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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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!

This week's prompts

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

Holiday – 46 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 – 32 stories

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

Holiday – 26 stories

Stories

“The Thousand Year God” by Elle Avrak

Submitted to Contest #126

“Happy new year, Alfred.” The incantation should be scrawled darkly across the entrance of the cell, indifferent to the days and nights strobing about it year after year. 50…100…500…800 years now and 800 incantations to abandon all hope—but not for all ye who enter here. Just for Alfred. It wasn’t really the New Year, it was simply another year—another year Alfred would be kept alive. Alfred knew that the actual New Year had taken place roughly 4 months prior. He had kept track of the day and date for the first year after being ...

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“Again, Time Passes” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #126

Gerrod eased himself back in the comfortable armchair, picked up his glass of wine and drank deeply. A fine, sweet red all the way from Averleon. This was the way to celebrate Year’s Turn, no noise, no parties, just peace, quiet and an expensive barrel of wine. He’d seen 72 nights such as this, but of them all, this was by far the most satisfying. The wood panelled parlour was warm and comfortable, and the servants couldn’t seem to do enough for him. The furniture was solid oak, generously padded and polished to a bright shine. A thick red...

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“Harry's remorse” by Jim Cowles

Submitted to Contest #126

HARRY'S REMORSEJames L. CowlesSnow flurries were flying and the temperature was rapidly dropping. Christmas eve had finally come to the little Kentucky township of Lyndon. Harry Tindal had just turned sixteen the past summer and was thinking about girls and cars and not much else. Those who knew him well, knew he was always thinking, "What's in it for me?" but now, as Christmas approached, he had become even more self-centered. Yes, as usual, Harry was thinking more about what he might get for Christmas than what he might give...

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“A Matter of Survival” by Ray Maher

Submitted to Contest #126

A Matter of Survival After 48 years of marriage, some say I’m making a fresh start. If so, it is a forced start forward. Sadly, I'm being dragged into a new beginning with a hole in my heart. My wife Julie died in hospital three months ago. Her death tore my life apart, and here I am, facing the new year of 2022. There is no shouting, “Happy New Year,” for me. There may well never be happy years in my life again without Julie. We were one of a kind, as a couple. We had no children. We had half a dozen close friends who now comfort me an...

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“Obsessively Compulsive” by Isabela Maher

Submitted to Contest #126

It’ll be my new obsession, she thought as she stared through a wall of tears at her cracked, beet-red hands. She was almost surprised she couldn’t see bone already. Isla Brown had been washing her hands exactly fifty times a day for three hundred and sixty-five days. Tomorrow was the beginning of a new year, which meant that unless she wanted to do this for yet another three hundred and sixty-five days, she had to stop tomorrow. Isla decided such a task couldn’t be done without tricking the voices in her head. Starting tomorrow, I will only ...

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“The Tunnel” by Michael Mackenzie

Submitted to Contest #126

The trees did not live alone. Within the woods hundreds of breathing stories, kept secret in the shadows, hidden beneath the soil. A refuge for the truth, a shelter for the sinful.Tate switched on the chainsaw and it rumbled in the cold air. Shouts of men in helmets wearing orange vests echoed through the woods and trees fell. Sweat dripped. The bright sun reflecting off Tate’s visor. And in the wind and in his head and in his chest he heard Becca as the chainsaw cut through the aching tree. Frustration and fear and fight in her voice taperi...

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“Resolutions” by Kev Neylon

Submitted to Contest #126

There were six of us sat around that table in The Crown on New Year’s Eve. The same six of us who met in the pub nearly every week; Dave, Chris, Tony, Karl, Simon, and me. Doing what we always did; drinking lots of beers and taking the mickey out of each other. We had all made New Year’s resolutions previous years, big fanfare announcements to the rest of the boys. Promises to give up bad habits, or to take up something new, change something in our personality, trying to better ourselves. None of them ever stuck, so we had a new idea th...

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“The Old Gang” by Florence Simpson

Submitted to Contest #126

Alex Mitchell sighed and looked around. All the old gang were here, just the way they had been that New Year’s Eve so many years ago. Older yes; many white haired, some bald or balding; not as slender and agile, but still the same group as had gathered here forty five years ago. He smiled contentedly, and sipped his drink. Nancy looked over and smiled, too, lifted her glass and glanced around at the people, then took a sip. Yes, she understood how he was feeling; all of them together again to celebrate yet another new year. As he looked ar...

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“Mr. Ahn” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #126

My father, George Frost, Sr. was sent to Pusan, Korea by the army in 1951 during the war. Twenty four years later, the United States Air Force sent me to Kunsan, Korea, but there was no war when I got there or at least what they told me. In my time there, I wondered if there was a war being waged, but no one bothered to tell me about it. Whatever the case may be, I was sent there in February, 1984 on a remote tour which lasted twelve months. Thinking back, I am fairly certain there was a war being fought, becau...

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“Happy New Year Hank” by Rebecca Overstreet

Submitted to Contest #126

“Happy New Year!” I hear from the crowd around me. I sit over a tepid cup of coffee at the local 50’s style diner several hours before the ringing in of 2022. The door behind me swings open to issue the biting sting of the glacial winter breeze and an elderly gentleman. The man, in a knee length, slate colored coat and a matching brimmed hat, both of which are dusted with snowflakes, shakes off the cold and walks haltingly into the bustling room. As he approaches the counter where I am huddled from the cold, he waves to people seated ar...

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“The Campers” by Harlow Jones

Submitted to Contest #126

They had been out there for six days. Today was the start of their seventh. They had tents, grills, various sports balls, and a sun bathing station. I opened my curtains a bit more, sure to stand behind them. The park never looked so crowded. I grabbed my purse and jacket and rushed down the stairs. I yelled out to Mom that I was leaving for the market. I planned on baking a cake for Emily’s birthday. I opened the door and closed it behind me. No walls or windows stood between me and the campers. Everyone walking past stared at them. I woul...

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“Looking Forward” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #126

“Well, Happy New Year!” yells the old man sitting at the bar, turning his shaggy, white-haired head towards the doorway. I look up from wiping at the countertop to see the last one walk in. A glance at the clock on the wall show it’s only a few minutes to midnight. He’s running late. But then, when isn’t he? The new arrival gives the old man an irritated glare. He has the features of a young man, but his face is etched by deep frown lines across his forehead and at the corners of his eyes and mouth. “Give me a break. You know as well as I d...

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“Happy New Year” by Dell Bell

Submitted to Contest #126

CW: mentions of suicide The champagne was poured early. The celebratory dinner had been served at 7:00pm sharp, crackers pulled around 8:00, the TV turned on at 10:00, but once 11:45 came, Arleen Walters let a bit of her nerve slip out with the bubbly five minutes early. Handson Walters, who was sitting a few feet away in the living room, did not notice his wife’s slip-up. He would not have cared anyways, but the rather significant amount of alcohol in his veins made it difficult to notice much of anything, besides the impendingly ...

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“180” by Dee Wes

Submitted to Contest #126

*This story contains mild expressions of sensual intimacy.*Highway 180 was congested during a drive to Mount Binah. This offered unpleasant movement through uninhabited space locals named Potential.There were an assortment of vehicles headed in the same direction-all paused for an unknown reason. Some drivers honked their frustration as others created hell within their minds and ruminations. Rana Poston had been guilty of both expressions during other times like this, but when urge arose this time she set her gear in park before checking her...

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“The Cinco ” by Troy Chavez

Submitted to Contest #126

The kitchen smelled of beans, rice, and left-over enchiladas and tamales. It was around 6:30 pm. Dinner was almost ready. The Sanchez family hosted a small cadre of family and friends. The tree was still up and beautifully decorated & lit brightly. The fire place exuded heat. The wind was chilly, and the air was frigid. “Oh, boy… look at poor Danny,” said Clarita Sanchez. “What’s his problem? He’s been sitting on the kitchen counter moping and pounding his fists for at least an hour…” Said Anise Sanchez, their cousin. “He’...

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$250

Prize money

162

Contest entries

100

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 31, 2021 EST

Won by Jerome Grafil-Carlos 🏆

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

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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