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#118 Metamorphosis

Whichever way you look at it, fall is a season of change. The trees are changing color, the waking hours are getting shorter, and the days are growing colder. It also happens to be Halloween, meaning we might need to gear up for some spooktacular supernatural transformations too… if you believe in that sort of thing!

Whether your characters are enjoying the crunch of fallen leaves, or undergoing a creepy metamorphosis of their own, we hope this week’s prompts help you get the best out of fall this year.

🥇 Winner

beneath the quaking aspen

Myia Melendy

Winner of Contest #118 🏆

He buried her in the forest before the leaves of the quaking aspen turned golden. No one noticed the tamped down soil, or the way the wild grasses died back all around her, or even the circle of whimsy brown mushrooms that erupted soon after.And when autumn came, and the leaves changed, the trembling giant whose roots she fed turned scarlet instead.“I am here,” she called. “Please find me!”But, after the first frost, the leaves turned rusty, and were then indistinguishable from the rest.No one noticed her, buried in the forest beneath the qu...

314 likes

199 comments 199

⭐️ Shortlisted

Wink

Raymond Warters

Shortlisted for Contest #118 ⭐️

"I'm gonna help animals become better than they are now," was the response I made to questions about what I could do with my biology degree. So, I applied to graduate schools to follow that goal; a north Florida university accepted me. Each new student needs a faculty advisor to supervise him and help him choose classes that further his goals. Working in the advisor's lab gives the student practical experience. Dr. Bluhen, a short, chubby man with thick spectacles,...

29 likes

The Bonfire

Shortlisted for Contest #118 ⭐️

It’s ugly, the way these searing tendrils of heat claw up my arms, over my face, across the brittle surface of my hands—which are clenched into fists. I can feel it scratching my eyelids. My nostrils. My gums. Tearing through parts of my body I usually think about so little that I don’t even realise I’m not thinking about them. But this searing heat isn’t even the worst part. It’s the smoke that gets you. That’s what the firefighters said when they came to my school back in the day. Stay low, stay low. Breathe through a wet sock. I...

22 likes

This week's prompts

Start your story with “Today’s the day I change.”

Teens – 54 stories

Write about a character, animal or human, who is reborn as something totally different.

High School – 42 stories

Write your story from the perspective of an outsider watching something or someone change.

Middle School – 45 stories

Your character picks up a fallen leaf and can’t believe what they discover underneath it. What happens next?

Fall – 37 stories

Set your story during a sudden change of season.

Fall – 26 stories

Stories

beneath the quaking aspen

Myia Melendy

Winner of Contest #118 🏆

He buried her in the forest before the leaves of the quaking aspen turned golden. No one noticed the tamped down soil, or the way the wild grasses died back all around her, or even the circle of whimsy brown mushrooms that erupted soon after.And when autumn came, and the leaves changed, the trembling giant whose roots she fed turned scarlet instead.“I am here,” she called. “Please find me!”But, after the first frost, the leaves turned rusty, and were then indistinguishable from the rest.No one noticed her, buried in the forest beneath the qu...

314 likes

199 comments 199

Where You and I Meet

Beth Jackson

Submitted to Contest #118

CW: Domestic Violence“Why are you so chipper today?” Gill asks, brushing bleach on her client’s hair in short, efficient strokes.I smile at her matronly interest in my love life. And her ability to sniff out gossip. “Nothing.”“There’s something.” She raises an eyebrow.I sweep the hair on the floor into a pile, ignoring Gill’s piqued interest prickling on my back.“It’s possible I’m seeing someone.” He has a chiselled jaw and an office with a view of the city. He's alluring and moody. I like him. Would she approve?Gill waggles her brush. “A ne...

37 likes

Maybe Someday

Submitted to Contest #118

She visited them every night. Some might have labeled her a stalker. A night-watcher, a bum, a girl clueless to the ways of the world. But they did not. They didn’t even know she existed. They never saw her tear-streaked face outside their window while they ate dinner, bathed in golden light. And that might’ve been her favorite thing about them. She was eleven when she saw them for the first time. It was their happiness that struck her, drew her eye, pulled her in and never let go. They were like a whirlpool, she always thought. Irresistible...

30 likes

Wink

Raymond Warters

Shortlisted for Contest #118 ⭐️

"I'm gonna help animals become better than they are now," was the response I made to questions about what I could do with my biology degree. So, I applied to graduate schools to follow that goal; a north Florida university accepted me. Each new student needs a faculty advisor to supervise him and help him choose classes that further his goals. Working in the advisor's lab gives the student practical experience. Dr. Bluhen, a short, chubby man with thick spectacles,...

29 likes

The Forest

Renda Hanson

Submitted to Contest #118

If only I had not turned over the leaf. If only I had not found the hidden treasure beneath. If only. It was too late for “if only” now though and I was in the middle of the dark, cold place. A place I should not have been. A place between one realm and another, living and dead? I gave myself a mental shake and tried to retrace how I came to be here.Two days ago, I had decided to go on a camping trip, away from chaotic city life and to a place to rejuvenate by infusing myself in nature. I needed something to recharge me. I was burnt out, tir...

27 likes

Incurable Vanishing

S. Thomson

Submitted to Contest #118

ㅤI first noticed the change when Amy stopped cutting her fingernails. We were in the back seat of the car on the way home from an overcast day at the beach. Our parents had had a loud argument in the queue for the ice cream stand, so we drove in silence. The only sound was the anxious, rhythmic click of Amy’s nails against the car door. My father’s voice came from the driver’s seat. ㅤ“Amy. Stop that.” The rhythm ceased, incomplete. Light from the window behind her shone through the overhanging ends of her fingernails and I could see the dirt...

26 likes

Circle of Life

Diya Dhir

Submitted to Contest #118

Life, each day we wake up and wish that today will be a good day and everything we desire will simply fall into our arms. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. We need to work to achieve our goals in life or in some cases just to survive, yet for some working is an avocation. Although, no matter a person's social status in the world we all experience stumbling blocks in our lives. Our minds seem to think that being rich brings forth more ebullience and purpose in our entities. I once believed in that ridiculous notion too. Well, that wa...

25 likes

The Hawk

Ramona Scarborough

Submitted to Contest #118

On the day Queen Roseanna gave birth to her first child, she asked Avelina, one of her ladies in waiting, to go to bedroom’s balcony. “What kind of bird perches on my bird feeder?” she asked her. She hoped for her favorite bird, which she thought most like herself, with bright orange and yellow like her royal robes and black plumage the same as her long, shiny ebony hair. If so, she would call her infant daughter, Oriole. Avelina stood at the window for a while but said nothing. “Well? What do you see?” “Only a common house sparrow, my...

24 likes

Metamorphosis of a Former Beauty Queen

Peggy Gerber

Submitted to Contest #118

My name is Sarah, and this is the story of how I died. It is the tale of a sixty-five year old grandmother, a former beauty queen, who made a radical decision to transform herself without considering any of the consequences. Please don’t judge me. My story begins the first Tuesday of October, at approximately 6 A.M., when I was jolted awake by a searing pain in my back along with lightning bolts shooting up and down my legs. After my car accident six years earlier, eight of the discs in my spine had collapsed and the ...

23 likes

Maxim and the Ring

Submitted to Contest #118

(CW: mentions of sex)It was September of 1932, Moscow. Maxim was walking through a park, his head down. If he had looked up, he might notice that the leaves had changed considerably since he last took a walk through that particular park, or that brown leaves littered the ground and walkway. He might have also noticed that there were a surplus of ducks in and around the water, bothering old babushkas on the bench up the path for breadcrumbs. But he didn’t notice. Maxim had a problem, and he was trying to figure out a solution. It wasn’t an ea...

22 likes

The Bonfire

Shortlisted for Contest #118 ⭐️

It’s ugly, the way these searing tendrils of heat claw up my arms, over my face, across the brittle surface of my hands—which are clenched into fists. I can feel it scratching my eyelids. My nostrils. My gums. Tearing through parts of my body I usually think about so little that I don’t even realise I’m not thinking about them. But this searing heat isn’t even the worst part. It’s the smoke that gets you. That’s what the firefighters said when they came to my school back in the day. Stay low, stay low. Breathe through a wet sock. I...

22 likes

Falling Leaves of Autumn

Danny G

Submitted to Contest #118

I still don't know what I was looking forAnd my time was running wildA million dead-end streetsChanges by David Bowie. It was my ringtone.Glancing around to make sure my boss wasn’t around, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the number.My heart skipped. It was the call I was waiting for.I ducked down behind my cart just in case Mr Burson saw me and ripped me a new one. We weren't meant to be on our phones during work hours. I pressed the button, “Hello” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “Hello,” I repeated, louder this time...

21 likes

Morning

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #118

This morning, I wake up and find a pregnant woman in bed beside me. In my bed. There's no mistaking the swelling of her belly. This woman, she's a young thing. From the side, she appears too young to be so pregnant, maybe 16 or 17 at the most. She—the young woman—has long brown hair. Long. It flows everywhere, on her side, onto my side. And it has soft curls. Really pretty, I wish I had hair like that. I lean up on my elbow to see her face. You'd do the same, right? Maybe I shouldn't have. She has my husband's face. No shit! I've l...

20 likes

Autobiology

Submitted to Contest #118

I woke up from the most relaxing sleep to realize that it had happened again. Now, usually, I would adjust to the change in circumstances by learning my function and trying to be quiet, tame, polite and even inconspicuous (a good word; a word that I was learning to use more and more often when I was on my own). But this felt a little bit different. Someone had decided that I needed to transfer my essence to various parts of the body. This really could be the worse form of reincarnation anyone could imagine, and I thought that I was in hell t...

19 likes

The Average Life of a Swan

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #118

I became a duckling the day being a swan became too strenuous. Calling out to whichever deity would listen, I begged to have my wings cut or shortened. I wanted the white that had inspired artists to paint me and great beauties to envy me cast off my plumage or given away to someone who could better care for its grace. The others I swam alongside were perplexed at my request. Why wish to return? Why loathe my current form? Why beg to rewind the fable of the swan? Because some of us miss our youth that much, I suppose. Some cannot loo...

19 likes

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Contest #119

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

204

Entries

140

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 05, 2021 EST

Won by Myia Melendy 🏆

Title: beneath the quaking aspen

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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