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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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.

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

“A Knight of the Round Table” by Finley Dean

Submitted to Contest #120

As he sets down another book, Clay returns to reality. All he’s ever wanted was for an adventure of his own, a place to call home, a chance at experiencing the world. He longs to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as a proud Ravenclaw. He aches for the countryside of the Shire, to help Frodo on his journey across perilous lands. Yearns to be a son of one of the Greek Gods, he takes online tests, ‘which Greek God is your parent?’, he always gets Apollo. And with all his heart he wished to be a knight of the round table. Bu...

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“The Memory Keeper” by A.M. Yura

Submitted to Contest #120

The Memory Keeper has been around for as long as everyone can remember. He provides relief to those seeking freedom from memories dragging them down. Those who cannot bear any aches of the heart or wish to rid of wishful longings go to him for help. But memories are a terrible thing to waste, and so he guards the discarded memories safely, until one shows up who is willing to bear the burden of the memory. Or for those curious enough for a taste of it.-----A woman in her early 30s is sitting crossed legged on the floor, several boxes and var...

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“The End of the Infinite” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #120

Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle, E questa siepe, che da tanta parte Dell’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude. Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati Spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani Silenzi, e profondissima quiete Io nel pensier mi fingo; ove per poco Il cor non si spaura. E come il vento Odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello Infinito silenzio a questa voce Vo comparando: e mi sovvien l’eterno, E le morte stagioni, e la presente E viva, e il suon di lei. Così tra questa Immensità s’annega il pensier mio: E il naufragar m’è dolce in questo ...

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“The Man Who Found Yesterday” by Dave Vanwerkhoven

Submitted to Contest #120

"Sampa! Ipa sampa! Sampa pour macaben." "What is that young woman saying? My God! She is strikingly beautiful." "She's saying "Peaches. Fresh peaches for sale," and don't ask how I know that," I replied. Walking the market street of Montmartre, Paris, has always been one of my favourite activities. The colourful stalls, the hectic sounds, the scent of spice and differing tobacco, and the perfume of fresh fruit drifting through the air, everyday, rain or shine. "But, how do you know that, Tomson? She speaks with a French accent, but...

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“Let It Go” by TMK M

Submitted to Contest #120

She pulled the sofa cushion back, reaching down in between the space tracing continuously along the edges until she concluded, what she was looking for wasn’t there. Where could they be? She thought to herself. She retraced every step. Completely perplexed, she looked at Griff. “Did you take them?” She asked Griff. He just stared at her with eyes full of information. She just knew he knocked them off the counter and batted them around before curling up for his afternoon nap. She recalled the times when he stole peppermints f...

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“On the Roof of a Seventy-Story Building” by Bonnie Remmot

Submitted to Contest #120

TW: Suicidal ideations A man stands on the roof of a seventy-story building. Don't worry about him falling, this is a simulation. Let’s start again. A man stands on the roof of a seventy-story building. He thinks about jumping, because he doesn’t know that a holographic platform will rise up to catch him in an instant. His job as a project manager is terrible, meandering. The half-assed attempts to become a sculptor have, understandably, led to nowhere. His wife is about to leave him and he wants to beat her to it. There’s a...

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“Back in the Day” by Mac Paul

Submitted to Contest #120

‘Back in the Day’ The Veranda By Bettie MacIntyre Back in the day, before televisions, cell phones, computers, and sit-down family dinners. Lois can remember the quaint, friendly small country town nestled near the Elephant Mountains in Vermont, where she lived. From the main thoroughfare, turn at the depot junction and cross the railroad tracks to get there. Drive a few country miles past the town cemetery and up the steep curved hill. The only road through the little ...

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“Back in the Day” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #120

People avoided Charles Pickens whenever they could. While he was a charming elderly fellow, his major flaw was starting every conversation he ever had with a friend or stranger “Back in the day…” Didn’t matter none who it was, but Charles, who worked for over thirty years at Catco Farm Supply, would put his thumbs at the corners of his overall straps, rock on his heels and spin a yarn or two depending on the amount of time he had. While most of his tales seemed taller than the corn in the first weeks of autumn, Charles was alway...

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“Antiques On The Shelf” by Autumn-Rose Oberhammer

Submitted to Contest #120

“Back in my day, we didn’t have those fancy devices to give to our children,” Grandma Maureen glanced over at Felix and Emma from her usual place at the kitchen table. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder, small legs dangling off the floral-patterned loveseat. Their fingers, moving frantically across the screens of their tablets. Felicia groaned. Another lecture from Grandma Maureen. Just what she needed today. Grandma Maureen rose from her chair, the legs screeched against the old wooden floor. She shuffled into the kitchen in slippered...

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“2027” by Del Gibson

Submitted to Contest #120

TW: Some of the scenes maybe disturbing! 2027 ****Harry**** “Back in my days, life was very different than it is now,” I say to my Grandchildren who are piled around me, in front of the roaring fire. It is getting dark, and the night chill is setting in. Darkness is a dangerous time to be out in the open, but I have made this place as inconspicuous as possible, beneath mammoth trees. “Grandpa, could you please tell us about the old world?” Newton asks. Newton, my seven-year-old Grandson, was two years old when the New World Order beg...

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“My wife's birthday” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #120

“Back in my day, we meditated when we were stoned, and we were stoned every day. Have you ever pictured a strawberry being inserted into the top of your head while you’re wearing those Kanye sunglasses? You know those glasses? The fence-looking white ones? I think that’s enlightenment. We can’t have Thanksgiving dinner here.”“What are you talking about?” “I don’t know, Diane! Can’t you see that? I just ate a bunch of mushrooms.” “Where did you get the mushrooms?”“You know where I got the mushrooms. Don’t ask me where I got them.”“D...

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“A Father Lost” by Carlos Kinsman

Submitted to Contest #120

A Father Lost Grace I was about six at the time. Yeah six. Maybe seven? Either way, it was about fifteen years ago, and mother was in a coma. Okay so, give me a break here. I was six, and my dad just up and says that mom wasn’t ever coming back! Can you believe that!? Who does that!? Right, so on to the story. So, he sits me down under the oak tree in our backyard, on that creaky wooden bench… God knows how that thing is still hanging. He says to me, “Listen, honey.” Takes a long pause. I look up at him, just kind of, you know,...

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“Dad's Words” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #120

The two brothers, Steve and Earl, were sitting together in a downtown bar. Both had knocked back rather quickly several shots, with not a lot of words spoken in between. It had been a long time since they had done anything like this, the two of them being alone together. Usually when they were in the same room, it was at rather large family get-togethers in which they only exchanged a few polite words before parting company. They were clearly nervous now. The waiter could see that each time he brought them their drin...

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“Memorialized with Lipstick and Dresses” by Hussein Abulamzi

Submitted to Contest #120

I leaned against the passenger door of Dad’s red ’87 Monte Carlo, and I felt unsure of whether to catch my breath or inhale my cigarette. But the wind chaffed my smiling teeth, regardless. The music the car blasted around the Exxon station—the one dad retired from as a cashier—just shied off a ruse. So, Carl ran up to the car, shoved me aside, and jumped half-way inside it through the window. Tonight, I learned Carl started driving the Monte Carlo for the past week, since—well; he took it for a ride that same night after he got the call a...

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“Nostalgia” by Wade Ritter

Submitted to Contest #120

When I go through my dad's photo album and come across his photos while he was serving in the Royal Canadian Navy, November 11 has a special meaning. you see my dad served his country during the Cuban Missile Crisis My Dad's Navy Service During The Cuban Missile Crisis During 1961 President Kennedy visited Ottawa and gave a speech in The House of Commons "Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies."(1) My dad served on the HMCS Bonaventure, the Royal Ca...

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$250

Prize money

244

Contest 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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