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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#102: To Kill a Mockingbird

This Sunday (July 11th) marks sixty-one years since To Kill A Mockingbird was first published. For over six decades now, Harper Lee’s groundbreaking Great American Novel has been taught in schools, stocked by the dozens in bookstores, and devoured by adults and children alike. And despite its age, many of its themes remain deeply relevant today: the damage done by judgment and discrimination, the loss of innocence as one grows up, and the vital importance of standing up for what’s right — even when everyone else is against you.

 

To commemorate this classic, this week’s prompts are inspired by its characters, plot devices, and most enduring lessons. Whether To Kill a Mockingbird is a distant English-class memory or your favorite book of all time, these prompts are sure to spark a few story ideas — one of which may even lead to your own literary masterpiece.

🥇 Winner

“Favorites” by Shane Ransom

I saw a tree and thought of you, or rather, thought of the way you see trees. I remembered when we walked through the Ramble in Central Park, a wild place in the center of a place wilder still, resplendent and emerald in the early summer sun. You stopped suddenly when you saw it. I remember how you cocked your head in appreciation, a tendril of hair escaped from behind your ear. You brushed it back with an unconscious ha...

260 comments 260 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Thaw ” by Tom Vandel

Sorrow is like snow.Cold molecules that fall from the sky.And flow into your soul. Then slowly melt and dissipate,Only to return and chill you again. And again. From Canada,A cold front had migrated south,Leaving the earth under a soft quilt of snow. It was the edge of seasons,Near the end of winter.Around two on a Sunday afternoon.The sun had warmed the land and the pavement was dry,But it was still icy in the shadows and you had to keep an ...

15 comments 15 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Pouch Eggs ” by Amelia Bowen

Someone is talking to me but all I can see is their teeth, so round and yellow they look like cooked corn. We are sitting on the parking lot outside of my apartment, the black tar heating under us and turning our insides to mush. The asphalt has been running a tiff with the sun for hours now, finally reaching a fever pitch as the sun lets loose its rays in a constant barrage against the stubborn pavement. It refuses to surrender its stance, though it has remained solely on the defense. All I can feel is its warmth heating the undersides o...

30 comments 30 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“God Bless the Child” by A.Dot Ram

It started simply enough: I just wanted my Puppy Surprise, and if the school talent show could be my ticket, then I’d sing my heart out.As far as ten-year-old me was concerned, Puppy Surprise was the must-have toy of 1992. You got the momma dog in a pink cardboard box with a handle cut out in the shape of a bone, her little plastic face with big, painted-on eyes staring out at you. In her belly was a Velcro pouch, and hidden inside were her puppies, which you’d help her deliver after you brought her home and took her out...

29 comments 29 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“I Understand” by S. Closson

“I understand.” I must have said that to him a million times, the words flowing from my gullet like a hollow wind through wavering pines. The somber ballad of a lie retold.  Those words followed our every heart-to-heart, trailing behind them like the tail of a soaring kite. By the time of my great escape at the age of 18, that kite was in tatters, tumbling through still skies to the barren wasteland of what was once our family home. My mind runs rampant at...

20 comments 20 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Letter of Resignation” by M. Sawan

Temple President Silver, As you know, I joined the Church as a custodian—the Sanitation Specialist II. It was a fancy way of saying that I pushed a mop and didn’t have to do toilets. I was happy to have the work, and I again thank you for the opportunity, but it was just a job. I’ve had many like it, and I kept my head down. Some of that was because it’s what I’v...

11 comments 11 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“BIRD AND RIVER” by Theresa Anna

Each evening, the old woman put a box on her doorstep. The next morning, the box was gone.Gene and Cynthia watched from the attic window, because the attic was really the only place with a broad view of the neighbor’s property. The silver sky faded to black as night set in, shadows sprawling across the overgrown grass and weed infested sidewalk.“Do you think she’s a spy?” Gene asked Cynthia, squinting his face so that his freckles bunched up inside his cheeks. One of his glasses, p...

24 comments 24 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Silenced Cicadas” by Elena Pitsilidou

Content warning: war violence, rape, sexual assault, death, abortion It was that time of the year when the rhythmic song of the cicadas was interrupted. July. As the soul-piercing sound of the siren echoed, the sizzling summer day seemed to freeze in time when I witnessed the tiny dots on the sky falling down like the leaves of the primeval plane tree which stood in the square of my village, next to the coffeehouse. ‘Parachutes!’ my father screamed; ‘Elpi...

8 comments 8 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Start your story with a metaphor about human nature.

Fiction – 111 stories

Frame your story as an adult recalling the events of their childhood.

Adults – 247 stories

Write about a character with an unassailable moral compass.

Character – 36 stories

Write a story about someone losing faith in an institution.

Angst – 123 stories

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

Horror – 211 stories

Stories

“Favorites” by Shane Ransom

I saw a tree and thought of you, or rather, thought of the way you see trees. I remembered when we walked through the Ramble in Central Park, a wild place in the center of a place wilder still, resplendent and emerald in the early summer sun. You stopped suddenly when you saw it. I remember how you cocked your head in appreciation, a tendril of hair escaped from behind your ear. You brushed it back with an unconscious ha...

260 comments 260 WINNER 🏆
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“The Cheating Husband” by Kanika G

Draping the pallu of my saree around my waist, I tucked the loose end of it into the petticoat to avoid getting ketchup and oil stains on it as I helped serve piping hot samosas, ordered fresh from Narula’s bakery in Indiranagar, into the Corelle plates. The whiff of the spicy mint chutney I dolloped into each plate made my mouth water. Next, I served vegetable spring rolls, paneer tikkas and semolina idlis flavoured with mustard seeds and curry leaves into each plate, adding chicken tikkas...

82 comments 82
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“The GLOW (The Glorious Leslie of Wrestling)” by Stevie B

From the early 1960s until that dark morning I left home in 1970 the only times I recall my family spending together (unless you counted those awkwardly silent early evening dinners and my father’s, thankfully diminishing, Sunday drives with us all crowded in our dirty white Ford Galaxie Starliner), were around our tiny black-and-white TV set watching professional wrestling. Once a week, we’d gather in front of that old, battered Philco 4248-E sitting on a coffee table in our living room; twist, turn, and fidget w...

32 comments 32
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“Cielo Azul (Blue Sky)” by Mackenzie Littledale

Cielo Azul A short story by Mackenzie Littledale 7/15/2021 word count 1628  “What do you mean, the blue sky is an illusion?” my mother asked, shock writ large on her face,  hand poised on the door handle of the passenger side of my car. Her sheer terror scared me for a second. I thought she might get out of my car, so I had to ameliorate the situation. I was happy to e...

63 comments 63
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“[redacted]” by Alex Sultan

TW: attempted murder Everybody always called in sick on the holidays. Clara drew back on her cigarette and let the poison fill her lungs. She waited in her car, one hand against the revolver in her lap, the other tapping on the steering wheel. The lamplight across the street would soon illuminate the time traveler, and she would kill him. Snow drifted down in light waves. It would be the first time in her career that she worked on a redacted case—assigned right to her at that. Her partner had called in sick o...

18 comments 18
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“Help Wanted” by Clinton Ernest Murphy

Two dogs, barking incessantly at every neighbor passing by their respective black wrought iron fences, drove me insane. My faded blue front door creaked on its rusty hinges as I stepped out onto my front stoop. The faded concrete steps, which led down to the street, were tinged green and had chips in various places. “Shut up you stupid mongrels!” They both turned their muzzles toward me and continued barking while drool flew from the mouth of the large black one. The short brown and grey miki’s body flew into the air and back toward the g...

11 comments 11
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“Number 27” by Kendi Karimi

Beauty is a hunted down beast, a double-edged sword slitting slayer and slave. You hate the ones who have it and hate too those who don't. Those who have it eventually reach a need in their satisfaction for life, to have more, searching deeper than what their beauty holds, what it has made them hold, or who. When you're on the side where strangers call you the devil's child, the curse of the cursed, you are on the side o...

27 comments 27
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“The Thaw ” by Tom Vandel

Sorrow is like snow.Cold molecules that fall from the sky.And flow into your soul. Then slowly melt and dissipate,Only to return and chill you again. And again. From Canada,A cold front had migrated south,Leaving the earth under a soft quilt of snow. It was the edge of seasons,Near the end of winter.Around two on a Sunday afternoon.The sun had warmed the land and the pavement was dry,But it was still icy in the shadows and you had to keep an ...

15 comments 15 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Tricky Twins” by Henry Vinicio Valerio-Madriz

The day both brothers were born was not a regular one, it was a tricky day for their mother; in fact, she didn’t see it coming… Their biological father met their mother at a party long ago; a party in which alcohol was the official drink and drugs were the official food. You know, the kind of party people who lack self-love or pa...

17 comments 17
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“Pouch Eggs ” by Amelia Bowen

Someone is talking to me but all I can see is their teeth, so round and yellow they look like cooked corn. We are sitting on the parking lot outside of my apartment, the black tar heating under us and turning our insides to mush. The asphalt has been running a tiff with the sun for hours now, finally reaching a fever pitch as the sun lets loose its rays in a constant barrage against the stubborn pavement. It refuses to surrender its stance, though it has remained solely on the defense. All I can feel is its warmth heating the undersides o...

30 comments 30 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Reality” by TJ Squared

I stared helplessly at my brother who was lying on the hotel bed, fast asleep. His head rested peacefully on the hotel’s white pillows, and his body lay still under the white sheets. It’s a wonder what a little action in the night can make one do. He wasn’t partying, or drinking, or even smoking for that matter. It was much worse than all combined. It forced us to stay an extra day when we were so close to home. It forced everyone’s hopes and dreams and even sanity to lower a bit. It caused my mom more stress and aching. I mea...

29 comments 29
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“The Perfect Dystopia” by J D Hernandez

The city of Clouds in the country of the republic California was a peaceful place. Many believed it to be a perfect functioning utopia. However Jean Warren knew the truth dude to a quick she inherited from her father. She would ramble and often repeats herself something at which the elders would steadily annoyed over. She would often try to hold her tongue in something in her brain which blurred it out. Today she had don...

0 comments 0
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“God Bless the Child” by A.Dot Ram

It started simply enough: I just wanted my Puppy Surprise, and if the school talent show could be my ticket, then I’d sing my heart out.As far as ten-year-old me was concerned, Puppy Surprise was the must-have toy of 1992. You got the momma dog in a pink cardboard box with a handle cut out in the shape of a bone, her little plastic face with big, painted-on eyes staring out at you. In her belly was a Velcro pouch, and hidden inside were her puppies, which you’d help her deliver after you brought her home and took her out...

29 comments 29 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Dearest” by Charli Britton

I breathe in the scent of fried food, sugar, and popcorn. Today, for just a moment, everything is perfect.Evangeline is here standing with me, I have her attention, and can I say that I look simply dashing?I do.With a little breath of courage, I puff out my chest slightly, today is a day for bravery.Evie doesn't look so bad herself.Oh who am I kidding, she looks gorgeous with her sleek blonde hair pulled back in an ebony band that matc...

23 comments 23
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“One of the Willing” by Lynn Penny

Content Warning: Sexual Context, Drug and Alcohol Use, Death, Suicide, Apathy towards Suicide and Death.The following narrative does not mirror the author’s perspective on these subjects. It is a character perspective from someone who lacks empathy.Everyone has questions.Some people have answers.The real question is, how many people are willing to accept all the answers?Nydia was willing.The flash of the LED lights...

2 comments 2
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Ended on 23:59 - Jul 16, 2021 EST

Won by Shane Ransom 🏆

Title: Favorites

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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