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

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✍️ 95 stories

“Roses are Red ” by Amber Connolly

Submitted to Contest #150

The treacherous climb was starting to wear me down, with every movement I feel my aching hands searching for the stony mountain edge to end. My breath rasps and rattles in my chest.I don’t know how many hours pass until my hands finally touch the soft yet spiky grass at the top of the rocky cliff. Blinking back tears of joy and pain, I help the rest of the group up, including the frail old Healer Sophia and we continue along the hillside to a flat clearing surrounded by two large oaks.Everyone helps to pitch the tents before nightfall, two o...

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“Cards of Reality” by Dillon Primrose

Submitted to Contest #150

It was summertime once again. Graduation celebrations were going off left and right all across the country; a time for celebrating one’s physical and, most importantly, mental growth. Khali, who is in 7th grade, is one year away from such a momentous occasion, but he is now placed in a position where such growth would be needed to have everyone come out of it unscathed. “Are we doing this, or are you still childish?” Khali decided to have his best friend, Malcolm, come over to his house to hangout together before going on family vacation. K...

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“Daydreams of a Demiurge” by Antti Huhtanen

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please, don’t do it.” said a voice. A pregnant pause followed, and on the edge of a stable moment, a click was heard, and then, there was light.Frank was walking briskly towards the lab. There was a nip in the air that made his fingers ache. The sun began to color the facade of the university's west wing. He acknowledged a passing coworker with a slight nod and smile in the middle of the courtyard, “Sally maybe, or Birgit,” he thought and delved back into the mental space where he had organized his darling project.“Is it the API that's the ...

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“Haunting of the Black Rose” by Anna Turnitsa

Submitted to Contest #150

"Please, don't do it!" a man screamed, startling Jessica awake to the flickering lights. She climbed down from the top bunk and opened the door. Before she could exit the room, her roommate pushed her aside and rushed out. Regaining her balance with the help of the door, she stepped out of the room to a chaotic crowd of frightened passengers. She hadn't escaped the horrors of war to drown or get trampled before the first night of the voyage was over. Consequently, she slipped back into the room and locked the door. The only...

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“The Skin” by Partha Sarathy

Submitted to Contest #150

The mirror stood intimidatingly facing the boy. He touched his reflection, but the mirror was cold. His eyes sharpened to observe the mirror's reflection better. His clone, in the mirror, was completely pale like milk. Getting closer, the boy had put his hand on the mirror. Like the Ying-Yang, the reflection contrasted with the boy's hand. In the pitch-black room, the pale shadow from the mirror stared into his eyes. The boy was hidden in the darkness. However, the shadow glowed as if the sun was brought it indoors."Who are you?" The boy ask...

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“THE BEAR WARNING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #150

THE BEAR WARNING Peter rushed into the building. He was already late for the appointment he had with Lady Zarlic, also known as the Tsarina, who was waiting for him on the 17th floor. There were three elevators in that building of fifty floors. As soon as Peter came in the entrance, he noticed , with a glance to their red light, that two of them were going up. So he headed for the third, which had a green light. It was only when he reached out and he wa...

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“Schedule of Doom” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #150

Schedule of Doom I sat down at my desktop computer at 6:10 a.m. with a mug of coffee, “woke” it up, scrolled down to the last thing I’d been working on—and saw something that made me gasp and fall back in my chair. “Please don’t do it,” I heard myself say. I shook my head to clear it from the fog that seemed to enswathe it.On the screen before me was...

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“Mandolin” by M Esp

Submitted to Contest #150

They are all beautiful until you get to know them. I catch a glimpse of them from across the bar and a lifetime of non-existent memories flood my mind. Sometimes choosing to stay strangers is the best thing. A thankless job yet, fruitful. Then they remain beautiful. Or maybe they find you beautiful and then you are the one who lets them down. There are those few times when you cave in to the desire and decide to talk to that beautiful stranger. Please, don’t do it. She had the eyes that looked like a black hole and no not in the “they are em...

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“To Live Forever...or Not” by Ava Everleigh

Submitted to Contest #150

Please, don’t do it…. I sobbed quietly, holding his hand. Please don’t leave me, I thought but didn’t say aloud. My sweet husband, Scott, lay in the hospital bed, a wasted version of his six-foot frame, withered down to less than 150 pounds, unable to walk any longer, losing ground every day. We had made the decision to move him to hospice, but I didn’t want us to do that because it implies giving up. His body was dying, a result of a life-saving surgery which fixed the basic problems but killed the blood supply to his bo...

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“SABOTEUR” by Lucy Lehman

Submitted to Contest #150

SABOTEUR “Christ, Jodie, don’t do that.” I’m sorry I lost my temper. If you tell the police I hurt you, it’ll ruin any chance of my getting another job. That’s a serious charge. It’ll ruin my life.” I was lying on the floor on shards of glass and thought that I’d finally gotten what I’d been wanting. I’d been looking for a way to get rid of Phil since the day he moved in with Mom and me two years ago. Picture this big burly guy, probably thirty pounds overweight, balding, with hair sticking out of his ears.&nbsp...

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“The Swiss Alpine Retreat” by Benjamin Serpell

Submitted to Contest #150

A life is not lived until you have been loved – The Swiss Alpine Retreat As I open my eyes and the once opaque windows become transparent, I am greeted by the most beautiful morning. The sun is low in the sky and the gold-white clouds blanket the valley. A vee of geese coasts gently above it, flapping silently. The scene is bright, almost too bright, but too beautiful to avert my gaze from. It reminds me of flying the red-eye and staring out across the clouds as a new morning arrives. Here, there's no tiny window, no children crying or en...

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“Keep that thing alive and it makes all of us heroes.” by K.J. Dyer

Submitted to Contest #150

Note: This story contains graphic language.“Pa-please, don’t do it.” The creatures shrill cut through the musky electrified air.Pulsating needles shoot intense pain throughout the creatures flesh, 50,000 volts in milliseconds. Muscles tense, squeezing like tentacles wrapped around prey. Blood vessels pop, tiny droplets reach the floor just before the thud.“You didn’t have too. It wasn’t his fault, not his fault at all.”Heavy breathing from the giant could be heard in silence. The commands being screamed from all sided had stopped. Taking cov...

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“H I M” by Rene Cabezudo

Submitted to Contest #150

H I M “Please, don’t do it.” “The decision has been made. And although I can calculate in infinitesimal time, my finite resolution comes without quandaries. Humanity has perceived life in an untenable fashion. You, as living beings, are selfish. The utter disregard for life has seem apathetic, at best, but to no end, self-emanating self-absorpti...

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“Plus Tax” by Tobin Wheeler

Submitted to Contest #150

*Sensitive content warning for adult language and for mentions of alcohol, suicide, self harm, and mental illness. “Please, don’t do it.” The line goes dead. She hung up. She is fed up with this, I know it. She is fed up with me. But I don’t feel it. That’s the most fucked up part of all of this, I think. I used to cry when she was mad at me. When anyone was, really. But somewhere over the course of the past two years, I lost that, too. It’s not just numb, it’s empty. The tile should be cold against my ass, the concrete my head ...

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“Cliché” by Mark Sheehan

Submitted to Contest #150

‘Please, don’t do it—it just doesn’t help—don’t cry over spilt milk,’ my parents would say. Growing up, I’d tip over a glass of this or a bowl of that, crack a tear, and that tried and tested adage would be uttered accompanied by a ruffle of my hair and a mop to clear up. But that was then. Now I know there are things that can’t be fixed with a platitude, ruffle and mop. And don’t despair at my use of “tried and tested”. I know it’s a cliché. I’m endeavouring ironic interplay with the audience. It’s the prerogative of anyone breaking the fo...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 95 stories

“Roses are Red ” by Amber Connolly

“Cards of Reality” by Dillon Primrose

“Daydreams of a Demiurge” by Antti Huhtanen

“Haunting of the Black Rose” by Anna Turnitsa

“The Skin” by Partha Sarathy

“THE BEAR WARNING” by Mara Masolini

“Schedule of Doom” by Karen Leidy

“Mandolin” by M Esp

“To Live Forever...or Not” by Ava Everleigh

“SABOTEUR” by Lucy Lehman

“The Swiss Alpine Retreat” by Benjamin Serpell

“Keep that thing alive and it makes all of us heroes.” by K.J. Dyer

“H I M” by Rene Cabezudo

“Plus Tax” by Tobin Wheeler

“Cliché” by Mark Sheehan

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.

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

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

Contest #150

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

124

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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