Write a story where fortune doesn’t favor the brave.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 38 stories

“War Crimes” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #135

Andriy watched his father move an anti-tank mine out of the roadway using his bare hands, all the while smoking a Chinese cigarette, the tobacco loose and pungent. “Your name, Andriy, means manly and strong,” his father explained through clenched teeth, delicately carrying the explosive. “I named you for days like these. You will be a soldier. A warrior.” “How can I be a warrior? I’m twelve,” Andriy replied, standing a ways off, hands at the ready to cover his ears. “Twelve is old enough to be the greatest of warriors. Yo...

64 comments 64

Read story

“Little Wounds” by Hannah P. Simmons

Submitted to Contest #135

CONTENT WARNING: death Something was different. Alex had been through the hall door down into the basement many times before. But when he stepped on to the cold floor that day, and felt the shadows closing in around him, it seemed he had entered a new world. It was frightening. His mother was already sitting in front of the computer, her long nails clicking against the keyboard as she rapidly typed. She didn’t acknowledge him until he was standing right beside her. “Go lie down. You don’t need the password yet.”&nbsp...

18 comments 18

Read story

“Backpedal” by Caryn Devincenti

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #135

BACKPEDAL I hoist the bag over my shoulder, like some kind of ersatz Santa, but instead of delivering toys to tots, I’m bearing gently used wardrobe items to those in need. I was once them. One in need of salvation. 1992. There’s deadness in his eyes when he strikes me. Like those fish you see lined up in rows, packed on beds of ice at crowded markets. I don’t recognize him when he looks this way. My brain screams, get up, get out, get away, but my body is paralyzed on the kitchen linoleum, the sting of his slap a warm tingle on my cheek....

15 comments 15

Read story

“Coloring” by Janet Change Balda

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #135

Today is Saturday March two and I brung 4 of my crayons because mommy said I’m not allowed to bring all 8. I brung red, blue, and yellow because in Kindergarten we learned that you can make all the colors with red, blue, and yellow, only I don’t think you can make pink. Pink is my favorite color. I also brung brown because, in my Barbie coloring book, the page I want to do today, Barbie is holding a puppy and the puppy is brown and I don’t know how to make brown with red, blue, and yellow, even though I’m in Grade One now. Maybe we learn bro...

14 comments 14

Read story

“Irrational Fear” by Sharon Hancock

Submitted to Contest #135

Stevie’s throat tightened with dread when she heard the sputtering motor of the old clunker. She tried to concentrate on her assignment. She was the top student in her class and never missed a day of school. Not until last month, anyway. That’s when she woke up with the feeling (premonition?) that something wasn’t right. Since then, she hadn’t set foot outside the house. It was just a feeling, though. That’s what everybody told her. Just a feeling (instinct?) that something awful was going to happen. She did her best to ignore...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Knowledge is Power” by Sachi Shah

Submitted to Contest #135

1375 Ibrahim Bakir dipped the slender tip of his qualm into the sooty black inkwell. Despite the afternoon sun radiating through the open windows, the ageing scribe’s eyes strained with fatigue. All around him, the sights and sounds of the Great Kingdom of Mali blended into a cacophony of shrieks, bleats and yells. Arabic market sellers bartered their goods in a guttural resonance whilst travelling nomads from the southern tribes of Niger and Niani communicated in the clicking tones of Yorùbá. Hordes of students bustled through t...

15 comments 15

Read story

“Ardor” by David Sweet

Submitted to Contest #135

The low-level ranger padded softly through the woods on mocassin feet carrying a cedar bow hand-carved by his grandfather, the only gift his grandfather had ever given him. He slung a quiver of arrows, with fletching made from hawk feathers, over his left shoulder. Moving quietly through late autumn leaves, he hoped to take the small band traveling through the valley by surprise. They weren't quiet. They argued among themselves as they ambled along the shallow creek. The ranger took cover behind a large oak and slipped an arrow from the quiv...

11 comments 11

Read story

“Serving Boy” by Usman Sy-savane

Submitted to Contest #135

So close, yet so far. What curse may this be, I ask. That even in my moments of victory, I still lose. That all the world and her being shall be against me; that even in my final moments I remain longing; that the sun rises and sets without a single touch on my skin, not even a kiss. May it be that my ambitions were too great? How easier could it have been to know you? To meet your elegance and beauty, your glowing smile and warming kindness. The orders were that every serving girl be executed, and the royal house be wiped of our...

19 comments 19

Read story

“The Meeting In The Girls Room” by DIANE Hunter

Submitted to Contest #135

It was an ordinary day for Dee Dee, as she climbed the first floor center staircase of Nathan Hale Elementary School to the girl's bathroom after lunch. And who would be standing there on the door, but mean old CC Cugno. "Not again," Dee Dee said under her breath. CC Hugo was a 6th grade girl who was mean to all the 4th grade girls, and Dee Dee and her friends hated her. Dee Dee had enjoyed going to school up until this point. She loved learning, and was active in chorus and she was president of the Spanish club. The dilemma with CC Hugo was...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Smile” by John Wilson

Submitted to Contest #135

Smile Arthur had never in his life had an extraordinary day. He has never had a day that he could talk to other people about or remember till the day he dies. He was just your ordinary guy getting a steady income as a construction worker and hoping the rent wasn’t as big as last months. He wanted to be different. He wanted to be that guy everyone could depend on, that could make a difference. Life wasn’t so kind to him. Today he had been fired from his job, and he had one last paycheck of a sad one hundred dollars. Just enough fo...

4 comments 4

Read story

“THE UNKNOWN” by VICTORIA HALTON

Submitted to Contest #135

Walking across the Detroit Bridge on a sunny cloudless day. Heading west of Cleveland with moderate traffic passing by as the wind is gracefully touching my skin. Glaring ahead at some brown objects in the middle of the sidewalk, I began to approach them to get a better view. While stepping closer I noticed a Muslim woman striding ahead towards me wearing a black hijab and a red and black matching Islamic dress. Disguising her silhouette as I have known many Muslim women to do. Odds are we were trying to figure out the same point of curiosit...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Savoury, Soldier, Spy” by Jordan Williams

Submitted to Contest #135

Content Warning - Physical Violence, Sexual ViolenceThey would lose, it was an unwinnable and untenable position. The S.E.F. had been pushed back and back for weeks and now there was no more back to which be pushed. Thomas Penrose knew it in his bones, even before he reported to what was left of command, most of the higher rankers having either deserted or fled Sunderton, but that conversation had confirmed his fears. Thomas was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Sunderton Expeditionary Force and an Intelligence Officer employed by the Coalit...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Last Stand of Carson Faraday” by Ravea LaGeorge

Submitted to Contest #135

The Sightless Knights were supposed to always be there for the people of Sanctum Reach. No matter the problem, their light was supposed to shine bright like the sun. They looked beyond everything to bring hope and peace to the land, but in the darkest of times, they were failing. They were lost and scrambling and no one knew what they could do to fix things. Carson Faraday, the leader of the Sightless Knights and bravest of them all, knew the day would come when the Knights would face a threat that they could not face. But he never thought...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Misguided Bravado” by Mike Panasitti

Submitted to Contest #135

[This account contains sensitive content in the form of mental health issues and physical violence.] “Breakfast! Breakfast! Get up for breakfast!” The familiar voices of hospital staff echoed down the hallways as heavy metal doors to the mental patients' rooms were opened, then noisily closed, and the unfortunates were roused for the morning meal. Mike frequently woke up dreading the day ahead. He had been hospitalized for three years and episodically was besought by an existe...

16 comments 16

Read story

“The Brave Get Beaten” by Okashi Kashi

Submitted to Contest #135

Trigger Warning: Story about slavery, make some assumptions.My mother once told me that fortune favours the brave. And for a long time, I believed her.The sun’s blazing heat hammered my naked back. With aching limbs I strained to pluck the cotton pieces from their plants. I tossed them into my basket, one that’d been weaved of dried sweetgrass and flower stems. I looked across the large plantation, wiping a sea of sweat off my face. As far as I could see, there were people who looked like me. And only people who looked like me. The...

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a hero or a villain deathly afraid of doing their job.

Adventure – 37 stories

Start your story with someone stepping outside their comfort zone.

Middle School – 60 stories

Set your story in a town full of cowards.

Fiction – 31 stories

Write about a casual act of bravery.

Narrative – 46 stories

Contest #135

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: I Wanna See You Be Brave

$250

Prize money

212

Contest entries

154

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 04, 2022 EST

Won by Thom With An H 🏆

Title: Home of the Brave

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write a story where fortune doesn’t favor the brave.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 38 stories

“War Crimes” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“Little Wounds” by Hannah P. Simmons

“Backpedal” by Caryn Devincenti

“Coloring” by Janet Change Balda

“Irrational Fear” by Sharon Hancock

“Knowledge is Power” by Sachi Shah

“Ardor” by David Sweet

“Serving Boy” by Usman Sy-savane

“The Meeting In The Girls Room” by DIANE Hunter

“Smile” by John Wilson

“THE UNKNOWN” by VICTORIA HALTON

“Savoury, Soldier, Spy” by Jordan Williams

“The Last Stand of Carson Faraday” by Ravea LaGeorge

“Misguided Bravado” by Mike Panasitti

“The Brave Get Beaten” by Okashi Kashi

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a hero or a villain deathly afraid of doing their job.

Start your story with someone stepping outside their comfort zone.

Set your story in a town full of cowards.

Write about a casual act of bravery.

Contest #135

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

212

Contest entries

154

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: