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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#110: Hit the Road, Jack

On September 5th, 1957, Jack Kerouac published On the Road — a hugely influential novel, swelling with jazz, heat, and Americana, that follows free-spirited mavericks Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty on their travels across the States. To celebrate its 64th anniversary, this week’s prompts all take place on the long and winding road (or right next to it). Safe travels!

This week's prompts

Set your story in a roadside diner.

Dystopian – 59 stories

Write about a couple who fall out on the road.

Valentine's Day – 16 stories

Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

Horror – 47 stories

Write about a character on the road — and on the run.

Adventure – 40 stories

Start your story with the line “We have plenty of time,” and/or end it with the line “We were never going to make it.”

Angst – 47 stories

Stories

“Heist” by Rowan Legend

Submitted to Contest #110

“We have plenty of time,” he told the driver as they were going through town. This was more for reassurance than anything else, he was really worried about what might happen to the plan. Tonight was the showing of the sacred jewel ‘Wahipot Wuwunagotmi’ from Huterjar a long-lost kingdom in the undiscovered jungles of the Amazon. It was said to at the jewel had special powers and many were out to seek that power. Including himself.Hunter Jack Row, a 26-year-old man with nothing left to lose and looking to die tonight. ...

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“Parachute” by Sam Hollis

Submitted to Contest #110

We have plenty of time, I tell my car in my head as I leave my house, we'll get there. I approach it with my keys in my hand, I feel my tie a little too tight around my neck - coffee will do that to you. My neighbour, Alan, looks at me from across the road with a far too cheerful smile. I mean, it's not his fault, he has no idea where I'm off to. I won't ruin his mood. ‘Where’re you off to?’ He asks me as he washes his Reliant Robin. ‘Just off to see someone,’ I respond, ‘and I’ll probably get there a lot faster than you would in my normal...

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“Time is up.” by Anna Victoria

Submitted to Contest #110

"We have plenty of time." I don't know how many times we had uttered those 5 words to one another. Running for the school bus in the morning because we decided to have one extra slice of toast, getting a flat tire whilst he was driving me to my very first job interview... holding his hand while he was told he was dying. Nobody can prepare you for the absolute sadness that consumes you when you are faced with such a bitter reality. We had always thought that we would have plenty time. Tomorrow would always be there to do the shopping that...

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“Nelson” by Eric Trules

Submitted to Contest #110

TW: suicide, homophobiaHis heart was still racing and he had a sick and sour taste at the back of his tongue. He remembered the blood pumping through the bulging veins in his forehead, through the tense, pumped up muscles of his arms. There was a violent, sinking feeling in the cavity of his chest; he felt like vomiting. It had taken all his will power to force his wrists to relax, to mentally instruct his fingers to release their vice-like grip. To make his body go completely limp. He had almost been unable to do it. He felt so vulnerable a...

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“The Last Stop” by CM Lucas

Submitted to Contest #110

Dust devils encircle a dingy blue Pontiac Sun fire as the summer sun's rays reflect off the few exposed areas of clean finish. The looming shadow of The Last Stop diner begins to overtake the Pontiac. The antiquated eatery bakes in the scorching New Mexico heat, while inside hungry patrons fair no better. The buzzing of a single osculating fan blows hot, dry air in customer's faces; perspiration dripping from every inch of exposed skin, relief from the heat only coming from tepid ice tea and warm root beer. Swaying back and forth on hi...

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“Rendezvous at the Road-Side Diner ” by Connie Grote

Submitted to Contest #110

“I just can’t go.” Jennifer is suddenly panicked, trembling. Anxiety consumes her. It doesn’t feel safe or make sense for her to keep the date when signs point to danger. Michael asked her out a week ago when she met him at a singles event. He seemed nice, was darkly handsome with coal-black eyes, and a head of thick wavy black hair, well dressed and extremely polite. It seemed like a good idea to meet at a road-side diner just outside town. Now, she doubts her spur of the moment decision. She recalls too many stories from friends about...

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“Blueberry Pancakes” by Dixie Torsak

Submitted to Contest #110

Cigarette ashes dropped from Angie’s cigarette into the blueberry pancake batter she was mixing. They weren’t fresh blueberries. They were as dried up and desiccated as the scenery outside the old diner where she had been working for the last three weeks. Fresh fruit was hard to come by in these times, so was work. Since the federal government had collapsed things had changed. What had once been 50 states was now 27 sovereign nation-states. Some nation-states had set up a central government and had a semblance of law and order but others, li...

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“Prepare to meet thy demons” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #110

Sister Marinian had tossed and turned in her single bed all night. She had had an occasional dull ache in her back tooth for several weeks. She had ignored it and carried on about her business. It soon passed. After yesterday evening’s Compline, it started again. From the initial dull throb, it escalated to a feverish stabbing, which extended from her left ear, down her jaw to the front of her mouth. Whichever way she lay, there was no respite. She tried praying, but the pain intruded, interrupting her concentration and reducing her to tears...

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“Dinah's Roadside Diner” by Webb Johnson

Submitted to Contest #110

Dinah’s Roadside Diner: A Fishy Tale I pulled off the Pacific Coast Highway about twenty miles south of Half Moon Bay and parked my car under a tall sign that read Dinah’s Diner. When I walked through the entry door I got a welcoming hello from a bartender whose name tag read Tom. When I asked if the restaurant was open yet he said, “Twenty minutes,” so I slid onto a barstool and ordered a beer to pass the short wait. As Tom pulled the tap handle I said hello to the only other customer; a guy with a short, white, beard who told me his nam...

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“Anything but Casual Dining ” by Desiree Emme

Submitted to Contest #110

Anything but Casual Dining::CONTENT WARNING: VIOLENCE. ABUSE SUGGESTED::Gabby wiped the blade, leaving red smears on her immaculate below-the-knee-length white blazer. A smirk played tentatively on her lips, one hand on the open trunk. She leaned against her arm, gazing upon the man squirming, bounded. Blood still oozed from his toothless mouth. Gabby chucked a little bag with his pearly whites in his face. The man screamed and Gabby’s smirk intensified. She chuckled menacingly and discarded her...

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“Crimson Hills” by Mackenzie Hebner

Submitted to Contest #110

Crimson HillsBy: Mackenzie M. HebnerFreshly stained asphalt seeped into the mountain side encompassing me and my ragged apparel. The hills were before me. Everything around me was greater than me. Mountains towered over me, hills rose and fell in more consistency and promise than I’d ever known, the rocks grabbed my attention and told me of their role as protector of the earth, the animals lived along side me as if my existence has never crossed their mind as threatening, and now that I stood before them, such had not changed nor had any rea...

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“Paralyzed with Fear” by LAURA Spiritualquest@earthlink.net

Submitted to Contest #110

A huge dose of gratitude has been flooding me for the past 36 hours. They always say bad things happen in threes. We are fine, but we had a scare coming into the Teton Mountains. It was my idea for us to come through the Teton Pass as a short cut down into Jackson Hole, Wyoming even though the elevation was 8,300’ and we were towing a 36’ Montana fifth-wheel. We both felt sure our dual-wheeled Dodge 3500 could handle it. We’d been through Loveland Pass at 11,300’ a few months earlier with no problem. But there didn't ...

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“THE FERN FLOWER” by Jolanta Polk

Submitted to Contest #110

It was the last day of our holiday in Poland. We’d already been to Malbork, home to the biggest medieval castle in the world, and the Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s top-secret, high-security bunker when a place that called my attention popped up on the interactive Google map. “The Hel Peninsula,” I said with amusement. “Do you think it’s worth visiting? I asked Justyna, my wife. She shrugged. “It’s ju...

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“The Fortunate One” by Sharon May

Submitted to Contest #110

The Fortunate One “Hello, sir. Sir!” said the woman driving a new green SUV, as she leaned out the window of the car stopped within a few feet of a scrawny man sitting on the ground. He had been dropped off at an exit off I95 by a trucker who had picked him up in Florida earlier in the day. The trucker had been generous, especially with the ride and conversation, until they reached the trucker’s destination and the hitchhiker asked for a couple of dollars for food. “Don’t pu...

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“There’s Always Time for Temptation” by Elizabeth Fenley

Submitted to Contest #110

There’s Always Time for Temptation We have plenty of time. And I have plenty of work to do. Then we have plenty of time. There’s no “we” here. Fine, “I” have plenty of time. Deep breath. Ignore it. I’m in your purse. Shut up. I’m right here, right up here in the cabinet. Leave me alone. I’m working. It’ll only take a second. You know you want to. I’m ignoring you. No, you’re not. Inbox: 121 Unread Emails Overnight. Corporate Email Hell. In a six hospital health care system with an email addiction, everyone is cr...

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$250

Prize money

209

Contest entries

144

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 10, 2021 EST

Won by JanetthePlanet 66 🏆

Title: My Mother's Dreams.

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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