Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

Assemble a team of professionals

The writing app for authors

Writing courses, events and memberships

Get your book reviewed

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write about someone whose luck is running out.

Posted in Character on Jan 6, 2023

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?

✍️ 43 stories

Writing the Last Chapter of My Life

Submitted to Contest #180

I try not to think about it. Yet, it’s always in the back of my mind: I’m dying. Nothing will change that. As it was in the beginning it’ll be in the end, world without end, amen. Hey, wait a minute! My world is ending. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful. And honestly, I don’t want to die — I want to live forever! But well, what’re you going to do, right?I’m losing my battle with COPD. For those who don’t know, that’s Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It’s a long-term respiratory disorder that began as a dry cough, usually ab...

76 likes 68 comments 68
Read story

She and E

Submitted to Contest #180

She flicked the freezing, fetid mud from her heavy-duty gloves. No luck today, but this area was mostly tapped out, and soon she'd have to make a decision as to whether to move on permanently. E shifted slightly in the makeshift carrier on her back; she removed a glove and reached back, tucking the blanket more snugly around him. He was resting still, which was good. There wasn’t much else for him to do.Used to be, you could find valuables by the cartload, courtesy of the destruction wrought on the wealthier hillside neighborhoods where...

54 likes 73 comments 73
Read story

The End of Time

Submitted to Contest #180

It wasn't noise that caused his eyelids to flutter.It couldn't have been because all he could hear was deafening silence.He wasn’t even sure where he was or why he had been asleep. He only knew that he was now awake. Dazed, he looked around the cabin, struggling to see anything in the darkness.As his eyes adjusted, he was struck by how nothing and yet everything seemed familiar.His memory, however, hadn’t failed him completely. He knew his name was James, and he knew the woman to his right was Eileen, his beloved wife. That being true, he ha...

50 likes 33 comments 33
Read story

The Two Shades of Luck

Shortlisted for Contest #180 ⭐️

The Collector. A Chance Meeting. How Luck Works. It was a warm spring night in the forested plain three miles north of the Free City of Enceröss. Blustering westerly winds rustled the trees surrounding the riverside glade where the academic Vabriel Shuno parked his wagon. Hitched to the wagon, his stalwart mule brayed nervously. “Easy, Cavalier,” the Mulzunite soothed, adjusting his parchment and inkwell on his desk. Cavalier snorted. An oil lantern wobbled above from a high hook to spill light over him and the wagon. Vabriel worked diligent...

34 likes 28 comments 28
Read story

Running Out

Submitted to Contest #180

      There is a knock at the door.            “Who in the hell is bothering me now?” asks Devlin as he gets up from his cozy chair and marches to the front door. “This better be good, for this is my seventh day. My day to rest.”            Devlin opens the door, a fierce look on his face, ready to berate the one who disturbs him. He opens his mouth to speak forth foul words, but clamps it shut when he sees a you...

28 likes 25 comments 25
Read story

Schweissfuss Rebuffed

Submitted to Contest #180

 Schlumping a pile of books, trinkets and a very good cashmere twinset, she barged into Mrs.McGillicuddy’s always-open front door and wrenched aside the flimsy opening to my makeshift study. Shocked, I turned just in time to receive the full brunt of the load aimed at my head. Every gift I’d given her including the ruby ring without the stone.“.......... Don’t try to contact me ever again” she snapped..............Don’t worry, I won’t” yelling as she left in high dudgeon. ●But I didn’t mean a word. She was Rosie, my fiancee and I adored...

25 likes 26 comments 26
Read story

Transparent Lives Pt 1 Father's Prospective

Submitted to Contest #180

Language Warning: Lots of curse/swear words. Fuck! I am stuck within the loop. A Ferris wheel of blame for not expressing the truth. A foot on thorns while biting the forbidden fruit. Oblivious to the pain like a kid with cartoons.Broke and ashamed, assuming I could work my way out of it. Doesn't do shit, and the stress is getting me sick. When a dream fades, the thoughts flourish. You hate yourself in ways you never expected.Managing money as if I know how. Investing in the future became impossible now. Playing catch up with debt colle...

21 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

Burn

Submitted to Contest #180

“I can’t believe our credit card got hacked,” Kyra said. “Thanks for picking up the tab. The bank said we should get a new card soon, but until then we’re on a budget.”“It’s no problem,” Cinia said, sipping her white wine and studying the people bustling about the elegant restaurant. “I wouldn’t miss our monthly dinner over a trifle like money.”Kyra drank her wine and stared at Cinia. “I heard that everybody who got gas at the station outside of the neighborhood was hacked in the past six weeks, except you and Harlan. We’ve all learned to pa...

20 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

THE OSTRICH

Submitted to Contest #180

When Butch McHaferty told Jim Danker about the ostrich, he just as well might have given him a million dollars. Jim had waited all his life for such an opportunity, one that would have made his father proud. “Well, don’t that just tear the rag off the bush!” proclaimed Jim. “I don’t believe it. You have got to be ridin’ me a good one!” “I swear as I stand before the Good Lord himself,” stammered Butch. “I didn’t believe it myself when I first heard about it. But Jake down at the post office heard about it, too. He and the Cranshaw boys a...

17 likes 9 comments 9
Read story

D20

Submitted to Contest #180

Twenty: Paladin Grovesnor walks surrounded by the holy flame of her god. Her enemies cower at the magnificent approach of her white painted armor. Even the grass wilts under the intense light that follows her footsteps through shadowy forests and desolate plains. Attacked by goblins, the paladin has nothing to fear. She wields her finely crafted mace with ease. Its silver, rune covered head sings through the air as she brings it down on her foes. She dispatches the goblins like so many rats. Her blood covered mace provides the only hint ...

17 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Devil Came Down to Georgia

Submitted to Contest #180

She’s got a good head on her shoulders. That's what Gran said. Daddy and Uncle Hector said it too. She’s got a good head on her shoulders.  So even though the brimstone in the air is making her eyes water, even though the scalding ground is making the rubber soles of her shoes soft, and he’s looking at her with fire in his eyes, she's come too far to back out now. This deal is too important to lose her head now. “It’s the standard contract,” the devil says. The pinstripes on his suit aren’t black like she’d first thought. They’re red ...

16 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

No Lucky Star

Submitted to Contest #180

Kaz’s eyes are locked on mine, soft and warm. His lips graze the mic as he sings about finding his lucky star. My smile is automatic, as practiced as the tender, self-deprecating banter that always precedes this part of the show. It’s an old song, at odds with the rest of his music. The final, dreamy ballad from Singin’ in the Rain. I know without looking that the band’s faces are  blank, vacant, even as their instruments sigh and swoon. Kaz always jokes that he’d never even heard of the movie until I came into his life, and it’...

15 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

The Sun Grew Hotter

Submitted to Contest #180

The man, who had given himself the name of John, awoke under his tarp. It snapped in the wind. Tent poles held it up over him. He had dreamt of horses on a charred farmland, galloping together, frantic, ash raising from their pounding hooves. They ran from something that John could not see. They screamed in black panic with their lips folded, exposing pink gums and large, flat teeth.  Everything he owned sat in a child’s backpack next to him. A coat of grime clung to its graphic of dolphins breaching. He wore a patched jacket, jeans th...

15 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

BAD LUCK PERSEVERANCE

Submitted to Contest #180

Sally woke with excitement due to hearing some very good news concerning a job that she has dreamt of so many times before. "It is finally happening." She always desired to be a Day Care Director and owner. After years of planning and studying for this phase of her life, the existence feels so real. But, first Sally must make contact with a few influential individuals who may be the key component for door openings. The sun is shining and getting dressed for the first appointment is essential. There's a day care center, which an appointment h...

14 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Luck O' The Irish

Submitted to Contest #180

CW: Language, Violence “If yer Irish, ain’t ya supposed t’ be lucky?” “Oh wow, I’d ne’er thought o’ that. Aren’t ya supposed t’ be the smart one?” “Now now. No need fer the ‘ostility. I was just makin’ a point.” “What’s yer name, if you’ll allow me to ask?” “Rowan. Rowan Mahony. It’s m’ name, but don’t ya be wearin’ it out. Only got the one.” “Ah. An Irish like m’self. M’ names Maja Hackett. Now what wer ya sayin’ about us Irish bein’ lucky? Cuz my luck o’meter is at about seventy percent.” the woman glances at her watch, a wisp of crimson h...

14 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that hinges on the outcome of a coin flip.

Adventure – 68 stories

Start your story with someone having a run of bad luck.

Angst – 42 stories

Write about someone losing their lucky charm.

Mystery – 24 stories

Set your story in a casino.

Adults – 33 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