Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write about a character putting something into a time capsule.

Posted in Science Fiction 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?

✍️ 141 stories

Behind The Wainscoting

Submitted to Contest #62

When I’m gone, finally gone, our children will find this. Behind the wainscoting. I remember you’d insisted on this—this tacky beaded white wall paneling, always insisting on what you thought you knew was best. Did it matter if I wanted the interior of our home decorated in rough sawn oak or weathered pine to create a distinctively rustic look?No. Of course not. See how easily I can tear off a tacky beaded white wall panel with this crowbar? This little brown steamer trunk will fit nicely into the crawl space. Behind the wainscotin...

78 likes 64 comments 64
Read story

Now And Then

Submitted to Contest #62

October 11, 2000 I, Lillee Indymin, sat at my school desk, jiggling my leg up and down. Five minutes left and I would be free for the weekend. Mrs. Donnel droned on and on.“And accountable talk is when you use sentence starters. Can anyone tell me one sentence starter?” She expected twenty hands to raise, but all Mrs. Donnel got was twenty groans.Fortunately, at that moment the bell rang. There was a rush of chairs slamming into tables, people whooping and hollering, and running feet. I joined everyone else, running to my locker. After openi...

64 likes 114 comments 114
Read story

Time to let go.

Submitted to Contest #62

Leo's POVI look around the old and dead yard as the men around me ruin everything I made for myself, everything I ever loved, and my life. They yell at each other like cavemen fighting over who gets the girl. They scream about what should go where and who is supposed to do that. I look down at the tattered green and yellow box I'm holding in my old and wrinkly hands. Slowly I open it, looking at the contents, I let out a long and shaky sigh. I have a picture of my late wife laying on top of the rest of the objects, she is smiling at the came...

59 likes 26 comments 26
Read story

Thousand Letters to Celestina (An Original Story)

Submitted to Contest #62

It was a fair, sunny day in the year of 1876, there is a woman named Celestina, her beauty is that of a radiant sun. A sun so bright that has captivated me from the moment that I have laid my eyes on her.The beautiful woman, adorned with luxurious colonial-era, Spanish clothing sips a cup of the finest coffee in the country.Suddenly, The bark of the tree from which I am sitting at shatters in half and I now find myself writhing in pain. My butt cheeks swelling from the fall from the Narra tree I was sitting from.Celestina noticed and immedia...

53 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

The Ugly Truth (Part 2)

Submitted to Contest #62

Authors Note: Hi everyone! I finally got a story out on Reedsy despite the assignments that were crammed and stacked onto my head! This is a sequel to "Grandpa Laurence", my previous story on Reedsy. Enjoy!Grandma Lolla took a shuddery and shaky breath as she placed a sealed envelope into the capsule, inhaling nervously. She held her back, groaned weakly and pushed the spade into the ground. She covered the fresh soil over the shiny capsule and sighed. Beatrix would soon understand the meaning of this.It had been five days. Five days, since ...

53 likes 184 comments 184
Read story

Waiting Until 2056

Submitted to Contest #62

novembir 2 2013 i put a peese of cande in the time capsol toda there are 2 things in it now. mommy said aftr lots of yers of puting things in it we can bary it undurgrond and i can look at it in a lon time. rite now i am 7 so it wil be alon time befor i can opin it. i wondr if the cande will be good enuf to eat when i opin it agan. August 16, 2016 Hello diary it has been a while. I think that this writing will be better thogh because I have been to school for 6 years so I know a lot more about grammar. It will not be perfect yet. ...

51 likes 30 comments 30
Read story

Cardinal Spring Cottage

Submitted to Contest #62

In Cardinal Spring Cottage, a light was flickering. A single flame, the only source of light in the entire cottage, burning in an almost unoccupied bedroom. Katherine sat on top of the covers, hugging her Raggedy Ann doll to her chest. Her covers were messy, overturned, and dusty, as if she had been moving around a lot in her sleep. A glass of water sat on the night desk next to her, untouched. She was too afraid to drink. Instead, she glanced at the candle, burning at her bedside table. She’d had to brave going down to the kitchen and lig...

49 likes 18 comments 18
Read story

Souvenirs

Submitted to Contest #62

“Shannon, an out-of-state plate is like a bullseye,” my boyfriend Billy warned me the day before I left. I was about to embark on a road trip from Tennessee to California for my job as a travel nurse. I had been a travel nurse for five years, that’s how I met Billy. And now Billy and I were going to be getting married, and trying to get pregnant right away, if Billy had it his way. But before I settled into a life of domesticity I wanted one last road trip, to celebrate my last bit of freedom.  Billy was worried about my trip, but he k...

45 likes 21 comments 21
Read story

Galactic Phenomenon

Submitted to Contest #62

As night fell the blue haze of day lifted to reveal the stars. I always felt that this was closer to the truth of who we are. Stars shone as sugar spilt over black marble, glistening in the sun. The night sky was such a welcome sight, appearing like magic at each sunset, promising to return as she faded in dawn's first light. Sipping my coffee I could feel the tepid, overly bitter flavour and it was lacking real cream. However, it was a source of caffeine so I drank it heartily like a sailor drinking his whiskey. Gripping my hands along...

43 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Of Fairies and Munchkin Cats

Submitted to Contest #62

Trigger warning: Descriptions of depression, suicidal thoughts, mentions of self-harm.People asked him sometimes whether he got anxious around cars. Or whether he hated cats.Olive always found those question strange.He owned a car. It was small and red and dusty. His dad had gifted it to him on his eighteenth birthday. And he owned a cat. She was white and furry and bad-tempered. She was adopted into his family when he was ten.Well, the family that consisted of Olive and his mum.His dad lived in the city with his brother, Laurence.His parent...

40 likes 27 comments 27
Read story

A Capsule of Hope

L M

Submitted to Contest #62

Cassidy: Today’s newspaper article from the New York Times, a letter to the future, and a picture of my best friend and I at the lake on a camping trip. It is a random list of items all enclosed in a used glass jelly jar, and a cardboard shoebox surrounding the objects. There is no rhyme or reason to the objects that are tucked away inside the jar, just last-minute thoughts thrown together trying to be cohesive. The summer is here, and there is nothing to do, but I must keep busy otherwise I will be given a list of chores by my mother. So f...

39 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

The Shoebox

Submitted to Contest #62

I stare at the chaos in front of me and clutch the shoebox tighter in my arms.I’ll admit—I’ve pushed “cleanliness of my bedroom” to the back of my mind lately, right next to “homework” and “college applications.”Heavy footsteps thump across the hallway and Dawn peeks her head into the room. “What’re you doing?” she asks, rubbing her bulging belly. She’s visiting for the weekend because she “misses us.” Yeah, right. Like Mom and Dad didn’t tell her to hop on the next plane as soon as she could. I know why she’s here.I’m grateful, really. But ...

36 likes 31 comments 31
Read story

Heading Up

Submitted to Contest #62

***Author's note*** This short story was originally supposed to relate to the prompt, but it didn't quite turn out the way I intended it to. It doesn't relate to the prompt much if at all, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. ***Author's note***“Guess what? I got a job at your office, but don’t worry, it’s not going to be awkward. If anything, it kind of makes this sexier, don’t you think? One day we’ll run the place, like a power-couple or something,” Max said. Clarissa smiled but didn’t say anything.A week later, she said this: “I’m sorry ...

36 likes 46 comments 46
Read story

Attached to a string

Submitted to Contest #62

I loved the ghungroos on the string, it reminded me of all the good times I had in my life. ARYAMAN had made it when we were in Kashmir. When we visited here, he would become a full time Romeo. Making bouquets, biryani, thupkas and sometimes even ponchoe for me. In the day he used to be busy writing songs and in night he would sing them for me. He wasn't ARIJIT SINGH but the rawness in his voice was like honey to my ears. Now this cottage is empty, but is filled by chilled winds. It was not easy for me to make the decision, it was never easy...

35 likes 30 comments 30
Read story

Time Capsule

Submitted to Contest #62

"Hurry!" I exclaimed, willing my mom to drive just a little bit faster. She sighs and rolls her eyes, "I still don't get why you guys do this aren't you a little too old?" Ignoring her comment I scan the road, looking for a blue Prius, red truck, silver slug bug or a green bike to my pleasure I see none. My mom pulls up next to the forest telling me when I need to be home, telling me don't do this, don't do that but I tune it out and sling my bag over my shoulder, I wasn't going to be in the lead for long. "Bye!" I exclaim, jumping out of t...

34 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who can suddenly only “remember” their future, not their past.

Thriller and Suspense – 129 stories

Write about a character who’s had their future foretold from birth — but isn’t sure if they believe it.

Fantasy – 152 stories

Write about two characters on the verge of a life-changing event, but one has rigged the outcome.

Dramatic – 90 stories

Write about a character preparing to go into stasis for decades (or centuries).

Science Fiction – 108 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