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 a story about someone who travels to the future, and isn’t happy about how they’ve been remembered.

Posted in Science Fiction on Jun 10, 2021

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?

✍️ 131 stories

MONUMENTAL NEGLECT

Submitted to Contest #57

The year 2020: There was a massive gathering at Lindeck Square that evening where the Chief Minister was to install the statue of former CM Sheela. The area was festooned with flowers with a big banner welcoming the CM. The function which was to start at 6 was delayed by nearly half an hour, and the restive crowd was noisy. After the invocation, the welcome address, and the garlanding, the CM was requested to address the gathering. There was pin drop silence as he started his speech. He said “Friends, I first wish to apologize for being late...

12 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Gifts That Were Taken

Submitted to Contest #57

In cold and reckless dreams, I wandered, searching for the old spirit – he who comes in the night. Twisting and turning through fallen branches I came to a grove where a great and resplendent light emanated. This voracious light spoke to me and said, “You have searched for me and your quest is done. At the rising of the sun and the morning prayers echoing through the woods, the birds will sing their song under a gentle brittle rain, so too, like the transient rain will you fall and be buried in the Earth. Worry not, kind soul, just as the r...

12 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Seer I

Submitted to Contest #57

Julie placed motion detectors in the library and connected them to her grandfather’s computer. Then she took a pair of VR goggles and a piece of Latex out of her briefcase.“This is a prototype of the VRAI Seer I, grandpa.” “That piece looks like a shower cap.” “It is, but a shower cap with modifications. We wanted it to be easy and comfortable to wear. Sit down in your armchair and I’ll put it on for you. I thought you should be the first person not in ArkTech’s R&D to try it out.” “Because I own the company?” “And because you’re...

12 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Steven Walker Festival

Submitted to Contest #57

I had to be sure, so I asked one more time:  “This is going to work, right?”  Dr. Montague paused the last minute check and stared at me.  We made eye contact, but her hazel eyes seemed lost in another dimension behind her crooked black spectacles. “Of course,” she said.  “You are well aware of the risks and -” “Look, Lisa,” I interjected, “is this thing going to get me where I want to go or isn’t it?” “It’s Dr. Montague,” she replied in a clipped tone.  “I don’t use my Christian name with the general populace....

11 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Ghost

Submitted to Contest #57

I died on December 7th, 2025. At least, that is what the tombstone bearing my name says. The details about how I travelled to the future are unknown. Like any other Saturday of 2020, I finished my laundry, I cleaned the rats’ cage, and then read a book on the couch for an hour or so. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would make me believe anything of this magnitude was about to happen. When I went to bed, I closed all the shutters and checked that the alarm was on. If there’s one thing I know is that I don’t want any intruders. ...

11 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Lost

Submitted to Contest #57

Lost. I’m lost, melted into the vast majority of people. I've become unnoticed, uncared for. Lost, lost, lost. Lost and having nowhere to go."No one cares about my life, about how much I’ve tried to help, to improve this world. Everything I've done, and I become lost. Forgotten. Makes me wonder why I even tried? Why did I put all my efforts, everything I had, everything I owned into helping and improving this world? When it becomes lost, lost, lost. My entire life, I’ve strived to help and improve the life people have here. Not just me, but ...

11 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Addressed to Me

Submitted to Contest #57

Addressed to Me By: Mackenzie M. Hebner I woke up to a new setting that morning. I didn’t quite recognize the sheets hovering over me, or the drapes through which the morning sun rays were protruding. There were small lines of dust collecting in the beams of light now illuminating what seems like an alloy of my former room.  I could have sworn that the hard wood was a lighter stain, and the windows had white trim not brown. I could almost guarantee it. Maybe I’m just out of it this morning. After all, I tossed and turned all night....

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

SURREALISM

Submitted to Contest #57

     Richard was 17 years old. Coming from a lower middle class family, he had never been one to ask for things, especially at Christmas time. He accepted what he had, realizing he was still better off than a lot of people. But as an older teen living in a time of an exploding music scene in 1965,  (Rolling Stones, Beau Brummels, Beatles, Byrds), he wanted to be a musician and experience that excitement. And for the first time in his life, he began dropping verbal ‘hints’ to his dad for a set of drums at Christm...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Longest Journey

Submitted to Contest #57

Emma Chains watched the sands of time trickle down before her eyes, helpless from its cruel clutches. She had written only a page of words, disassembled and incoherent. Her mind was beautifully chaotic, a cyclone of ideas and expressions that seemed to make sense. But as soon as she picked up a pen or a paintbrush, everything seemed to collapse and disappear. It was a torturous endeavour of not being able to express herself, but she accepted it was just one of the many burdens of all bright thinkers. With the chirps of crickets crept in...

11 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Purgatory

Submitted to Contest #57

Once she hit her 90th birthday, it became real to her that death was looming closer, certainly within the next few years. The tunnel of her life was coming to an end and she inched nearer to that bright white light day after day. It had been that way for all humans since the beginning of time, but the reality of the end of her life did not truly hit her until 89 years had passed. She wondered regularly now what would happen when she died. She questioned if heaven was actually real as promised through her devout Catholicism or if she wou...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

3 minutes

Submitted to Contest #57

3 minutes Evan has not paid his rent for four months. His landlord, Mr. Porter has been patient with him because he knows that Evan lost his job six months ago and has to use his savings to pay other bills including child support. Evan feels bad for not paying rent and plans to go to the bank to take out a loan. Before he goes to the bank, he takes a few minutes to nap. While he is sleeping, he hears loud knocking on his door and a loud voice screaming his name: “Evan! Evan! I know that you are at home! Your car is parked outside! Come out...

11 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Write a story about someone who travels to the future, and isn’t happy about how they’ve been remembered.

Submitted to Contest #57

My name is Anon. That is not my real name. I want to remain anonymous because I live in your neighborhood, and I know that once this story leaks to the public, as I know it will, you will know it’s me, and I cannot afford to bear the shame of any of our neighbors seeing my nakedness. I was married to a beautiful girl, who rejected so many suitors before I showed up but accepted to marry me because I came back from the city, wore impressive clothes and worked in a reputable company. She must have thought that with me, it would be happy fore...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

WHITE ROSE

Submitted to Contest #57

“And roll number twenty- five… twenty-five, is twenty- five absent?’’ “psst, Nyx ma’am is calling you, wake up’’ my friend Bea whispered in my ears. When I looked I was startled by the look Miss Marie was giving “ yes ma’am I’m…I’m present’’, She glared “the class was not waiting for you miss, look at yourself, sleeping in first period, laps around the field, now!!’’, “and my day starts”, I said grabbing social studies book from my bag, which made Bea chuckle a little. I went straight to the field which was downstairs to the right and let me...

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Wage Theft In The Windy City

Submitted to Contest #57

“What I hear you saying is you want to bargain with the Devil,” said the voice from a dark cloud. The man the voice was speaking to looked up at the cloud and waited for jeers and laughter from other voices to stop.  “I never thought of it that way, sir,” Ken Noble Jackson replied hesitantly. It had taken him many years in human-time for this meeting, and he knew he might never get another opportunity. Ken thought he saw movement in the dark cloud, a silhouette of something large appeared to sit on a stone. It was a presence that d...

11 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Truth, at Least Mostly

Submitted to Contest #57

The car moves steadily forward, smooth on the newly paved roads. The sky is a dark purple, fading into dusty pink, the trees just silhouettes against the night. The stuffy smell of musty cigarettes is replaced by the sweet night air, pine needles and a light breeze as I roll down the window. Mars sleeps in the back, curled up on the leather bench. The trunk holds our three suitcases full of clothes and books, a Trader Joe’s bag with food- apples and bread, a can of beans, bottles of water. Our only belongings. Mars whines as I accelerate, sp...

11 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a humorous story about the descendant of someone remembered for an insignificant act.

Funny – 71 stories

Write a story about someone who’s famous for something they never actually did.

Character – 119 stories

Write a story about someone breaking a long family tradition.

Angst – 170 stories

Write a story that starts with someone writing their will — one they know people won’t like.

Dramatic – 183 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