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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#116: Permission vs Forgiveness

As the old saying goes, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission.” It’s not a policy to adopt too often (if you want to keep your friends, that is). But there will probably be times when — whether out of expedience, impulsivity, or sheer laziness — you throw caution to the wind.

Whether your characters are seeking another’s blessing or begging their pardon, this week’s prompts focus on the complex dynamics between permission and forgiveness.

🥇 Winner

“Straw, Sticks, and Brick” by Story Time

🏆 Winner of Contest #116

First and foremost, I just need to assert what was right and what was wrong. I think, before you can apologize for things you’ve done, you need to really isolate and evaluate exactly what you did wrong, and it’s very rare that you, uh, you know, haven’t done anything right in the midst of all you did wrong. So, I would like to assert that, yes, I made mistakes. I made many mistakes. I hurt people. Well, not people, but, you know, living things. I hurt living things and I hurt them by damaging their property and terrorizing them, and for that...

240 comments 240

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Price of Life” by Beth Jackson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #116

“It’s cancer.”Rose rested her phone on the kitchen bench and stared at Aiden standing in the entranceway, the raindrops on his jacket glinting in the light.“What’s cancer?” she asked. Her mind felt sluggish, fixated on the photo displayed on the screen.“The lump. Under my arm. It’s cancer.” Aiden ran his hands through his hair, sprinkling raindrops onto the ground.He stumbled into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her, his shoulders heaving as he sobbed into her hair. She slipped the phone into her pocket.“I went to the doctor today.” ...

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“The Vault” by Chris Lawton

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #116

Week 1 Alex was sitting on the edge of the control console while Jan sat in her chair by her station, only half interested in watching the monitors in front of her. Alex fumbled with the plastic wrap around a tuna sandwich he was holding, and nodded toward the window before them. “Where do you think they found this guy?” he asked.The guy in in question – they didn’t know his name, for security reasons – had been interviewed by them two days prior. And like all of their ‘interviews’, his had been short and sweet. “So you want me to stay do...

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“Of Ashe & Aether” by Vince Salamone

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #116

Emelyn tugged on her shackles—a feeble effort, she knew, but one despair demanded of her. The idonsteel bit into her flesh, and a scab peeled away as the restraints added another gouge to the red-rubbed mess of her wrists. Blood trickled down her arm, striking the floor below, the once-pristine tiles sullied in a rorschach of dried blood; a pitiful reminder of her struggles. She raised her head, despite the protests of her weathered body; gazed past the armored sister-sentries to the door they protected. A threshold to freedom. +It is your...

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“Letters for Delores ” by Dave Bolin

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #116

Hannah opened another cardboard box and began unpacking dishes in her new kitchen. The boxes seemed to multiply in the moving van, and Hannah was starting to lose motivation. She poured herself a cup of coffee, wandered out of the kitchen, down the hall, and opened her front door. Hannah stepped out onto the stoop and, cradling her coffee mug in both hands, watched Philadelphia parade down her street. An elderly couple holding hands and walking their golden retriever made her smile. Give Max and her another fifty years, and that would be t...

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This week's prompts

Write about a character breaking a rule, but for good reason.

Teens – 39 stories

Write about a character seeking forgiveness for something that happened in the past.

Angst – 67 stories

Start your story with someone being forbidden from doing something.

Dark – 44 stories

Write about a character who is being asked for their blessing, but is reluctant to give it.

Angst – 14 stories

Write a story that centers around a parking permit.

Fluff – 11 stories

Stories

“Straw, Sticks, and Brick” by Story Time

🏆 Winner of Contest #116

First and foremost, I just need to assert what was right and what was wrong. I think, before you can apologize for things you’ve done, you need to really isolate and evaluate exactly what you did wrong, and it’s very rare that you, uh, you know, haven’t done anything right in the midst of all you did wrong. So, I would like to assert that, yes, I made mistakes. I made many mistakes. I hurt people. Well, not people, but, you know, living things. I hurt living things and I hurt them by damaging their property and terrorizing them, and for that...

240 comments 240

Read story

“Flowers in gravity” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted to Contest #116

I was sixteen when I had my first boyfriend although boyfriend isn't quite the right word. We were like flies, nothing, wearing ourselves thin with cigarettes and stronger drugs and sex and broken record players. His name was Amac. He was one of those foreigner boys who fidgeted with their hairs when we went out for school excursions; those boys who were strong and yet so soft, so cowardly. Still, I loved him. Amac and I barely talked but when we did, it was mostly about his friends' skydiving and how much he too wanted that. He said we did ...

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“A medical prescription” by Boutat Driss

Submitted to Contest #116

Every morning for five years, Driss helped his father's workers to take care of the farm animals before carrying a plastic bag as a satchel to school four miles from the farm. Each day at 5 p.m. he returned home to help out on the farm again. He was forbidden to open his notebooks to revise at night because he had to get up early to help on the farm before leaving for school.His family's idea of the boy's future is to grow up, then quit school, work on the farm and get married with his sole qualification of knowing how to write his name and ...

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“The Price of Life” by Beth Jackson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #116

“It’s cancer.”Rose rested her phone on the kitchen bench and stared at Aiden standing in the entranceway, the raindrops on his jacket glinting in the light.“What’s cancer?” she asked. Her mind felt sluggish, fixated on the photo displayed on the screen.“The lump. Under my arm. It’s cancer.” Aiden ran his hands through his hair, sprinkling raindrops onto the ground.He stumbled into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her, his shoulders heaving as he sobbed into her hair. She slipped the phone into her pocket.“I went to the doctor today.” ...

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“What I Want To Say” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #116

“Okay, little ladies . . . You know this is a difficult conversation for all parties concerned, but I am going to ask you for 110 percent. I am going to ask you to bring your ideas to the table as we think outside the box. This should be a constructive meeting for all of us. We are going to use our time together to make positive and productive decisions—results-driven decisions—for our future as we drill down on determining what are the most important things to our individual and collective lives. So no tears, all right? I forbid anyone in t...

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“Simple Rules” by Lorelei Barrett

Submitted to Contest #116

You only have you to rely on, don’t bring anyone else into your messes Don’t get close, remember the last time you did Don’t drink, you get stupid when you do Don’t fall in love, it’ll only disappoint you in the end NEVER break these, they help, they protect, and most importantly remember breaking results in consequences you don’t want to face Five. Only five rules I live by, I’ve learned to make adjustments to maintain these rules. To not break them, for breaking them will only result in a shit storm. Rules that I forbid myself from brea...

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“I am Genesis” by Katie Ingold

Submitted to Contest #116

CW: Polyamory and some adult contentEarlier“You are not to see those girls anymore. Do you understand, Genevieve? I will not have our family’s reputation tainted by your behavior any longer. It is unacceptable. Your mother and I have had to clean up your mess and do damage control for the last time.”Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The clock on my father’s desk was the only noise in the room until the thrum of the air condition kicked on. It saved the wretched thing from being swept off the desk onto the floor. Its only purpose was to serve as an int...

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“An Unspoken Loss, or Self Proclaimed Truth.” by Michelle B Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #116

This story isn’t one that requires your ‘deepest condolences’, no, this story is just here for anyone craving to know how something or someone can go from being an average person, the normal girl she’s always been, to the mess she now is. My story has been built upon loss but I refuse to halt construction here. There are things in life that cannot be lost, for instance, my name, Alexis, whereas the person behind the name, she’s been lost for a while, or as long as that ridiculous bracelet’s appearance. Every second, ...

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“The Price of Love” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #116

Los Angeles Preferred Parking District 13 was an impenetrable fortress overnight. During the day, it was permissible for visiting cars to linger along the curb for a couple of hours while their drivers browsed the quirky boutiques along Beverly Boulevard, or enjoyed a cup of coffee with a friend under the orange umbrellas of a sidewalk cafe. But after 6:00pm, those visitors had better clear out to make room for the residents of District 13 to pull directly to the curb in front of their hedge-lined Spanish houses, where they could unload thei...

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“Sit and Stare” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #116

Trigger Warning: grief, regret, death, disfigurement.The sun is drawing away, slowly at first, like an evening steam train. It takes the daylight with it and leaves my room in semi-shadow.‘Your mum, she left these for you, to open on your sixteenth birthday. I don’t know what they are, I promised I wouldn’t look. I never have.’I sit and stare at the white envelope and the red velvet box that Dad has placed before me on the dressing table. They lie in front of the mirror I covered eight years ago, half a lifetime back. A blue silk scarf is dr...

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“Benediction” by Danny G

Submitted to Contest #116

“Can you believe this bullshit?” Commander Michael Allen burst into the office and tossed a handful of papers on Tim’s desk. Tim sat back in his chair, feet up on his desk and spinning his Akubra hat around his finger. He raised a lazy eyebrow at his boss and said in his laconic drawl, “I make it a habit to not believe in bullshit.” “Adrian Naughton,” Allen said, hefting up the pants that kept slipping over his round belly. “Asshole got off.” This had Tim’s feet off his desk and picking up the paper, “You’re jokin’?” The constant buzzing of ...

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“The Potter's Field” by Bonnie Jay

Submitted to Contest #116

The sign read No Trespassing.A tattered waif of a girl stood before the towering wrought iron gates, contemplating. She looked around furtively before twisting to slip between a gap in the cold iron. The hunger had thinned her until ribs pushed against skin like a delicate birdcage that gently cradled her persistent heartbeat. Her hands now resembled birch twigs, bundled in pocked wool, and the planes of her face cut with shadows in sharp relief.The place was brimming with people. Many who were loved and many who were loathed— ofte...

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“A Futile Apology” by R. B. Leyland

Submitted to Contest #116

The crestfallen face of my best friend is stained to my memory, as the click of the door handle indicates the doctor leaving the room after announcing his dire news. I try to murmur words of consolation to him, but he closes his eyes with a huff of breath laced with resignation. This, more than anything, worried me. Always a ball of hope amidst any sorrow we encountered, to see him like this broke my heart. Once more, I attempt to regain the friend that I knew, but was totally ignored for my efforts. As though the world realised I ...

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“The Vault” by Chris Lawton

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #116

Week 1 Alex was sitting on the edge of the control console while Jan sat in her chair by her station, only half interested in watching the monitors in front of her. Alex fumbled with the plastic wrap around a tuna sandwich he was holding, and nodded toward the window before them. “Where do you think they found this guy?” he asked.The guy in in question – they didn’t know his name, for security reasons – had been interviewed by them two days prior. And like all of their ‘interviews’, his had been short and sweet. “So you want me to stay do...

Read story

“The Siren” by Claire Clayton

Submitted to Contest #116

My heart pounding in my throat, I pulled the fire alarm. Its blasting siren filled my ears almost as quickly as terror washed over me. With tremulous breath and body, I slipped into the chaotic crowd of students and teachers that were hurrying towards the exits. My brain swam and I hardly recognized the hands that patted me on the back as I walked. "Way to go, Ben!" The owners of those hands said. "I didn't do it for you," I breathed, shakily. "I didn't do it for you." A teacher caught my eye and I quickly jogged deeper into the mob. Fina...

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$250

Prize money

175

Contest entries

112

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 22, 2021 EST

Won by Story Time 🏆

Title: Straw, Sticks, and Brick

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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