Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone who keeps coming across the same stranger.

Posted in Mystery on May 8, 2021

Submissions are closed!

Sorry, we are no longer accepting submissions. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

✍️ 193 stories

“Your Move” by Hayley Igarashi

This is a story about the man who wants to kill you. I have my doubts, not about the man or about the story, but about you. I fear I do all this for nothing.   Listen: I would scream if I had a mouth. I have a story. So that is what I will use.   You have seen him before. He might as well live in your periphery. He is tall and seems to carry his weight in his chest and shoulders. He has a narrow waist and legs that taper down to small leather shoes.    Not that y...

150 comments 150
Read story

“Stranger Than a Stranger.” by Cam Croz

    Why was it so hard to live it up?  At the time she’d left home, Samira had thought it a great idea. She had graduated school with the high spirited desire to travel the world, live it up! Her plan had been to live her life like all of those bloggers out there who seemed to love nothing more than to tell the world of how great their lives were. Samira had simply wanted to have and express as much fun as they had.    So, she’d started a blog.

63 comments 63
Read story

“Sairmonia” by Lee Mar

The low buzz of coffee machines and chatter filled Nari’s ears as she read through NASA’s latest post on Twitter. Three space travelers arrived safely at the space station four hours ago. Nari took a sip of her honey lavender latte, wondering what it would be like to travel through space. It had always been her dream to work for NASA, maybe even as an astronaut. Nari was only thirteen though, so she had a while before she was old enough.Nari observed her surroundings. Everyone in the coffee shop seemed to be working on s...

25 comments 25
Read story

“Putting the pieces back together...” by Roshna Rusiniya

***Ghosts of the past visit me all the time, bringing flowers and pictures in frames. The nurses say they are family. They have tales to tell - about me, about themselves, about our happy times together. My head starts pounding after a while l. But I continue to sit there with a smile, not wanting to disappoint them. They are here because they care for me and I must have cared for them too...in my other life- the life before my accident. I want to tell them that their tales...

42 comments 42
Read story

“Him” by Magical Energy ✰

I know him, but I don’t. I see his shadows everywhere in my life, but it is where to place him that I am having all the trouble. When I look in the mirror, they’re there to haunt me. All of those strangers, all of the ghosts that crowd around, and in the center, it's him. “Anjali!!” I was trying to hear their voices when I heard my parents calling me. Did they know I wasn’t normal? As I walked downstairs, my memory had fogged up. What did I do and what have I yet to do? My answer; everything. I have yet to see myself properly,...

10 comments 10
Read story

“Ukcyo” by Mckinley Burns

         Knock Knock I jolted awake, and quickly looked around around my pitch black room, then my eyes set on the window beside me. I slowly set my feet on the ground, my legs were shaking non stop. I stood up, slowly walking to the window         Ring Ring, Ring Ring I jumped in surprise, I calmed down realizing it was just my phone.          My heart was beating fast...

15 comments 15
Read story

“An asset of the visually impaired” by Sebastian Ehlke

“Got it,” N said as an eccentric smile contorted his face into a smug grin. “Now, are you ready to go yet?” The church parking lot made an ideal meeting point. It was nearly always empty on weekdays, and its location allowed for both the boys to walk there from their homes. H sighed, disappointed at his own results.  “I didn’t catch it, man, let’s go.” Putting his phone in his pocket, H turned away to walk home. Although the game of Pokemon Go had begun waning in popularity, the two boys were deter...

7 comments 7
Read story

“Buggers” by Rhondalise Mitza

Emil jumped out of bed with cockroaches on the mind. Actually, they were more on the unconscious mind. He had been dreaming about them since he was a little boy. Cockroaches. All sorts of them. Jungle ones and water bugs and even ones that he had fabricated all on his own. There was one, he recalled as he sat at the edge of the bed and pulled on his socks, that looked like the president of the United States, complete with little swatch of orange hair and impossibly bordered lips. Well. Emil knew that it was all a hoax. Those cock...

4 comments 4
Read story

“The Color of Death” by Jeanne Marceau

“I might be a little late,” Beckett says as he buttons up his white shirt, his eyes are swollen from staying up late last night doing research on the company where he has an interview today. Though even with his eyes red and his beard not groomed he is looking incredibly handsome this morning.“Maybe you could make up for it?” I slowly climb out of bed and make my way across the room to where Beck is trying to knot his tie, we look at each other longing for one another’s embrace.“When we get back from Dr. Whitmann,” he kisses...

11 comments 11
Read story

“Tomorrow” by Zea Bowman

All I remember is him. His eyes. His gorgeous blue eyes and how they twinkle in the light, taunting me from afar. His perfect skin argues with his jet-black wispy hair, which he sweeps aside too often. "Tomorrow." The only word he had ever spoken to me, and yet I yearned to feel his soft hands in between mine. The night I met him was like any other. The crystal sky was lit with stars, shimmering against the darkness that cascaded around them. I wore my favorite dress: periwinkle, with flowers that danced across it l...

8 comments 8
Read story

“Am I Losing My Mind?” by K. m. Carpenter

I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have been as foolish as I was to get into this taxi cab, drive all the way across the city, and come here. Yet I did. I thought perhaps it was only my imagination, seeing that face amidst hundreds of others. I thought that perhaps it was an illusion of some kind, a sadistic trick.  I thought, just maybe, it was a sign I needed to get out. Grab a drink or two. Or three.  Am I losing my mind? Their face is everywhere. I don't know them. I thought perhaps they knew me. B...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Table seven” by Nunga dorcas Mirande amalia

As i open the heavy glass door, the scent of coffee embraces my nose and i walk through the wooden floor , my high heels clapping against it earning me some looks from the few people already seated. As i take my ice coffee latte and walk to the little table by the window, the noise from my heels earn me more looks, especially from the man at table seven. He stares at me for a while and give me what seems to be his a version of a smile, i smile back at him before settling down to read my mails .After reading my mails and scrolling d...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Writing Against the Devil” by Keri Dyck

I close my laptop, shove it onto the bed beside me, and massage my forehead.“What’s the matter?”I look up to see my little sister coming into my room. She looks concerned and I try not to take my annoyance out on her. “My laptop isn’t working.”“Oh. I can go ask Mom if you can use hers.”“Thanks, but I need my stories from my laptop.”“Aren’t they on your phone too?”“They are supposed to be, but it’s not working either. It’s so weird. ...

11 comments 11
Read story

“The Last One of Me You'll Ever See” by Kevin Angulo

I found it hard to believe that everyone was dead. It had been three weeks, and I still expected to hear someone yell out from behind me, “HEY YOU!” They might say, “There’s another ship taking off from Chelsea Piers! Better not miss it!”But there wasn’t another ship, and there never would be. The last transport to Mars had taken off three weeks ago. I watched it blast off the Hudson, creating a wave that spread out in a 360-degree circle reaching all the way to the shores of New Jersey. I watched the transport ship fly higher than...

6 comments 6
Read story

“If Only I Knew” by Lynn Penny

(Trigger Warning)If only I knew. I would have seen past the charming looks, the sweet compliments, those kind eyes. If only I knew. I would have seen the dangers, the lies, the pain he was causing me.If only I knew. I would still have my friends, my family, my life. I would still be free.If only I knew. I would have had a fighting chance, I would still have my freedom.If only.My mother always told me to be wary of strangers. Th...

2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a valuable object that goes missing.

Mystery – 97 stories

Write a story that takes place in the woods.

Mystery – 186 stories

Write a story that starts with the reveal of a long-kept secret.

Mystery – 136 stories

Write a story about a rumor making its way through the grapevine.

Mystery – 51 stories

Contest #37

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: The Game is Afoot

$50

Prize money

680

Submissions

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 17, 2020 EST

Won by Hayley Igarashi 🏆

Title: Your Move

View details

Win $50 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $50!

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Comedy Writing Prompts ⭢

Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

For Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

General Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢