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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#135: I Wanna See You Be Brave

Looking at the children’s books I used to read, there’s a lot of emphasis on being courageous. It makes sense — growing up means facing one tough new thing after another. But in adulthood, we stop thinking about bravery so much, as if the concept is confined to the chivalrous men and misfit animals of fairy tales and picture books. 


This week, let’s think about what bravery (or its opposite) really means, in an everyday context, a fantasy world, or a children’s story.

This week's prompts

Write about a hero or a villain deathly afraid of doing their job.

Adventure – 37 stories

Start your story with someone stepping outside their comfort zone.

Middle School – 60 stories

Set your story in a town full of cowards.

Fiction – 31 stories

Write a story where fortune doesn’t favor the brave.

Thriller and Suspense – 38 stories

Write about a casual act of bravery.

Narrative – 46 stories

Stories

“A Grave Departure” by Jenna Holt

Submitted to Contest #135

There are more of them now. They linger in the shadows, a sad, unavoidable consequence of the plague that has decimated our numbers. Misery draws them, and the sickly-sweet stench of dead beckons from the mass graves. They barely look different from the corpses they feed upon- sallow skin, teeth rotten and black. Or so I’m told- I’ve only ever seen them from a distance. No one dares draw near, terrified of the pestilence they may carry.   These ghouls are carrion vultures.  They emerge when night cools the ai...

5 comments 5
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“The Meeting In The Girls Room” by DIANE Hunter

Submitted to Contest #135

It was an ordinary day for Dee Dee, as she climbed the first floor center staircase of Nathan Hale Elementary School to the girl's bathroom after lunch. And who would be standing there on the door, but mean old CC Cugno. "Not again," Dee Dee said under her breath. CC Hugo was a 6th grade girl who was mean to all the 4th grade girls, and Dee Dee and her friends hated her. Dee Dee had enjoyed going to school up until this point. She loved learning, and was active in chorus and she was president of the Spanish club. The dilemma with CC Hugo was...

4 comments 4
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“Feebletown” by Harlow Jones

Submitted to Contest #135

Although they knocked five times, all I did was sweat and tremble. We hadn’t had a visitor in over six years. In the town of Feebletown, people never knocked on doors. Since what happened to Freda, nobody has done nothing. Oh, Lord. The stranger just asked if anyone was home. From my place on the floor, I peered over the couch and squinted through the space between the blinds, hard enough to cause a headache. Why would someone ever need such a large backpack? “Hello?” The stranger called again. With one eye open, I prayed for them to leav...

2 comments 2
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“The Song of Death and Glory” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #135

The gentle bite of a morning spring wind came over the hill, sending gray banners fluttering like wisps of cloud bound to the earth and yearning to return to the azure sky. On this particular morning, the sun rose with clarity not seen since the autumn, though the residents of Andolens looked upon it with dull eyes, tending to their tasks with mellow movements. These people were of northern descent, so their hair was a mixture of red and pale gold, and their eyes were piercing, especially when contrasted with their pale skin. Some people had...

5 comments 5
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“ " Bravery is an act, not a mere utterance"” by Fortunatus Eze

Submitted to Contest #135

Quote: "A Coward's Courage is in his tongue"- Edmund Burke.CW: Contains scene of bloody Elements and gun violence.Growing up in a town where stories of Heroes are upheld in high esteem, and going forward to telling it to the younger generation was one of the best moment of my childhood life. I used to seat with my dad outside our spacious compound while he made the fire, adding bunches of dried sticks to keep the fire going, while telling me stories of great men and women who by their courageous act have brought a change into their respectiv...

2 comments 2
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“Cowards Among Us” by Sarah Atique

Submitted to Contest #135

It was nearing midnight when I huddled close to my cousins in the dark of the room, looking up at my sister, Aniya’s, penlight lit face as she told us a story of people who camped out in the woods on a full moon, never to return to recount the tale themselves.She lowered her voice to a whisper as she leaned in and we mirrored her, wanting to know what the sole survivor of that hellish night had said before he wandered off, never to be seen again “Hell is empty, all the devils a’– RRRAAHHHH!”. The jump scare had us screaming at the top of our...

2 comments 2
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“Battle Worn” by H.K. Slade

Submitted to Contest #135

Note: Contains mentions of death and violence. Battle Worn By H. K. Slade The waiting was like an itch. Tim just wanted to scratch it and be done. He’d prepared for this day for eight months in the academy and now that it was here, he was terrified. He couldn’t wait for the following morning when he could sit at home and think back on his first shift as a memory.  No matter what they say or one day come to believe, no cop enjoys their first day on the job. “You lucked out,” people told Tim so often he couldn’t remem...

10 comments 10
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“A Bad Day for Business” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #135

Little Benny Rambler, all out of breath, crashed through the tree line of the old Anderson lot. They still called it that, even though old Anderson was ten years dead. Benny doubled over, braced himself against his knees, and tried to catch his breath. He caught sight of his family’s farmhouse, squat and wide and so small from this distance. And he heard voices, not too far. There were three adults crossing the field – his family’s field – and they all had guns. And one had a cowboy hat, so that was probably Sheriff Laner. “Hey!” Benny call...

6 comments 6
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“THE UNKNOWN” by VICTORIA HALTON

Submitted to Contest #135

Walking across the Detroit Bridge on a sunny cloudless day. Heading west of Cleveland with moderate traffic passing by as the wind is gracefully touching my skin. Glaring ahead at some brown objects in the middle of the sidewalk, I began to approach them to get a better view. While stepping closer I noticed a Muslim woman striding ahead towards me wearing a black hijab and a red and black matching Islamic dress. Disguising her silhouette as I have known many Muslim women to do. Odds are we were trying to figure out the same point of curiosit...

1 comment 1
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“Smile” by John Wilson

Submitted to Contest #135

Smile  Arthur had never in his life had an extraordinary day. He has never had a day that he could talk to other people about or remember till the day he dies. He was just your ordinary guy getting a steady income as a construction worker and hoping the rent wasn’t as big as last months.  He wanted to be different. He wanted to be that guy everyone could depend on, that could make a difference. Life wasn’t so kind to him. Today he had been fired from his job, and he had one last paycheck of a sad one hundred dollars. Just enough fo...

4 comments 4
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“Ice Girl” by Isabella Ruffatti

Submitted to Contest #135

Mariana shivers in her Shawn Mendes hoodie as she slowly makes her way down the electric stairs. Though she does not dare to look down at first, when she finally does, she sees the other skaters who are at the rink below glide, jump, and spin effortlessly. She thinks she is going to be sick. She still feels her mother’s steely glance on her shoulder blades as it followed her out of the car and into the mall. At the time, all Mariana could feel was apprehension, but she misses it now. It would make what she’s about to do harder. Onc...

2 comments 2
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“The Experiment” by Jim Cowles

Submitted to Contest #135

The Experiment 2,284 words “John steps out of his comfort zone” I don’t remember when it first hit me, or why (?). I’m no different than anyone in the lab, so I wonder if any of the others have given it much thought. We’ve worked on this project for three years, but we really don’t know each other, or maybe I should say, I don’t know any of the others, not even one.  Three years down and the days have flown by, but I wonder if we’re any closer to our goal than when we first started? But, how could we know? Do we each have a se...

2 comments 2
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“A Necessary End” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #135

For the past ten days, James Peabody’s life consisted of nothing more than constantly burying his head in the sand… Bullets, mortars, and grenades whizzed and exploded all around his platoon of war weary soldiers, as they attempted a full-frontal assault of a nondescript hill resting on the South Pacific Island of Okinawa.The Japanese had prepared well for the beach landings, suckering the eager Americans into the heart of the island where they patiently lay in wait in their hidden bunkers and fortified positions. The unsuspecting 10th ...

4 comments 4
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“COURAGE WHEN YOU NEED IT” by Sylvia Graham

Submitted to Contest #135

Chapter one " It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood," I sing as I go out to hang the clothes on the line, and it truly is a beautiful day. Sun is shining, flowers blooming, all the new ones I have planted have settled in and are growing, buds popping out, really a beautiful day. I feel the baby in my belly moving, and I stop a minute to put my hand where the little foot or hand has pushed. Too little to do much more than make a fluttering feeling, but this baby is letting me know she/he is in there. Clothes hung, I head back to the ho...

1 comment 1
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“Be Brave With Me” by Nadia Mena

Submitted to Contest #135

By the summer of Magnolia Hawthorn’s nineteenth birthday, she’d come to understand that “quiet” oftentimes was polite talk for “cowardly.” Maggie, as everyone called her, was born in a small town, the one-horse type, bookended by cow fields, with a stoplight in the middle, and a rumor mill taller than the old water tower. As a child, she’d played in creeks in the sun and caught fireflies in the moonlight, freer than a bird. Her youth had been nothing but peaceful. The trouble with growing up is one day your eyes focus and you realize you’ve ...

3 comments 3
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$250

Prize money

212

Contest entries

154

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 04, 2022 EST

Won by Thom With An H 🏆

Title: Home of the Brave

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 | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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