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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!

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

“Dreams and Reality” by Christine Hungerford

Submitted to Contest #11

“Okay, so we are going to discuss your misbehavior in school.” The language arts teacher sat down in a cushiony black office chair in front of a long rectangular wooden table that stood stone still in the middle of seven other cushiony chairs ready for the principal, other teachers and parents to plop down and talk about important matters. Ryan sat down opposite the...

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“Loving Father” by Dylan Roth

Submitted to Contest #11

The heat was oppressive. It pushed in from all sides, making his skin slick with sweat. He cracked the door open to let in some air. With the cool breeze came the cicadas’ chainsaw orchestra. Each wisp of fresh air brought a moment of refreshing peace from the heat. He’d been parked in the car for twenty minutes. Every moment, he told himself now was the time to get out and go over there. Every moment, he didn’t.But now that the door was open and the sound of the world was filling his head again, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. He got out,...

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“One Line and Sixty Years” by Katy Lyst

Submitted to Contest #11

March 13, 1952 Hell found her. Yes. It had surely found her. It was Doreen’s eighteenth birthday, but instead of celebrating, she stood, alone, in a dim-lit pantry, staring at a line on the wall. An ordinary line it could’ve been, should’ve been, only now it bore the mark of desperation, sadness, and a bitter battle waging in the pit of her stomach. Red crayon, no more than hen scratching, “five-foot-two inches, thirteen years old,” etched a fire into her heart, the heat now spreading to her lungs. Her graduation awaited. In one week, she’d ...

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“The Headmaster's Office” by Renee Jacobs

Submitted to Contest #11

I push my the palms of my hands into my eye sockets, relishing the combination of suction and warmth around my eyes. The pressure of my knuckles on my brow-bone forces a type of calm into my brain and, after this pause, I resume staring, disappointed but somehow unsurprised, at my phone. The voice of the caller still whips around my mind, “It’s about Isla. She got into a fight with another girl. Can you come in?”We sit, side-by-side, a mother and her daughter in silence. Isla fidgets in her seat, her legs, covered by black tights (themselves...

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“Eternal Remembrance” by Roze Tronsen

Submitted to Contest #11

I stroke my daughter's arm with trembling fingers, cradling her small body into the hole at my chest while she slumbers peacefully. The night sky is dark, peaceful. Her skin is different than mine. It's caramel and sunlight painted into a beautiful blend of flashbacks and terror. She snuggles closer and I bite the inside of my lip to stop the emotion that clogs my throat, cutting like razors. My skin looks luminescent next to hers. I glow in the moonlight seeping through our window and she's dark beauty beside me. My child looks everyt...

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“The Junk Park” by Daniel Eanes

Submitted to Contest #11

The Junk ParkByDaniel EanesPrompt Used:“Write about someone who returns as an adult to a place they last visited as a child.” Dylan’s therapist had suggested that he take time off from his highly demanding and stressful schedule. He was told to take time to relax and take in some of the things that brought him joy, whether it was something he enjoyed doing in the present or the memory of something that brought him joy in the past. For some reason, the first thought that came into his mind was a trip back home – taking ...

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“Funeral Tricks” by Jen V D

Submitted to Contest #11

He was there at the end of the corridor in the near-dark, looking at me. Our old boxer. He’d got to his feet in slow jerks and now he trembled, half-covered by a layer of grey light that came in from the street. The dog’s jaw hung down withhis tongue out loose, because the night was hot. It was the sort of heat that sticks your pyjama top to you like you’re melting. It brought the world in close and crowded because you felt the air sit snug against your sweat, and felt warmth in your mouth when you breathed. The boxer had put his front legs ...

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“The Last Day” by Laura Plourde

Submitted to Contest #11

When I was little, I used to think the only light that could be brought upon me was to be from the Sun. So every morning until I turned 7 I would sit in front of my window and watch the Sunrise and Sunset. I would think to myself that all of the light that I would ever see is gone. That is what I went to bed thinking every night. My mom would always think I was crazy for thinking those things, and nobody ever really took me seriously when I told them that one of these nights will be your last. I would go around saying that li...

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“Last Visited as a Child” by Lynn Davis

Submitted to Contest #11

It was a place of miracles. As a adult, Merry didn't always live up to her name. As a child, she definitely did.Merry thought about this place of her childhood as she finished up her 3D model. She loved the challenge of designing home decor in her office studio, but she missed the fresh air in this place of miracles.This place of miracles had the material she worked with most, the wood of the maple tree.She relished tomorrow as her last day at the design firm. Ten years had been fruitful and she would miss working with the friends she had ma...

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“An Old Soldier Goes Home” by Robert Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #11

Jack has been in the hospital two days before he meets Jasmine; she comes into his room shortly after dinner with his medicine. “Hello Lieutenant,” Jasmine virtually sings as she deposits the paper cup of pills on his rolling table and proceeds to check all of his machines and their readings. “Hi,” Jack manages to articulate as he struggles to sit up and assess the nurse, turning the TV off. &nbsp...

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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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“Marci & Rascal Go To College: Chapter 7” by Robert Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #11

The next morning, Marci wakes up while it’s still dark out to the sound of Rascal scratching at her dorm door; she unlocks it, opens the entranceway enough for him to enter and she immediately lets the latch lock as it normally does without impediment. “Oh Rascal,” Marci begins as she sniffs. “I had the worst night last night; I cried myself to sleep.” ...

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“Paranormal Carnival” by Jay McClinton

Submitted to Contest #11

Fire burns around me, resembling the sun's heat I once felt here as a child. “Growl!” I look to my right and that warm sensation is replaced with terror. A group of men watch me walk through this place that was once filled with joy. The men are buff, hairy, and have teeth as sharp as knives. Their eyes glowed in the misty night. I speed walk further away from them in hopes of not starting trouble. They are out of sight and I return to viewing the rides. The rides were old, well older, and were barely hanging on for dear life. The hinges were...

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“King of the Castle” by Julie Meier

Submitted to Contest #11

Slowly decomposing leaves, playground dust, and sweaty palms on bare metal - my nose tingles in response to the flood of memories.If I close my eyes and take a deep breath, I am five years old again. I’m wearing my favourite paisley printed pants - I was so proud of those god-awful pants. My hair is slicked back into pigtails, held in place by elastics with pink bobbles on each end.We are playing on the merry-go-round, Jason and I. Jason hops off and pushes it lightning quick, around and around, until the world is nothi...

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“Castle In The Woods” by Lloyd Semmens

Submitted to Contest #11

The castle in the woods, not much more than a folktale, the kids on the street jested that it was haunted, or an evil wizard’s castle, but the old man smiled; He knew better. He walked through the forest, breathing in the same air as he did a child. Watching the squirrels dancing in the trees, smelling the strong scent of wild garlic that was surrounding him, and listening to the small stream as it ran alongside him. His old bones felt young again walking through the woods, feeling the mud beneath his boots and cane. But the old man finally ...

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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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