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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#108: Elemental

Water, air, fire, earth, and void: together, these five elements make up one of the earliest systems used to understand our world. Ancient cultures in Greece, Persia, India, and elsewhere all believed that everything they saw could be broken down into these five core categories. While the system doesn’t hold much water scientifically, we still hear echoes of these ancient classifications today — from the groups of astrological signs, to the magical systems of fantasy worlds.

For this week’s prompts, I’m going back to basics, and exploring each of the five core elements in turn. I’m excited to see what you build out of the building blocks of — well, everything!

This week's prompts

Write a story about a voyage on a boat.

Adventure – 42 stories

Write about a person or object vanishing into thin air.

Thriller and Suspense – 44 stories

Write a story about a team tunneling down into the centre of a planet.

Science Fiction – 6 stories

Start or end your story with a house going up in flames.

Dark – 55 stories

Write a story about a character who’s trying to fill an empty space, literally or metaphorically.

Angst – 55 stories

Stories

“Away Message” by Maria Avisal

Submitted to Contest #108

“Hold on, let me read this email,” Ray said, which was irritating since he had called me and I didn’t particularly feel like talking to him at all. “Whoa, Nina, remember Scott?” My empty stomach flipped into my chest. Yes, I remembered Scott. I remembered his green-gray eyes, and wavy hair, and cool nonchalance that masked a quiet intensity. I remembered the exact moment he had noticed me at the party, and how quickly and deftly I had dissociated myself from Ray, who had brought me to the party. I remembere...

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“MARS” by Kryste Andrews

Submitted to Contest #108

MARS by Kryste Andrews After one full hour, Nikolai’s effort to break through Mars’ rocky exterior ends, fruitless. The raw sound of the jackhammer-like apparatus still works on Stanislav’s nerves. He grumbles, irritated by the failure to make a dent in the lava-like landscape. What a ridiculous instrument to bring on a mission of so much import. A primitive tool, like father used to wield while breaking up concrete, not sophisticated enough for space ...

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“Up” by Colleen Christi Willett

Submitted to Contest #108

A weekend camper went missing in Rocky Mountain National Park. It happened a lot. Enough that the park relied on volunteers to help find people when they disappeared. I hadn’t been doing it long, but there was a certain draw to setting out on the trail of someone who’d disappeared. And this particular disappearance was confusing. By all accounts, Joseph Kinneman, who was twenty-eight and a high school basketball coach, was in excellent physical condition. He and his pals spent most of their free time in the park, hiking, rock climbing, ca...

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“Voyage to a Secret Island ” by Thompson Emate

Submitted to Contest #108

Lester was bored. He was at a loose end. Nothing interesting to do. He decided to pay a visit to the garage to see if he could find anything to occupy him. Searching through the items in an old wooden box, he found a newspaper. Fllipping through, he stumbled on a column with a caption, 'TIME TRAVEL! TRY THESE''. Curious, he decided to read further. He discovered that the equations and formulas for time travel are in a book hidden in a cave on an island. He ran down to his friend's house excitedly holding the paper. "Eugene! Eugene!! Eugene!!...

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“Scarlet Waves” by Lucy Gray

Submitted to Contest #108

CW: mention of self harm and suicideThe jagged surface of the sea had darkened to near black. Only with her ship’s light could Scarlet make out the peaks of waves and the indentations of ripples. It was mesmerizing, the way that the ripples swayed back and forth until they crested into waves. She used to obsess over those tiny singular motions and how they mingled with others to become great tides.Cool wetness pricked at the outer corner of Scarlet’s eye. She brought her fingers to her cheek as it dripped down her chin. She almost thought sh...

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“Bar Talk” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #108

Why were bar tops always made of some deep, dark wood with so much polish on it that one could see their sad face in crystal clear high definition as they ordered another drink? And why was the wood always so slippery? Just for barkeeps to fling drinks around like they’re in some sort of low-brow curling match? And the music… songs just played again and again. In the three hours that Ted had been at McCarson’s Corner, he had heard the same crappy pop song play at least seven times. As the high snares started up to signal the beginning of the...

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“Tempest” by Tyler Hanson

Submitted to Contest #108

Waves break against the bow of Tempest, as the water riders control the ebb and flow of the sea, propelling the ship forward. Breaking through the last of the waves, the riders dismount from their pedestals. Before they can get below deck they can hear Captain Galan at the helm congratulating them, “Another well ridden storm!”. Each rider can’t help but smile at their Captain’s overwhelming positivity. “Aye Captain! Call us back if you need us!” one of the riders exclaims. “Please don’t need us though!” the group chuckles to themselv...

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“Thank You Photon” by Jerry Nourrie

Submitted to Contest #108

“The show tonight. You going?” An excited voice asked, directed towards the back of Levi’s head. He turned to see that the anonymous question came from Ava. She playfully turned to look behind her as well. “A-are you asking me?” he nervously replied. “Casper, did you hear something just now?” Ava said as she pretended to look around. “Of course you. Who else? All of us in the student council worked so hard to make this happen tonight. We have to go.” “Oh yeah, the fireworks show,” Levi said as he rubbed his head and looked off...

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“Falling for Fiction” by Courtney Moore

Submitted to Contest #108

Falling in love with fiction is the worst type of heartbreak. She’s already on track to meet her prince charming. He’ll fall in love with her wit. He’ll be the one to tuck that piece of hair behind her ear. He’ll get to hold her in his arms and mine will still be empty. I’ll just have this book with pages and pages of her.She was written for me. The intent was the world, but it’s me she found. She feels too familiar. Blonde hair and blue eyes, with freckles all over. Brave at her worst. Content at her best. I know she’s just a character in a...

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“Parasite” by Michael Martin

Submitted to Contest #108

He found himself in front of the box again. Brian didn’t recall lowering the stairs to the attic. He hadn’t noticed his feet carrying him down the path his footsteps had created in the dust and insulation-covered planks. Navigating the clothes, decorations, and knickknacks - strewn about the attic floor during his impassioned rush to find the box in the moments after she’d walked out the door – didn’t register to him anymore. Yet, here he was again. Staring at the half-empty box that contained one struggling heart, his he...

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“The Family House that was not a Home” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #108

“Does your vision slow down when you get older?” George wondered with spoken words on that fateful day. Objects in his old house were appearing to move when he looked at them in passing. They would stop that seeming motion when he put his full focus on that apparent movement. It was happening more and more often these days. George asked himself whether his aging brain was processing images more slowly than his eyes were passing messages to it. H...

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“Second Floor Apartment” by Lins E

Submitted to Contest #108

The couch had stayed. The last tenant had told Angie's friend Marta that he would not be moving it. Angie was fine with this. Sight unseen, she signed a six month lease. The couch had no legs and was very low to the ground. If Angie sat on it like a chair, her knees came up level with her tits. But she rarely sat on it. She laid down on it. Or stretched her legs out across it. She used its entire space. *** The bed sat on the floor too. It was one of the few things that they'd purchased together and therefore had to n...

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“Baby Food” by Coltrane Rogers

Submitted to Contest #108

Content Warning: violence, explicit languageDetective Marsden, followed by a nurse, walked into hospital ward twenty-two to meet Lee Baxter, the thirty-three-year-old who was shrivelled like an old man on his death bed; Baxter occupied his own bed, albeit not dying, yet hooked up to an IV drip which slowly replenished his vitality.“Mr Baxter?”His tired eyes looked up in response.“We have a detective Marsden here who would like to talk to you, something about the incident.”“Thank you, Miss Raymer,” the detective spoke in a thick, sombre voice...

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“The Wish” by Marcia H.

Submitted to Contest #108

Spencer loved to garden and do what he called “pulling the magic weeds from the ground.” He loved to garden almost from the time he could walk outside. But, his high society loving parents didn’t think that it was a good idea for their only son to be outside kneeling in muddy dirt and wet grass besides their gardener every day. Spencer on the other hand didn’t mind the getting mud and dirt from the earth on his clothes and occasionally digging up the elusive earthworms. He loved the feeling of how the dirt caressed his little hands while dig...

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“Echo” by Floria Yang

Submitted to Contest #108

CW: child abuse<I> “I think it is time for us to have a baby.” I straighten my back and took in a long steady breath before speaking. The smell of fresh flowers mixed with meat sauce and salad dressing on the table filled my nostril. My voice echoed in a room so quiet. I scooped up some salad into my mouth, wincing as I swallowed: I might put too much dressing for his liking. I hoped it wasn’t going to ruin ...

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$250

Prize money

202

Contest entries

207

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 27, 2021 EST

Won by Rachel Kenley Fry 🏆

Title: I Leave the Six Blank

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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