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#126 The Night Before

Happy Christmas Eve! As this year draws to a close, many people will be reflecting on the past 365 days, as well as looking ahead and planning for the future. 


This week’s contest ends, serendipitously, on the last day of the year. New Year’s Eve sees a whole host of celebrations around the world, but some of us are skipping the usual parties and staying home. For this week’s contest, I’ve put together some prompts centering on this exciting night, so you can get in the festive spirit no matter how you’re celebrating. Let the countdown begin!

🥇 Winner

When The Sea Takes You, I Won't Come With

Winner of Contest #126 🏆

“In my past life, I was a bird.”“How’d you know?”My little brother shrugged. “I just feel it.”Piles of debris painted where the houses used to be, torn-down walls and foundations mere remains of the structures that were there. We must have scavenged through all of them, finding nothing but rubbish and mud. The blue comet streaked across the sky. Cold winds blew onto my back, smelling of sand and cement and something else. A tinge of something bitter, something revolting. The water took four people from around these parts, but the way they po...

242 likes 75 comments 75
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⭐️ Shortlisted

Amelia and the Beautiful Big Red Handbag

Shortlisted for Contest #126 ⭐️

           Our first encounter was on New Year’s Eve. I was picking up a few last minute good-luck foods for the evening – black-eyed peas, cornbread, pickled herring, grapes – walking from my apartment to the grocer. It was cold. That’s what I remember first when I feel the memory in my senses, when I feel the depth of the memory. I feel how cold it was, how the sharp absence of smells in the air precipitated my noticing the details.I remember I noticed the last brown leaf hanging from ...

29 likes 5 comments 5
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The First First

Shortlisted for Contest #126 ⭐️

Mouse wasn’t small.  When they measured his body in the morgue, he was six foot two.  Even though he could be quiet, I never called him Mouse, I called him Marty because that was his name, but it’s my name too which is why his mother started calling him Mouse after the divorce.  When your son dies, everything becomes a first.  The first Thanksgiving without him, the first birthday, even silly shit like the first time you go to the Chuck Box for a burger and he isn’t there next to you, stealing your onion rings and changin...

25 likes 21 comments 21
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This week's prompts

Start or end your story with one or more characters shouting “Happy new year!”

Holiday – 44 stories

Write about a character reflecting on the previous year.

Christmas – 19 stories

Write a story about two people who don’t know each other but bump into one other on New Year’s Eve (either once or every year).

Holiday – 39 stories

Write a story about someone seeking a fresh start after a difficult year.

Christmas – 31 stories

Write about a character setting an unusual New Year’s resolution.

Holiday – 26 stories

Stories

When The Sea Takes You, I Won't Come With

Winner of Contest #126 🏆

“In my past life, I was a bird.”“How’d you know?”My little brother shrugged. “I just feel it.”Piles of debris painted where the houses used to be, torn-down walls and foundations mere remains of the structures that were there. We must have scavenged through all of them, finding nothing but rubbish and mud. The blue comet streaked across the sky. Cold winds blew onto my back, smelling of sand and cement and something else. A tinge of something bitter, something revolting. The water took four people from around these parts, but the way they po...

242 likes 75 comments 75
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Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Submitted to Contest #126

Well, you thought you've had a difficult year!People worry all about the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. For instance, take the Christmas Crusaders (yes, please take those Christmas Crusaders for a very long walk on a very short pier!). The folks who take umbrage if you commit the holiday faux pas of wishing them Happy Holidays! Come on now, the holidays are difficult enough as they are. I mean, with holiday shopping, attending holiday family affairs, watching as-stale-as-last-season’s-fruitcake holiday reruns on TV, the headaches of...

45 likes 23 comments 23
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Drunk Death

Submitted to Contest #126

“Death wasn’t a thing when I accepted the job. It’s not fair to trap someone in an eternal contract when they have no concept of what they’re being asked to do. The way I understood it was I was simply helping a soul pass from the mortal stage of their existence to the next. They got constructive feedback on their life choices, and it would help them be better people.             Reality? No. I have to comfort more than ten thousand children starving to death every day. That’s hard ...

45 likes 38 comments 38
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It Happens Once Every Year - But Then

Submitted to Contest #126

It is December 31, five o’clock in the afternoon, and I’m riding the elevator up to the annual Office New Year’s Party. I know a few things about what the party will be like. The food will be good.  The cafeteria cook is not involved in any of the cooking. She is just serving, as she does every year for this one particular meal. She doesn’t appear to be resentful. I guess she just has to swallow her feelings, like we have to do the meals that she cooks the rest of the year. The drink will be plentiful and ever flowin...

36 likes 14 comments 14
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The Craft of Deception

Submitted to Contest #126

We pull up in the driveway on a crisp New Year’s Eve morning. It's been two months since I ran away, two months since my failed fresh start.The social worker is watching me. I avoid her gaze.“I won’t be long.”“Take as long as you need, Emer. I’ll be here.” As I leave the car, I catch her gaping at the glass-enclosed terrace, the twin koi ponds that edge along the stone path to the front door, the lavish grounds with green shrubbery, dusted with a fine sprinkling of white ice. I wonder if she thinks I am mad for running away.We're o...

34 likes 21 comments 21
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Amelia and the Beautiful Big Red Handbag

Shortlisted for Contest #126 ⭐️

           Our first encounter was on New Year’s Eve. I was picking up a few last minute good-luck foods for the evening – black-eyed peas, cornbread, pickled herring, grapes – walking from my apartment to the grocer. It was cold. That’s what I remember first when I feel the memory in my senses, when I feel the depth of the memory. I feel how cold it was, how the sharp absence of smells in the air precipitated my noticing the details.I remember I noticed the last brown leaf hanging from ...

29 likes 5 comments 5
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The Bell Keeper

Submitted to Contest #126

** Capital punishment.** The paint was not of the most recent and neat, but the Tic-Tac-Toe’s Xs and Os staining it resembled fine embroidery. Flies found death in the old wall’s cracks and printed their last shadows on it, like stamps on a postcard nobody is pleased to receive.The four walls surrounding him had the night sky as a roof and dark stones as a floor. Handy was not sure it was night but if it was then that night was the longest the world could expect. Thirty years. Thirty years in the dim light of something that lo...

29 likes 13 comments 13
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Not So Happy Engagement Year

Submitted to Contest #126

If you are looking for a happy New Years story, this isn't the story for you :)`````````````-----------------------------------------------------It was the eighth time the phone had rung since he woke up this morning and every time it rang, he felt himself closer to curling up in a ball and crying.Dishes piled in the sink, stacked almost as tall as he was. Large heaps of laundry accumulated in various parts of his dingy apartment, no rhyme or reason to their placements. You could argue a severe case of depression, but it was normal lifestyle...

28 likes 5 comments 5
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The 100 Club

Submitted to Contest #126

*Note: The following document was found taped to a lamppost in the middle of Times Square during the New Year’s Day festivities. The envelope had the words ‘Read Me’ and led to a tourist reading through the entire document and then handing it over to the local authorities. The material here is being released in case anyone can provide some information to prevent whomever wrote it from completing their plan. Although it seems harmless, this could cause many problems with the current quarantine rules and restrictions. - from the NYPD * Dear Ci...

27 likes 4 comments 4
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Say "I'm Sorry", But Make It Naughty

Submitted to Contest #126

The ruckus in the reception room could compete with the sounds of the busy New York street underneath Sara’s window. Through her closed office door, she could clearly hear a man was gradually raising his voice at Vera. The poor receptionist was new but quite competent. Hardly any reason for anyone to bash her like this. Sara tore herself away from the supplies report needed for tonight’s Christmas party and came to see what it was all about.A guy stood perched on the front desk, a little too close for Vera’s comfort, and pointed God knows wh...

26 likes 2 comments 2
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The First First

Shortlisted for Contest #126 ⭐️

Mouse wasn’t small.  When they measured his body in the morgue, he was six foot two.  Even though he could be quiet, I never called him Mouse, I called him Marty because that was his name, but it’s my name too which is why his mother started calling him Mouse after the divorce.  When your son dies, everything becomes a first.  The first Thanksgiving without him, the first birthday, even silly shit like the first time you go to the Chuck Box for a burger and he isn’t there next to you, stealing your onion rings and changin...

25 likes 21 comments 21
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Caroline’s Lover Has Cancer

Submitted to Contest #126

This story discusses cancer and has quite a few swear words used to capture the familiarity experienced between two friends enjoying lunch. “Caroline’s lover has cancer,” the words left Maragaret’s red lipped mouth plainly. “Adian has cancer?” clarified Suzanne, a piece of green lettuce fell on her chin.“Aidan has cancer,” Margaret repeated her bosom buddy’s question as a statement.“Shit,” Suzanne took a sip of her white wine and bit into a chunk of grilled chicken breast.“Shit,” echoed Margaret calmly. Diners around them clucked l...

24 likes 13 comments 13
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Monsters on New Year's

Submitted to Contest #126

“That’s it, I’m finished!” Calix announced as he entered the abandoned warehouse. Black blood dripped from his clothes onto the concrete floor. “I swear it, Allard. No more prophecies or monsters or fate. I’m done with it all!”         Allard came rushing as fast as his ragged leg would allow. An injury he had sustained years ago from a similar beast Calix had bested tonight. A beast that had punctured his new armor within moments and ruined his celebration.      &nbs...

22 likes 4 comments 4
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Daddy's Disease

Submitted to Contest #126

Cara twirled the silver spoon through the dark red juices and watched beans swirling around in the bowl. It was tradition, Momma made chili the last night of every year, but Cara wasn't the slightest bit hungry. She glanced at the clock above the oven, it was eight in the evening and the chair at the head of the table was still empty since Daddy wasn’t home. Cara nibbled at a cracker and wondered if Daddy was sick again.It was New Year’s Eve and Daddy said he’d be home with fireworks. He promised they wouldn’t be those sticks that sparkled, ...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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Ordinary World

Submitted to Contest #126

Ordinary WorldBy John Merino           I haven’t tasted whisky in ten years. Warmth is reaching up from my insides, a pleasant burn that pushes against the late December air sliding across my bare arms. The flavor isn’t pleasant, but it’s a discomfort that’s all my own, a bitterness I’ve chosen to taste. This bar patio is my home for the next few hours. I don’t know where I’ll go or where I’ll sleep when they close, but right now this seat is mine, this drink is mine, the table and the a...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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