Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story where the readers are in on a secret that the characters are unaware of.

Posted in Novel 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?

✍️ 101 stories

A Giant Purple Snail

Submitted to Contest #55

“Wait,” cried the fly dodging the open beak. “Wait!” “We each have our part to play,” said the bird, landing on the sheep’s back. “This ewe eats the grass and makes wool, you eat her poo to help regrowth, and I eat you.”            “It is as simple as that,” rasped the sheep, coming to a stop. “We each have to play our part.”            “I understand very well my part,” said the fly, steadying itself on a stiff strand of wool and put...

26 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

4 lives, action!

Submitted to Contest #55

The cameras focused in on Mayson and Arlynn as they walked home from school. The micro-cams zoomed in close as possible.  “Arlynn?” Mayson asked quietly. Arlynn looked over at him.  “Yes?” She asked, her eyes glinting.  This was the moment all the world had been waiting for. Mayson was about to ask Arlynn to prom. At least, thats what they all expected. This reality show was pretty extreme, so who knew what could happen. The director sent fluffy clouds across the pixelated sky to shade the two unsuspecting teens. They ha...

25 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

In Search of Utopia

Submitted to Contest #55

Perched atop the tallest building in the Zirconium Province, Fenwick looks down on a perfect world. Bodies moving along the roadway in seamless synchronicity. Whistling workers reporting happily to a day of manning the theatres, the grocery stores, and even the mines. Seeing all this joy, this merriment, this effervescent bliss Fenwick wants to kill himself even more.He remembers from the old movies how they would do it. One jump off the tallest building in town. He was on the tallest building in the biosphere. The taller the better. No pain...

24 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Nightborn (part 11)

Submitted to Contest #55

Like fire and brimstone, the monstrosity erupted from the basement and flooded the first floor of the mansion with fire. The Lightbloods that got caught up in it disintegrated in front of Damien’s eyes, and he had to duck behind a corner to not meet the same fate. What in all hells is that thing? The monster was so tall that its head scraped the ceiling. Its long, thick arms and legs groped with unnatural strength, breaking doors and men with ease. It bore hellish yellow eyes and had skin as black as charcoal. Nightborn eyes. But a...

24 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

Christine

Submitted to Contest #55

When Christopher was born, Maggie could stop having children as her husband, Bill, finally got the son he wanted. His two big sisters, Kelly and Sally, couldn’t wait until Mom brought home their new baby brother. But one thing the doctors failed to mention was that Christopher was really a Christine. They took their new son home and the girls just loved him immediately. They helped their mother care for him. Kelly was five and Sally was four when baby Christopher was born. They quickly learned how to diaper and feed him. To them, he was th...

22 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Pompeii

Submitted to Contest #55

I glanced up as I heard the faint clanking of my plates knocking against each other. That was strange. Why were they doing that? A horse cart passed by my house suddenly. Ah, of course. I shook my head. I didn’t know why I was worrying about something so stupid. I had bigger things to worry about. Calix. As if the Gods had read my mind, I saw him pass by my window at that moment. My heart raced just from catching a glimpse of him. A man truly worthy of his name. I couldn’t even count how many times I had visited Venus’ temple to beg for her...

21 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Origin

Submitted to Contest #55

The survivors of the explosion of a great quantum bomb, which destroyed that planet initially lost in the cosmic dust and ultraviolet rays that emanated from a placidly powerful sun and whose origins were unknown by the majority of the humanoid population, in addition to the population. robonoid  However, many information recorded in a photoelectric cell placed right in the virtual cloud of the humanoid stellar commandos, said that the inhabitants of these planets should inhabit shelters underground to avoid the electrical storms t...

20 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Follower

Submitted to Contest #55

It was surprisingly warm for a January day in Pittsburgh when Jenny decided to take her dog, Mouse, for its morning walk. She slipped on Mouse’s collar but decided that it was warm enough outside to leave the dog booties by the door. That morning, she decided to slip on her own pair of dirty and worn-down sneakers instead of her own heavy snow boots.She was excited that the sun pushed through the thick layer of clouds and melted the tiresome snow. She loathed the winter and could not wait for the day that she went to college in a state that ...

20 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

The Town Crier!

Submitted to Contest #55

(Write a story where the readers are in on a secret that the characters are unaware of.) The postman fills his small temporary cart with the mail for both sides of the street on this block.  As he drops envelopes and letters into the slots by house number, he vaguely acknowledges what might be inside. A bill or personal or ?  Sometimes he makes up outrageous scenarios based on the outward impression the person of the house has made on him, how annoying, rude or pleasant.  It is a mindless game but amusing. Bumping along th...

20 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Mayday, Captain Midnight! (A follow-up to Onward, Captain Midnight!)

Submitted to Contest #55

Explosions in space, the destruction moons, the murder of gods.These acts, easily perceived as malicious by the less informed, were taking the Lenin System by storm once more.  Trapped within the confines of the steel cargo container mounted onto the ventral portion of the Sputnik-class rocket ship, the scoundrel of the skies known as Captain Midnight and his foil, the mighty heroine the Blue Yonder had been sought upon by rouge Soviet forces following their failure to stop the villainous Midnight from activating his supe...

20 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Nightingale

Submitted to Contest #55

David drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. Evelyn was late for what seemed like the millionth time, and he already knew he would have to cut the date short. “A bottle of Pinot Noir,” he said when the waiter came around again, “and another basket of bread.” He twisted a piece of crust in his fingers as though it owed him money. “Hurry up,” he whispered under his breath. Almost as if on cue, Evelyn floated through the door. David raised his hand to wave her over. “Hey, babe,” she leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Hey--”...

19 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Fran Finds a Body

Submitted to Contest #55

Fran was a sleepwalker. She hadn’t always been a sleepwalker. She seemed to have developed it out of necessity the way we developed thumbs and the ability to speak once upon a time. A sleepwalking Fran was scarier than a drunk Pete. Pete, her first husband, grew tired of slapping her around, of throwing beer bottles and fifths at her head only for her to stand catatonic, her eyes glowing green like the beams from an alien spacecraft. He dodged her lasers and left her alone and she no longer woke with bruises and cuts and broken limbs. She ne...

18 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

If

Submitted to Contest #55

“Is this seat taken?” He asks, hand on the sliding door.           Her eyes, framed by long eyelashes, raised, and inquisitive gaze lands on the boy. She shakes her head, auburn tendrils bouncing, as if excited to show off their newfound colors crowned by the slanted sun, penetrating the train windowpanes.           The torturous gold on her hair transfixes the boy; his mind is momentarily overwhelmed by imagined memories, imbued wit...

18 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Understanding Dawned Late

Submitted to Contest #55

Note: This can be enjoyed on its own, but some of the characters will be better understood if you read She Had to Ask, submission date of July 14, 2020. ******* Captain William Anderson sat in the dim light of the dingy Oxtail Tavern nursing his noon-time ale with a scowl on his weathered face. The long sticky tavern table was empty save him and his Second Mate Frank Davies. He hoped this meeting would net them the additional crew they needed.    Captain Anderson was pissed that he had to adjust his trade route and annoye...

18 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Who's looking over whose shoulder?

Submitted to Contest #55

Who’s looking over whose shoulder? “Listen up, everybody, this is between ourselves. The ignoramuses down there think they are operating an unknown clandestine outfit, but the stupid pricks are as transparent as a glass of vodka. I’m letting you in on this to show you how the best-laid plans of mice and the other thingy can go awry.  “They’ve spent the last two years preparing, but for some reason thought they were invulnerable to someone literally looking over their shoulders. But we can learn from them. Have you ever seen such...

18 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a meeting of a secret society.

Mystery – 155 stories

Write a story about an old family secret surfacing generations later.

Adults – 141 stories

Write a story that either starts or ends with someone asking, “Can you keep a secret?”

Kids – 420 stories

Write a story involving a conversation that’s packed with subtext; the characters aren’t quite saying what they mean.

Dialogue – 77 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