Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write about a character giving something one last shot.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 26, 2022

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?

✍️ 51 stories

THE LIGHT BEYOND HIS REACH

Submitted to Contest #136

     Palmer knew that he didn’t have much time left to reach the light, he could feel it. His mind was now preparing itself for what could be his last attempt, maybe his one last shot. Because of the blinding bright light, he couldn’t see what he believed to be was a wall, but he could feel its rugged surface when he had reached out to climb towards the light. He tried hard and it seemed to him like he had climbed high, but he didn’t make it. The light faded and he found himself back in the bed he had left.  &nb...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Waiting for Stella

Submitted to Contest #136

Arnie was up before his alarm, before sunrise. Today was the day.He rehearsed his speech in the mirror as he shaved. He answered all of her potential objections as he carefully tied his bow tie. He pressed down his fear as he buffed and polished his wing-tip shoes. He gave himself a final pep talk as he put on his suit jacket and straightened his pocket square. Today was Arnie’s 64 birthday, and his present to himself was proposing to Stella.One more time.Arnie proposed to Stella the first time he laid eyes on her, 32 years ago.&nb...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Smokes

Submitted to Contest #136

Long ago the sun had set. The orange rock and sand landscape was no longer illuminated by the sin-burning yellow-white of sun. It was dark in the desert, an anticipation hung in the air. The landscape was now blue and purple, and much more mysterious and sinister. There is a man, he walks with his hips, he walks forward, under a red rock arch, underneath the clear star-studded satin of the night sky. He has an outline of a face, a sharp jaw, stubble a day or two old. But as for the rest of his face…no one can quite say. Maybe it was the brim...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Last Choice

Submitted to Contest #136

Seth looked around the table at the test group gathered at Stanford University, their seven faces deep in thought. The task assigned was pointless but he would play along for two hours. He was good at this. This would be easy.Last month Professor Anderson called him into his office. Seth sat and listened to the ticking of the antique clock on the wall while the old professor composed himself.“Seth, I understand psychology is not the same as other scientific fields. The working of the human mind can be open to interpretation. But as things st...

9 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Asteroid Vs Peggy

Submitted to Contest #136

It looked like someone left a slice of potato hanging in the sky. It was peering inside the atmosphere as if to snoop on Earth's inhabitants.Aptly named Apophis, after the ancient demon God of chaos, the planet-killer was on Earth's doorsteps, knocking.Well, It was the end of the world.NASA and everyone with a nuclear missile started emptying out their ammunitions on the uninvited foe. Earth shook with the explosions and the blinding light looked like another sun. They tormented the God of chaos, but to no avail. He stood right where he was ...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A Seance Goes Off the Rails

Submitted to Contest #136

Warning: crime and gore.Lex Parker paced in front of the small frame house, mounting his courage to continue with the plan. A sign was attached to the mail box: Madame LaFarge; Guide to the Unknown; 1301 Poplar. He had double-checked the address to assure himself that he was at the right place.“This has got to work,” he muttered. “It’s my last chance to get back to a normal life. I owe more than fifty thousand from gambling debts and these bums are threatening to kill me if I don’t make good on it. I hope that Arthur LaFarge, a guy I met in ...

9 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Denny's Downfall

Submitted to Contest #136

Denny's Downfall Denny scrunched down so she wouldn’t see him sitting in the car. He’d borrowed it from his mate Matthew and she’d likely not notice him but he didn’t want to take any chances. It’s not like he was officially warned against seeing her; it was her and not the courts setting the parameters here. They’d been a young couple in love not that long ago to his mind anyway. She’d argued that and told him two weeks ago that his reality, and the schemes his brain came up with were beyond comprehension. He really hated when she used b...

8 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

February 24, 4:47 a.m., MT

Submitted to Contest #136

February 24, 4:47 a.m., MT “They left a message again.” “Who?” “Murdoch.” “Murdoch. Must be desperate, bringing out the lowest of the low.” They were walking back through a row of bright green healthy crop, fed by water from an ancient cistern carried by stone conduits down the mountain to their small hermitage, built by a long-dead civilization.  “C’mon, Jake. He was your best friend.” “Was; remember that.”  “I remember,” she said, weary. They were both unused to the constant hard work of establishing a safe space for their fami...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

In the Envelope

L M

Submitted to Contest #136

    There was something so final about the sealing of an envelope, pressing down the flaps just so. The address had been written beforehand, brown eyes darting between the glowing phone screen to where her hand waited, pen at the ready.      Check.     Double check.      It would be too much, having this letter sent back from one simple spelling error, one wrong number, one pen running out of ink.      The card was a simple one, a painted image of runni...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A letter to you.

Submitted to Contest #136

To you, I truly apologize for all these years of turmoil. I know we have had our ups and downs. I know that even through all of this nothing changes and we keep being stuck in the same place. I do apologize. I’m sorry. Truly. We have always dreamed big, haven’t we? Too big, maybe. And we’ve always had hope for whatever we did. Ever since we were kids, we had a vision of ourselves we wanted to be. Always in the arts. Playing pretend and dancing to ABBA while performing in our room. Writing stories to our parents about lost teddy bears. Or dra...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Merlot & Flo

Submitted to Contest #136

Things can get Progressively betterLate afternoon sunlight oozed through the partially open blinds and grimy windows of the office, flung itself like spider webs through the stale, fuggy air and splattered in pee-colored puddles on a desk littered with empty Starbucks cups and Brueggers Bagels wrappers. Hunched over the desk was a man with a cracked cellphone hanging from a limp hand and mouthing the words to the recorded message yet again: "Bonjour! You've reached the cell phone of Anoinette Dupuis. I'm sorry I'm not here to take your call ...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Mathematricks

Submitted to Contest #136

It wasn't up to an hour when Tommy was invited into the principal's office to receive his report card, and on leaving the office he seemed a bit dismayed and restless while heading for the exist door in the school hallway. He looked up saying " O God why!,Why can't I just be better at it" -referring to his mathematics grade. He was still facing upward until he had come out of the hallway, now standing on the staircase outside the building, receiving the fierce jabs of ray from the blazing sun that turned his face reddish in an instant. He wa...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Maple Box

Submitted to Contest #136

      The maple-wood box had sat on her dresser for as long as she could remember. It was a staple of her bedroom, the sort of thing that she barely noticed on a day-to-day basis, but that would be palpably obvious were it absent. In her adolescence, she had often delved into its contents, hunting through a disorganized mess of colored buttons, scraps of fabric, and thread in search of one that could serve to mend the tear in her favorite shirt, praying the other children at school wouldn’t notice the patch job....

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

THIS CAMEL AND DOG WALK INTO A BAR...

Submitted to Contest #136

Camel looked around the room to see if he could spot the three wise guys. He knew that they were drawn to this place given the name of it and what went on behind the doors. Glitter and glam was the calling card and it showed all that from the outside. Aptly named, Frank’s Intense Gold ‘n More – Grand Casino and Bar, this is where the three came to play the game since being drawn in a long time ago. Camel’s eyes stopped at the casino table and Dog watched as his friend began to move his big lips and chew noisily. “Don’t give them any trouble,...

7 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

One Last Shot At Love

Submitted to Contest #136

BROOKS Two days from now is when I leave for my deployment and I have one last shot to tell the woman, the only woman I have ever loved how I feel about her. Sabrina has been my best friend since we were kids. We did everything together. We played for hours everyday in each others backyards. Every summer me and Sabrina would go to the lake behind our houses and collect rocks and play in the water. Every Halloween we would dress up as superheroes and go trick or treating, after words we would go back to my house and count the candy. O...

7 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start or end your story with someone saying “You’ll never know unless you try.”

Dialogue – 57 stories

Write about somebody who knows they’re probably going to fail at something, but does it anyway.

Narrative – 32 stories

Set your story on a baseball field.

Middle School – 39 stories

Write a story where hard work doesn’t pay off.

Angst – 28 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