Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story with two characters who meet for the first time — and one of them has a secret.

Posted in Short Story on Sep 6, 2024

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?

✍️ 83 stories

You have no idea what you are getting into

Submitted to Contest #267

[Indirect mentions of SA, DA and drink spiking] HERI am no saint, but no one really is. Some people are less evil, some people are more evil. I have done things I am not proud of, and will have to live with the consequences once they come. I do, however, refuse to feel guilt for what I have done. There are reasons behind my actions, and no one will convince me they are not for “the greater good”. I am writing here in my diary, to be able to get it off my chest, as I cannot speak to anyone about it. I wish I could scream it from the top of my...

51 likes 42 comments 42
Read story

Reaching for the Wind

Submitted to Contest #267

Reaching for the Wind     “Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.”                                                                       &n...

31 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

Mysteries in Starry Skies Above the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #267

The Querida, whose name meant “dear," struggled where she was caught on the ocean reef. Her square, clipper ship sails were ragged. Her three masts leaned to the side. Nearby, the jagged shore threatened her.A mile away, high above the sea. sixteen-year-old Maria Bibiana walked over the rocks near the rim of the dormant volcano in the brightening dawn.She turned her face toward the sea and their wrecked ship.The island exploration voyage and passage to Rio de Janeiro had ended with disaster. It was the late 1800s. They were stranded on a bar...

31 likes 24 comments 24
Read story

No Vacancy at the Coral Reef Motel

Submitted to Contest #267

He just got here a few minutes ago, and he’s already asleep. Ten minutes and you go from hot and heavy to snoring. It’s cute. I don’t like to think of guys who come by as cute, but he’s cute. Tells me he works at a nursing home in town. One of the ones they put in an old church after they didn’t need the church anymore. One of the ones that still has the stained glass. Look through it careful and you’ll see some woman in a wheelchair trying to remember what day it is. That’ll never be me. I’ll throw myself in the ocean first. And it’s so clo...

24 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

Secrets and Lies

Submitted to Contest #267

My name is Esmarelda, which means emerald—Esmae for short. It’s not my real name, though I have green eyes. Long ago, at my birth, my mother died. My father, already blessed with a son and daughter, witnessed it. He blamed me for her demise. His enraged reaction was to have me exposed - left to die. This act of his, the belief that I was a curse, left a deep scar on my heart.My midwife, Morag, saved me. Saving a baby should never include rescuing from exposure. First, she lied about preventing my death. She only revealed this truth when...

22 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

THE OTHER PREDATOR

Submitted to Contest #267

The forest brimmed with shadows, every branch and vine curling as if they were skeletal fingers. The heavy and damp air clung to my skin, coating me like an unwanted second layer. In the distance, a crow cawed—a sharp, jarring cry that pierced through the trees, carried by the wind as a clear warning. The sound lingered, echoing too long in the stillness. I crouched low beneath the gnarled roots of an ancient oak, my body concealed in the thick underbrush. From my vantage point, I could see everything: the twisting path that snaked through t...

21 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

Isabella

Submitted to Contest #267

I recognized her immediately. Which was impossible but true. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, and my hands started to tremble so badly that I had to stuff them into my pockets. This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. I felt dizzy and I tried to remember if I’d eaten anything for breakfast that morning. I would have to try to scarf someting down on the plane. She was seated in a chair near the gate, a carry-on bag resting on her lap. I noticed that her eyes kept drifting up toward the arrival desk. I wondered if she was an anxious t...

19 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

Downward

Submitted to Contest #267

Tigger warning: Death, Religion.Archie laid on his stomach with only a single headlamp to cut through the absolute darkness surrounding him. The smooth stone underneath his body was damp, the cold seeped through his polyester layers of skin-tight caving gear and bit at his flesh. A ceiling of the same black rock pressed down against his shoulders. There was barely a foot between the two layers of bedrock. He inched forward. Dragging himself through the tight crevice buried under the earth, he used all his strength. His muscles burned with th...

17 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Lavender and Mystery

Submitted to Contest #267

There was a distinct, frosty chill in the fall evening as Abigail made her way to the small Italian restaurant, La Pasta. The rustic, multi-colored leaves whispered in the breeze, blowing and scattering along the path as black heels clicked methodically with each step taken on the narrow sidewalk. Reaching up, she attempted to tame loose wisps of russet-colored hair flying about her face, but it was futile. Thick, lustrous curls had a mind of their own, and there was no luck to be had with escaping gusts of wind which lent it new l...

16 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

First Day Fears

Submitted to Contest #267

“I really feel quite strongly that it’s a bad idea!” Darren shouted across the hall to his dad “I’m just scared, and I didn’t sleep last night and I won’t know anyone there!”“You’re not scared son, you’re just nervous, which is fine. The first day of secondary school is always going to be daunting. But it’s 7:30 AM on the day that you start, it’s a bit late to decide you want to go to a different school now!” Darren's dad exclaimed firmly but in an understanding, caring tone.“I won't know anyone there” Darren whined while pulling on his trou...

16 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

The Mystery Man

Submitted to Contest #267

Cal plunked down on one of the many plastic chairs in the employee cafeteria, setting his cellophane wrapped hamburger, fries, and can of soda carefully in front of him. Eating lunch was the highlight of his day. Lunch was a mere thirty minutes long, but it was thirty minutes to himself, with no demands and cranky customers calling him. Be careful what you wish for, he thought wearily. A few scant months ago, he would have done anything, paid any price, to lead such a boring, humdrum life. At that time, he was at death’s door, finding himsel...

15 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

What Could Be Worse?

Submitted to Contest #267

   The traveling salesman was alone in the train compartment, still shaken from what he had seen. Why had she done it?   "May I join you?"   Not waiting for a reply, the man in black sat down across from the salesman, but did not introduce himself. In fact, he turned his head to look out of the window. They sat in silence, the salesman thinking about the woman on the platform, what she had done.    Outside the train window, the bare trees filed by slowly, their thin, dark branc...

14 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

RHODI'S ROSES

Submitted to Contest #267

Fairweather skipped down Willow Lane, her uneven pigtails bouncing like springs, eyes wide with wonder at her new surroundings. The quaint houses lining the street morphed in her imagination: a thatched cottage became a gingerbread house, a brick bungalow, a dwarf's underground lair. But it was the house at the end of the lane that truly captivated her - a grand Victorian house, set away from the street, its weathered façade of red brick with black brick diamonds nearly hidden behind a riot of climbing roses and twisting vines. To Fairweathe...

13 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Sometimes It Catches Up With You

Submitted to Contest #267

Sometimes It Catches Up With You Glancing down at my watch, I saw that there were less than thirty minutes left until it would all be over. Ten o’clock was what I had decided on, and I was going to make good on that. No backing out.  I let out a sigh and raised the glass to my lips, draining the last of the Jack Daniels. My eyes closed as a familiar fire ignited in my stomach, calming my nerves. Over the sound of tonight’s band, I barely heard the ice clinking around as I set the glass back onto the coaster.    &nbs...

12 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Getting Away from It All

Submitted to Contest #267

***references to outdated attitudes - homophobia, racial - veiled references to self harm and eating disorder - strong language***Sam had been tracking the girl’s movements for a while. Not obsessively so, that would have made it all too obvious, but through a combination of social media and word of mouth –eavesdropping mainly – it had been easy enough to find and pick her out, approach her if and when he decided that was what he wanted to do. However, when he first came across her, encountered her face-to-face as opposed to through some sho...

12 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Your character overhears something that changes their path.

Short Story – 37 stories

There’s been an accident — what happens next?

Short Story – 67 stories

Write a story set against the backdrop of a storm.

Dramatic – 104 stories

Your character wants something very badly — will they get it?

Short Story – 58 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