Set your story at a retirement or leaving party.

Posted in Sad on Nov 1, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 19 stories

“Letting go” by Rebecca Miles

I dedicate this story to my partner and to everyone who has carried or is carrying the burden of grief.Sitting by the bed, holding my hand, you think my mind is fighting against the decision of my body to quit life’s game. My eyes are closed, but I sense your will through the fingers laced tightly around my own. Tenderness is a force and you stake my claim to life through the insistent pressure of your hand. How it has grown over these long years from its immaculate small perfection to this manifestati...

136 comments 136 WINNER 🏆

Read story

“Icked Off” by PJ Aitken

BURRRR-TING! For three long months, every person in the villa shared a combined sensation of excitement and dread whenever that sound echoed out of their mobile phones. This time was different, they knew exactly what it meant for all of them. The end was near. All the islanders heard exactly where the sound came from and were looking up at the outdoor terrace expecting an announcement. Moesha stared at her ...

16 comments 16

Read story

“Master of the Drops” by Kevin Broccoli

The Master will be celebrated at nine. An hour later, the King will be dead. The cause will be natural. An attack of the heart. Tragic thing. Although kings do die young. It’s a known fact. The stress of it all ages them prematurely. The hair grays. The lips chap. They find themselves urinating far too frequently despite not drinking enough water. The King will take to his bed with something of a headach...

18 comments 18

Read story

“The Big Shutdown” by Francois Kosie

My eyes meet the gaze of the first stars of the evening, and I wonder if they’ll bring us luck as they watch over us tonight. From the hill our neighborhood stands on, I can see the city lights below us, and I feel safe inside my family's house as I watch the last stragglers hurriedly heading home through the twilit streets. They know as well as I do that soon, almost everything will shut down. I can already imagine the darkness.If all goes well, by morning, it should all be back up, and the world will be managed by the ...

9 comments 9

Read story

“Eddy and Tom - Part III (Dad's Retirement Party)” by Mustang Patty

Eddy knew deep down this wasn’t the most fantastic idea. But his mother said it would be okay. She actually pushed him more than usual. And frankly, his mother could be quite annoying about these things. “You need to show Tom you want him to be a part of your life. What better way than to bring him tonight?” “Mom. Don’t you think it’s short notice, and… Dad isn’t exactly crazy about me da...

14 comments 14

Read story

“The Retirement Party” by Annika C. Jodran

Retiree Kshitij Punit Aati closed his workstation and leaned back in his chair which bounced gently up and down over its magnetic base. He would miss that reassuring rocking he thought as he tidied his few personal possessions into his carry all. He had spent the morning finalizing the data from his latest project, his last project, he conceded, and was happy to return from his midday break and find that his hypothesis had been confirmed. It was satisfying to be right and even more so to have provided more important data to add to the Col...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Of Three” by Dan Kirshtein

The banner hung above the bar, in front of him: Good Luck Alice! The party was a bit much: an effigy of Alice’s tendency to overcompensate. The appearance of her newfangled–somewhat legendary–fiance, who was dragging her away to some no-name town in the midwest, was the cherry on top. Raymond hated cherries. Over the music, over the clinking of the glasses, over the mind-numbing small talk...

9 comments 9

Read story

“Karoshi” by Daniel Legare

Suneer’s eyes opened at 5am as they did everyday, his internal clock tuned to the schedule he’s followed for nearly 27 years. With long slow blinks he pulled himself from the lull of dreaming and wriggled his way up to a seating position, pausing every few seconds to wait for the ache in his joints to subside. He spends the next minute coughing a dry painful cough, the unmistakable hacking of a smoker’s lungs. It had be...

3 comments 3

Read story

“All the little things” by Lily Bourke

Sensitive content: themes of deathJohn checked his watch. 5:04pm. 182 days, 60 minutes to go. He wondered when he would stop counting the minutes. He wandered when there wouldn’t be any more minutes to count. The Goodbye and Good Luck banner hung lopsided above a table laden with cupcakes and pastries. He picked at the apple turnover on his plate. It tasted like cardboard. He hoped his sense of taste would return. “Urgh, trust it to rain when I forgot my brolly!” Louise smoothed her ...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Fanfare” by Karen McDermott

What first hit me was the cold. What I first hit was the printer. Daft to leave the tray poking out over the bin everyone was discarding their cupcake cases in. There were fans on every desk. As well as overhead fans. The flapping of neon post-it notes forming the disco lights of the party. All the windows were wide open, the sounds of gulls and sirens added to the mix of the whirring of the blades and t...

4 comments 4

Read story

“The Inevitability of Tomorrow” by Ryan Bradshaw

Jameson sat in his office and wallowed in his self despair. The department members had come for their slice of cake, made their small talk, and filtered back out to their desks in the common area. He had feigned eating his slice, slowly sliding the plate off of his desk and letting it fall into the trash just a few seconds after digging at it with his plastic fork. The paper cup filled with punch stayed, but he did take ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Thank God It's Summer” by Christopher Biery

“Happy retirement!” POP! Suddenly it was raining confetti on my desk. My otherwise sparkly clean cubicle had been puked on, but my OCD decided to take a pleasantly timed vacation. My smile grew wider than I knew it could. I look up to see Penn, my boss, holding the empty confetti canon, and wearing a rainbow party hat. Ken, my cubey-neighbor, wore the same triangle hat, but upside down so it looked like he had grown a sk...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The False Dawn. ” by Julie Grenness

No one could ever predict this, not even the designers of Sentience Inc. The latest robots had been produced. They rolled off the production line, seemingly perfect. This batch was designed and created to be sex assist robotic companions, each with an interactive responsive human/android interface. These robots were perfect in every way. Except, one sentient robotic brain was a deviant. He quietly went on his firs...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Time to Retire” by Jonathan Morris

“I wish I had more time”. Claire stared out at the audience, a sea of people she barely knew. Claire had not wanted a retirement party. She had not wanted to retire. Claire was happy at the corporation. She had been happy there for the past 37 years. Claire had hoped she would die at her desk and not alone in her home. Claire did not fear dying but she did not like the thought of her body meltin...

1 comment 1

Read story

“I Quit” by Christine Reding

I Quit It is Christmas Eve, and I have never been separated from this holiday in celebration with my four daughters before. My husband had been fired for the third time in less than one year and I desperately needed employment, specifically for the insurance benefits. I am employed as a nursing assistant at our local nursing home, and my first assignment is...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone saying “I quit!”

Adults – 58 stories

Write a story about someone who knows it’s time to retire or change jobs, but is hesitating.

Adults – 45 stories

Write about a rivalry between two coworkers that has unforeseen consequences.

Adults – 26 stories

Write about someone who has long since quit but decides to go another round for old time’s sake.

Adults – 39 stories

Contest #166

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Game, set, match

$250

Prize money

187

Contest entries

76

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 07, 2022 EST

Won by Rebecca Miles 🏆

Title: Letting go

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Set your story at a retirement or leaving party.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 19 stories

“Letting go” by Rebecca Miles

“Icked Off” by PJ Aitken

“Master of the Drops” by Kevin Broccoli

“The Big Shutdown” by Francois Kosie

“Eddy and Tom - Part III (Dad's Retirement Party)” by Mustang Patty

“The Retirement Party” by Annika C. Jodran

“Of Three” by Dan Kirshtein

“Karoshi” by Daniel Legare

“All the little things” by Lily Bourke

“Fanfare” by Karen McDermott

“The Inevitability of Tomorrow” by Ryan Bradshaw

“Thank God It's Summer” by Christopher Biery

“The False Dawn. ” by Julie Grenness

“Time to Retire” by Jonathan Morris

“I Quit” by Christine Reding

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone saying “I quit!”

Write a story about someone who knows it’s time to retire or change jobs, but is hesitating.

Write about a rivalry between two coworkers that has unforeseen consequences.

Write about someone who has long since quit but decides to go another round for old time’s sake.

Contest #166

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

187

Contest entries

76

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: