Your task this week is simple:
I want you to come up with a single sentence.
Just one.
No more than thirteen words long.
This sentence is meant to be the end of a story. The last sentence.
You can deposit this sentence in the comments below.
Again: just one, please.
Not a whole story.
Just one sentence — the end to an as-yet-incomplete story.
Do this by next Friday, the 18th, noon EST.
Begin.
Mercedes Siler says:
“Just shut up and drive.” She scooched down in her seat got comfortable.
August 11, 2017 — 4:54 PM
Matthew Marchitto (@ThewTheSlightly) says:
She stared into its eyeless sockets, “it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
August 11, 2017 — 5:13 PM
Neocognitron says:
I don’t always end these tales so abruptly, but when I do
August 11, 2017 — 5:19 PM
Liz says:
And that, my son, is how I learned to wrestle alligators.
August 11, 2017 — 5:25 PM
Destiny says:
I rejoiced in the sweet peace and quiet, but then the phone rang.
August 11, 2017 — 5:48 PM
Eleanor Hester says:
They never found the other dishcloth.
August 11, 2017 — 6:00 PM
Alexander Douglas says:
Transformed into shimmering snowflakes, they were swept away by that sharp, north wind.
August 11, 2017 — 6:06 PM
Lisa says:
He turned quickly then, eyes locking onto mine as the car lurched into gear and threw up gravel as it skidded down our drive,
August 11, 2017 — 6:13 PM
Shell says:
Worried for months about his disappearance,
she suddenly felt the baby kick.
August 11, 2017 — 6:24 PM
jane says:
uh, huh, growing old by growing up
August 11, 2017 — 6:27 PM
Mel says:
It wasn’t the damage caused that scared her, but the monster she’d become.
August 11, 2017 — 6:43 PM
Mozette says:
She turned, smiled at what she had done and… was happy – but an inner voice kept bugging her that ‘more needed to be done’.
August 11, 2017 — 7:41 PM
Sam says:
Oh! Oh! I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time! If you’re familiar with David Wong, you’ll know why:
And then John died.
August 11, 2017 — 7:45 PM
Cameron Mount says:
And just like that, evidence of John’s innocence crumbled into black ash.
August 11, 2017 — 8:10 PM
survivor7852 says:
She declined the cookie after reading the fortune, she couldn’t swallow the truth.
August 11, 2017 — 8:48 PM
StarNinja says:
You think you’re so clever don’t ya?
…. Okay maybe you are.
*eats fortune cookie*
August 12, 2017 — 9:21 AM
Tom Shaw says:
Impaled by the sissy bar, gasoline dripping, the old man gripped his glock..
August 11, 2017 — 8:51 PM
pamtanzey says:
We’ll always have burrito Sunday.
August 11, 2017 — 9:13 PM
Topaz says:
“I love you too,” she said, and shot him between the eyes.
August 11, 2017 — 9:24 PM
Patricia Wilson says:
Somehow I always knew I’d be present at the end of the world.
August 11, 2017 — 9:28 PM
disperser says:
Eventually, the survivors came to envy those who had died.
August 11, 2017 — 9:49 PM
survivor7852 says:
Ooooo I like this!
August 11, 2017 — 9:59 PM
lbahr8 says:
“What are you still doing here? It’s over. Go home.”
August 11, 2017 — 10:31 PM
Rose says:
I like this one!
August 12, 2017 — 8:04 AM
Gregory Brown says:
Simone was glad she’d chosen something other than white for her wedding dress.
August 11, 2017 — 10:41 PM
Ayliesha Harris says:
And though the light was still blinking in the distance, never again could it harm her.
August 11, 2017 — 10:42 PM
mannixk says:
Weeping, he hung the amulet from the lowest branch of the tree.
August 11, 2017 — 11:40 PM
Tilde says:
Relieved that he felt nothing, he did it again.
August 12, 2017 — 12:03 AM
MsShonnerz says:
Ivy straightened her corset, collected her due and left, smiling and triumphant.
August 12, 2017 — 12:46 AM
StarNinja says:
I’m picturing Ivy as a power player corporate lawyer and the corset is her gimmick and I love it!
August 12, 2017 — 9:47 AM
Amy E says:
“This time, I think we’ll both be crying”.
August 12, 2017 — 12:48 AM
theherdlesswitch says:
Challenge accepted! Here’s the last line from a sci-fi novel I do dearly want to finish someday:
“The universe sang its elegy, humming into the darkness until he slipped away.”
August 12, 2017 — 12:49 AM
xxinkblotsxx says:
Looking out, over what was left of Los Angeles, he smiled.
August 12, 2017 — 2:03 AM
Anne Walker says:
Lisse sat down at wood writing desk, dipped her pen and started to write.
August 12, 2017 — 2:06 AM
Joris says:
The storm was finally arriving, droplets fell, and they breathed out and waited.
August 12, 2017 — 4:50 AM
Chris Gladis says:
The village remained quiet after that, save for the sorrowful howling of wolves.
August 12, 2017 — 5:27 AM
Incognito Scribblings says:
Adam and Eve watched, holding hands, as the universe flickered and died.
August 12, 2017 — 5:57 AM
scribblescribbleblog says:
TROJAN WAR
After all the deaths, the destruction, the burning towers, Menelaus took Helen back.
Jennifer O’Neill
August 12, 2017 — 6:48 AM
Suzanne Lucero (@S_Lucero) says:
And they lived ever after–not always happily, but at least they lived.
August 12, 2017 — 7:06 AM
B. Blue Marbe says:
The vampire stood, watching the horizon, and waited for the sun to rise.
August 12, 2017 — 8:01 AM
Rose says:
The First Order falls within the week.
August 12, 2017 — 8:10 AM
decayingorbits says:
The Bang! of Armageddon woke him with a start. He whimpered.
August 12, 2017 — 8:11 AM
Shana Horn says:
Thus is the story of how I died.
August 12, 2017 — 8:13 AM
B. Soto says:
God, how I hate gristle!
August 12, 2017 — 9:12 AM
Pamela Bonnette says:
The rope that had wrapped around her was now replaced by loving arms.
August 12, 2017 — 9:33 AM
Katherine Anne Hetzel says:
She plucked a hair from the severed head, and threaded her needle.
August 12, 2017 — 10:06 AM
Paul Grignon says:
Love it! Nice job; gruesome and thought-provoking. Makes you want to go scrub your hands after finishing the book. 🙂
August 13, 2017 — 7:58 AM
outrageousactsofwriting says:
I am very impressed by this line. Gripping beginning or end. Well done.
August 15, 2017 — 3:17 PM
Ethan Asplin says:
“I really will miss you, you know.” And he really did mean it.
August 12, 2017 — 10:13 AM
Christine Lashinski says:
He walked onto the stage, for the last time, and bowed.
August 12, 2017 — 10:41 AM
Margaret says:
To put it simply, it was time he knew me as me.
August 12, 2017 — 10:46 AM
StarNinja says:
“None of you bumblefucks could have stopped me.”
August 12, 2017 — 11:09 AM
Joe Dozier says:
The only thing left to do was to burn her wedding gown.
August 12, 2017 — 11:21 AM
Carl Welch says:
She carried the stolen spontaneous-gender-reversal-ray gun into the legislative chamber, ready for anything.
August 12, 2017 — 1:07 PM
kim blades, writer says:
He wept silently as he said, “help me, I’m in serious trouble,”
August 12, 2017 — 1:25 PM
michelledevilliersart says:
Behind it flew a black swan, its plumage orange against the setting sun.
August 12, 2017 — 2:03 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
I like this. But on contemplation, if it’s “against” the setting sun, black is all we’re getting 🙂 Plumage maybe turned orange by the light of the setting sun. Front-lit rather than back-lit…oops. That’s the photographer in me.
August 15, 2017 — 1:08 PM
michelledevilliersart says:
Hah! thanks, that’s great.
August 15, 2017 — 1:10 PM