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#121 Giving Thanks

Next Thursday marks American Thanksgiving: an occasion for people to come together, catch up, and enjoy large quantities of mashed potatoes. In keeping with the name, many also take this time to reflect on what they’re thankful for — whether that’s good friends, a great job, or the aforementioned potatoes.


This week’s prompts expand on the idea of thanks, exploring not just gratitude, but also recognition, perseverance, and shades of the phrase itself. Whether or not you’ll be celebrating on Thursday, we hope this theme gets you thinking (and in case we haven’t mentioned it lately, thank you for being a part of our amazing community!).

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone saying “Thanks a lot” (sarcastically or sincerely).

Fiction – 36 stories

Write about someone giving or receiving a gift.

Christmas – 50 stories

Write a story in which someone gets credit for something they didn’t do.

Thriller and Suspense – 13 stories

Write about a character who struggles to express their thanks.

Angst – 14 stories

Write about someone in a thankless job.

Teens – 33 stories

Stories

A sequined dress, a pair of cha-cha heels and a box

Submitted to Contest #121

It's November 30th, 1996. Surprisingly, there is no sign of snow in the Northern hemisphere. I was born and raised here. I remember, my mother looking through the window and praying for a green Christmas. She was a very superstitious woman, and she used to say that when winter was late, luck was near.I decided this morning that it was time for me to clean her dormitory. She passed away a week ago. For some people, it's too early and inconsiderate, but for me, she left a long time ago. Six months had passed since the unfortunate accident that...

20 likes 4 comments 4
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Blood stained

Submitted to Contest #121

The wolf sniffed as she moved stealthily amid the rock huts. A hare was still gasping in her blood stained mouth. Her pup Luna led her through the rock lanes moving from one corner to another. They knew what the humans did to the intruders, especially if they had fangs and claws. Not all humans are bad, she thought. Like not all wolves are bad. The boy who helped Luna get out of the iron cage proved her point. She was wary though, enough not to make as small a noise as her breath. Her hind legs stepped where her forelegs did, and s...

19 likes 8 comments 8
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The Gift of Roots and Wings

Submitted to Contest #121

[The First Gift]There is a boy behind the wall. It isn’t a very tall wall, maybe waist height and made of cobble and moss, so it isn’t a very good hiding place. Erin would know. He tried that one ages ago, and the matrons found him very quickly. He places his book to the side, tucking a leaf between the pages to hold his place, and stands from the porch of the Ol’ Vic. He turns around, craning his neck to see into the kitchen, where the matrons and some of the other children were busy practicing their spellwork. Erin was not invited to ...

18 likes 0 comments 0
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The Thanks I never Gave

Submitted to Contest #121

I lay awoken, just before the dawn of the day rises from its comfortable corners, my gaze fixed on the bedroom’s ceiling for what it felt like an eternity. My name is Alexander Cornway and I have a problem. A tremendous, paramount of a problem. In just a few very short hours, I will have to get out of this bed and stare at the woman slumbering beside me. As she always does every single morning, she will yawn as loud as she can be---on purpose may I add, normally I would be asleep by that time, so she will place her corpse like hands on my ba...

18 likes 7 comments 7
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Tainted Water

Submitted to Contest #121

“Thanks a lot! You’re the best, big brother!” hollered Jackson, waving wildly as his older brother drove away.  At twenty-four, he was finally moved into his first apartment. Well, calling himself moved in was an exaggeration. His stuff was piled in haphazardly-labeled boxes scattered throughout his small little two-bedroom space.  When Jason’s taillights disappeared into the darkness, Jackson headed upstairs to decide what he wanted to do. The eternal question of any independent young man: start unpac...

18 likes 1 comment 1
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Death Did Us Part

Submitted to Contest #121

This story is a retelling of the tale of Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphosis book III.Not even the withered roses could understand my anguish, not even did the forlorn rain begin to fathom out how unloved I felt, and neither did the forsaken Juno begin to grasp my melancholy. I am of the echoing voice, who cannot be silent when others have spoken, nor learn how to speak first myself. I speak of myself in the past tense, for I am dead. My sleepless thoughts waste my sad form, and my body’s strength vanished into the air.And the only thing left is ...

18 likes 4 comments 4
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The Perfect Gift

Submitted to Contest #121

It all started with a smile... A beautiful, warm, and welcoming smile from a pretty stranger on the streets of Manhattan. If you know Manhattan, you know how rare it is to meet a kind face here. Let alone to see that same kind face more than once. The third time I saw her, I had to speak to her. I approached her nervously, and she again smiled warmly which made me feel more confident. Approaching women is scary because you never know the vibes... Is it giving bestie vibes or is it going to be more? This time though, I knew. She spoke to me b...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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The Thankless Man

Submitted to Contest #121

The doorbell rang, so I opened the door. There was a man there. He was long, so long, it took ages before I found his face. It was up high, high, high in the sky.I said to the face at the end of the long man, "Hello-oo".The long man also had a long face, and on it were black eyes, raven black and the eyes locked onto me, and they screwed tight, so tight that the forehead creased and the nose wrinkled. Moreover, the face was presented to me by a body entirely dressed in black, except for broad turquoise straps over the shoulders. The body was...

17 likes 5 comments 5
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Electrical Circuits

Submitted to Contest #121

I struggle with words. Sometimes I can not speak at all for I've undergone selective mutism. It's a part of my illness. I am ashamed but I know if people knew that the electrical circuit in between my neurons had a short they may be more understanding of my awkwardness. I have learned to enjoy my time alone. Since words always deem to fail my expression for life and others I've begun to notice the small things around me. When walking down the cracked weeded sidewalk I notice the well planted flowers surrounded by gigantic hungry bees. I watc...

17 likes 13 comments 13
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Thank you for your (?) contributions

Submitted to Contest #121

Emma was at the furthest end of the trade show, aimlessly doing “competitive research” and wondering if it was too late for coffee, when her phone rang.A hearty voice at the other end invited her to dinner with the German sales team that evening, “in recognition of her work for the German market.”Far from being grateful, Emma felt nothing but bewilderment. Had she done anything for the German market? A year prior she had customized some marketing material for a local customer. It took about a day. Somehow that didn’t seem worthy of dinner.&n...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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The Bully

Submitted to Contest #121

It's been a while since I've been in detention, but it's exactly as I remember. Black marker smudges clutter the whiteboard. The clock on the wall is running two minutes behind, even though it's digital. There is still the empty hamster cage by the sink. Mr. Wheeler, my warden, sits behind his desk and adjusts his posture to accommodate his big belly. Some things never change."Come take these," he tells me when I enter, pointing to the edge of the desk. He's been staring out the window this whole time, probably wishing he didn't have to spen...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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The Gift of a Fresh Start

Submitted to Contest #121

[CW: kidnapping and domestic violence] It wasn’t the first time I had received someone else’s mail. Our mail carrier, Mr. Jacobs, was a friendly old soul but the neighborhood consensus was that it was time for him to ride his mail truck off into the sunset of retirement.  It was a rainy Friday evening in mid-November. My students were getting antsy for Thanksgiving break and, let’s face it, so was I. By the time I left the building, my car was the only one sitting in the school parking lot. I tugged down on the hood of my raincoat, ...

15 likes 8 comments 8
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Thanks for the Memories

Submitted to Contest #121

           Daniel and Wendy met in a small café several years ago. Wendy worked as a waitress, and Daniel became a regular customer after the first time their eyes connected. He could feel a charge of electricity racing through his body and his knees felt weak. His first words to Wendy were, “Yeah, um…I’ll have a milk with two coffees. Wait, that’s not right. Coffee with two milks please.”           Wendy felt the energy between them...

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James Smith

Submitted to Contest #121

It hit him earlier that day, the loneliness. It does every now and then. Things get quiet, the house gets dark. He talks to walls, televisions, poor old mirrors. A sorry figure.Other times, he gets along just fine by himself. Takes up time, stays on the go. Sometimes, he even likes it better. But when he gets hit, he feels every inch of emptiness in space. 46.1 billion light-years of all alone. It's a particular type of sadness. And it will never end.Never end.Never end.Or that's what it says.Bottles. Bottles everywhere. No surprise there. H...

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Earthly Delights

Submitted to Contest #121

“But moooom, I don’t want to!” Jessica cried out as she obediently held out her arms. Her mother placed a large dish of casserole carefully covered in tin foil in them. Jessica let out an annoyed huff of air.           “I don’t care what you want, Jessica. Mr. Flowers is in need and our duty is to be good neighbors and help.”           “What, so we’re like State Farm now? Like a good neighbor, the Richards' family is there?” &nb...

15 likes 7 comments 7
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