Write a short story in which the last line is the countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve.

Posted in Winter on Nov 1, 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?

✍️ 97 stories

“Ineffable Fireworks” by Charisa Dwi Santika

Submitted to Contest #22

"So you mean tonight we will end here?" I said to start the conversation. Tonight is New Year's Eve. Everyone is downtown down there. Watching various kinds of shows until later in the peak at midnight, they will light fireworks that are very magnificent from year to year. This man next to me never answers my question. I'm confused, when everyone is busy celebrating, he instead pulled me here. On the hill behind the city. This hill is beautiful. I can see everything from here. The rays of light from each of the city's performance lights look...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Realm's” by Emily Ku

Submitted to Contest #22

I was about to go to my warm, soft bed in a cold winter night when I hear something. A voice was calling to me. The voice was saying, “Eve. Come here, and let me tell you what you must beware of.” I tried to ask the thing where it was, and it said, “I am where your father died.” I quickly got out of bed, and ran to the car. I wanted to drive there right away, but knew it wasn’t safe since I was only fifteen. I decided to run, but quickly regretted it. About fifteen minutes in, I started panting. I forgot how far away the grave was. I finally...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Stuck in the Past” by Samuel Cardy

Submitted to Contest #22

Jack stared at the grubby door. Weather-beaten, graffitied, scratched, dinted, it was a wonder it was still standing. Something in its withered condition seemed to reflect the reluctance hanging within him. Something in its familiar, disappointing countenance reminded him of who was seated on the other side. He eased it open and stepped in. If the front door looked run-down, the inside of the pub was no better. Somehow, despite the fact smoking in public had been banned for ten...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Cat and mouse” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #22

“It’s this unknown number calling again” – Sarah announced as she picked up her phone from the coffee table.“Answer it” – Hannah suggested, taking a sip of her marshmallow filled hot cocoa.“They’ve called twice already. What if something happened to your parents and someone is trying to get a hold of you?” – she continued.Sarah looked at her friend in disbelief. Hannah was such a good-natured person, but she didn’t always think things through before saying things out loud. “Good job trying to freak me out” – Sarah replied, placing the phone ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Ten Reasons Not to Kill Myself” by Yair Ron

Submitted to Contest #22

TEN. It’s nearly midnight and I am standing on a ledge overlooking a cheering crowd. They are gathered here in celebration - another year gone by, another come again, the cycle repeating as it always has and always will, ad infinitum. Most of them would call it a good thing if they were still sober enough for abstract thought. But no, they are drunk on alcohol and reckless joy and the companionship of loved ones and they cannot see the unbreakable, unbearable hold of the chains of time. They must have sadness and sorrow in their life...

4 comments 4

Read story

“A New Year's Eve Tradition” by Jason Burchfield

Submitted to Contest #22

Everyone has their reasons for being at a New Year’s Eve party, and I am no exception. For most it’s just another socially excepted time to get plastered drunk with no guilt or shame. There’s always a few in the group that use the excuse to loosen their morals to engage in acts they normally wouldn’t because tomorrow will magically clear the slate for a new beginning. Every year it’s the same thing loud music, spilled alcohol, and people trying their hardest to not be alone. The only thing that ever changes is the number...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Noblesse Oblige” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #22

“Noblesse Oblige” his mother had always said. This was usually followed by the lecture about privilege bringing responsibility, and the necessity for good manners and graciousness. “Even with the most tiresome of persons,” she had once said to him, after a newspaper report about him being “boorish”. To be fair she didn’t nag, but had her two weapons of choice, the lecture and the look, and even though he was a grown-up now, he didn’t care to be on the receiving end of either. She was also possibly the only – well, person,...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Reality” by Samantha N Bishop

Submitted to Contest #22

RealityI hear my rapid, shallow breathing intensify with my grip on the medicine bottle. Yet again, I try to fight off the doubts filling my mind. The decision I’m about to make isn’t one to be taken lightly. Even if this gets me away from Him, I might never see my daughter again.The bedroom is so dark that I strain to see the time on the clock. For the thousandth time, I find myself questioning why, in this day and age of technology, He didn’t have a Digital Clock.With bars on the window, bolts on the outside of the door, and a passcode for...

3 comments 3

Read story

“New Years Party” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #22

Kim Plasket5602 Silver Star RoadApt 529Orlando, FL32809 New Years I really hated going to parties but my best friend Grace told me I had to go to this one since nobody wanted to spend New Year’s eve alone. Little did she realize I preferred my own company, it was so much easier to say “I’m going to bed” when I was alone.Nobody cared if I sat on the couch and ate a bag of potato chips while watching earthquakes ruin someone’s plan. Going to a party meant I had to get dressed up and act as if I wanted to talk to people but I ow...

0 comments 0

Read story

“My freedom” by Arinze Chibuikem

Submitted to Contest #22

'My freedom' by Omeje, Arinze chibuikemI was practically imprisoned for seventeen years; imprisonment may literally mean putting some one in a jail but practically it entails any form of restriction to implementation of ones will. Growing up as a young kid, I was deprived of a lot privileges, my will all times die within my premature mind where it is conceived. My choice was irrelevant and all times influenced. The most depressing was the inscription made on the linings of the walls of my subconscious mind that I can't pay visit t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A Whole New World” by Elaine Leet

Submitted to Contest #22

Frankie gazed down from a second-floor balcony overlooking the ballroom. Her burgundy evening gown, that cost a month’s salary, flowed above her new satin slippers. Her gold necklace complemented the blonde highlights in her auburn hair. For nearly a year she had worked to create a New Year's Eve bash that would get environmental scientists rubbing shoulders with the financial powerhouses of the United States. The location had been a sure shot: the most exclusive hotel on a California beach north of Monterey. The oceanside amenit...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Three Dollar Bills” by M.M. Butler

Submitted to Contest #22

Three dollar bills. A dot, a C, and a jackpot. Sixteen people - some strangers, some born to celebrate together for the rest of their lives - gather around a table built for eight. Chairs are mixed and matched. Benches. Folding. Dinner chairs. 10. The dogs are excited. They’re released from their hiding spot to relieve themselves. They can’t squeeze around the table. There’s too many people. Round two begins. Wine permeates the air between those talking about new house deals, upcoming engagements, fond memories of the past 12 months. 9. Famo...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A New Reality” by Ellie K

Submitted to Contest #22

A new world. A new life for us all, they promised. A new way of life, a new society, a new economy, a new government system. And they promised the delivery of it all in the new year. Half of the world had waited for this day for months, years, decades. Of course, we honored and respected those in the centuries before us, the generations of people who did not live to see this momentous occasion. And we pitied the young folk, the children who knew nothing but the corrupt system and war-filled world we lived in. They were young enough where the...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Strike” by Laura Atherton

Submitted to Contest #22

She needed to find him. In five minutes, the killer would strike. In five minutes, this New Years’ Party would turn into a war-zone. In five minutes, everyone could be dead.No one knew of Jay Lawson’s plan, apart from those who had read and been informed of the contents of a sinister note found on the desk of the receptionist at HQ. It would have been carnage to tell the public, but to inform them may well save lives. In five minutes, she would find out whether she had made the biggest mistake of her life.It had been her call. To not tell pe...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A New Year, New Beginnings” by Robin Owens

Submitted to Contest #22

The streets of Morehead City is bustling with workers getting last minute things ready for the festivities that will begin at 8 PM. The crab pot is checked over. The lights work now to check the timing of it coming down. They need to make sure it is exact.Morehead City is nothing like New York City. There are about a third the people if that many. A small fishing town with many privately owned shops and restaurants, a quaint town that the people living there and around there love.One such person moved to Beaufort, NC when she was a...

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a short story about a person who goes to bed on Valentine's Day and wakes up in 1920.

Holiday – 41 stories

Write a short story about someone with unconventional New Year's traditions.

Holiday – 44 stories

Two strangers meet at a New Year's Eve party. They spend the party together, and then never see each other again.

Winter – 79 stories

Write a short story about someone who does not spend December 31st celebrating New Year's Eve.

Winter – 77 stories

Contest #22

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Auld Lang Syne

$50

Prize money

338

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 03, 2020 EST

Won by Emily Hemmings 🏆

Title: Pagliacci on the Q Train

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 short story in which the last line is the countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 97 stories

“Ineffable Fireworks” by Charisa Dwi Santika

“The Realm's” by Emily Ku

“Stuck in the Past” by Samuel Cardy

“Cat and mouse” by Sam Kirk

“Ten Reasons Not to Kill Myself” by Yair Ron

“A New Year's Eve Tradition” by Jason Burchfield

“Noblesse Oblige” by Deborah Mercer

“Reality” by Samantha N Bishop

“New Years Party” by Unknown User

“My freedom” by Arinze Chibuikem

“A Whole New World” by Elaine Leet

“Three Dollar Bills” by M.M. Butler

“A New Reality” by Ellie K

“Strike” by Laura Atherton

“A New Year, New Beginnings” by Robin Owens

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a short story about a person who goes to bed on Valentine's Day and wakes up in 1920.

Write a short story about someone with unconventional New Year's traditions.

Two strangers meet at a New Year's Eve party. They spend the party together, and then never see each other again.

Write a short story about someone who does not spend December 31st celebrating New Year's Eve.

Contest #22

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

338

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: