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A weekly short story contest
Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2023
Submitted to Contest #230
I love Tuesdays. On Tuesdays, Daniel takes me dancing, and we always get malts afterwards. Although, one time last week, we stayed out dancing far too late and the soda shop was closed. Daniel really tried to pry the door open— we can just get the machine running and make our own!— and I was laughing so hard my sides hurt. Eventually he quit when a police car drove by and I grabbed his arm quickly to pull him a...
Submitted to Contest #228
“Just the… three bottles of Tylenol and the vodka?” The elderly cashier looked up, both unpracticed and uninterested in concealing his judgment. The thin young woman standing at the counter smiled at him and said, “The Smirnoff is a gift for my in-laws, and I’ve been having terrible headaches lately.” She paused, then added,“You know what? Throw this in too— I feel like splurging.” She smiled brightly as she tossed a single-serving instant oatmeal packet on the counter, then looked up, clearly expectin...
Submitted to Contest #227
The house had never been this quiet before. You could almost smell the hazy dust as it drifted through the air, illuminated by sunbeams shining through the curtains. It was a misplaced silence, but a peaceful one. If you closed your eyes and focused, you could hear the distant laughter of cousins gathered at Christmastime, of babies crying and mothers shushing, of clattering pots and muffled conversation in the kitchen. These sounds weren’t ghosts, though, just— echoes. The last resonance of the full and joyful lives that were lived withi...
Submitted to Contest #226
“I don’t know what to do, Nicolas. I’m so overwhelmed.” The Reverend was practically hissing as he confided in his friend in the otherwise empty church,“I mean, how did you even know?” he continued with frantic desperation, “And if you found out, what if others do too? I’ll be ruined!” With practiced concealment of any emotion— whether of concern, support, or condemnation— the friend of the Reverend said evenly,“You know what you have to do. You must confess this sin or face God’s w...
🏆 Winner of Contest #224
4 pm Miss Lucy and Dr. Singh are letting me visit my house tonight! Normally I get to go home for twelve hours on holidays, and an aide comes with me to monitor my equipment, but today is different. It’s not a holiday, it’s not my birthday, it’s not even the weekend— but I’m going home! Mommy says Lily will be home too even though she goes to college in Iowa. She’s coming home just for me for my ...
my goal is to make you cry ;)
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