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#313 Hidden Threads

Lately, I’ve been loving stories that don’t give everything away up front. You know the kind — where you’re picking up on little details, holding onto a line that feels important, and then somewhere near the end, it all clicks. Or maybe it doesn’t, and that’s what sticks.

This week, let’s write stories that hint, suggest, and slowly unravel. Let the meaning live between the lines, and see what happens when you leave a little to the imagination...

This week's prompts

Write a story with an open ending that leaves room for your reader’s own interpretations.

Dramatic – 91 stories

Start your story with a non-visual sense. Use a certain scent, texture, sound, or taste to ground the beginning before continuing the narrative.

Short Story – 64 stories

Write a story where two characters talk around an important subject without ever mentioning it directly.

Short Story – 56 stories

Begin your story with someone saying, “Are you there, God? It’s me...”

Short Story – 67 stories

Hide something from your reader until the very end.

Dramatic – 118 stories

Stories

The Search

Submitted to Contest #313

Memory, Drystan had learned, was the cruelest of cartographers.Each time he traced her face across the maps of years, she emerged transformed—not by time's honest erosion, but by the terrible alchemy of loss that transmuted recollection into hunger, fact into desperate mythology. Her eyes might hold the amber of late harvest wine one day, the storm-grey of northern seas the next. The delicate geography of her hands shifted between tellings: here, marked with the honest scars of an illuminator who had known quill and pigment as intimate compa...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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The Hard Conversation

Submitted to Contest #313

It was a cold, sunny day in July in Melbourne, a city typically known for its unpredictable weather. While many parts of the world experienced scorching heatwaves, Melbourne was uncomfortably cold for that time of year, with a brisk breeze adding to the chill. The sun shone brightly, illuminating patchy cumulus clouds in the blue sky. Despite this, the temperature remained surprisingly low, prompting residents to wear their winter jackets as they went about their daily activities. Mark, carrying two steaming large takeaway cups of coffee, w...

19 likes 15 comments 15
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Behind the Door

Submitted to Contest #313

My mom told me to always lock my bedroom door at night. It had two rusty deadbolts, one above and one below the door handle. I turned them each three times every night. Lock. Unlock. Lock. Unlock. Lock. I learned early on that it was useless to ask my mother why. Her eyebrows would pull together, her forehead would get that familiar wrinkle in the middle, and she would shake her head just enough to jangle her earrings, but she would never justify a response.Half asleep, most nights I could hear the door handle turning. Some nights it would b...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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The Red

Submitted to Contest #313

TW: Violence, gore, and a brief gay joke. “Are you there, God? It’s me… Vic, and I’m here to talk to you about your car’s extended warranty.” Hushed laughter flowed around the dinner table, and Vic cracked a smile before Ma’s hand could smack her across the back of the head. “Victoria!” Ma snapped. “Say grace properly.” Ma was dressed up nicely tonight—gold bracelets jingled with each motion, her lipstick fiercely bright against her skin, her hair smooth down her back, and a dress so new it was like something out of a dream. I wondered where...

18 likes 9 comments 9
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Seeds

Shortlisted for Contest #313 ⭐️

Will lifted the bread roll towards his mouth without cutting it. The plate was too far away, as usual, and he moved without care, as always.A trail of poppy seeds marked the path his hand took from porcelain to mouth, puncturing the surface of the white tablecloth like a blood splatter. He was marking his territory. Lording over everyone else. He owned the space. He could do as he liked.Of course, he’d simply think she was fussing. Reading too much into it. It’s only a few bloody seeds, Sophie. She looked up, and their eyes locked over the s...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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Are You Gonna Be My Girl?

Submitted to Contest #313

“So, one two three…Take my hand and come with meBecause you look so fineThat I really wanna make you mine Four five six…Come on and get your kicksNow you don’t need the money when you look like thatDo ya, honey?” - Jet The text from Jimmy came in around 1:30 on that Saturday afternoon; Hey Man, we should be there at Stan’s in about a half hour. Come join the crawl! First round is on me. If you are not familiar with a “pub crawl”, it basically works like this. A group of friends and/or like-minded people who enjoy a nice Saturday afternoon o...

18 likes 28 comments 28
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Old men and trees

Submitted to Contest #313

The kiss of snow woke him more violently than any sound ever could. The absence of light should have warned him of snowfall’s coming and, had he been able to see, he'd know better than to let himself fall asleep so exposed, so unprepared for the bitter cold that was now painfully icing its way through his veins. Still dazed, he felt his way around him, casting off some of the soft blanket from his sleeves and knees. At least the hood of his cloak had protected his neck, ears, and the useless part of his face he used to rely on for vision. ...

17 likes 9 comments 9
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There Are So Many Ways to Die

Submitted to Contest #313

The huntsman confronted me in the woods. He asked, “have you been eaten by the wolf today?” I told him no, and then he said, “Well, I have to ask that first. You understand.” He said, “the wolf is my only enemy, and I hunt him because of that. I do not want him to eat you. I want to stop you. I want to break into you like a thief, but I couldn’t be second to him. He might have stolen what I want to take from you.” With that he lifted up his heavy ax and split my head like a piece of wood.As I stood there with my face cut in half, I asked “w...

17 likes 9 comments 9
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Tiger Lady

Submitted to Contest #313

We’d only met the one time. After years of semi knowing each other in the way that the internet allows people to semi know each other. Like, you're not sure if you should call the people who live in the box or your phone your friend or not. Would they be there for you in real life? People who are only available with an emoji or a meme, who can silence you with a button or send you to voicemail. Who leave you on “seen.” We met the one time, at a coffee shop, and we were polite and Ms. Manners would have nodded from her perch above and said, "...

17 likes 3 comments 3
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God, are you there? It's me… the one you skipped.

Submitted to Contest #313

Don't worry. I'm not here to monologue you into submission. I know you're busy - ice caps melting like forgotten popsicles, children crumbling beneath rubble, the slow apocalypse of cable news and mascara-streaked pop stars. You're fielding whole continents of agony. Me? I'm just background noise. Static. One wrong little girl who grew up into an even worse woman. A girl you, it seems, dodged with the grace of a practiced flinch. I get it. Maybe I was too small, like one of those songs nobody hears but still hurts to write. Perhaps I was too...

16 likes 13 comments 13
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World Without End

Submitted to Contest #313

After the Summer rains, there was the aroma of his childhood, transporting him back to impossible and far away days and at the same time, reminding him of the beauty of his life now. Summer was the apex of rebirth. The best of times and a promise of forever. A promise that would be broken as his youth gave way to the dour responsibilities of adulthood and a confused drive to cover as much ground as possible until he realised that he had been running away from everything that had been good for him and had no idea where he was headed. Growing ...

16 likes 12 comments 12
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Legacy

Submitted to Contest #313

Ted Pierce entered the country club his father had belonged to most of his life. He looked around, unimpressed.Looks like any old country club to me. He kept inviting me. For what? Glad I didn’t waste my time.A staff assistant approached.“Mr. Pierce?”Ted nodded.“Sorry for your loss.”“It’s alright. Better late than never…”The staff assistant nodded and did not comment. “Come with me. The others are in the conference room awaiting your arrival. Mr. Woodrow will read your father’s will in a few minutes.”Ted gestured at their surroundings. “So, ...

15 likes 4 comments 4
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Unsolved Disappearances

Submitted to Contest #313

There have been many missing people reported over the last few weeks. Twelve, to be exact. The last one was 3 days ago. A 21 year old man named Garnet Wells. Black hair, grey eyes, peachy skin. Height: 5 feet, 9¾ inches. Weight: unknown. He was last seen at the bar on 3rd street. Why do I know all of this? Because I’ve offered to help Detective Marralin with the case. I’ve had some experience with solving mysteries. My father was a police officer. He was also the investigator for his search team. And my mother was on a crime show for a littl...

15 likes 0 comments 0
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Captain Billy Chunk: Cold Bay or Bust!

Submitted to Contest #313

Cheese and Crackers! What is that Captain Billy Chunk up to now? Well, suspend your disbelief and grab a steaming cuppa of Folger's, light up a Camel no filter & enjoy this tangled mess of a yarn..... Captain Billy Chunk: Cold Bay or Bust! Chapter One: Mouth of the Rat Magnus was cold. Magnus was old. He had been cold since birth, there in the shadow of his big brother Wernher. He had been cold at Peenemunde with the chill North Wind blowing off the Baltic Sea watching his big brother's firework show. Now, 86 years old, he was in Florida...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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Burning Vacation

Submitted to Contest #313

Screaming upon screaming—shrill, chaotic, desperate.Frantic steps drummed across creaking floorboards, unsure of which way to turn.Maybe left? Maybe right?Both were wrong.Glass burst from one end of the room, sprinkling shards over the dining table like a sad symphony, while wood splintered and snapped from the unforgiving pressure at the door on the opposite side.Then all hell broke loose.Shuffling. Moaning. Growling. And snarling. All tangled and twisted with their screams.Squelching, wet flesh sickly accentuated the snapping of bone. The ...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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