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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#131: First Impressions

On the 28th of January 1813, Pride and Prejudice was first published. Originally titled First Impressions, Jane Austen’s most famous work has gone on to be a genre-defining classic — and one of my personal favorites.

To celebrate the anniversary of its release, this week’s prompts explore the themes of Pride and Prejudice, and the slipperiness of first impressions.

🥇 Winner

“Love Ain't Blind, Grief Is” by Zack Powell

🏆 Winner of Contest #131

Content warning: Cancer, language, and death. Dad begs to be cremated but Aldon won't hear of it. Never mind that he's saying this at the table right in front of our old man, or that he has less money than the rest of us to spend on a casket and burial plot. As the oldest son, he thinks whatever he says goes. "It's not right, being cremated," he tells us. He's got this look on his face like Dad just asked him to eat some roadkill. "It's just not right. And besides, you should want to be next to Mom. Did you forget we buried her too?" D...

165 comments 165

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Fire on the mountain, Run Boys, Run” by B.T Beauregard

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #131

The Hickory Stump had sprung from the ashes, and yellow tape, and crumbling concrete of Seventh Ave. There was never a construction crew, never any solicitation of Appletowns city hall, only one morning it was there, building permits nailed to a sign upon the door, an envelope, fat and stuffed with bills beside it. The sign read in a flashing green and blue:OPEN: 3AM-? CLOSED: SUNDAYS.The buildings, which had turned to ash around The Hickory Stump were, according to fifth generation Fire Chief, Trevor Denricks at the press conference covered...

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“The Pulitzer Couple” by Tsvi Jolles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #131

The dead man lies on the beach, and no one is excited about it. I take out my new notebook and begin writing. This will probably be my first article with the credit, by Brandon Resnik, for the newspaper. Those around continue on with their lives. It is the middle of the afternoon. The temperature is high. Nearly unbearable. Three nights ago, I went on a date with her. She is a journalist. It's unfortunate she left after a mere 10 minutes, but things like that happen. It could be worse. Now I hate journalists and I want to become one mys...

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This week's prompts

Write a story about two characters whose first impressions of one another are wildly inaccurate.

Fluff – 55 stories

Write a story that includes (or subverts) the enemies-to-lovers trope.

Romance – 25 stories

Start your story with the arrival of a new person in a town full of gossips.

Adults – 41 stories

Write a story about a group of sisters, or a group of brothers.

Vampire – 35 stories

Set your story in a drawing room.

Fiction – 29 stories

Stories

“Love Ain't Blind, Grief Is” by Zack Powell

🏆 Winner of Contest #131

Content warning: Cancer, language, and death. Dad begs to be cremated but Aldon won't hear of it. Never mind that he's saying this at the table right in front of our old man, or that he has less money than the rest of us to spend on a casket and burial plot. As the oldest son, he thinks whatever he says goes. "It's not right, being cremated," he tells us. He's got this look on his face like Dad just asked him to eat some roadkill. "It's just not right. And besides, you should want to be next to Mom. Did you forget we buried her too?" D...

165 comments 165

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“Mama, You Stole My Heart” by Stevie B

Submitted to Contest #131

There are many who begin life bearing the misconceived impression that their parents would always love and understand them. Then there are those who are equally deluded in their impression that children they conceived and raised would one day conform and turn into the person they may have wanted...The box was returned in the mail many weeks after sending it. Inside was a handwritten card atop the soft fur wrap I had sent. The card in my mother’s handwriting simply stated, “Since I don’t know how you got this, and because I’m not sure, I can’...

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“There are No Saints Here” by Tanvi Rajesh

Submitted to Contest #131

Cordelia had yet to figure out when she realised she first hated Joseph. Perhaps it was because of her fierce competitiveness, her need to win. And unlike others, Joseph would never yield, constantly grabbing the title of the best dancer. Or perhaps it was because he bullied her, calling her talentless and useless. As he had proved multiple times, he did not believe her worthy of being a dancer. While she only truly despised him for his callous attitude towards her and his immaculate dance technique, Cordelia could not decipher what sh...

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“Birria for Dinner” by Kathleen Fine

Submitted to Contest #131

Emilio Elena pulls her van up to the brick rancher on Shady Lane. She slowly stops, the sound of wheels crunching on brittle snow. The walkway up to the house is freshly shoveled and Emilio notices an old statue of a dog in the yard. He wonders what kind of person puts a dog statue on their lawn. Obviously, some sort of nut job. “Shady Lane, huh?” Emilio asks Elena as he eyes up his new residence. “Sure looks Shady to me.” “Basta, Emilio,” Elena says in her kindest voice. “This one’s gonna work out. Not like the last one.” “Last t...

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“Get Thee to a Nunnery” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #131

“Sister Theresa, what time does the new applicant arrive?” Sister Pauline asked politely, to avoid Sister Theresa’s wrath. For a Franciscan, Sister Theresa could be entirely uncharitable, even to the abbess herself.“Oh you old cow, I’ve told you twice already!” Sister Theresa replied, throwing the bread dough she’d been kneading into a large wooden bowl, as if the water, flour, salt and yeast had purposely annoyed her. She punched the dough down a few more times, then covered the bowl with a kitchen towel to let it rise. In an hour or so, sh...

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“SuperCallumFragileMisfitsBehaviourWasAtrocious!!” by PJ Aitken

Submitted to Contest #131

“Hi! You must be Callum?” “And you must be Rita? You look gorgeous tonight!” Nervously giving each other the first impression assessment, Callum and Rita were pleasantly surprised that for once the photo on the app underplayed the in-person experience. “Thank you! I love your suit. Very.. erm.. fitted and tight.” “I’m relieved actually because I don’t do this a lot and was worried it wouldn’t fit me,” Callum responded. “Well believe me it does. Very nicely!” Callum and Rita were led to their table by the waiter. Both noticed how busy t...

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“Apricots and Superman ” by FabWritesStuff -

Submitted to Contest #131

Mara was having the absolute worst night of her life. Prom was supposed to be the highlight of her high school experience. It was supposed to be the night that she would look back on when she was old and gray and feeling nostalgic about her teenage years.Instead it had become a night that she wanted to forget. After coming back from the bathroom she had spotted her boyfriend, James, locking lips with a sophomore girl in the middle of the dance floor. What had followed could only be described as the most public and humiliating break up that h...

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“Dextrocardia” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #131

Dextrocardia - a condition that makes the heart move out of its original position Judy lost her heart. Again. She couldn’t remember if it was on the right swell of her chest or the left—and she probably could have been tricked into thinking it was in the greasy crook of her elbow. Do you feel that artery, Judy? Do you feel the way it’s beating like the rhythm of a soldier’s weary feet or humming like the church bells that rarely ring? No, she did not, and when the football game flickered onto her TV and a patriotic woman started belting...

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“The Drawing Room” by Hannah Barrett

Submitted to Contest #131

She looks like the lady from the Klimt painting. No, not that painting. The one with the fan. Sooty bay curls caressing rose petal cheeks, imperious brows that rise and fall on the tides of conversation. Her eyes are so like rootbeer I wanna stick a straw in them and take a sip. And that mouth. It's at the upturned corners, where I know a million secrets linger, that I want to kiss. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and I might even tell her so if her boyfriend would shove off for half a second. We're in room 264 of the Cla...

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“A love letter for the woman who hates me.” by Holly Guy

Submitted to Contest #131

I know what you’re thinking, my love. You’re most likely shaking your head as your small, frail fingers hold this letter and those large, round eyes are wide in confusion. You’ll be wondering why I couldn’t have come up to you and spoke these words out loud. And to be honest, I’m wondering the same thing myself. But as my pen connects with this piece of paper and the ink flows out like water off a waterfall, I can’t stop myself. My thoughts must be written down and you must read them. I’m writing to remind you about us, about our love fo...

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“Off Season Girls” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #131

We borrowed the car to see a movie with subtitles. It was playing one town over. Something in French. Something with a beautiful man in a top hat singing to a woman. A married woman. A married woman with a gorgeous name who we all wanted to murder because the man in the top hat loved her instead of us. We bought popcorn and smuggled in candy. We filled up a cup with half Coke, half Diet Coke. We pretended we were annoyed when the boys behind us heckled the film, but midway through, it was clear that the movie was terrible and the jokes wer...

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“Tongues wagging over Freggy” by Rolade Berthier

Submitted to Contest #131

The jacaranda trees were blooming with their purple flowers, and the University of Queensland campus was bustling with students. Lea had just moved into a multicultural college, known as International House, and there was already a knock on the door of her room, which was on the second floor of G-Tower. She turned around but continued getting out jeans and personal belongings from her 20-kilogram brown suitcase that still had a Qantas etiquette. There was another knock, followed by another one."Hi, I'm Chen. Would you like to join us at toni...

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“The Mask in the Mirror” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #131

From the doorway, Penelope scanned her mother’s crowded living room for a friendly face. Golden sunlight poured through picture windows. The lake lay in the distance. Sailboats chased the breeze. ‘Oh, to be on a boat…’ She had to give her mother, Diane, credit. She knew how to entertain. ‘Who actually has this many friends?’ A string quartet played, smoothing lulls in conversation. Liquor flowed. Waiters drifted by with platters of catered food. Laughter punctuated the din. From above the fireplace, Diane’s portrait observed the festivitie...

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“Fire on the mountain, Run Boys, Run” by B.T Beauregard

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #131

The Hickory Stump had sprung from the ashes, and yellow tape, and crumbling concrete of Seventh Ave. There was never a construction crew, never any solicitation of Appletowns city hall, only one morning it was there, building permits nailed to a sign upon the door, an envelope, fat and stuffed with bills beside it. The sign read in a flashing green and blue:OPEN: 3AM-? CLOSED: SUNDAYS.The buildings, which had turned to ash around The Hickory Stump were, according to fifth generation Fire Chief, Trevor Denricks at the press conference covered...

Read story

“The Pulitzer Couple” by Tsvi Jolles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #131

The dead man lies on the beach, and no one is excited about it. I take out my new notebook and begin writing. This will probably be my first article with the credit, by Brandon Resnik, for the newspaper. Those around continue on with their lives. It is the middle of the afternoon. The temperature is high. Nearly unbearable. Three nights ago, I went on a date with her. She is a journalist. It's unfortunate she left after a mere 10 minutes, but things like that happen. It could be worse. Now I hate journalists and I want to become one mys...

Read story

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$250

Prize money

185

Contest entries

128

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 04, 2022 EST

Won by Zack Powell 🏆

Title: Love Ain't Blind, Grief Is

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.

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