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#120 Nostalgia

Do you ever get a warm, fuzzy feeling when eating a favorite childhood meal or meeting up with an old friend? On the other hand, maybe you’ve revisited something you were nostalgic for, only to find it wasn’t quite what you remembered. Or perhaps you’ve found yourself longing for a time before you were even born...

This week’s prompts encourage you to write around the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia, and imagine the different ways your characters might confront memories from the past.

🥇 Winner

Meditation

Winner of Contest #120 🏆

[CW: eating disorders] Breathe in. Let your eyes close. Let your mind wander. Think back to a time when you were happy as a child. There must have been times when you were happy. Notice any tension in your forehead. Relax the muscles between your eyebrows. The time when you were three and your parents took you to a water park. You were scared of the tallest slides, but you felt safe in Daddy’s arms. You loved the bright pink flowers on your black swimsuit, the neon green ruffles around your waist. The river stone pathways bisect...

230 likes

⭐️ Shortlisted

Grampa Owl and Grandfather Mouse

Tanya Humphreys

Shortlisted for Contest #120 ⭐️

“My father told me of the great massacre of Summer, 2020.” Randolf’s grandfather began. Randolf looked over at his twelve siblings, they were all spitting images of Randolf- wee ash grey mice squatting comfortably like furry little pom-poms. All twenty-four of their shiny black bead eyes were wide with raptness, Randolf joined them in their gaze towards the elderly, somewhat scruffy mouse with one torn ear and a kink in his tail. Grandfather mouse continued when he had all thirteen children’s attention in full, he savored the dr...

58 likes

Searching For Sanctuary

Avery Conner

Shortlisted for Contest #120 ⭐️

Searching for sanctuary Cough. She wheezed. She could hardly think. What would he do without her? The night grew cold. Sweat gathered in beads on her forehead and her face seared like a deadly sunburn. Cough. She tried to open her eyes. She felt him laying next to her and, with the last of her strength, she grabbed his sleeping hand. Then she, too, fell asleep. ∆∆∆ He woke to the sun beaming through cracks in the wall. Nothing stirred. He didn’t hear her coughing. His attention snapped from asleep to alert. He sat up and her hand still ...

32 likes

something about the cold.

Mira H

Shortlisted for Contest #120 ⭐️

CW: mental health, disordered eating There was something about the cold. Perhaps it was the quiet, gentle whistling of wind dancing through the bitter air; the sky void of clouds and an imperceptible shade of blue (or was it simply blank after all?). The barren, bleak landscape with powder dusting weary branches. Miniature mountains standing proudly on every street corner, boxing in sidewalks and feeling oddly protective of the freezing pedestrians. A painful chill pinching the insides of your nose, demanding your attention and assertin...

22 likes

This week's prompts

Write about a character who yearns for something they lost, or never had.

Angst – 111 stories

Start your story with the line ‘Back in my day…’

Adults – 28 stories

Write about two characters’ different perspectives of the same past event.

Middle School – 36 stories

Start your story with a character looking through an old family photo album.

Fluff – 44 stories

Your character has always viewed the past with rose tinted glasses. Write about what happens when they’re finally confronted with the truth.

Angst – 25 stories

Stories

Meditation

Winner of Contest #120 🏆

[CW: eating disorders] Breathe in. Let your eyes close. Let your mind wander. Think back to a time when you were happy as a child. There must have been times when you were happy. Notice any tension in your forehead. Relax the muscles between your eyebrows. The time when you were three and your parents took you to a water park. You were scared of the tallest slides, but you felt safe in Daddy’s arms. You loved the bright pink flowers on your black swimsuit, the neon green ruffles around your waist. The river stone pathways bisect...

230 likes

Grampa Owl and Grandfather Mouse

Tanya Humphreys

Shortlisted for Contest #120 ⭐️

“My father told me of the great massacre of Summer, 2020.” Randolf’s grandfather began. Randolf looked over at his twelve siblings, they were all spitting images of Randolf- wee ash grey mice squatting comfortably like furry little pom-poms. All twenty-four of their shiny black bead eyes were wide with raptness, Randolf joined them in their gaze towards the elderly, somewhat scruffy mouse with one torn ear and a kink in his tail. Grandfather mouse continued when he had all thirteen children’s attention in full, he savored the dr...

58 likes

Koffee

Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted to Contest #120

CW: transphobiaWell, it turns out that I am hyper-fixated on background noises and want to feel them touching my skin and prickling my ears. I must have caught on to that thought or that realization while stuck in the rain one day but it does feel certain in a kind of morbid way. And, of course, I’d hate to admit that there has been a want in my heart for quite some time now; a want for something appealing like stranger’s hushed conversations on Friday nights. In admitting that thought, I become a vulnerable child and who’s to say vulnerabil...

58 likes

Chris and her Daughters

Stevie B

Submitted to Contest #120

Standing in front of me in a dress I’d never before seen her wear, Chris, my wife, asked, “Does this make me look fat?” Being an old hand at fielding such questions I responded, “No dear, you look more lovely than usual, whom one would think, in and of itself, was unsurpassable!” Letting out a peal of girlish laughter, the kind of laugh that had been one of the many things I found so attractive about her, my wife leaned in to kiss my cheek but faded away before she could. Hey, when she’s happy I’m happy! It had been a little over a year ...

49 likes

Off the mark

Boutat Driss

Submitted to Contest #120

Girls dream of prince charming and they invented the rich, handsome, young and intelligent man. The guys took it as face value and were doing everything they can to get a resume meeting these four requirements. Once girls, grow up in their mind, become mature, revise their standards on perfect men, define their futures, stick to their goals, chart their way to achieve them and if it is possible to live with a balanced man who pays attention on her and maybe with certain requirements of their youthful dreams: The icing on the cake. Their real...

45 likes

The Houseguest

Submitted to Contest #120

The first thing that struck Carole about the young woman who booked her guestroom on HomeBnB was that her name, Xaria Lemieux, both began and ended with an “X.” It made her lip curl. She'd had all types of people stay in the second room of her two-bedroom Ardmont, Pennsylvania rowhome since she put it on the site, but something about those bookend X’s gave her a bad feeling. This would definitely be a weird one. She clicked the guest’s profile. Shocker — Xaria Lemieux was from California. A hippie freak, probably. Likely to stink u...

41 likes

Like Father, Like Son

Mister X

Submitted to Contest #120

“Back in my day...” The words were barely out of my mouth when, as is common these days, I was rudely interrupted.“Back in your day? Geez Dad, you’re 50 not 500.”“That’s the whole point,” I said, attempting to win back a conversation I should never have lost in the first place. “How, in the space of 30 years did we go from there to here?”“From where to where?”“When I got out of college in 1981, there was one country, two genders, ten commandments and endless possibilities. Now there are just excuses. If this is what progress looks like, then...

40 likes

corroded stardust

KED KED

Submitted to Contest #120

She looked relatively normal, he noted. Though, Alex had been doing this job long enough to know that his own preconceived notions surrounding appearance were typically dashed the moment they started telling their story if they chose to do so. She was laying on her back, her shirt already off and her eyes closed, breathing deep. “Hey there. I’m Alex. I’m the artist assigned to you as part of your witness protection process. Your record shows you only have one? The chain-link on your left breastbone?”&...

40 likes

Captive Audience

PJ Aitken

Submitted to Contest #120

Back in my day it was much simpler, people were either alive or dead. When you’re alive, you’re alive and when you’re dead, you’re dead. It’s the Grand Old Duke of York of life and death. Every day is different and nothing stays still but you’d think those two things would remain the same whilst everything evolved around it. My entire life I’ve made a good living from these two facts being set in stone whilst I reaped the rewards. These days the world and its residents above and below have evolved to be cockier and more rebellious, thin...

36 likes

A Time to Remember

Submitted to Contest #120

The recent lockdown gave me time at home and at last I’d run out of excuses. For over thirty years, I’d been meaning to sift through that box of paperwork and letters. It’s not that I procrastinate, you understand; I’ve always attended to my affairs and left no correspondence unanswered. However, blowing the dust off my family’s heirlooms was a daunting task. An ideal moment hadn’t happened, or maybe I’d avoided making the time. # So, being honest, I’d chosen to forget about the chore, given there were two hundred envelopes to open...

36 likes

Jacob's hues of darkness

Angela Govender

Submitted to Contest #120

The reflection of the beautiful night sky made the lake glisten, and it appeared as if a million fireflies lit up the lake. The seductively beautiful night showed off a magically glowing lake with a starlit sky. This would have made the perfect romantic way to pop the question and get Anna to say yes. A wispy ambrosial smell was in the air, with the night sky having adorned herself with the richest of rich diamonds covered in a velvet gown. Could it be this serendipitous moment that I needed all this while? Just when I was at the point of ...

36 likes

✨ 👹 Mirrored Souls 😇 ✨

Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #120

(Content Warning: Blood, Gore, Violence, Mild Language, and an overabundance of Emojis.)Authors note: The legendary Deidra Lovegren challenged me to write a tale with emojis, and this is what I came up with, so a huge shout out to her!! I also wanted to give special thanks to my dear friend Kelly, who enlightened me on the “Twin Flames” concept from which this story was born. Thanks for reading!!For the emoji free version, see (Bonus content) in the comments section below. In the depths of 🌋 Hell 🌋, the great slanderer, Diabolos 👹, was ...

33 likes

Consensual?

Christina Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #120

Trigger Warning: Sexual ContentVoluntary Statement: 11/24/1997Yes, I understand this is serious, but that’s not how it happened. Look. My roommate and I—we just heard about the party in the chem lab. We didn’t premeditate anything . . . We showed up around 10:00. Maybe 11:00. Look, I don’t know the exact time. But I was sober when I got there. I didn’t have any drugs or paraphernalia on me. I didn’t smoke marijuana in the dorms before we left. It wasn’t like that. Victim / Witness Statement: 11/24/1997It had been a long week. I needed s...

33 likes

Searching For Sanctuary

Avery Conner

Shortlisted for Contest #120 ⭐️

Searching for sanctuary Cough. She wheezed. She could hardly think. What would he do without her? The night grew cold. Sweat gathered in beads on her forehead and her face seared like a deadly sunburn. Cough. She tried to open her eyes. She felt him laying next to her and, with the last of her strength, she grabbed his sleeping hand. Then she, too, fell asleep. ∆∆∆ He woke to the sun beaming through cracks in the wall. Nothing stirred. He didn’t hear her coughing. His attention snapped from asleep to alert. He sat up and her hand still ...

32 likes

Some Things Never Change

Mark Shoe

Submitted to Contest #120

“I’ll take this.” Tanner slid a worn parchment on the long counter top. A spindly bald man in a greasy apron eyed him. “That there is a bounty for a night-terror.” he trailed off. Tanner followed the man’s eyes to his dented artificial leg. Metal bones fused to his left leg’s stump. Tanner swung his cloak over it. “Never seen a cripple in your tavern before?” “Not one who could walk.” He scoffed. “Ten gold now, and the remaining ninety pieces when I bring back its head.” Tanner said. “By the prophet, I ain’t los...

32 likes

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Contest #121

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

244

Entries

163

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 19, 2021 EST

Won by Rebecca Loften 🏆

Title: Meditation

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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