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

“From Eulogy to Reunion” by Marcia Graham-Moore

Submitted to Contest #220

From Eulogy to Reunion It was a day like any other, and but was the beginning of a friendship that would last a lifetime. His name was James, and we were both young men with our entire lives ahead of us. The lakeside cabin was a place away from the noise of the world. I had been going there for years and it always looked the same. It had to belong to someone, but it was always unlocked and clean, considering I saw no one there. I could hike through the woods near to my house and when I was younger, I pretended it was meant for me. Jame...

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“THE PROMISE” by Andrew Hixson

Submitted to Contest #220

THE PROMISE I kept my promise but couldn’t help but feel uncertain about it. The train I was on had a peculiar schedule. It would stop twice daily, waiting for the tide to go out. The overall journey accounted for each delay, which lasted 90 minutes. It was frustrating to have these delays, but I remained steadfast in keeping my promise. “Have you ever been to Seamer Island?” Tom had croaked, his weakened voice barely audible. The cancer had ravaged his body, causing him to lose weight rapidly. Yet, despite his frailty, the glint in his blu...

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“Tree House” by S.E. Tomlinson

Submitted to Contest #220

The day before Ryan died, I felt it in my subconscious, like how you can feel when a polished musician strums the perfect sequence of guitar notes. It’s strange the way the heart speaks volumes about tragedy, yet simultaneously shrouds its origins in mystery. The night before, I’d been listening to the same sad songs over and over and crying my eyes out, and I had no idea why. It wasn’t until the next day, when Ms. Deaver called to inform me that my childhood best friend had passed, that I could begin to decode the cipher my heart had been w...

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“Before It Gets You” by D. G. Knies

Submitted to Contest #220

Gravel crunched beneath his tires as he pulled to a stop in the empty lot. It took a few tries to build the momentum to exit the car. He stood, taking a few deep breaths. Jason tried to gather himself, but how could he? It hadn’t even been a week since they buried Nathan, and just thinking of what happened to him tied Jason’s stomach in knots. Wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket, he blinked away tears and took a determined step toward the graveyard. He tried to distract his mind by thinking back to the reason he’d come he...

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“Forgotten Flowers” by Lark Bailey

Submitted to Contest #220

Matilda was quieter than usual on the way to the hospital. Normally, she loved long car rides with her husband, as it meant a chance to catch up with her better half without the interruption of one of her toddlers demanding every quarter-ounce of her focus. Even now, seven years after their wedding, she still craved that unstructured time with Will, that time when they had nothing but time, before the twins changed everything. There was no question of the depths of her love for her beautiful family, of course. Those two little girl...

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“An Old Friend” by Jared Meeker

Submitted to Contest #220

Warning: mild bloody imagery I finally arrived at the small wooden cabin at the top of the mountain where Jay and I were hiking two years ago. I couldn’t help but recall the incident in my head–his broken legs, his screams of pain, the blood on his clothes and on my hands. I almost stopped at the base of the mountain, thinking about what had happened almost caused me to break down right then and there. He had been my closest friend for many, many years, and to see him die in my arms had, admittedly, traumatized me. I can still remember t...

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“an averagetuesday” by E. J. Wilhelm

Submitted to Contest #220

Cheyenne saw her aunt Maisie every Tuesday afternoon, like clockwork. It seemed sort of fitting that her funeral was also on a Tuesday. Cheyenne stood at the back, staying quiet as others spoke. Some of what they said was accurate. Some of it wasn't. A lot of it was simply ... curated. They said Maisie was funny, without admitting she had a sense of humor that would make a porn star blush or a laugh that could put a supervillain to shame. They said she was kind, without saying how cranky or no-nonsense that kindness could sometimes be. The...

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“Neo Nova Eclipse” by Melody McCusker

Submitted to Contest #220

Neo Nova Eclipse By Melody McCusker The tape clicks as the message ends. Her husband’s voice echoes inside her mind, “If you’re hearing this, that means Lom gave this to you and I’m gone.” Tears start pooling in Nova’s vision as she sets the tape to rewind. Neo, what happened? She took you down even with your matching powers. Shaking as she selected play again. “DS - 10:85 7.7.07 I’ve prepared the failsafe against Kathia at the agreed coordinates. I’ve developed a potion that can let someone use my shapeshifting for one hour. It is a gam...

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“Krill” by Kasper Houmøller Mortensen

Submitted to Contest #220

I felt angry at the tree for just growing. I felt angry at the sun for shining and for time passing. Why did everything carry on when you didn't? The first steps out of the hospital. My eyes met the daylight, and it felt like an intruder. I wanted to scream at people for passing by and at Wednesday for moving on to Thursday, but I couldn’t scream; I held back and heard your silent voice echoing through my mind. I wanted to go home and hide in the corner of our bedroom and leave all the lights off, but I didn’t. I kept walking like I pr...

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“The Cliffs” by Sharon Honeycutt

Submitted to Contest #220

I’d been hiking along the Cliffs of Moher south from Doolin toward the visitors’ center for about an hour. Years ago, Jeanie and I kicked around the idea of this hike, but as we got older, we thought we’d have to drive to the center and walk across the road to see the shale and sandstone cliffs that tower more than 500 feet over the Atlantic. I wasn’t sure my knee would approve of the hike, and she was pretty sure her heart wouldn’t cooperate. As it turned out, her heart stopped long before I booked my flight to Ireland. We’d been planni...

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“Messina — My Wretched Destiny ” by :) :D

Submitted to Contest #220

Some people would be truly rattled by an anxious, quiet girl heading to the Straits of Messina all by herself, so I must’ve looked suspicious. I only made it worse every time I glanced over my shoulder. No one’s following, Skai. There was no way I could believe that. I couldn’t discern the voice in my head from the distant one insisting that I get out of this fog and go home. I check again, glaring through the fog. A shadowy figure shifted into sight. My cold breath catches. I forced myself to look away. The intense trembling in my ...

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“The Visit” by Marissa Sipes

Submitted to Contest #220

Thursday, October 12, 2023 The sky covered with gray clouds makes this day even more grim. I am nervous and anxious to walk into the church. My stomach starts to churn when I look up at the magnificent church building. It's so tall and looks made out of sandstone. The stained glass looks so beautiful with its array of colors and depictions of Jesus. I look around and see people dressed in black. They are crying, filing in a single line into the building. I see women dabbing their eyes with tissues. Amongst the women, I spot Judy, Izzy, Kari...

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“Penitence Pier” by Margaret McDonald-Smith

Submitted to Contest #220

Riding the bus is like riding a bicycle. Once you get it down, it comes right back to you, no matter how many years have passed. I stood at the chilly bus stop, sharing a shifty silence with half a dozen commuters, all of us peering in the same direction and fingering our bus passes, or tugging at the zippers of our jackets. I felt myself slip into the old routine easily as if no vast moat of time sat between now and when I had ridden this bus almost every day, years ago when I had still been friends with Caroline. When Caroline was still al...

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“The Order Of Things” by R. Wood

Submitted to Contest #220

I was the last person to see her. The police allowed me to carry away some of her belongings in the hope I would reveal something of interest. So far they had nothing. “We will talk soon.” The detective said, taking me in, as I gathered the tangle of her notebooks cast across his desk. Her papers lay around the room as though they had exploded in his hands. I took the chance to get away to head up to the cabin, gripping the steering wheel, my knuckles pale, glowing against the dark winding road, as though the hands of anothe...

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“Warm Embrace” by Hailey Lau

Submitted to Contest #220

The rain is cold. Not as cold as my heart. My heart is icy. It's sharp, it's painful, it's heavy. And I hated it. Ava loved the rain. She would laugh and dance gleefully through the sheets of water, kicking puddles, lifting her head up and letting the rain bounce off her face. No matter how cold it got, her embrace was always warm. I used to love the rain, too. Now it was like needles, falling from the sky, piercing my skin. A constant, painful reminder of what I lost. The leaves squeaked under my yellow rubber boots. As I left the ...

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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

“From Eulogy to Reunion” by Marcia Graham-Moore

“THE PROMISE” by Andrew Hixson

“Tree House” by S.E. Tomlinson

“Before It Gets You” by D. G. Knies

“Forgotten Flowers” by Lark Bailey

“An Old Friend” by Jared Meeker

“an averagetuesday” by E. J. Wilhelm

“Neo Nova Eclipse” by Melody McCusker

“Krill” by Kasper Houmøller Mortensen

“The Cliffs” by Sharon Honeycutt

“Messina — My Wretched Destiny ” by :) :D

“The Visit” by Marissa Sipes

“Penitence Pier” by Margaret McDonald-Smith

“The Order Of Things” by R. Wood

“Warm Embrace” by Hailey Lau

🌟 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: