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 Publishers Directory 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 in which a character eats something that they shouldn’t have eaten.

Posted in Mystery on Dec 8, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. 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:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 63 stories

“Better Than Expected” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #228

Monica would never admit to hating her nephew and niece – except to her journal, her friends, her clients, her therapist, a god she may or may not have believed in, strangers at the bar, strangers on the bus, strangers in the night, and the internet at large. But she’d never admit it to her older brother. But as the younger sister, she was naturally their babysitter. “But I’m busy,” she said. “Nonsense!” said her brother. “You work from home.” “I have a deadline–” “And besides, you’re single and only getting older. You like kids.” “I – what!...

38 comments 38
Read story

“Saint Jerome” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #228

I swallowed a statue of Saint Jerome. My mother said I could be forgiven, because I’m only nine, but she followed that forgiveness up with the clarification that I am a very bright nine-year-old, which is why I go to a gifted school that is secular rather than parochial. She told me that even if I weren’t very bright, a nine-year-old should still know better than to go around swallowing things that don’t belong being swallowed. She asked me if there was some kind of extenuating circumstance that led to me ingesting Saint Jerome, and I told...

15 comments 15
Read story

“A Moment on the Lips” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #228

   “Is there such a thing as too much tiramisu?”   “We’ve still not found the one that beats your grandma’s recipe.”   “I can’t face another spoonful.” I sigh in defeat. “That’s me.”   “Ha!” Jenny laughs, poking my stomach. “Lightweight!”   “You’re joking, love,” I say. “The diet starts tomorrow.”  * * *Jenny and I had agreed to sample as many varieties of tiramisu as possible during our anniversary weekend. It’d started off as a joke, but once we’d embarked...

16 comments 16
Read story

“Soulmate” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #228

Florien felt a deep sense of regret and shame, overlaid with a heart wrenching panic, as he contemplated the gravity of his error. He’d eaten something he shouldn’t have. He’d eaten the artist, Sarah Jane.With self loathing settling in his stomach and the imminent repercussions resounding in his head, he withdrew his fangs from her neck and she slid to the ground in a boneless heap. The panic rose in his dead heart as he staggered to the side table where his phone was on charge, and opened his saved contacts. He only had one number, Mrs...

20 comments 20
Read story

“Lunch Box Bandit” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #228

     Somebody has been stealing my lunch. Not the whole thing, mind you, but there have been definite and distinct bites taken daily from my meals. A tell-tale hole in the pasta, a mysterious inch missing from my soup container. You think I’m imagining it, don’t you?       At first I thought I was imagining it, too. I mean, who would go around taking sample portions from somebody else’s lunch box every day? Who is that strange and unhinged to do so? But no, it’s definitely been happening...

15 comments 15
Read story

“Bloody Drunk” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #228

Something wooden clattered to the stones outside, issuing a loud, hollow bang.Marley Strudwicke jerked awake and sat bolt upright in his bed. During his years of service to the master, he had learned to have a keen ear and a shallow sleep. It wasn’t the first time some brave hunter had reached the castle. But Marley would ensure it would be their last visit. He grabbed ahold of the pistol on his bedside table and held his breath, listening.A burp and a whisper followed. ‘Bugger it.’Marley exhaled, and his grip on the gun loosened. He’d recog...

9 comments 9
Read story

“Person Lion Seeks Free Will” by Robert Egan

Submitted to Contest #228

The person lion hadn't missed much these past three years. There had been a pandemic and a terrible fourth Matrix movie, but that was about it. There had also been a massive seizure at the very end, but that was normal, part of his arrival. The person lion found himself lying on the kitchen floor with a person standing over him. "John? Oh my God, John! Are you okay?" asked the woman who had witnessed his arrival. The person lion searched John's memories for her name. It was either Tiffany Jane or Jane Tiffany. It wasn't an easy name ...

8 comments 8
Read story

“Costly Purchases Not Covered by SNAP” by Mallory Jones

Submitted to Contest #228

“Just the… three bottles of Tylenol and the vodka?” The elderly cashier looked up, both unpracticed and uninterested in concealing his judgment. The thin young woman standing at the counter smiled at him and said, “The Smirnoff is a gift for my in-laws, and I’ve been having terrible headaches lately.” She paused, then added,“You know what? Throw this in too— I feel like splurging.” She smiled brightly as she tossed a single-serving instant oatmeal packet on the counter, then looked up, clearly expecting him to scan her items. With a dea...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Poor Form” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #228

Poor Form                                  “Never eat more than you can lift.”                                                 &nbsp...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Chips” by Danielle LeBlanc

Submitted to Contest #228

I have always been addicted to potato chips. It’s true. The crumpling sound of a bag opening makes me salivate like a Pavlovian dog. Scooping out that first handful makes me perspire. The grease between my fingers shape-shifts me into some kind of wild, heaving creature. And that first bite, well… my eyes couldn’t roll any further back towards the heavens. Potato chips are the greatest love affair I’ve ever had; mostly, because I never allow myself to have them. For most of my adult life, I’ve lived in a low carb hell of my own making. ...

9 comments 9
Read story

“The Food Blogger” by Amanda Rautio

Submitted to Contest #228

Thank you for stumbling onto my blog, The Fuggin Foodie! IMG Smiling as I stir a pot. Here is my recipe for the best-ever Le Puy Lentil Soup. It's my own original recipe, perfected from my grandma's recipe. Love you, but mine's better. XO. Many of you have been begging for this recipe, featured extensively on my Instagram (@TheFugginFoodie<3) and I honestly couldn't have done it without you (I mean, I did do it without you; this recipe is mine, but you guys blew up my channel which is more what I meant). It ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Anaphylactic Sleep” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #228

Nursey always said, “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an arm!” Well, he didn’t always say that. In fact, he only said it a few times. I would say a handful of times, and even then I’m probably overegging it. Sometimes, there is something that is said, or that is done and it stands out in a way that makes it seem like it’s always been there and it’s been there a lot. Significance attaches itself to a thing and gives it a whole other life.  Naughty significance! I used to laugh at big old Nursey and dismiss his s...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Silica Packet” by Lukah Roser

Submitted to Contest #228

POSSIBLE SENSATIVE CONTENT: Mental Health, implied purposeful consumption of toxic substances, NO DEATH. ‘You're like a silica packet,’ she’d said, her eyes scrutinizing the nutritional information of a bulk pack of instant noodles, ‘Not made for human consumption.’It was one of those comments that hurt more for the fact that she had said it in such an offhanded manner, her attention split between me and the dried goods she held, as if by association I was of equal or even less value than her choice between chicken or beef flavouring.It had ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Mushrooms and Mice” by Tamarin Butcher

Submitted to Contest #228

I am only little. The Wizard says that if I were good, I would be bigger, but because I am bad, I will be little forever. I cannot see what's on the table unless I stand on my tiptoes and stretch, but I must clear it anyway. I cannot add wood to the fire without being singed, but I must stoke it anyway. I cannot reach the windows without first putting a heavy box on a heavy chair, but I must wash them anyway. Sometimes, I talk to Mouser, the cat. Sometimes, Mouser talks back. Mouser says that the Wizard has the wrong word. Inste...

6 comments 6
Read story

“CONSEQUENCES” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #228

CONSEQUENCES “Sir, I am not a bit hungry. I just want to go home”. “Son, you best eat it now, you hear? It could be a long time afore...” “Before what? I told you everything I know”. The older man ignored the pleadings of his prisoner and continued dishing out the beans from the pot in his hand. The younger occupant of this rough hewn log cabin, his expensive, tailor made, business suit ragged and crumpled from being forced into the rear of the SUV that had abducted him from the basement car park of his business office, earlier t...

3 comments 3
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start or end your story in a bustling street food market.

Narrative – 24 stories

Include in your story a scene about a family's last meal before a significant change.

Dramatic – 58 stories

Write a story in which a certain food makes your character travel back in time.

Character – 51 stories

Write a story in which a character cooks up something to impress someone.

Romance – 34 stories

Contest #228

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Yummy

$250

Prize money

230

Contest entries

88

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 15, 2023 EST

Won by Molly Jenkinson 🏆

Title: Cooking Lessons

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢