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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#11: Childhood Meets Adulthood

Hello, writers! My name is Aja Pollock, and I’m a developmental editor and copy editor. If you’ve ever wondered what Neil Gaiman, Bruce Springsteen, Isabel Allende, and Ron Burgundy have in common, the answer is: me!

You can check out my Reedsy profile here.

My theme for this week is "childhood meets adulthood." Childhood often seems to me like a puzzle that could unlock your understanding of yourself — if only you could solve it. Whether it’s truly possible to solve that puzzle is an open question, but whenever we can fit a piece into place, there’s potential for big insights. Hopefully, these prompts will inspire you to explore what childhood can tell us about adulthood. Happy writing!

🥇 Winner

“The Tree” by Lee Witkowski

🏆 Winner of Contest #11

It’s a Monday morning and they’re cutting down the tree in the park by my house. It’s a sturdy oak, younger but taller than all the other trees around it. There was a storm last night, a storm worse than any in my memory. I guess the tree was struck by lightning. It’s split straight down the middle, the half farther from my view cleaved away, the half closer to my house still stretching towards the sun. *** I met you when we were five years old. I was running around in the park by my house when I tripped and fell. My knee was scraped and hur...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Sent to a Farm.” by Matt Strempel

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

I turned off the bitumen and the tyres bit into the gravel with a familiar crunch. It had been a dry summer and the road to my grandparents’ place dusted my windshield with cream talc. I wondered if old man Patterson would be on the phone to my parents, complaining I was going too fast. But he'd have been dead ten years by now.A fortnight prior, Grandma had passed away and I was back at the family home to help in some way. Not in any administrative capacity—I’m famously challenged in matters of logistics and organisation—but my back’s still ...

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“Three lanterns” by Eva Adams

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

The paper lantern was more difficult to light than Nina and her daughter had anticipated. The wind kept catching it and moving it away from the flame of the windproof lighter. It was just her and Maddie this year. Zach was away at uni but with them on Maddie’s screen. Twelve years, and Nina still ached for those arms around her. The soft touch of his fingers on her face. The smile that could melt an iceberg… It wasn’t fair. He should be with them now celebrating his forty-ninth birthday. With them...

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“House of Clouds” by Vince Calma

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

The man smells of laughter, his cheeks are grease-stained, his eyes a hue so softly gray it could have been pencil-drawn. He is at my front door. “I can fix your house,” he says. He’s holding his breath, like a starving child gazing at the displays of a bakery. “I . . . I don’t think so.” I am blocking the doorway so he wouldn’t be able to see the dark inside. “You think I can’t?” He licks his lips with cautious hope. “You can trust me, I promise I’m good.” I shake my head. “I know you can fix houses.” I don’t know how I know this. I just do...

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“The Day the Music Died” by Megan Rosevear

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

I’ve played the cello since I was seven years old. The throaty bass wafted through the house from four to six o’clock every night, filtering through the vents and settling everyone into a monotonous routine after a hectic day. Cello Suite No. 1 was my grandma’s favorite, and bless her heart she’d traverse all the way downstairs just to sit with me while I played it. “It’s not happy or sad,” she would say. “It’s exciting.” I had to agree. I always found beauty in the way such a somber sounding instrument could make my ...

Read story

“Have You Seen Me, Elijah Blue” by K Arlington Andrews

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

Momma took the hot water from the stove and poured it into the tub. My naked backside got splashed, and I tried to shield myself from Momma’s bad aim and evil eye. “Ouch…That’s too hot.” “Boy hush!” she said. &nb...

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“The girl in the tower” by Marte Van Der Linden

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

My dearest girl,If you are reading this, then you haven’t burned my letter. It’s more than I deserve, and I’m grateful. I can only imagine what these last years have been like for you. You must have been lonely. You must have felt abandoned. And you must have been so, so angry. Perhaps you still are. I don’t blame you.As I sit here writing this letter, I know I can’t tell you the truth when I send you away. So let me say it now: I’m so sorry I lied to you. If I had told you where you were going, you would have fought me or run away. And if I...

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“Final Diagnosis” by Linda Logdberg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

Final diagnosis Grosse Pointe, Michigan, had long been famous as an enclave for the rich, but even fancy mansions look rundown when they front on streets lined with dirty snow. Roads were nowhere near as manicured in the 1990s as they are now, anyway, so I didn’t think twice about the slush as I parked my mother’s old Ford Fairlane next to a huge snowdrift in front of the turreted stone house I’d come to visit. I hoped it was the right place. Because of my errand, the house and its vast gray lawn reminded me of someone’s...

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“The Heart-Shaped Frame” by Makereta Brown

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

I wasn't sure how Gerda might react after all this time, but I needn't have worried. She peered out from the door-frame with that frail hesitation that age and declining eyesight create in older folk. Then she uttered a little cry and threw her arms around me. Gerda was slightly stopped now and her frame carried the brittleness of advancing years. Still, her hug was surprisingly strong and I returned it with the sudden relief of a child returned home. When she finally stood back, she told me how tall and glamorous I'd become. And then ...

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This week's prompts

Write about how a person’s perspective on an event from their childhood shifted in their adulthood.

Adults – 31 stories

Write about someone who returns as an adult to a place they last visited as a child.

Adults – 83 stories

Write about an adult event or gathering from the point of view of a child.

Kids – 15 stories

Write about a parent who sees pieces of a family member’s (or their own) personality in their child — whether that brings them comfort, terror, or something in between.

Adults – 20 stories

Write about the moment a child (of any age) first comes to view a parent as a three-dimensional human being, and not just a parental figure.

Teens – 23 stories

Stories

“The Tree” by Lee Witkowski

🏆 Winner of Contest #11

It’s a Monday morning and they’re cutting down the tree in the park by my house. It’s a sturdy oak, younger but taller than all the other trees around it. There was a storm last night, a storm worse than any in my memory. I guess the tree was struck by lightning. It’s split straight down the middle, the half farther from my view cleaved away, the half closer to my house still stretching towards the sun. *** I met you when we were five years old. I was running around in the park by my house when I tripped and fell. My knee was scraped and hur...

Read story

“On the Roof Never Dancing Ever Again” by Zilla Babbitt

Submitted to Contest #11

Mommy didn’t let me out of the car for five minutes after we got there. Daddy said it was because I’d been screaming I WANT A WOMBAT FULL OF GRILLED CHEESE for lunch the whole way there. So I need to stay inside to learn to be quiet.But that wasn’t my fault, right? I DID want a wombat full of grilled cheese for lunch-- oh no, it’s that creepy man with the squirrel on his chin. He keeps smiling at me. I hate him.I spent my five minutes drawing Norse gods on the frosted windows and trying to avoid looking at the squirrel-man.Mommy says it’s Un...

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“The Dolphin held by Chains” by Maybe Jupiter

Submitted to Contest #11

“Happy birthday,” chuckled Katy with her usual grin, only a million times wider.“So, your eleven! Oh darling…” Mama cried, tears in her eyes.“Good old days,” commented dear Aunt Beth.The little girl stumbled towards her presents, dizzy from all the excitement, and eager for what was up ahead…“Happy birthday,” whispered Miria to herself. She traced over the long-forgotten words that had been carved onto the old oak tree.Miria trembled, and felt uneasy. The place was different now. The table which all the presents had once stood grandly on, th...

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“Letters to a Special Someone.” by Cam Croz

Submitted to Contest #11

My Dearest, I know that you might not know who I am, but you should know how much you mean to me. I was too scared to confess my feelings to you when I saw you last, but that’s alright because I can just do it here, in the safety of my own room. In the warmth of my own bed. I just want you to know that I admire you and everything you stand for. And that I love you. The girl sighed as she finished her letter. Her letter for the kindest most caring boy in her school. She had fallen head over heels for him the first time she’d seen ...

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“The Reality of Truth” by Katherine Stevens

Submitted to Contest #11

The first thing I noticed when she walked in were the bruises. Black and blue, fading to purple and tinged with green at the edges. I felt my heart surge and the beast that I had so painstakingly hidden awoke. “Who?” “Don’t worry. I’m fine,” her soothing voice does nothing to douse the fire raging in my chest. “Who?” I ask my voice a wall of steel. I stare her down and when she looks up at me, I feel my heart break. Her beautiful blue eyes, blended with green and gray, glisten with unshed tears. “You’re too young to deal with this,” I whispe...

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“Metal, darkness and blood” by Yoomi Ari

Submitted to Contest #11

Rolling my shoulders painfully whilst the tension cracked like popcorn in a pan. The pressure was on. I needed to make it to the end, or I’d just be a sore loser, I needed to beat him to stand out. I wanted fame‘n’publicity; I craved for it. My thoughts bounced back as if it were a tennis play out, with 0-5. The grip I had on the metal bar was penetrable and understanding. Being tied down was not the best of options but I had to grab his fist and haul him over with enough strength to please the judges. This is my big break. With a sharp hiss...

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“Sent to a Farm.” by Matt Strempel

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

I turned off the bitumen and the tyres bit into the gravel with a familiar crunch. It had been a dry summer and the road to my grandparents’ place dusted my windshield with cream talc. I wondered if old man Patterson would be on the phone to my parents, complaining I was going too fast. But he'd have been dead ten years by now.A fortnight prior, Grandma had passed away and I was back at the family home to help in some way. Not in any administrative capacity—I’m famously challenged in matters of logistics and organisation—but my back’s still ...

Read story

“Three lanterns” by Eva Adams

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

The paper lantern was more difficult to light than Nina and her daughter had anticipated. The wind kept catching it and moving it away from the flame of the windproof lighter. It was just her and Maddie this year. Zach was away at uni but with them on Maddie’s screen. Twelve years, and Nina still ached for those arms around her. The soft touch of his fingers on her face. The smile that could melt an iceberg… It wasn’t fair. He should be with them now celebrating his forty-ninth birthday. With them...

Read story

“House of Clouds” by Vince Calma

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

The man smells of laughter, his cheeks are grease-stained, his eyes a hue so softly gray it could have been pencil-drawn. He is at my front door. “I can fix your house,” he says. He’s holding his breath, like a starving child gazing at the displays of a bakery. “I . . . I don’t think so.” I am blocking the doorway so he wouldn’t be able to see the dark inside. “You think I can’t?” He licks his lips with cautious hope. “You can trust me, I promise I’m good.” I shake my head. “I know you can fix houses.” I don’t know how I know this. I just do...

Read story

“Santa Doesn't Live Here Anymore” by Annie James

Submitted to Contest #11

Everyone has a special place that defined their childhood--a place of many happy memories.Anyone who grew up in Rochester NY from the 60's to the 90's knows about Midtown Plaza. It was the first indoor mall in the U.S. Many children growing up in Rochester have been to Midtown at Christmas time to Santa on Magic Mountain and ride the Monorail--a miniature train that was suspended from a track that circled the second floor of the mall. The mall had an open layout. Most of the restaurants were on the second floor. There weren't many and it did...

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“Lila” by Infernia Dragonfly

Submitted to Contest #11

“Hurry up, mommy! We gotta find that beach!”“Why should we hurry, my dear? We’ve got the whole day!” I hear myself laughing."Yeah, but we need to spend the whole day there instead of wasting our time on finding it." I so truly and deeply admire my daughter for being such an ambitious and unbending young lady. She reminds me of Lila.We half–walk, half–run, through the maze of trees and rocks in the Big Mountain. The last time I was here, there was no forest at all. A wildfire had destroyed the whole ecosystem. But I remember how Mr...

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“Have You Seen Me, Elijah Blue” by K Arlington Andrews

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

Momma took the hot water from the stove and poured it into the tub. My naked backside got splashed, and I tried to shield myself from Momma’s bad aim and evil eye. “Ouch…That’s too hot.” “Boy hush!” she said. &nb...

Read story

“Mother” by Gayatri Varma

Submitted to Contest #11

I was fifteen. It was a perfect summer day, for it rained, the first shower of the summer. Every time it rained I remember wrapping myself in the blanket with a favourite book of mine, back then Austen I believe was my favourite author. Nothing much changed since then except for the fact that I no longer read Austen and has gained a few weight. Those were the sane days. There were a lot of things lying ahead waiting to unbox or so that’s what I presumed. Ela had bought me some books to read this summer, I haven’t even opened her well-p...

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“The Day the Music Died” by Megan Rosevear

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #11

I’ve played the cello since I was seven years old. The throaty bass wafted through the house from four to six o’clock every night, filtering through the vents and settling everyone into a monotonous routine after a hectic day. Cello Suite No. 1 was my grandma’s favorite, and bless her heart she’d traverse all the way downstairs just to sit with me while I played it. “It’s not happy or sad,” she would say. “It’s exciting.” I had to agree. I always found beauty in the way such a somber sounding instrument could make my ...

Read story

“No Wounds like Old Wounds” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #11

I watched him lying on his bed. This once super-human force, my father, now lay still, an empty shell, small and vulnerable. Almost unrecognizable. Formerly bigger than life itself, how could this be the man who dominated my puny life? The bed appeared to swallow him. I spent my life waiting to see him exposed and weak. I felt empty.I could touch his hand. But an impossible, impassable distance separated us. How does one bridge a chasm created through the span of life?We hadn’t spoken in years. Answering the phone, he’d pass me to my mother....

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$50

Prize money

172

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 18, 2019 EST

Won by Lee Witkowski 🏆

Title: The Tree

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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