You arrive at a destination you promised an old friend you’d visit after they passed, only to find them there too.

Posted in Mystery on Oct 13, 2023

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✍️ 66 stories

“Meet Me At The River” by Lindsay Flo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

Water laps the shore, a slow symphony. In with applause for itself, out with sorrow. Over and over again as I stare, the past fresher in my mind than it’s ever been. And when we’re dead, meet me at the river, Jade said. Promise. I promise, I said back. I can’t remember if we were drunk or high—probably both—but I’ve recalled that moment with clarity for years, although never quite as pellucidly as I am now, with icy spring winds and gunmetal skies and a history so far gone it nearly brings me to my knees. Jade is dead. And I am at the r...

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“Disappearing Completely” by Jed Cope

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

It was a promise I made. We’re only as good as the promises we keep, even if those promises are made to ourselves and only ourselves. This promise I made to my best friend. The sort of promise you make when you’re young, never thinking you’ll ever have to do anything about it. Wendy and John once promised each other that if they hadn’t settled down and married by the time they turned thirty then they’d marry each other. I treated my promise like theirs, but of course mine wasn’t a half arsed rejection. My promise was not about maki...

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“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

Jess Granger passed away from his third heart attack as he watched Wheel of Fortune in his apartment. An hour later I got the call from his sister Beth. Through her tears she told me the details and said she had made all the final arrangements. His funeral would be on Saturday. We had been friends for a long time, drawn together by our love of baseball. Raised in Boston,Massachusetts, on the south side of the Charles River, Jess was a diehard Red Sox fan while I had other loyalties that he would say changed with the d...

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“Cornfields and Plovers” by Kailani B.

Submitted to Contest #220

“Bad times are a myth.” That’s what Maya always told him.The two of them often spent summer evenings discussing deep subjects while sitting on his back porch steps, slurping root beer floats and staring out across the knee-high cornfields.Maya, ever the dreamer, assured Evan that no matter what happened, nothing could ever be bad. It just might not be what you wanted. So long as you wanted everything in life, well, what could ever be bad?Evan, a staunch pragmatist, insisted that everything in life sat on the Scales of Justice. One side held ...

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“Cemetery Gates” by Jamie R

Submitted to Contest #220

It’s funny how much more you like people after they die. Sad might be the word most folks use, but let’s be honest: only truly realizing how much you want someone in your life long after that’s a physical possibility is hilarious. Ironic might be the word most folks use, but if irony weren’t funny, it would be considered tragedy. Jemma’s story is not a tragedy. She died doing what she loved best: being a condescending bitch. Maybe she'd still be here if she had just listened when the truck driver told her his semi couldn’t make the full t...

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“Found” by Mike Bangert-Drowns

Submitted to Contest #220

I sat on the rocky cliff, staring out at the surf as it crashed on the rock. Sea foam leapt onto the pink granite, dissolving into a glossy sheen, only to be replaced by the next wave. The process was mesmerizing. Wave after wave, unstoppable, keeping time in a slow and steady rhythm. I felt my breathing slow to match the rhythm of the waves. All around me the world stretched out, smothering me in its vastness. The air was rich with scents, each inhale planting a memory in my mind. The salt in the air brought with it a memory of a boy jump...

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“Beers at Breckenridge” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #220

“It’s time we do it.” I look at the face my phone. It’s Steve Mansfield at 6:00 AM. “I haven’t heard from you in four years, and you call me at six in the morning?” “Sorry, didn’t account for the time zone. Living out east these days. It’s 9:00 here, Davie.” “I go by David know,” I tell him as I roll over and put my feet on the floor and push the hair from my eyes. “Well, David, your mom told my mom you just graduated from Oregon State University. It’s time. I already talked to Bobby. He’s excited to see us again.” “Time for what...

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“My Promise To Uncle Nate” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #220

We touched down smoothly with a collective sigh of relief from all passengers on board. I let go of Lu’s hand which up to that moment I hadn’t realized I was holding for dear life. I wouldn’t say I’m a nervous traveler, per se, but accidents do happen. Of course, he was on my mind. Uncle Nate was not a ‘blood relative’ but rather my father’s best friend and while I was growing up we added the title of uncle to his name. He never married, never had kids, I’m not sure why. I do remember him being the first and possib...

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“FUNNY GUY” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #220

FUNNY GUY When I was a boy, I didn’t have any friends. It never really concerned me because I was quite content with my own company. Also, the fact that I was a sickly boy probably had a lot to do with it; no, definitely, had a great deal to do with it.We lived at the top of a three family house; an Irish three family house on 5th and San Pedro. Times were hard, not that I really knew what that meant but I heard my parents saying it all the time, so I figured they had to know what they were talking about. We were considered fortunate by the ...

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“Runaways” by Aya Tubinshlak

Submitted to Contest #220

I board the busy train, a small beige bag in tow. I take one last look behind me, half-expecting to see someone running after me. I see a mother, trying to quiet her screaming toddler; a group of teenage boys in soccer jerseys, yelling and tossing a ball between them; a boy, probably the same age as me, pacing back and forth. The boy is handsome, in a young, boyish way. In another life, maybe I would have approached him, said hello, smiled. Maybe he would have smiled back. Maybe we would have fallen in love.But this isn’t a love story. Not i...

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“A Tunnel Wish” by J. Logwood

Submitted to Contest #220

I suck a breath in and hold it, half nostalgic force of habit, half superstitious ritual, as my rental car enters the tunnel leading away from the Golden Gate bridge. The Rainbow Tunnel to me, although it has been renamed since I was last here. Now it's the Robin Williams Tunnel, an apt guardian for this place of duality, where love and tragedy are not so strange bedfellows. Hold your breath until you get to the end and you can make a wish. I can almost hear you whisper these words from the passenger seat, the way you had eve...

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“The Huddle” by Keith Geaney

Submitted to Contest #220

The GPS coverage was starting to get patchy. Arnold slowed down to a crawl and squinted through the windshield at the trees. If any of the blotchy shapes blurred by the weight of the rain resembled three ancient oaks standing in line, with two others facing them, that meant he had arrived. Martin had described the location for him so many times and in such detail that Arnold almost thought of it as a childhood memory. It was a curious feeling, pulling up to a remote location in a region of the country he had never visited and finding the lan...

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“Daughter Of The Baskervilles” by Khadija S. Mohammad

Submitted to Contest #220

"This is the house where he wrote 'Hound of the Baskervilles',” Samara's mother said as they stepped through the door. How the mighty are fallen, Samara thought. The house was now a visitor's centre, selling pencils inscribed with the town's name that broke within minutes of buying, along with leaflets of local history, walks, and the prison that cast a shadow over the town from its outskirts. Samara was pulled instantly to the shelf where copies of 'Hound of the Baskervilles' were displayed in multiple languages. She picked up a German co...

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“A little bit of good.” by DH Irving

Submitted to Contest #220

“A little bit of good.” D.H. Irving The old train trestle was in the middle of nowhere, and had been out of use years before we had discovered it. My best friend Mike and I had stumbled upon it when we were just kids, riding our bikes on some grand, pointless adventure that only youth seem to have the ability to embark on. It became our spot and our place to hang out; a secret fort of rusty nails and warped wood. We’d go there to get away from our parents, siblings, school, and above all else, any and all adult supervision. It was our oa...

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“Mystery in the Desert” by Rudy Greene

Submitted to Contest #220

He was looking at the map Mat left him and couldn’t believe this pile of dirt was the spot. It was under a tall palm tree several yards from the bay. It was hard not to be distracted by the crystal-clear blue water. Jack had travelled all the way from Oregon to Ras Mohammed National Park in Egypt in search of clues. What happened to Mat? He left Jack a cryptic text before his disappearance then several more two months later. There was a photo of a handmade map with an X on the spot where he buried some sort of clue. Ironically, many yea...

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You arrive at a destination you promised an old friend you’d visit after they passed, only to find them there too.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 66 stories

“Meet Me At The River” by Lindsay Flo

“Disappearing Completely” by Jed Cope

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“Cornfields and Plovers” by Kailani B.

“Cemetery Gates” by Jamie R

“Found” by Mike Bangert-Drowns

“Beers at Breckenridge” by Ty Warmbrodt

“My Promise To Uncle Nate” by Hannah Lynn

“FUNNY GUY” by Charles Corkery

“Runaways” by Aya Tubinshlak

“A Tunnel Wish” by J. Logwood

“The Huddle” by Keith Geaney

“Daughter Of The Baskervilles” by Khadija S. Mohammad

“A little bit of good.” by DH Irving

“Mystery in the Desert” by Rudy Greene

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character walking through a desert landscape, when they stumble across something unexpected. “That shouldn’t be there,” they muse.

As a child you’re helping your grandparent bake. When you’re sent to the pantry to fetch an ingredient, you discover something odd.

Begin your story with a protagonist taking shelter under a bridge during a thunderstorm. An animal scurries past which shouldn’t exist. Against their better judgment, they decide to follow it out.

You’re awakened from your nap by someone asking, “Are you hungry?”. You fell asleep somewhere else entirely.

Contest #220

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

129

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: