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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.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a metaphor about human nature.

Fiction – 109 stories

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

Adults – 243 stories

Write about a character with an unassailable moral compass.

Character – 34 stories

Write a story about someone losing faith in an institution.

Angst – 119 stories

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

Horror – 205 stories

Stories

“Nothingness” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted to Contest #102

True love is a myth and I’ll tell you why: He called me at 2 am to ask if I could come over. He was drunk or at least I thought he was. I cradled the phone in my hands as he pleaded, hearing as his sloppy words pooled at my feet. The phone was cold against my ears, almost feeling like a prison and an addiction at the same time. He told me he would be leaving for Portland in a few days and that he wanted me to stop him. I loved him, had never stopped loving him. So I agreed. It was 2 in the morning but I agreed because I wanted to see hi...

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“It started with Three: An Empath, A Seer, and the legendary Oracle” by J D Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #102

Humans are like machines creating an endless pattern that in turn becomes our life, much like the code that bind machines. Like those machines people fall into their old ways and settle into becoming just another part of the background. The endless drone of life becoming something else Entirely shielding us from what we are supposed to see. That shield leaves us with a false sense of reality. Things are not always as they seem. Especially in an old town full of mystery and death. The first rule of coming b...

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“A Teacher's Dilemma” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #102

“Should we get started?” the principal suggests in a cheery, singsong voice, tapping on the microphone. “People? Please take your seats. Excuse me, people?” Her smile is brittle as she grips the microphone a little too hard. She stands alone on the Cafetorium stage, a space that doubles as both a lunchroom and a theater—and permanently smells of soured milk.The throng of veteran teachers summarily ignores her, continuing to talk more loudly to one another, mainly about expected retirement dates. They help themselves to off brand cookies and ...

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“Once bitten, twice camera shy ” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #102

Our neighbourhood was a rarity in the modern world. In an era where people hid from their neighbours, and had more virtual friends than physical ones, our neighbourhood remained tight.Partially it was because of my mom and dad. When they had newly arrived as immigrants, they set on a carefully constructed campaign to win over neighbours.They threw huge Halloween parties, hung lights for every holiday and festival, and sent me -back when I was cute, mind you- to all our neighbours' houses with an armful of gift baskets.So as the years passed,...

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“The Light Sleeper” by Maha Shalaby

Submitted to Contest #102

It was boring! A boring evening as usual! Nothing was interesting after that long working day full of arguments and fights, which negatively affected my temper. I laid down on the bed stretching my arms reaching the old wooden bed back; my shoulder clicked announcing the urge of joining a yoga class, but actually, instead of moving, I closed my eyes for a moment, or that what I thought. A moment.My brain had dipped into sleep, but I didn’t feel that I was actually sleeping; people who knew me, knew quite well that I was a light sleep p...

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“I Understand” by S. Closson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #102

“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 a cheetah's pace, and my memory equally as spotty. Even ...

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“Letter of Resignation” by M. Sawan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #102

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’ve always done, but I can admit to more: I was nervous about the Church and its members. We all know the prejudice of the outside world, and I was no different. So I mopped. I heard ...

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“The woman under the streetlight” by Keya J.

Submitted to Contest #102

“Please don’t do it! Please, I am begging you. I said I am sorry. I know it was my fault but we can make it even. If we try we can talk it out. Listen to me, Maria. Noo! Maria!” I screamed as I saw the bewildered woman jump from the tenth floor of our apartment in front of my naked eyes. Her cold stare, honey melted eyes found me sitting upright clutching the cotton sheets staring at the old town clock with both its hands striking at twelve. It was a dream. The glittering splotches in the sky saw me puffing against the he...

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“Trapped From The Inside” by Theodore Matiu

Submitted to Contest #102

T/W: paralysis, depression, suicide Trapped From The Inside I remember the day so vividly. I was a youngster playing around with my toy soldiers and watching TV. It was Sunday, my sweet day off. No working, just playing and fooling around all day long. “Samuel it’s time for breakfast!” My mother yelled across the house. I got up slowly and reluctantly. I put my toys in a pile at the corner of the room and turned off the TV. I started heading toward the kitchen. I was just a few steps...

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“BIRD AND RIVER” by Theresa Anna

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #102

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, perched precariously on his nose, had a crack from the last ti...

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“Ketchup and Mustard Initials” by Michael Martin

Submitted to Contest #102

I took each step slowly as if the four steps to the pulpit were a barrier between the past I’d always known and a future that I wasn't ready to face. My feet seemed afraid to cross that threshold, each step growing increasingly steeper to climb if in no other place than my heart. They’re all waiting on you, I thought. Get a move on. I’d rehearsed time and time again and thought I was ready. There seemed a disconnect between my physical self and my mind, though, a chasm between the image I maintained in my mind's eye and t...

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“Dan & Alice Talk in a Car” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #102

There is no truth more assured than the ability of those you love to reveal the most inconvenient things at the most inconvenient times. This was what Daniel thought looking over at his passenger, as a swift breeze held the side of his car. What small cracks that happened to be in the old model were found with ease by the frankly impertinent temperature. He'd made sure that Alice bundled up for this trip in preparation for the season's cold, badgering her for a good month remembering the near yearly climate shock. While he was expect...

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“Nightly Walking” by DionTre Speller

Submitted to Contest #102

Sometimes I have trouble falling to sleep. Just lying in my bed tossing and turning hoping that sleep will come soon. But it seems I can never find the slumber I want. Just closing my eyes and lying-in bed but nothing happens. Not even a drift. I hit bed usually by 10:30pm. I even take a sleeping pill every night to fall asleep. Not even that helps. I do this all the time like it is a common part of my routine. I did find that going outdoors and walking around the neighborhood helps. My neighborhood is about a mile long. My neighborhood...

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“Artificial Connection” by Henry Vinicio Valerio-Madriz

Submitted to Contest #102

TV sets are turned on. Sunday “Breaking News. This is Aspen Woods reporting for HVVM Channel, your channel. Although this year’s drought has been increased by the global climate change, authorities found the cause for this year’s wildfire in California: experts concluded it was detonated by a match… Believe it or not, after many laborious hours of investigation, specialists from the California Fire Department claimed to follow a firing track, as they called it, to an area by the roadside, where they found the remains of a match, probab...

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“The Gray Green House Just Down the Street ” by Brittany Weaver

Submitted to Contest #102

They say it’s haunted—the gray green house just down the street. For thirty-two years I’ve watched that house. We all have—my grandmother, my mother, and me. We have seen families and bachelors, divorcees and old maids, first loves and broken hearts all enter the gray green house just down the street. They enter ignorantly, but they leave…changed. They leave haunted.The Cohen family—that poor man Jasper and his frail wife Amelia—they didn’t last but a week. They moved into the cursed house on the night of the twelfth, with absolutely no rega...

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$50

Prize money

710

Contest entries

0

Stories

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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