Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story that either starts or ends with someone (or something) saying, “Please, don’t do it.”

Posted in Sad on Oct 31, 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?

✍️ 95 stories

Ocean Of Guilt

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please, don't do it." Those were the words that always seemed to echo in my head when I was about to finish a robot. Only this time, it was stronger. It was the first robot to have feelings, and I was the creator, the genius. But the voice continued, like an alarm, it shouted and whispered and pleaded and cried. But it was always too late. There wasn't any sense left to reach anymore. Merely blank, absent-minded actions. A thick fog clogged my view. All I could see were the cables, shooting out, like red bloody veins, of their square metal ...

64 likes 40 comments 40
Read story

Please, for the Love of All That Is Good, DO NOT Read This Story

Submitted to Contest #150

Oh no.Oh, no no no no no no no.What have you done? Why did you click on this story? Wasn’t the title clear enough?Listen, I’m going to let you in on something, right from the start. You do not want to read this story. You still have a chance. You haven't gotten to the point of no return yet. You can stop reading now and go and find some other writer to read. Any other. There are loads of great authors on this site that you can read instead. You can read a gripping horror, a beautifully written romance or a thought-provoking sci-fi. It’s all ...

62 likes 71 comments 71
Read story

The Darkness

Submitted to Contest #150

                   Nobody can understand. Even if they would, I can NOT tell them. I don’t even know where to begin. The sunshine in my days has turned to darkness. How can anyone weather a storm with not a single ray of light to guide them? There’s an emptiness that nothing I try will fill. I can sense evil upon me. It is dragging me down as though I am sinking in quick sand. As if losing everything I own is not enough… I am losing my mind and san...

32 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

For a departed soul

Submitted to Contest #150

As she sat down beside the white wrap that covered the lifeless body of her uncle, she didn't know what to think. His feet seemed so small inside it. It was lying so close - a small stretch of her hand and she could have touched it, yet her eyes failed. She dared not to look at the shroud. It was terrifying, to know for the first time that life was so little.His life seemed so little. He had indeed lived for long - past seventy - so why should anyone worry? The closest of kith and kin could say he had lived long enough and had died content. ...

29 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

The Vase of N’Hahn

Submitted to Contest #150

His breath caught in his chest, his heart skipped and his eyes dilated as they fell upon her. The elderly attendant led her out, his white gloves caressing her smooth curved body. Murmurs, quietly excited and amorous, began in the front row and swiftly spread across the onlookers as though carried on a breath of wind. There she stood: the Vase of N’Hahn.Jack wanted her.  Jack had to have her.He had never been more certain of any fact in his life. He must have her. His mind, within the breadth of a moment, had been totally stol...

25 likes 19 comments 19
Read story

Failed Promise

Submitted to Contest #150

I need to be ready and I haven’t been sure of my decision. “Until now,” I tell myself firmly sitting up just a little straighter to feel the surety I need. So much money is involved, or just possibly some hope for humanity. “This is long overdue.” I speak the words out loud to the empty office as I put away the remains of my leftover lunch, the bits I saved for this dinner that I knew I’d be eating at my desk, too stressed to eat much anyways as I prepared for tonight’s Board Meeting. Then that other voice creeps in. “Why am I kidding m...

22 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

God

Submitted to Contest #150

Dear God, Oh, please don't do it.Please forgive this ungrateful sheep for abandoning the Holy Shepherd in a prosperous and bountiful time. You harvested my filthy wool, shearing it from my oozing-pus-filled skin marred by my temporal infirmities; you transformed me into a resurrected fleece of harlequin nature. I swear to you that I haven't abandoned you out of sheer lack of faith; I even want to be wrapped in your gracious grace again, with your light penetrating the void and casting a divine glow that speckles across in glory.An earth...

22 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

The son, the family and the gangsters

Submitted to Contest #150

Please don’t do it  Please don’t do it said the mother who’s sitting in the dark to her son who is about to leave the house in the middle of the night. My son, please hear me, don’t get mixed up in this life, it’s nothing short but life in prison or an early grave, the money is good, the clout is great, but you’ll be a fool with no escape. The son opens the door and walks through as if he didn’t hear the mother’s wise words. The mother looked at her phone to see the time and notice her battery was at twenty-five percent and her tears st...

21 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Givers and Takers

Submitted to Contest #150

"Please, don't do it," my last Giver said in her tiny, little voice. She did not plead; instead, she said it with resignation. It was as if part of her would not give up even though no other options were available. A Taker, me, loomed over her, shaking with the cravings I could no longer keep at bay. What luck for me that her lousy luck brought her here. The little ones brought me closer to that which I sought; the little ones, usually so carefully guarded, brought down all my defenses, giving me hope above all else that I could reach beyond...

20 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Unwelcomed Newcomer

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please, don’t do it!” I pleaded to my human while I pressed my soft furry head into her leg with earnest. I jumped up onto her lap gracefully and repeated my signature move against her torso. Finally, going in for the kill-her-with-cuteness move to get her to understand my plea, I stretched my slender delicate figure upwards so that my paws rested daintily on her chest and my head matched the height of her own. Again, using my cuteness as a weapon of persuasion, I pressed my silky face hard against her fleshy hairless cheek before I switche...

20 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Bad TV

Submitted to Contest #150

James took the bathroom art off the wall and put it on the counter. I watched as he used its glass front to cut his cocaine into three short lines. The powder appeared to levitate above the typography print that read, “Please don’t do coke in the bathroom.” James snorted a line using a rolled-up twenty, slurped the drip from the back of his throat, and spit the wet into the sink. He did that every time he did coke. Snort. Slurp. Spit.  I didn’t want to be there, but I couldn’t get out; James and Mandy Stuart pinned me to the back corner...

20 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

Foley's Phone

Submitted to Contest #150

Please, don’t do it. Despite imagining that his cell phone begs him for mercy, Foley Gaspers wants to mercilessly drown it.Foley wonders why the bathroom he uses in his mother’s house has not one, but two sinks. Two large, rectangular porcelain washbasins. The only sinks he used for the ten years before moving back in with his mom were part of the same stainless-steel unit as a prison cell toilet. When there were disciplinary issues, he’d be released from his quarters once a day for less than ten minutes to take a shower. ...

19 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Brick

Submitted to Contest #150

I think my computerised assistant may be developing human-like traits.About two years ago, she was assigned to me by the tech company that I work for. Since then, she has proven to be a superb work tool to have around. Weirdly, I don’t recall much of what life was like before her arrival. We are so synchronised in our habits that we achieve our daily goals without any need for words. For the duration of her post, she has been hardworking, reliable and consistent yet unfairly, I have nicknamed her BRICK because she lacks any personality and i...

19 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

The Proposal

Submitted to Contest #150

Please, don’t do it. Jenny thought as George bent down on one knee. She looked away. She couldn’t bear to experience the embarrassment of what was about to happen. How could it be happening? There were literally no signs leading up to this. Jenny thought to herself, okay, let’s see. I woke up, everything seemed fine. I slept fine. Except for the slight crick in my neck. No biggie. Okay…got dressed…wait. No, I didn’t get dressed first, I went to the bathroom, then contemplated taking a shower or not. I still had one more good day of hair whi...

19 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

Beyond Birth: Event Horizon

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please, don't do it.”Heinsler spent weeks postponing the latest initiative, begging for time. But Doctor Eifler was a “visionary,” which translated to “someone refusing to listen to anything but their ego.” The sciences were full of arrogant geniuses high on themselves. Heinsler recalled the lives lost by fools arrogant enough to tickle the dragon tail of the demon core. How much had been gained for nuclear science by those loses? Or themselves, he wondered.“Jack,” Eifler said turning back to his associate, “you're a doctor. Compose yoursel...

18 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who is convinced their computer is conscious.

Science Fiction – 34 stories

Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.

Science Fiction – 27 stories

Write about a character who has access to a powerful new technology before anyone else.

Science Fiction – 25 stories

Write about a character, human or robot, who no longer wishes to obey instructions.

Kids – 55 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