Write a story about someone facing death for the first time in their life.

Posted in Sad on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 88 stories

“A Conversation with Death” by John White

Submitted to Contest #163

"So tell me, why are you here? You're quite unexpected." I stood confused. "Who are you?" I asked. "Where am I?" "I'm Death.” He replied, answering both questions at once. He wasn't at all what I expected. He was dressed quite ordinary, if not somewhat anachronistic. He wore a brown tweed sports jacket, faded blue jeans and tan desert boots. He looked more like an English professor than the grim reaper. "Really?" I was skeptical. "Yes." He declared definitively. A smile slipped across my face and I confessed, "I've tried so many ti...

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“From the Ashes” by Cathleen C

Submitted to Contest #163

Cathleen McNamara Callahan From the Ashes A fire whistle wails and my heart pounds, sweat forming in the palms of my hands. Deep inside me is a fear I can’t shake: those fire engines are coming for me. It began with a home, an old Victorian three-story brown shingle, white-trimmed “cottage” with a gambrel roof and a wide, wrap-around porch. Constructed in the 1800s with a large columned portico it sat on the south side of Main Street in a small Long Island town. Mature trees canopied the street it was on, which led to ...

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“Swept up in emotions” by Tika Brown

Submitted to Contest #163

Sally lay awake in bed, waiting for the click. She watched the sway of the shadows against her wall, watching the pace occasionally quicken and intensify then soften as the wind pushed the tree branches across her window. A rumble groaned out from the dark sky, soft at first then a louder bellow. She shuddered. She didn’t remember Pa mentioning a storm brewing at dinner tonight.Pa always mentioned storms."There’s going to be a big one, " Pa said last Friday over dinner while passing the rolls to her brother, Sammy. "Forecaster said to stay i...

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“Almost Gone” by Lo Blackwell

Submitted to Contest #163

*Trigger Warning: This story contains depictions of physical and emotional abuse, violence, and self harm. Jaelle was leaving again. The cracked leather upholstery rubbed against her bare thighs as she shifted her weight in the driver’s seat of Ray’s Trans Am. It dug into her tender flesh, jolting her with a sense of urgency that overshadowed her fear. She knew she didn’t have long before Ray would snortle awake, roll over, and notice her missing. Then he would be so pissed, he’d probably sling back a few shots of Jim Beam and start p...

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“Your Death Is Guaranteed” by Peter Saydollar

Submitted to Contest #163

“Jarious Ganfry!” The booming voice called my name as I approached. “Your Death is Guaranteed!” He sounded happy about this. Excited, even. The entire audience was applauding as I shook the voice’s hand and took the rolled-up paper from him. As I left the stage, I could hear the next several names read as I walked behind the curtain, out of view of the audience. They were names I knew. None of which I’d considered my friends, but I’d shared classes with them and was generally friendly with them if we w...

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“Holy Thresh of Pain” by Candice Yates

Submitted to Contest #163

"WHOOO, WHOOO!" I could barely make out the distant sounds of the ambulance as it drove in my direction. I was dripping wet with sweat and my whole body ached. "Lord, please don't let me die," I whispered in prayer. That was the first prayer I had managed to get out since I had left home 1 week earlier. My eyes fluttered shut. I could feel my eyelashes brush against the skin below my eyes as I faded into the darkness. Suddenly, I lurched awake from a deep sleep, wincing at the pain that shot through my body as I tried to sit up. Realizing ...

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“Rollover” by Marjorie Fowler

Submitted to Contest #163

Hanging from the ceiling of her truck in the seatbelt, Daisy attempted to orient herself. She remembered the truck breaking traction and begin to slide down the incline toward the snow berm, and it breaching and sliding across the berm. Then, as if in slow motion, it tilted and rolled and came to rest upright, but askew. Now she was hanging in her seatbelt on a mid-winter day in Anchorage, Alaska.How long she would be there was an unknown. The temperature was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit and it was morning. She couldn't move, much l...

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“Losing the Spider-Man” by Jim Ioannou

Submitted to Contest #163

Losing the Spider-Man The boy was restless. He shuffled around again and again under his Spider-Man covers, much like during those warm, summer nights, when he would get mobbed by mosquitoes without mercy. He desperately changed sides every few seconds, hoping that, this time, on that side of things, he would find peace. He never did. He wondered why mom and dad weren’t there to read him stories anymore. You’re too old for bedtime stories now, they would say. The boy did not want to be old. The boy wanted his stories. A single tapping so...

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“Unhappy in their own way” by Michael Christian

Submitted to Contest #163

When he opened his eyes, he felt as if he had ascended to heaven.This was some sort of cosmic irony, for as soon as Juan Del Toro had shaken off the crustiness of sleep and grasped the whole picture, he discovered that he had been murdered by his wife, Eleanora De Soledad, who had slit his throat with the same razor she used to shave his beard.As he gazed at the image of his wife, lying in bed next to his earthly body, dressed in a white satin sleep, the ends of which were stained with his blood; He became filled with a wave of burning anger...

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“A Family Fright Night” by Vincent Schultz

Submitted to Contest #163

Is facing death up to interpretation? Hear me out. Let’s say I owned a convenience store and was robbed at gunpoint. I think we can agree that If that were to happen and I was not killed, that I would have survived a life threatening experience. And if, for example, I were so petrified at the sight of a gun held up to my face that I soiled my pants or vomited across the counter, no one could blame me. Because after all, my life was on the line! But what if it later was discovered that the gun was fake? Is my story no longer harrowing? Have...

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“The Wrong Criminal” by Kaitlyn Mazoka

Submitted to Contest #163

Brandy Coleman was on death row. In two weeks, he was going to be executed. It would be done as humanly as possible, how most people are executed nowadays. By lethal injection. Though it may seem terrible, it is quite humane if you compare it to other ways that people have been killed in the past. Take Rome for example. People were crucified. Nailed to a wooden cross with literal nails pounded into their hands and feet. Some were forced to carry that cross for long distances before they were crucified. It was a terrible...

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“Pinch Point” by Neil Deuchar

Submitted to Contest #163

The chair screeches on the hard floor and clatters over backwards as he reaches over the metal table and takes hold of my throat. I start at the instant flood of adrenaline the sudden sound provokes but it takes a moment or two longer to realise what’s going on: that he’s intending to throttle me.I stare at him, wide eyed. I’d already noted, during the early parts of the interview, his bald head, the ring in one ear, the subtle sneer curled into the thin upper lip, the tattoo of a knife on his neck, and I’d thought how silly to put...

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“We Had All Made It” by Jamus Hanscom

Submitted to Contest #163

*****************Trigger Warning Talk of suicide and combat Trigger Warning *************** Veterans Crisis Line https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ Help Resources for PTSD https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Rumors had started to trickle in to the barracks. Someone had died. They had been murdered. No, it was an accident. Someone was dead though, that was for sure. Many of us had planned on going into town a little later as usual. Instead a miasma of nervousness had infected the air, and many of us were trying to cure it with beer....

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Write a story about someone facing death for the first time in their life.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 88 stories

“A Conversation with Death” by John White

“From the Ashes” by Cathleen C

“Swept up in emotions” by Tika Brown

“Almost Gone” by Lo Blackwell

“Your Death Is Guaranteed” by Peter Saydollar

“Holy Thresh of Pain” by Candice Yates

“Rollover” by Marjorie Fowler

“Losing the Spider-Man” by Jim Ioannou

“Unhappy in their own way” by Michael Christian

“A Family Fright Night” by Vincent Schultz

“The Wrong Criminal” by Kaitlyn Mazoka

“Pinch Point” by Neil Deuchar

“We Had All Made It” by Jamus Hanscom

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone breaking an awkward silence at a family dinner.

Write about a character who is living through a major historical event — whether they know it or not.

Write about a character who risks everything to pursue their heart’s desires.

Write a story in which someone says “You'll never be content.”

Contest #163

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

234

Contest entries

126

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: