Set your story in a playground: two characters are having a serious conversation while on the seesaw/in the jungle gym/on the swings.

Posted in Angst on Apr 12, 2024

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✍️ 82 stories

“This Moment” by Samantha Vanpelt

Submitted to Contest #246

Nola doesn’t meet Venice until midnight. These days people don’t start moving around until six or seven in the evening. Sometimes it’s later, depending on how high the temperature soars in the early part of the day and how slow the mercury creeps down in the back half. Today is a bad day, in the sense that the temp hits well over one hundred and takes until ten to come down to eighty-seven. By the time Nola starts out, it’s a balmy eighty-four degrees, and she’s sweating when she reaches the old park. She heaves a sigh of relief at the...

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“what the seesaw saw” by Lilli Knight

Submitted to Contest #246

Content Warning: allusions to child abuse, and mental health themes (trauma and PTSD) "It was a game," I say in a quiet voice. It makes me feel small to talk about it, vulnerable. Jasper perches on the edge of the playset above me. It's old and weathered, creaking under his palms when he shifts his weight. I lean my back against its worn wooden posts, tipping my chin up to the breeze. It smells like summer at eight years old in Florida heat with a playset just like this one, old and worn and weathered. There's a weight about it that seems a...

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“Farewell Echoes” by Summer Chiu

Submitted to Contest #246

The evening dipped low on the horizon, casting a warm orange glow across the landscape. An old wooden swing, weathered by time and perched at the crest of the Grand Canyon Hill, swayed gently in the breeze, its rhythmic creaks blending with the distant sounds of nature. Jeryne and Sofina sat side by side on the weathered wooden swing, their feet brushing against the soft grass below. Behind them, the quaint village of Hailswood sprawled out, its rooftops adorned with ivy and its streets winding like the threads of an ancient tapestry.“Do you...

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“Swinging” by Louise Tawfik

Submitted to Contest #246

It was a quiet Saturday, and the sun warmed their shoulders like it did when they were children. Bill and Frank; two friends who’d travelled together through the years, sometimes side by side and sometimes apart. They’d met as scrappy boys in the playground, chasing each other with dirty knees and shirts untucked. Vegemite sandwiches for lunch and long afternoons walking home, talking incessantly the whole way. Families, careers, homes, trips far away, all came and passed. Time chased them but neither noticed the changes in each other; the w...

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“Swings and Roundabouts” by Clare Horwood

Submitted to Contest #246

Nathan sat on the swing or should it be said, Nathan had squeezed himself into the swing, and was valiantly attempting to find a comfortable position. His feet were firmly planted on the ground and in one hand he was precariously balancing a cup of take away coffee. On the other swing his wife Lauren was sitting much more comfortably , gently moving back and forwards. Their son Jeremy was over at the flying fox, patiently waiting his turn in a queue that never seemed to shorten. Jeremy was 13 years old, not very tall, slightly chubby and wor...

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“Work Hard, Play Hard” by Sam Velasquez

Submitted to Contest #246

The midday sun hovered lazily over the local park. A cool breeze danced excitedly across the mulch, playfully rustling the clothes of the children and their guardians alike. Voices both young and old bubbled across the public space. Conversations ranged from “you be the lion and i’ll be the bear”, obviously a couple of imaginative kids living out their dreams of being wild animals, to “Did you see what she was wearing? To an event like that? Just embarrassing”, followed by a large sip of whatever mystery liquid was in the woman’s tumbler.&nb...

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“Swing” by A.B. Boatman

Submitted to Contest #246

She had held a visceral memory of the thrill of a smooth, sleek slide; the rush of air, the slight drop in her stomach, gliding swiftly towards the ground. It was nothing like the experience she was currently having. Gravity could no longer overcome the resistance her weight created; not as easily as it could when she was eight years old and sixty pounds. She was straining, using the squeaking heels of her shoes to pull her body forward. It felt challenging just to reach the steepest part of the decline in the yellow plastic tube. She ...

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Set your story in a playground: two characters are having a serious conversation while on the seesaw/in the jungle gym/on the swings.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 82 stories

“This Moment” by Samantha Vanpelt

“what the seesaw saw” by Lilli Knight

“Farewell Echoes” by Summer Chiu

“Swinging” by Louise Tawfik

“Swings and Roundabouts” by Clare Horwood

“Work Hard, Play Hard” by Sam Velasquez

“Swing” by A.B. Boatman

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that includes the phrase “It’s all fun and games…”

Write a story about someone participating in a seemingly innocent game that suddenly takes a turn.

Write a story about someone who takes a joke way too far.

Write about a character who treats everything like a game and struggles to be serious when they most need to, or vice versa.

Contest #246

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

245

Contest entries

99

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: