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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#106: Periergia

Ever found yourself experiencing a newfound appreciation for something you see or do every day? Maybe you think fondly of how many people have stood on the same street corner as you, or appreciate the centuries of craftsmanship that it took to develop the humble coffee mug you hold in your hand.

When you feel like waxing lyrical about the everyday, you might call it periergia — using flowery language to describe something trivial. While this is usually a writing no-no (purple prose, anyone?), there's something irresistible about romanticizing the mundane once in a while. So this week, we’re looking for beauty in unexpected places, whether that’s a character, something they see, or anything in-between.

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with a character noticing the beauty in something they've seen hundreds of times.

Fluff – 74 stories

Write about a character who’s known to be a cynic, but secretly romanticizes everything.

Valentine's Day – 15 stories

A mundane ability suddenly becomes a superpower. Write about someone or something affected by this.

Middle School – 26 stories

Write a story about a character who takes nothing for granted.

Teens – 21 stories

Write a story about a character who’s secretly nobility.

Thriller and Suspense – 16 stories

Stories

“The Fourth Day” by Tyler Hanson

Submitted to Contest #106

Biting winds sink their teeth into all who enter the Boreal Forest. Trees once ripe with foliage, have long been draped in dresses of snow. Lost to time, only those who inhabit the lands can perceive the trails through the forest. Yet, outside of the forest, there are some who hear the call of knowledge and adventure from the land. The calls to map the original paths, and to discover the other side. These calls are short lived, when faced with the edge of the forest. Many slink back to their homes unable to conquer their own fears. Those who...

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“The Fortunate Son” by Karen Lankford-Carnes

Submitted to Contest #106

The Fortunate Son By Karen Lankford-Carnes This isn’t ideal, by any stretch of the imagination. Siobhan thought as she punched her timecard, in only eight hours. I can do this.Just find a purpose, a reason for being here. Some reason. “I really, really hate this gig. How am I working in a restaurant? It’s not even a clever cliche. “Malarkey!” That's what he said, with conviction,no less. Siobhan couldn't even whisper it without going into one of her uncontrollable laughing fits.She had more and more of these as of late. Here she was, a 32...

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“Window 2” by Arielle Loveday

Submitted to Contest #106

"A seed doesn't grow without soil.""What?""A seed doesn't grow without soil," Marius said conclusively. The 25-year-old always spoke as if his words were the very last to be spoken, the very deepest to be spoken, the legacy of humankind echoing throughout the cosmos."Well, no shit, Marius."Marius sat at a large bay window overlooking half of humanity. He leaned his head towards the glass in annoyance. "I meant the human spirit," he sighed, looking towards the stars like they were spotlights on his personal play. Then he looked back at the Ea...

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“Burn Survivor Therapy Dog Has Amazing Break Through” by Charles Sally Brugnola

Submitted to Contest #106

Doing therapy dog work at a Behavioral Health Unit has its challenges. My being a retired police officer had prepared for me for the unexpected. In fact, there were situations as a police officer that I actually had to take people into custody under California Health and Safety code 5150, because they were a danger to themselves or others. Some of those times I would transport those individuals to a lock-down unit in Los Angeles. But now I was visiting them, helping them. The work was rewarding for me, I was actually changing people’s lives....

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“Amelia Egghart ” by Erin F

Submitted to Contest #106

The promise of a storm hung hot and heavy over Yavapai county in Northern Arizona. Being mid-August, they were well into monsoon season. Locals knew to take care of their outdoor activities in the morning, and to seek shelter for the couple of hours that rain, lightening and thunder took center stage. Those in the know would finish their hikes by noon, shaking their heads at the shiny tourists bounding out onto trails that within an hour could be buried under flash flood waters, or illuminated with a light show that made the Disney parade lo...

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“Time Goes By” by Marcia H.

Submitted to Contest #106

Time is something that you can have too much of or too little of. Time is always there and you never notice it until you run out of it and need more of it or you have too much of it on your hands. Zana wished that she could put all the time she needed into a huge container, an unbreakable container and when she needed more time she could take some out and when she had too much time she could put it all back in. Her container would have all the pictures of her family and friends framed around it as a reminder of time and to make time ...

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“The Woman in the Mirror” by Tanya Smith

Submitted to Contest #106

The Woman in the MirrorBy: Ireland LoreleiSitting looking out at the deep, blue ocean. Watching the waves break against the shore. I set there for what must have been hours in complete silence. I had gotten lost in the waves, or maybe I had gotten lost somewhere in the deep blue sea, but I had gotten lost. Ironically, I had gotten lost in thoughts, while I felt like I was lost in life. Time was passing me by. It was like I was just floating through the days. Like I was sitting on top of the clouds looking down and not even recognizing who I ...

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“So Many Questions” by Maryam Gholami

Submitted to Contest #106

-Are you still my husband? - Of course I am. Have we gone to the court? Did we divorce? -No! - So why do you ask repeatedly? You question me this way. -How can I be sure then? I cannot take it for granted. Can I? He looks at you again and hugs you. That makes you sure for some moments. You promise yourself not to ask so many questions even if you are not sure. Even you have doubts. You smile at him. He is late for work. He goes out. You don’t work today. That is a good thing not to do. You have talked to your mother and you are about to go t...

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“Sunrise on the Sonoran ” by A. Neptune

Submitted to Contest #106

Isabel woke with a start just before sunrise, her head snapping off her pillow. "Ow!" She gasped as a sudden rush of pain radiated from her left arm and ribs. She closed her eyes, took a few steadying breaths, and let the pains subside.Isabel listened to the many sounds of her bedroom. The buzzing of fan blades, the singing of the birds outside, all occasionally overpowered by her husband's snores. Then, with another steadying breath, she rose from her bed and gingerly put her left arm into its sling. A small 'Oof' escaped her lips as she di...

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“Dancing In the Wind” by Brandy Abercrombie

Submitted to Contest #106

Scout looked up from the book she was currently reading, while enjoying the nice summer evening on her back patio. Straining her ears, she listened for a noise way off in the distance. Trying to hear more clearly, she held her breathe. She tried to hear the noise over the beating of heart going thump-thump. Then, she heard the noise again, the low, distant, rumble of thunder. Earlier when she had gone in the house to refill her water, she noticed the sky was beginning to look darker off to the West. Closing her eyes she waited for the next r...

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“I see it almost every day.” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #106

I see it almost every day. That is not surprising in that it is at the intersection where I cross the road to get to my bank, my pharmacy, and my favourite pub. It is a sad sight. Once it graced the corner with its lifelike beauty. Now it is a rusty wreck, like it had been constructed hap-hazard fashion from the twisted remains of a Ford pinto from the early 1970s. It stands in a small grassy area (too small to even be called a ‘parkette’), accompanied by a few trees that have seen better days. In a way the two of u...

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“Genderless” by Karen Lethlean

Submitted to Contest #106

Genderless With our meal over, yet none wish to rush a break away from enjoyable family time. Where each member is allocated specific preparation roles. All part of our ritual. Sundry cooking tasks, child feeding assistance and eventually tidying up. We stay extending positive together time, when possible. I want to point out this is not merely institutionalized quality family time, but who we are, and what we do. ‘I recall a professor,’ reminisces my partner Lyric. ‘Don’t remember what was being read, but I can picture a missing dust jac...

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“Crepe” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #106

Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are expensive emerald jewels once lost underground somewhere in Zambia, purchased in an auction by your great-great-great-great-great grandfather and are now family heirlooms? I should warn you that archeologists might try to steal them while you sleep, so their many prisms can be studied until all the wonder is lost. And have you thought about when you let your hair down? It is black as the night sky, in contrast to your milky complexion. A gateway into space. I could fall through it head-first and ...

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“Nightshade” by Kurt Karl

Submitted to Contest #106

“Do you mean I’m fired?” Edmund asked his boss, Clive Stanway. The day had started like any other workday. Edmund had risen early, fed his cat, Chloe, exercised, and walked to work from his home in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. It was a pleasant early summer day, sunny and not yet humid. Edmund’s walk was a brisk 15-minutes door-to-door, and the lovely weather put a spring into his step. While striding, he remembered how, as a child, he was so good at skipping great distances, outpacing his playmates in races. Edmund worked...

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“Last Night's Fortune” by Maxwell Altman

Submitted to Contest #106

I look in the mirror and smirk. Christine once told me that no one can look at themselves in the mirror dead on. Christine says that when someone looks at themselves in the mirror, they instantaneously make some sort of face, usually to make themselves more attractive. I hate facts like that, and Christine is full of them. It’s like when I’m in the waiting room at a doctor’s office and Christine asks me if I can hear the soft hum of the air conditioner above us, and then asks me if it’s something that “bothers me too.” Well, Christin...

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$250

Prize money

152

Contest entries

205

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 13, 2021 EST

Won by A.Dot Ram 🏆

Title: I Was Always Good at Taboo

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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