it. Cultures around the world have stories of what will happen in death. Will you arrive at the pearly gates? Do you need payment fo...

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“Tick, Tock” by Kim Hart

Submitted to Contest #74

You know you don’t have the luxury of time. You have 10 seconds remaining. Decisions like this seem to be easy for everyone else. Why are you so indecisive? Constantly second-guessing yourself? Do you or don’t you? Will you or won’t you? And it’s not just now, with this decision, it’s every single little thing and every single big thing. You stress before, during and after all decisions, bar none. Sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks, often even for years. Remember the time in high school you had to decide what sport activity to si...

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“10 Seconds to Touchdown” by Amir Sher

Submitted to Contest #74

What am I doing here? Standing on Detroit Marriott’s rooftop at the RenCen, looking down at Detroit River, holding a gun. It’s a beautiful sunny Saturday morning. The river is calm and flat as a mirror, but it’s very windy and turbulent on the 720ft tall hotel roof. I press the gun to my head and try to pull the trigger one more time. The barrel is still warm, but the hammer is stuck. I drop the old gun and climb to the ledge, leaping over antenna cables. I look down. It would take me about 7 seconds to reach the ground. I always do that - I...

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“Her” by Ally Evans

Submitted to Contest #74

As my heart pounded against my chest and my eyes began to blur I knew this was it. My lungs burned and my head felt as if it were going to explode. As whatever was wrapped around my leg pulled me deeper into the water all I could do was imagine; imagine the way my life was, what it could have been. the mistakes I made and all the people I had hurt, that had hurt me. I could feel my entire body loosen and I felt weightless. The last thing I saw was a blurred human-shape swimming towards me. As darkness clouded my mind my life flashed be...

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“The Last Push” by Isla Wren

Submitted to Contest #74

“It’s showtime!” The doctor addresses my room. He adjusts the cuffs of his long gloves, kicks up a heel and glides over to me. The stool stops squarely between my stirrups. To my left, a monitor has been tracing peaks, plateaus, and valleys for hours. They print out in real time, the paper opening up like a bellows on it’s slow descent to the floor. On impact, it neatly manages to put itself back together again in a little stack. My body is thankfully numb to the reams of pain, but not the pressure of this new life. My mind is too, I think. ...

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“The Sweetest Gift” by Subani Maheshwari

Submitted to Contest #74

“Mom, can you play with me for sometime?” “I am a little occupied, Veda. I need to feed Sona but we can play together later.” “You never have time for me anymore!” shouted Veda and stomped to her room. She shut the door with a loud bang. Ever since Veda’s baby sister was born six months ago, mom has been too busy. Her baby sister has soft and chubby cheeks. She looks cute and the family adores her. When mom and dad told Veda that she will soon become a big sister, she beamed with joy. Most of her friends have siblings to play with. She...

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“The Fight” by Melanie Little

Submitted to Contest #74

Julia pushes Ben out the front door as the countdown inside the party starts. The screen door stays slightly open behind them, preparing to catch the next breeze that dances past. Julia uses all of her strength, less than usual due to the amount she's had to drink, to heave Ben onto the walkway in front of the house. They stare at each other for a moment as they both struggle slightly. Ben trips over his own feet, but lowers himself to the ground much more gracefully than should be ...

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“Ten Seconds of Kaleidoscopes” by Gracelynn Eisenhart

Submitted to Contest #74

The moon peeked through a haze of purplish clouds suspended in the night sky of the city. The round, pearl-like orb smiled at me, but, at the moment, I didn't want to be smiled at. I wanted to be glared at. To be shown no mercy. To be given the repercussions for my transgressions. To be asked, "Why? Why did you do it, you filthy, selfish, mongrel?""I don't know," I choked out quietly, but my voice barely made it past my throat.Laying on my back in the dark alley, the world swirled around me, and everything looked like a kaleidoscope. Not tha...

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“Time Gone By” by Joe Bob

Submitted to Contest #74

My heartbeat. That was the only thing I felt, each pump an hour. No, my mind screamed. NO! I saw the form dropping from the sky like a doll. For some reason, I checked my watch. 4:59 P.M. 50 seconds in. I ran as fast as I could, trying to save her. I watched her fall, her body limp. But suddenly, she wasn't above me anymore. I looked around, and she was far behind me. That's weird. How did I get past her? I glanced at my watch again. 55 seconds in. How had it only been five seconds?! I looked at her again, and she seemed to be falling, but...

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“My Life In Ten Seconds” by M.D. Smith

Submitted to Contest #74

My life, as I knew it, ended ten days ago. “Ten,” the party organizer shouted over the loudspeaker at the New Year’s Eve Party, as he began the countdown to 2020. Yeah, Ten. What a number. Ten days ago. December 21st, the day she tore me to pieces with a letter she handed me out the window of her car as she backed out of her driveway. Saying she had Christmas shopping to do, and she assumed I knew this was coming. Seeing the fear in her face as she rolled up the window and backed away, my hands trembled as I open her tucked, not sealed, e...

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“No Escape” by Jennifer Hansley

Submitted to Contest #74

Paul’s muscles flexed and strained. He wanted to fight against the strap holding him down, but at the same time, he wanted to be there. “10!” A disembodied voice boomed throughout the confined space. Paul strove to put the psychologists’ advice into play. Foresee an issue and take care of it. “Alright, Paulie, check your heart rate, check your breathing, check your muscles.” Talking to himself was probably an indicator things were already awry, but he had to calm himself.&nbs...

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“The cake” by Trixie Pereira

Submitted to Contest #74

Ever since she could start walking, Carli's family discovered she was clumsy. She grew up covered in cuts, bruises, and scrapes. Most of them from tripping, some from bumping into tables, some from walking into doors. It was not odd to see a bandaid somewhere on her body. Carli was not allowed anywhere near the sportsfield because the last time she was there, she broke her arm. And she wasn't even playing; she fell down the benches. She has broken her nose twice already, yet she was only seventeen. Every gym class for her was like a disaster...

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“Happiness And Its Book Clubs” by Laura Ash

Submitted to Contest #74

That’s how it starts; a hook. The perfect sentence that puts the reader exactly where you want them to be. It’s manipulative. It’s controlling to take them to a place that they don’t want to go. My hook was nearly two years ago. Sixteen months ago and twenty-one days, if we’re counting. And it wasn’t pretty. It, they - because I was blessed with two hooks - came after nearly thirty-six hours of labour, thirty-four hours to be precise because someone was counting and it wasn’t me. That was the start of the story when for me all it felt like w...

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“Death by Splat” by Roth Sassin (inactive)

Submitted to Contest #74

It's 3078. The age when everyone is immortal. Unless you don't have a card of course. The cards are free. But if you don't have a card, you die die.And that's what happened on July 3rd, 3078.A windows cleaner fell from one of the windows he was cleaning.This usually wouldn't have been a problem, but when ambulance-drone refused to touch the body. It scanned the code. No card. No revival. And some of the people who saw him knew him. Knew he had no card. Knew he wouldn't survive. Knew he wouldn't be revived. They knew.Here's the recap.***Jonas...

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“Ten Seconds to Kill” by Alex Carmen

Submitted to Contest #74

cw: death, blood, murder A lot of things can happen in ten seconds, like folding a shirt, picking a lock, or even killing someone. Finally, I would have revenge for my family’s death. It had taken me twenty-seven seconds to pick the padlock on the outer door (it had been particularly finicky) and thirty-two to find HIM. Of course HE was locked in his study without a single lantern lit. HE always pretended that he wasn’t scared of anything, while in reality HE's scared of everything. I once saw him jump at his own shadow around the corner--...

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Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 256 stories

“Life and Death” by Ally Clark

“Tick, Tock” by Kim Hart

“10 Seconds to Touchdown” by Amir Sher

“Her” by Ally Evans

“The Last Push” by Isla Wren

“The Sweetest Gift” by Subani Maheshwari

“The Fight” by Melanie Little

“Ten Seconds of Kaleidoscopes” by Gracelynn Eisenhart

“Time Gone By” by Joe Bob

“My Life In Ten Seconds” by M.D. Smith

“No Escape” by Jennifer Hansley

“The cake” by Trixie Pereira

“Happiness And Its Book Clubs” by Laura Ash

“Death by Splat” by Roth Sassin (inactive)

“Ten Seconds to Kill” by Alex Carmen

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone scrambling to finish a goal in the last few hours of the year.

Write about someone keeping track of time with tally marks on a wall — until one day they discover that all the marks are gone.

Write a story that takes place across ten days.

Write a story in the form of a top-ten list.

Contest #74

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

727

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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