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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

“Angie Robinson” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #108

Content warning: pregnancy and toxic relationships “You got a fast car/ I want a ticket to anywhere”-Tracy Chapman Outside, crickets sing soft love songs for the end of summer. The moon is full bellied and glowing, just like me. Her bright beams stroke my distressed face, brow furrowed out of anger. I pace in a cotton nightgown, my toes curling into the threadbare brown carpet. My fists, slick with sweat and anxiety, curl stiff fingers...and uncurl them. I hiccup. It jolts you awake. Soft, little kicks, like butterfly kisses. We’re sud...

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“The House That Dad Built” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #108

It was going to be a fresh start for our family. My parents had been scrimping and saving every penny for the last five years just so they could buy a piece of land in the country. For as far back as I can remember, which is only the fifteen years of my life, we moved every few months from one dingy apartment to the next. It was the only life I knew. So, when my parents took my little sister, Jackie, and I on a ...

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“The Lamp” by Riley Cannings

Submitted to Contest #108

The Lamp Prologue A massive apartment block burst into flames. “Now,” hissed the voice inside my head,”Do it now!” The building was now collapsing. I had to do it now, I had to do it fast. All those innocent lives. All that destruction! I can’t bear it! “Ok, I'm going to do it, I’m going to do it!” I did it... Chapter 1: Strike Legend has it that a rich, but surprisingly ordinary family holds a very unique key. The key is used to open a very mysterious and powerful chest; a chest of which nobody but the ordinary family knows the cont...

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“The Inheritance” by Kerry Goldsworthy

Submitted to Contest #108

My brother inherited a classic car and management of ‘Seascape’; the grand residence on the Esplanade with it seafront views and imposing gardens. I inherited approximately a thousand old postcards in a sturdy green cardboard box. Yes, you read that correctly. I am younger than my brother James by nineteen months, but I was always my Aunt Doreen’s favorite. Doreen had been my mother’s younger sister. She had never married and was described by most as eccentric. These days she would probably have been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, o...

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“Accept that empty space” by Nova Nite

Submitted to Contest #108

Sometimes it’s scary to think that just one moment can change someone’s life forever. One moment can turn someone into a completely different person. A woman sat in a group of ten people in an old church, her long brown hair tied up in a tight bun, her blue eyes searching for something safe and her freckled face void of any emotion. “Gal, it’s your turn.” A blonde haired woman said as the broken girl looked up to see the group staring at her. “Right.” She whispered looking down at her dry hands. One of her c...

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“The Elements of Production and Conquest” by Brandon Best

Submitted to Contest #108

Breathe in… breathe out. It always begins with air into the lungs. Regulating my breathing, controlling it, meant controlling my thoughts, and being in tune with myself. Staying connected, and keeping connected. That was the only way this was going to work. Taking a deep breath in, holding it for a beat, then letting it flow, releasing naturally with no degree of force or frustration, I thus began the mental preparation for what was at hand. The daily, morning practice of my Xingyiquan empty hand set, Wu Xing Lian Huan Quan. It was th...

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“The Girl With A Bird For A Heart” by Tempest Feather

Submitted to Contest #108

The Girl with a Bird For a Heart Tempest Feather As she stretched and awoke, her alarm clock rang. Ignoring it, she buried her head in the pillow. Her dream flooded back. She was running heavily through the forest, her feet pounding over the molding earth, which gave way to cracked pavement. Her sneakers slapped the concrete as she ran, fleeing from them as she skidded to a stop before her local mall complex. Ducking into one of the stores, she dropped down the wall, breathing heavily. There, before her, was a police officer checking...

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“My Palermo” by Dhevalence .

Submitted to Contest #108

“We are safest among the dead.”Eyes flicker in the corner, so there must be the creature who spoke. I cannot see the figure; I can’t see much of anything, really, in the dim light of a lantern placed well away from that corner. I wish to see what that is, and for a different reason, I wish to see what’s behind me prodding at my kidneys with a pointed object.A very sharp, painful object.These beings, these many grunting beings, stopped me moments ago, stabbing my ribcage with their sticks and spears. One of those implements too could be on my...

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“The Tiger and the Lion” by Harlow Jones

Submitted to Contest #108

She limped up the hill. Her feet dragged. She slid on her way down. Her shoes’ traction expired. She huffed and puffed to her car. Once seated behind the wheel, she flipped down the sun visor and saw a red face staring back at her. She flipped the visor up and threw her head back. Her panting accompanied her thoughts. How could she ever think running would be a good hobby? The one silver lining was that she managed to not twist an ankle in the crumbled foundation she called running shoes. She looked at the seat beside her and sighed. ...

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“Cancelled” by Stephanie Eagleson

Submitted to Contest #108

Maire said cancellation didn’t hurt. If that were true, Cara would have traded the last day full of a stiff back and migraine for an early quitting time. She floured the work surface and kneaded a lump in rhythm to her pounding temples. Only an hour or two: after that, there wouldn’t be enough of her left to suffer. It was just a matter of filling the space between now and then. She rubbed an itch on her cheek with her shoulder and didn’t see how it left a powdery smudge on her sleeve. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth; she wondere...

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“Rough Sailing ” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #108

Nan looked toward the west again, where the clouds seemed to be growing an even darker shade of grey. The waves had picked up too, hitting the side of the small sailboat and splashing over the coaming as it slid down into the waves. “Don’t you think?” she asked. “No, I don’t think, and I wish to hell you’d let me handle this. Unless you want to be...

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“You Make Me Do Crazy Things” by Aoife Blu

Submitted to Contest #108

Jack dragged me out here for a weekend cruise on his cousin’s boat. I didn’t want to go at first and I still wish that I was somewhere else rather than the middle of the ocean, but he convinced me that it would give us time to bond and work on the issues that we’ve been having. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to talk things over with him if it’s just us for the weekend. There’s a lot I’ve been meaning to bring up. I even made myself a list of what I wanted us to talk about, but, of course, the cruise doesn’t consist of just us. Instead, his whole...

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“Purgatory on the Pacific” by Ryan Henrie

Submitted to Contest #108

“Timmy, put your mask on right this instant!” She held a book at her side, a plasti-wrapped novel she had bought in the gift shop earlier that day. It was hard to read with the soft rocking of the waves, anyway. “But I don't friggin’ wanna…” whined the nine-year-old. “Don’t you use those damn words in front of your mother, boy!” cautioned a man developing a beer-gut, features shrouded and voice slightly muffled by the air-tight enviro-mask he wore. “And I won’t have you endangering our family, eh?” Timmy grumbled a few indistingu...

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“Ocean Excursion” by Lynn Dewees

Submitted to Contest #108

Paul found himself, beer in hand, in a deck chair on the Lido deck. An extravagantly colorful awning overhead kept him out of the direct sunlight. The beer was heavenly. No one splashed in the pool, no passengers wandered the deck. He had the entire place to himself. He felt that he should be bothered by the revelation that he didn’t know how he got here, but he just sipped his beer. A dark cloud appeared then moved on. Paul found himself on the bridge. In front of him, a deck to ceiling window cut a 120 degree arc. Outside, the white ...

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“Just Like That” by Jessica Livolsi

Submitted to Contest #108

My eyes cramped from trying to wake up so early. The alarm seamed louder than usual and I couldn't stop myself from slamming the damn thing on the ground. With one last groan I finally got out of bed. The first day of school was never a great time for me. It meant that each and every day I got to eat lunch in the library and pretend I have friends so my mom wouldn't think I am freak. As if she could ever understand what it meant to be a teenager now a days. At least in her day she could do something like party or drink, now, if you aren't ha...

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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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