Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story that hides something from its reader until the very end.

Posted in Mystery on Dec 22, 2023

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?

✍️ 100 stories

Last Words

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

On the last day of my life, as I prepare to breathe my last, you summon me from my deathbed to once again write.But this time to write something different.Something I have never written before, composed of words that are my own, from my own heart and life, not from your head or your tongue.Which, if I’m honest, I’m finding difficult.For I am not used to this kind of freedom.It feels wrong, somehow, writing these words of my own volition, being allowed to record my own truth, rather than transcribing words spoken.And Heaven knows I’ve transcr...

69 likes 112 comments 112
Read story

The Perfect Birthday

Submitted to Contest #230

Oh boy, today’s gonna be great! Mama and Papa planned a nice trip for us to the big city of San Fracisco. I know there’s an “n” in there somewhere, but I always forget where. Anyways, it’s for my birthday. I’m gonna be four! One, two, fwee, now four. See my fingers?Jack from preschool told me his family went and it was awesome! He said it was just like in the movie Inside Out, which we both love and have watched lots of times. My Auntie Mel lives down there and she promised to show us all the cool spots. We live in Oregon where it rains a lo...

39 likes 58 comments 58
Read story

Pen Thief

Submitted to Contest #230

I liked to think other people viewed the six of us as Knights at the Round Table—if knights wielded keyboards, notebooks, and expansive imaginations in favor of swords and metal armor. My armor couldn't be seen by the naked eye. It lived, breathed, and pulsed beneath my skin, a sparkling amalgamation of cosmic horror, fantasy, romance, and science fiction, unable to take any one single form, instead a constantly shifting, living thing I fed upon with each written word.I glance at the others, my five knights, as they laugh and bicker. Ca...

35 likes 25 comments 25
Read story

Ally or Adversary?

Submitted to Contest #230

I could not bear to look at her. Not again. I knew she was there, in front of me, waiting to be seen, but I could not bring myself to do it. “Why?” she asked me, like she always did. Slouching, I stared down through my dark, stringy tresses. I don’t know why. “I think you do know,” she returned. “You just don’t want to face it. Do you?” Continuing to hide, I shrugged to acknowledge her question, her presence, and her concern, but I could not, would not, make eye contact. Her judgment weighed down on my skull, boring into my brain. Sh...

29 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

The Orchid

Submitted to Contest #230

Hi dad, I want to start by apologizing for not writing any sooner. But believe me, you will soon understand why. How are things lately? I recently drove by a flower shop and saw some beautiful poppies, they were such a vibrant shade of red. Then I remembered they are grandma’s favorites, how is she doing? Send her a hug for me. Grandma always has that unique scent, you know the one, that sweet aroma of pears mixed with the freshness of recently baked cookies. I could have sworn I felt it while I was walking down the park the other day, I e...

22 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Us

Submitted to Contest #230

And there it was.Life, crumbling around us, going up in flames, devouring us. Burning our lungs with smoke, it must have not only been the material things around us that were filling the air with a vibrant, pungent smell, but the fire within us, one that may have never burnt as brightly as I had prayed for it to.For a moment I had allowed myself to believe that it would have been fine in the end, that we could’ve prevailed. Just for a moment, I had made it seem possible to myself that we weren’t doomed to die. Not like this, not ever.But as ...

20 likes 19 comments 19
Read story

A Light-Brown Birthmark

Submitted to Contest #230

... another maggot entered my skull through an eye socket. I could feel its slimy body penetrate the damp, rich soil within me. My skull would become its home for a long time..."Literature can go to places where love doesn't exist and create love out of nothing." Teacher Tamm's high-pitched voice dominated the classroom. My clumsy, too-skinny body was there - my mind was not. I could give everything away for touching one light-brown birthmark. ...Anastasia. She sat in the last row alone, with nobody ever trying to talk to her. I drew he...

19 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

The Cellmate

Submitted to Contest #230

      “What are you in for?”            A long, skinny body relaxed on the flat twin mattress against the right wall. That left me to infer the unwelcoming mattress to the left was mine. I ignored my new slender roommate and walked over to the left. I let out a sigh and sat down on the bed to face the middle of the room. I took in the whole scene, which wasn’t much. Tiny tin sink. Tiny, stained mirror above it. Tiny tin toilet. Cold, hard floor. Cold, dark w...

19 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

Dilemma

Submitted to Contest #230

Killing is easy. Disposing of the body is the hard part. As Shane contemplated the corpse in his living room, he wished he’d thought the whole thing through. But then, impulse and passion never formed the bedrock of rational thought for anyone, had they? And he was certainly no expert. This was his first time. He hadn’t even meant to do it. Well, not quite. He’d considered it on occasion, the way a person might consider a new career—something you thought about from the comfort of your La-Z-Boy with a beer in one hand and the remote control ...

18 likes 15 comments 15
Read story

A Different Perspective

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

Bill looks up at the sky and he smiles. That smile is worth a thousand words, the depth of emotion hanging from it is everything and more. He feels that sky in a way he never knew was possible. Until now. “I’ve never taken the time…” he whispers to himself as a cloud creeps silently over him. He has. He knows he has, but that was am impossibly long time ago. So long ago that it may as well have been in another life. He marvels at all he has lost and then he wonders how it is that he carelessly discarded so much. To dwell under ...

17 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Waitress

Submitted to Contest #230

I love Tuesdays. On Tuesdays, Daniel takes me dancing, and we always get malts afterwards. Although, one time last week, we stayed out dancing far too late and the soda shop was closed. Daniel really tried to pry the door open— we can just get the machine running and make our own!— and I was laughing so hard my sides hurt. Eventually he quit when a police car drove by and I grabbed his arm quickly to pull him away. It started raining and we kissed in an alley as we hid from the policeman— that was a lovely Tuesday. It’s Sunday now, so we’ll ...

15 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Della and Dr. Davies

Submitted to Contest #230

She should have been nervous, evaluating her first patient without supervision. It had been a long and laborious year, practicing under the tutelage of a mentor, working under a proverbial microscope. Considering her lack of experience, Doctor Lara Davies should have questioned why she was chosen to privately see this particular patient, hand-picked without any vetting or so much as a single reference. However, newly titled Dr. Davies never considered any notion other than accolades for her greatest achievement. Graduating third in her class...

14 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

The Carlton Case

Submitted to Contest #230

There was nothing unusual about the Carlton family, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me begin this story with two initial facts. Number one, on the morning of July 19th, a murder was committed in the Carlton house. Number two, one of the Carltons did it.As I said, there was nothing unusual about the Carltons. Come to think of it, they were quite boring. Common run-of-the-mill folk. Quite simply… well, simple. They lived in the smack middle of Tennessee, in a small town called Honeytree. A population barely reaching 4,000. Mr. and Mrs. gr...

14 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Trials and Tribulations

Submitted to Contest #230

The verdict must be unanimous, but we were down to twelve jurors, with one on his way out the door if a verdict wasn’t reached before the weekend. I did not want to see a mistrial. It had been a long two weeks. It was Friday. Everyone had enough. My face was directed at the jury, and I scanned their number with interest. It fell on me to make sure they arrived timely for the length of the trial, that they recessed for lunch at the appointed time, and returned at the appointed time. I alone ensured that they shuffled out during portions of th...

13 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Alien Mandate

Submitted to Contest #230

The Alien Mandate   President Trenton Walters woke to the insistent shoulder shaking of a Secret Service agent. He struggled to focus his eyes but knew immediately the gravity of the red light flashing over his bed.   “Sir, we must go. There’s been a national security breach and the Chiefs of Staff are already gathering in the command bunker.”   The President dressed rapidly, peppering the agent with questions. Frustrated at his lack of information he stormed towards the emergency elevator. In moments the two ...

12 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story framed by a single scene: something happens, a flashback or inner monologue intervenes, and then the story ends with the rest of the original scene.

Narrative – 89 stories

Write a story in which a character achieves a new level of clarity about how they’re really feeling.

Character – 56 stories

Start your story with someone uttering a very strange sentence.

Dialogue – 52 stories

Write a story in the form of a list.

Narrative – 60 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