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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

“The Day I Surprised the Priest” by Cornelia Allen

Submitted to Contest #120

                               The Day I Surprised the Priest Back in my day, in my neck of the woods, most of us went to Catholic school because that was what was available. It didn’t matter if you were Christian, Jew or whatever, you probably were educated by ladies in black robes and white wimples. My brother and sister went off to those magical, mysterious places every day, one called Fi...

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“Paperboy route” by Francesco James

Submitted to Contest #120

Back in my day, there were no such things as “online publications,” and newspapers were the major source of information. Hence, the world of suburbia was filled with paperboys, of which I was one. Raised Catholic, I was also an altar boy, which made Sundays a bit hectic for me.  On one particular Sunday morning, six a.m. four days before Thanksgiving, the weather was bitter cold and the sky dark, pockets of visible stars slowly fading as the light of the full moon beckons the morning. My breath appears in front of me, short puffs of f...

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“A pie in the face ” by Jen Borcherding

Submitted to Contest #120

Times were simpler decades ago- as I ponder why, a dusty photo album appears inside my mind. After pulling the cobwebs, it opens- the film covered pages turning fast. That old album smell and that crinkling sound takes me back- a time without smart phones- and the best times of my childhood. My soul becomes flooded with overwhelming bliss.Summers were full of laughter and play. I ran through tall weeds, arms outstretched, eyes closed. I caught bullfrogs near the pond. I roamed with cows in the field. I grimaced with the sharp bite of gr...

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“Photographic Memories” by Terri Harrington

Submitted to Contest #120

It is my habit each Saturday morning to make a cup of my favorite tea, Earl Grey, and sit on the deck in my backyard to make a list of the reasons to be grateful. Other times the Kansas wind was far too fierce for even my heaviest coat, so I would find myself in the kitchen nook, sitting on one of the benches. I found this space quaint and inviting, and I used it on mornings just like this one—too cold to sit outside—when I have counted it as one of my blessings. On this particular morning, it was difficult to find something to be thankful ...

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“The Man in the Photo” by Dallas Spires

Submitted to Contest #120

“Oh, and this right here!” Kevin peeled back the plastic sheet covering the page of photos and draped it over the edge of the photo album, letting it hang towards the floor. His fingers worked carefully at the edge of the picture in an effort to pull it free from the adhesive holding it in place. “It’s okay,” his fiancée laughed. “I can see it fine from here.” She put a kind hand on his shoulder. “But you don’t understand,” he continued, unable to contain his excitement. “That summer.” His voice trailed off as he stopped fighting the...

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“Icy Fingers ” by Jessie Hartness

Submitted to Contest #120

Take a look. No, over there... over where that man is getting into his car to leave for work. That ordinary man, who drives that ordinary car, going to his ordinary nine-to-five. He pets his ordinary dog before he closes the door, tells him to go to the back, and then pushes his garage door remote after he sees the tail pass over the sensor’s reach. He drives away after making sure the ordinary door fully closes. He doesn’t want someone to be able to just walk in now does he? If they did, they might find out he is not an ordinary man in an o...

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“Memories-Imagined” by Jill Abell

Submitted to Contest #120

                                                                                           &...

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“On Grafham Lake” by David Carr

Submitted to Contest #120

12th April “My darling Kerri, I want you to know that I am okay. I am well in myself but missing you and kids so much right now. I managed a good workout this morning. I am keeping myself fit, as you know. They always serve something sweet with every meal here but I only eat a bit of it because I don’t want to put weight on. That would be something, wouldn’t it? Getting fat in this place! Anyway, I’m keeping trim because I know I am coming home soon. I know it. They can’t keep an innocent man locked up in here forever. They can’t. The t...

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“The King's Transgressions” by Will Bashor

Submitted to Contest #120

An image is truly “worth a thousand words,” piquing our curiosity and awakening our emotions. When browsing artworks, however, we may not always be aware of the unique messages and ideas conveyed by an artist’s depiction of characters, colors, time of day, weather, or objects in the painting. Moreover, the absence of characters or objects can also be significant.       In Pierre Mignard’s seventeenth-century portrait of Duchesse Louise de la Vallière and her children at the Palace of Versailles, for example, King L...

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“Womb Vacancy” by Shina Kiel

Submitted to Contest #120

Womb Vacancy By: S. M. Kiel Not Again; the tears started rolling down my cheeks, my eyes were glued to the plastic little wand gripped tightly in my shaky hands. The words ``Negative” staring back at me through the clear plastic window at the left side of this wand. My heart sank like a rock in the ocean. The pressure in my chest tightened as I started to sob silently in the bathroom, not waking to wake my sleeping husband. I knew that he would look at me with the same disappointed eyes. He was already withdrawing from me with each passin...

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“A Trunk in the Attic” by Paula Young

Submitted to Contest #120

It was just an old trunk. It smelled of mildew, leather, and dust. Hannah Clark tentatively touched it with her finger and jerked back like a hot stove. "It's just an old trunk. It will be there tomorrow. I don't have to open it now," she said to herself. She turned away to leave the attic.             Hannah retreated down the stairs in defeat. Her hair the color of honey fell in her face, and she brushed it away in the habitual move of her delica...

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“No such thing as wishes fulfilled Temple” by Jo Ann Wong

Submitted to Contest #120

Today, High Priestess Nila gave Kirai, a novice priestess and me, a task. Or more like run an errand to me. But either way, I was glad to take a breather from the training. After nearly a month of being confined, I ventured out of the Grand Temple grounds for the first time. I heaved an ecstatic, excited giggle. I thought I almost died with the heavy training for priestesses. The unwilling priestess apprentice. My only mistake was vandalism on the ancient trees, but the punishment obviously tested my morality and life’s virtues. Which I have...

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“Once Upon a Time” by Katherine Sikes

Submitted to Contest #120

Vera’s bones felt heavy as she put on her apron. Her muscles were taut with apprehension - a feeling that never quite went away. Not anymore. As she smiled at her coworkers, she imagined one of those theater masks was over her face. A stretched smile hiding the person underneath. And who was the person underneath the mask? Vera wasn’t sure she knew anymore. The 17 year old girl who refused to hurt anyone? Did she exist anymore?  Vera sighed, then caught herself. She rearranged her face back into its smile, and took her place at the re...

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“Silence Is Golden” by John Calderara

Submitted to Contest #120

Silence Is Golden       The waiter asked, “Would you care for more wine, Sir?”  He smiled and waited for my response. I nodded and looked around the restaurant. I lifted my wine glass. The waiter took it from me, poured the Riesling into my glass then handed it back to me. I smiled and nodded to imply a thank you. The waiter grinned and left my table. I wiped the bottom of the glass with a napkin and placed it in front of me next to the glass of ice water.       I wa...

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“SLOW TRAIN” by Ian Woodcock

Submitted to Contest #120

SLOW TRAIN           PAGE 1 His phone buzzed as the train smoothed out of the Station, he didn’t answer, it stopped. He might have been about to converse with his night time reflection somewhere out there beyond the window, evoking painful recollections.  It buzzed again, ‘Hi Trish!’ he listened, ‘Yeah I can talk, I’m on the train. ‘Yeah I’m still going to see Dad. A day early? No I‘m booked into a Hotel near the House tonight, I‘ll see him tomorrow.’ The train stopp...

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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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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