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#101: Antanaclasis

Benjamin Franklin’s famous quip “your argument is sound, nothing but sound” may be the best known example of antanaclasis. This is a literary device in which a word is repeated but has two different senses (here, “sound” meaning both “sensible” and “a load of noise”) — reminder that in writing, as in everything, context matters.

With this week’s prompts, we're using antanaclasis as a jumping off point to create stories that play with repetitions, routines, and the importance of context in creating meaning.

🥇 Winner

“Colleen” by Mary Sheehan

Colleen is packing to leave for university. She folds her clothes into neat piles, her fair hair arranged in an artfully messy bun, with gold strands curling around her face. She packs her rolled up socks into the maze of groves left by the clothes piles. Her movements are thoughtful and tender, like she is tucking them into bed. I watch her from my quiet corner outside the door of her room, chewing on a hangnail. I am still wearing my pyjamas and I haven’t showered yet today. I stare at her, willing her to hea...

144 comments 144 WINNER 🏆

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“dysphoria's love letter.” by Parker Adams

CW: transphobia When she cries, you try to ignore her. It’s hard. Granted, most people don’t like hearing young girls cry but you have no other choice: Nothing you can do will ever make her stop. She has been crying for as long as you can remember, determined to remind you of the things you did. Of course, you’re the cause for her crying, aren’t you? Who else would listen to a young girl cry until she was nothing more than the melody that allows you to sleep every night?

7 comments 7 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Big girl ” by Scott Skinner

CW: body shaming, mental health, body image issues The mirror's size, shape, clarity; the lighting in the room, the color of the paint on the walls, the surfaces in the reflection, whatever was behind me; none of that mattered. Those things weren’t the problem. The problem was the fat girl in the mirror’s reflection. The problem was me. My dad is Wayne, my brother is Wayne Jr., and my mother died of breast cancer when I was thirteen. We’ve always been the big family. Not like, “there’s a...

13 comments 13 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Crush” by VJ Hamilton

It’s late spring in New England, and the sun is warm syrup pouring down, making hikers sticky and hot. Hair clings to Tessa’s temples like scum at the lake’s waterline. The seventh-grade class vibrates with excitement on their field trip and she scrambles to keep up. They carry logbooks and at the gurgling brook everyone halts to record observations. She writes: “Small fish came to my hand and touched me with their noses and rushed away. I think I scared them.” Then they’re off again tramping through sc...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Today The Phone Won't Ring” by Kevin B

Today the phone won’t ring. She checked as soon as she woke up. Dead breath in her mouth. The guy next to her--an aberration. He should have gone home. She made it explicitly clear to him that under no circumstances could he stay the night. He said he just wanted to rest his eyes while he waited for his Lyft. Now here he is. He’s upset the balance. She should beat him to death with the coffeepot, but that...

5 comments 5 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“The Man in the Mirror” by Peter Saydollar

How often do you look at yourself in a mirror? Sure, you may check to see how far a certain shirt comes down your waist, or maybe you check to make sure the part of your hair is in the right spot, or maybe you’ve been hitting the gym more frequently and want to see your progress. Perhaps you want to see if that shirt still fits from your 20’s. But this is not what David was tasked with. He wasn’t supposed to l...

4 comments 4 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Magic Like Zizou” by Sorcha Wilde

CW: substance abuse Our communication was laborious: a labour of love. He didn’t speak my language, nor I his. Neither of us fully mastered our third, French, the one we shared. Our earliest conversations, then, were exceptionally banal, little more than names and nodding. We established a common love of football, listed teams, national and international, the names of players, deduced which ones we both liked.<...

2 comments 2 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Funny Little Birds” by Rachel Deeming

As Marjory sat in her armchair, a steaming cup and saucer of tea next to her, she ruminated on how it had been a long time since someone had come to see her. It was a nice feeling, having a visitor. The window in which her armchair was situated had a wonderfully clear view of the sloped lawn outside her home and Marjory got a lot of pleasure from watching the wind sway the trees to and fro and the birds flitting about. S...

8 comments 8 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Blood on O'Connell Street” by Beth Mason

There was blood on O’Connell Street; I saw it walking home. I didn’t notice it at first. You don’t notice these things all at once when you live in the city and you’re just focused on keeping your head down and not looking anyone in the eye. But all it took was looking up for just half a moment, and there it was. Even in the swar...

2 comments 2 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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This week's prompts

Write about a character doing something they’ve done hundreds of times — only this time, it’s taken on a new meaning.

Character – 151 stories

Write a story about a character who fails to understand something until they have the full context.

Character – 77 stories

Write a story in which the same line recurs three times.

Fiction – 165 stories

Write a story about a character who always repeats themselves.

Character – 50 stories

Write a story that involves a reflection in a mirror.

Horror – 297 stories

Stories

“Colleen” by Mary Sheehan

Colleen is packing to leave for university. She folds her clothes into neat piles, her fair hair arranged in an artfully messy bun, with gold strands curling around her face. She packs her rolled up socks into the maze of groves left by the clothes piles. Her movements are thoughtful and tender, like she is tucking them into bed. I watch her from my quiet corner outside the door of her room, chewing on a hangnail. I am still wearing my pyjamas and I haven’t showered yet today. I stare at her, willing her to hea...

144 comments 144 WINNER 🏆

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“Prom Night” by Link Arneson

“Do you like it?” Gracie asked anxiously. I didn’t look in the mirror, but I pretended to.“It’s perfect!” I squealed in my well-rehearsed girl voice, hugging her. It was so easy to make Gracie happy. “You are a makeup goddess!”“You are so lucky you have a date,” she said. I nodded silently. I couldn’t really say I disagreed. As much as I wanted to take a girl to prom, that wasn’t happening, and my parents love Keith, so I might as well make them proud one last time.“I mean, all the good o...

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“My Long Overdue Letter to Me” by Stevie B

July 8, 2021 Attn: Mr. Stevie B’s Reflection c/o Mia Mind Music 256 Sixth Street Suite # 2 Hobohemia, NJ, 07030 Re: These occasional lapses in communication Dear Self, Long time no see (LOL). You’re not looking all that bad today....

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“For The Last Time” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“Ow! You little bugger—you’ve nipped me for the last time.” Five months in, breastfeeding had lost its luster, especially as the baby began to teethe, searching more for pain relief than for nourishment. Perhaps they were both just thoroughly exhausted, as both mother’s and child’s sleep schedules—blissful for a month or so after a chaotic start—now became wholly disrupted. Why is it just when we get used to things, they suddenly change?Five months in, the mother had persevered through sore nipples ...

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“bastard” by Rayhan Hidayat

Bastard.It’s the first thing he hears when he comes into this world, pink-skinned and pink-gummed and dripping with pink fluids.A midwife holds him against the soft glow of an aqualamp and waits for tender eyelids to peel open. When they finally do, her smile withers away. Two syllables drip from her mouth like acid. It’s only once she presses him into her mother’s embrace, as if she can’t bear touching his flesh any longer, does he hear his own name. It should be the first thing he hears, and it’s too ...

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“dysphoria's love letter.” by Parker Adams

CW: transphobia When she cries, you try to ignore her. It’s hard. Granted, most people don’t like hearing young girls cry but you have no other choice: Nothing you can do will ever make her stop. She has been crying for as long as you can remember, determined to remind you of the things you did. Of course, you’re the cause for her crying, aren’t you? Who else would listen to a young girl cry until she was nothing more than the melody that allows you to sleep every night?

7 comments 7 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Do You Smell Carrots? 🥕 ⛄️ ” by PJ Aitken

“STEAM THE POO!” screamed Callum at his mates who knew instantly what he meant as they joined him in running as fast as they could across the snow-covered sports field. Over the many years of their friendship growing up together, Callum, Seth and William had generated a range of catchphrases only they would understand. Along with “Steam the poo!” their current favourites included referring to girls as “Yuck...

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“Eternity” by Alex Sultan

For the first time in centuries, Eradon could not bring himself to clean the blood from his sword.He didn’t let the armorers stop him at the gate. A purple ooze dripped from his chest plate and onto the stone where he walked. The sunlight, limited to him, felt warm against his skin, and the air pure to breathe compared to the vileness of the Abyss. He filled his lungs as deep as he could with every breath, knowing soon he would have to go back. He made his way to the Resting Point. His sword, a weapon forged from the st...

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“Perfection is Ignorance” by Daniel R. Hayes

TW: gore, murder In Carson City, the savory smell of Italian spices permeates the air as hungry customers scarf down their favorite meals in Georginio’s Italian Restaurant. Never one to be late, Alex arrives thirty minutes early, and is seated at his private balcony sixty feet high overlooking the beautiful city. He sits with his head held high and brushes his jet-black hair with his fingers; making sure that every strand is in place. Feeling satisfied, he reaches down, and triple checks his brand-new sil...

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“Recognition” by Alex Sultan

Des scavenged the workbench for a wrench—he would need one to save a life.He searched through old toolboxes and his fingers brought up flakes of rust. Damn abandoned place. Dust rained to the floor as he pushed aside empty bottles of oil. No luck. Des checked beneath, USB sticks and used up needles cracking under his boots, and found a few grime-coated coins. It would have to do.“Rats crawl over my circuit boards!” Elio buzzed. His glitching voice echoed through the looted mechanic shop. “They gnaw on my wires!”“Yeah,...

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“Angels Around” by Henry Vinicio Valerio-Madriz

They say we still have heavenly skills for a while after we are born; unfortunately, they don’t last long. This is called “the tragedy of growing up”: as we get old, we lose our heavenly abilities since we tie up ourselves in this world and its physical life. Ne...

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“Broken” by Johana Htwe

“Goodbye, Dad. I will come back on Saturday,” George’s eldest daughter, Alina said while holding her seven-year-old daughter’s small hand. They were going towards their car, parked a little far from George’s house. “Goodbye, grandpa,” Alina’s daughter said with her high-pitched, cute voice, waving her hand vigorously while her other hand was secured in her mom’s tight grip.“Goodbye, Alina, and my favorite grandchild. I will be preparing your favorite pizza next Saturday!” George shouted for his granddaughter ...

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“Rayner Kelly's murder soulmate” by Kathleen `Woods

People are fools. This was a thought he'd held on to since he was a boy, and it'd held true for his entire life till that point.Even as Rayner drove on the roads of his favorite mountain range, he could only think back to the sorts who proved it to him. Those sorts of people he couldn’t even be angry at.The kinda idiots that got themselves lost in his favorite places.It wasn’t as if he cared for any particular demographic, he liked to hurt them more if they were pretty, more so if they were tam...

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“Flower Stems” by Silver Pen: Temporarily Inactive

The flowers’ stems broke as they fell from her hands. The delicate petals fell, colors kissing the soft lilting grasses of the plain. Another time, she might have stopped to grab them, brushing off the dirt and laughing about loose grips. But now, her darting eyes followed her newest friend, the girl with the sun-kissed cheeks and an eggplant-purple oversized dress. She would certainly grow into it with age, the girl’s parents said. The pair’s youth was a clouded lens, hiding the children from the worries of money. To the sharp-ey...

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“Big girl ” by Scott Skinner

CW: body shaming, mental health, body image issues The mirror's size, shape, clarity; the lighting in the room, the color of the paint on the walls, the surfaces in the reflection, whatever was behind me; none of that mattered. Those things weren’t the problem. The problem was the fat girl in the mirror’s reflection. The problem was me. My dad is Wayne, my brother is Wayne Jr., and my mother died of breast cancer when I was thirteen. We’ve always been the big family. Not like, “there’s a...

13 comments 13 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 09, 2021 EST

Won by Mary Sheehan 🏆

Title: Colleen

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

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