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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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.

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 – 148 stories

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

Character – 75 stories

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

Fiction – 163 stories

Write a story about a character who always repeats themselves.

Character – 45 stories

Write a story that involves a reflection in a mirror.

Horror – 295 stories

Stories

“Faerest” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #101

Note: “Niamh” is an Irish name, pronounced “Neeve”, like “Eve”Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived with her father and stepmother in a sturdy wooden house in a town that was more brown than green. It was a coal town, where the ghosts of miners were said to haunt the corners of every empty street.Once she had asked the pastor if her birth mother, the one who had left the world just as Fiona entered it, also roamed the lands as a ghost. Of course not, she had been told. Women were angels, gentle spirits. They would never be ghosts. But...

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“Memory spot.” by Jacob Obara

Submitted to Contest #101

Staring face to face, my friend Kiise popped out his eyes wide. It was a same trick he used to scare toddlers and those new kids on the block. “Better get those eyes back to their sockets. Otherwise, they make you look awful.” I said as I held my pc sitting back on the couch. Slackly on the settee, I scrolled down watching pop ups and the news headlines. I was stunned when I finally opened a photo of a girl that turned me red. “Augh! What is up man?” Kiise expressed as he came closer to me. “What?” I spoke. “Why are you making your face so s...

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“Soul ” by Amaranthine Sky

Submitted to Contest #101

Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide Does anybody truly hear me in this vast, vast multiverse? I blink, breathe, shudder, exhale. It is my second day. Hello, can you hear me? Nod, nod slowly. I can speak if I want to, but even that, I know, is impossible. I’m not supposed to be able to speak. I don’t want to be able to know I have the power to speak. I don’t know why I thought it’d be different with me, that the fibers of my existence could latch onto whatever came beyond. But that isn’t allowed anymore. You’re not ...

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“The Vet” by M.A. Williams

Submitted to Contest #101

As I stared into his eyes, I could see the pain that he had been hiding behind decades of therapy, various meetings of the Anonymous type, drug cocktails (some prescribed by his doctor, some he got from the curbside pharmacy down his street) and copious amounts of booze. He was almost unrecognizable compared to the young man I knew in the 60s. It was a different time back then. Having just graduated from college, the future looked like it held so many wonderful opportunities. Then on December 1st, 1969, they held the draft.After our tour in ...

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“Beautiful” by Shanique Campbell

Submitted to Contest #101

The beautiful chocolate complexion girl analyzed herself in the mirror with a sneer. The extremely short black dress that she wore hugged her curves as if it was her second skin. If it was up to her she wouldn’t have even given the piece of cloth a second glance if she saw it in the store, as it showed too much skin and it would have most likely surpassed her already small budget. In an attempt to improve her appearance she released her curls from the messy bun that it was in and brush it down. However, much to her displeasure, as she analyz...

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“The Apple Man” by Oscar Cole

Submitted to Contest #101

Wilfred was an old man. He spent his long days listening to the radio, watching cricket, tending to his garden, doing the crossword in the Daily Mail paper… Rinse and repeat it went on for years this way. He kept himself to himself; he was quite alone, but quite content. One day, he opened the front door, and found something that threw him off quite completely. Placed perfectly centered on the top stone step that led up to his open door, an apple sat, glistening at him in the hazy daylight. Frowning, then wincing, Wilfred bent his kne...

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“Behind the Looking-Glass” by Alexander Katz

Submitted to Contest #101

“I am a mirror.” The doctor crossed her legs and scribbled something down onto a worn, leather notepad. Brows scrunched together for a moment, wrinkling into the shape of a frown on her forehead. I’d been seeing her for a few weeks now, but this was the first time I was taking it seriously. The way she scribbled with that pen made me think the doc was on the same page. Honest words, candid words, have a particularly sour taste when they leave your lips. Why? I haven’t the faintest idea, but perhaps the taste is just something foreign...

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“Reflection in the Mirror” by Debra Widdicombe

Submitted to Contest #101

The silvery glass reflected my image back to me with absolute clarity and I didn’t like the reflection I saw in that mirror.A female athlete in her prime, disqualified by a simple decision to smoke weed before the Olympics. To hell with all of them!If so many of the States allowed weed, why wasn’t I allowed to smoke a little when I felt low or even for pleasure. It wasn’t exactly performance enhancing, or was it? Maybe a little medicinal, to help me relax. I felt angry. I felt sad. I felt as if I had let myself and my family down. My adoptiv...

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“Reflection in Time” by Rhonda Allen

Submitted to Contest #101

A refreshing splash of cool water on my face, same time everyday, part of my early morning routine. Dabbing the towel to my face I looked in the mirror, is that a new wrinkle, or just a crease from the pillow? I leaned in for closer inspection, just a pillow crease. Not that another wrinkle would bother me, I am glad to have gotten to this age, against all odds, I survived. Funny how the reflection of my face in the mirror seems to change, I know over time I have aged, yet sometimes I still see all the younger versions of me looking ba...

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“Play It Again” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #101

They were twins. They weren’t identical twins, physically lookin, but in all other ways one could be exchanged for the other and no one that can’t see could tell them apart. One of the things, and there were many, that could drive you to distraction, was their ability to echo one another’s thoughts. Robert having been born first I believe inherited the predominant quality that goes with those that are first, and Roger always the echo, the shadow, a faint breath behind his brother where speech was concerned, a close second. So...

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“Prep Work” by Susanne Perry

Submitted to Contest #101

It was 1975 and my sister was getting married. Everyone thought it was wonderful; I thought she’d lost her mind. She had the perfect life at college. I imagined parties until all hours and concerts. Classes, papers, sulky professors, exams, and incessant poverty didn’t factor into my vision of her life. The wedding would be small, out of doors. I would serve as bridesmaid, my sister’s best friend as the maid of honor. My mother would make our dresses for the event; floor-length, empire waist, spaghetti straps. In...

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“What I Believe” by Skylar Levi

Submitted to Contest #101

Life isn’t a straight line, some road you have to travel with potholes and rain. Life is more like a string, so in that aspect the Fates were right. It starts out fine. Sometimes it changes colors. Sometimes, it gets snipped too early. Sometimes, it starts to fray in the middle, and sometimes you can pull it back together, but sometimes it just keeps getting worse no matter what you do. The last one’s mine. Ever since I was fourteen, my life has been spiraling downwards. I really didn’t mean to yell at my older sister that night. She drove...

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“Brown Skin Girl” by Shavonne White

Submitted to Contest #101

Brown skin girl. Your skin just like pearls. The best thing in the world. I’d never trade you for anybody else. I silently sang the lyrics to the Beyonce song over and over. I listened to this on the entire bus ride to and from school. Only took my headphones out when they required it which was when I was in classrooms. The hardest things about going to school is riding the school bus, walking through the halls, and lunch period. Riding the school bus was hectic because the bus driver didn’t bother trying to stop the kids from running a...

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“The Vampire King's Sons” by Athena Ember Antigone

Submitted to Contest #101

It's ok, no one will know...I'm safe now...He can't- he can't hurt me. Not anymore.------I love the smell of a fresh-baked apple pie. There's nothing like it. No better way to make this home my own. Sure, I still haven't unboxed any of my boxes yet, but I have to do this first."Mum," I sigh as I take my first smell of the apple pie, straight out of the oven. I cut into the crispy crust of the pie and let the juices ooze out. Delish.-----"Wow, it's already 12:00am?" I say looking up from my book at the clock. "I really should go to bed," I sa...

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“EYEWITNESS” by Sudhir Menon

Submitted to Contest #101

The morning sun had risen from the horizon and the heat of the rays permeated through the open window of Maya’s bedroom. It was the middle of summer in the city of Mumbai, known for its tropical hot weather coupled with an ample dose of humidity. Maya jumped up from bed unable to bear the sunshine pouring into the room which was beginning to scorch her bare arms. It was 7.55 a.m. She was not wont to wake up so late during regular school days but the summer holidays had already begun about a couple of weeks back and there was, therefore, no c...

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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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