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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#138: Days in the Sun

If you live in the Northern hemisphere, now’s that time of the year when the days begin to feel a little longer. The start of Spring means you can look forward to afternoon picnics in the park, long walks while the sun is still up, and days that feel endless — like you have more time on your hands, even though that’s not technically true. 


Celebrating this turn of the season, this week’s prompts take inspiration from these longer and sunnier days.

🥇 Winner

“After the Rock” by Christopher Kelley

Humans can transform from solid to spirit in about half a second. I just found this out. Just a half-second ago.  I might be shocked if I weren’t so dead. “Huh,” is all I have to say about it. “Yep,” my wife agrees, equally shockless. She is standing beside me along the sun-baked shoulder of a two-lane country highway, and we are both staring down into the drainage ditch. At the bottom a...

162 comments 162 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Homewrecker” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“No, she isn’t my daughter,” he corrects a colleague. “She’s my wife.”On cue, I beam at my husband, innocent and doe-eyed—like I did in my 20’s when he was in his 40’s. His friend invariably elbows him, making comments about cradle robbing and spring chickens. We laugh. I say something clever in reply. His companion looks surprised. And she’s witty, too?My cheeks hurt in an attempt to hold a smile. They continue to talk like I’m not there, but my husband reaches out for my hand. Above all, we are the dea...

128 comments 128 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Where Light Has No Purchase” by Glen Gabel

CW: substance abuse, abuse“Dad taught me some sign language at five, but I learned to fear my father when I was seven. Tangled blonde hair pressed to my arm, covering my face. My hand retreating from my backside, the welt of a belt mark stained red across my knuckles. Begging, screaming for my mother to come out of the bathroom, to rescue me. But she was hiding in the shower, he had already educated her on when to get involved. Now, it was my turn. I had encouraged Ziggy, our cocker-spaniel with one blind eye, to race through the r...

37 comments 37 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Latitude Sixty-Nine” by Thomas Graham

On March 5, 2022, a research expedition’s remote submersible spotted the wreck of HMS Endurance, sitting intact ten thousand feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea. The ship has rested there since November 21, 1915, when, after months of being trapped in pack ice, she crumpled from the pressure and sank. The history of the ship and the failed attempt of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent are well known, as all twenty-eight members of the expedition overcame improba...

21 comments 21 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Set your story on a day when the sun never sets.

Dark – 26 stories

Write a story about an afternoon picnic gone wrong.

Fluff – 37 stories

Write about a character who doesn’t want to go to sleep.

Horror – 55 stories

End your story with someone saying: “What a day.”

Summer – 41 stories

Write about light returning to a place that has been deprived of it for a long time, literally or figuratively.

Christmas – 89 stories

Stories

“After the Rock” by Christopher Kelley

Humans can transform from solid to spirit in about half a second. I just found this out. Just a half-second ago.  I might be shocked if I weren’t so dead. “Huh,” is all I have to say about it. “Yep,” my wife agrees, equally shockless. She is standing beside me along the sun-baked shoulder of a two-lane country highway, and we are both staring down into the drainage ditch. At the bottom a...

162 comments 162 WINNER 🏆
Read story

“Homewrecker” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“No, she isn’t my daughter,” he corrects a colleague. “She’s my wife.”On cue, I beam at my husband, innocent and doe-eyed—like I did in my 20’s when he was in his 40’s. His friend invariably elbows him, making comments about cradle robbing and spring chickens. We laugh. I say something clever in reply. His companion looks surprised. And she’s witty, too?My cheeks hurt in an attempt to hold a smile. They continue to talk like I’m not there, but my husband reaches out for my hand. Above all, we are the dea...

128 comments 128 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Midnight Swimmers” by Howard Halsall

It was midafternoon when the local police patrol found me shivering in my swimwear on the shoreline. My weary carcass was covered with abrasions; I had dried blood matted in my hair and fingers wrinkled like anaemic prunes. “He looks rougher than road kill,” the first officer joked, wrapping a heat reflective blanket around me, as if he was covering burnt barbecue scraps in tinfoil.The second officer offers me a plastic bottle. “This’ll help you, sir.”“No, it’s too late...” I whisper.“Suit yourself, sir,” ...

32 comments 32
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“The Period At The End Of A Sentence” by Thom Brodkin

Tyler Stevens was a man condemned to die. He had been convicted by a jury of his peers and sentenced by a judge who prayed for God’s mercy on his soul. As is the case with all death row inmates in Texas, Tyler became a resident at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, where he spent most of his days starting fights, ignoring orders, and proclaiming his innocence to anyone who would listen. At night Tyler would sleep. In fact, there were very few things in prison Tyler enjoyed more as it was often the only resp...

45 comments 45
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“The Pest Cowboy” by Kathleen Fine

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” Norman breathed to the wide-eyed racoon gaping at him from across the crawl space. “Daddy’s not gonna hurt ya,” he muttered calmly as he army-crawled towards the creature, hoping it was not rabid. He’d had one rabies scare in his nineteen years of pest management. He didn’t want to have to go to the ER today to deal with a coon bite; it was 75-degrees out and he wanted to go fishing when he g...

30 comments 30
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“The Best Years of Our Lives” by Zack Powell

Friends, faculty, alumni, and fellow classmates, good afternoon and thank you all for coming to my TED talk. Only kidding. Just a little valedictorian's joke to kick things off before we all disperse into the world to work at high-paying prestigious institutions like McDonald's, or, if we're lucky, Starbucks. That's also a joke, mostly. Peter Springer, if you're listening, I'll have two Big Macs and a venti cold brew.But seriously, thanks for coming out today. It means a lot to me. You all, of course, had no choice in th...

54 comments 54
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“Potato Salad” by Kevin B

They didn’t even bring potato salad. A picnic with no potato salad. I mean, what is the point, Grace? I ask you-- What is the point? I know, I know-- Take what you can get. When you’re an ant-- Mark says we’re bugs, but I disagree. There is a difference between ...

30 comments 30
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“Where Light Has No Purchase” by Glen Gabel

CW: substance abuse, abuse“Dad taught me some sign language at five, but I learned to fear my father when I was seven. Tangled blonde hair pressed to my arm, covering my face. My hand retreating from my backside, the welt of a belt mark stained red across my knuckles. Begging, screaming for my mother to come out of the bathroom, to rescue me. But she was hiding in the shower, he had already educated her on when to get involved. Now, it was my turn. I had encouraged Ziggy, our cocker-spaniel with one blind eye, to race through the r...

37 comments 37 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Perseverance ” by Palak Shah

“What a sunny day! Let’s go on a walk.” The hairs on Mike’s neck stood up, delighted by this thought. His soft contentment radiated into the surroundings, making his dog’s bright eyes light upon a full-beam tail in a propeller spin. Bouncer had been with Mike for a decade. Having each other made them determined to add meaning to their lives. They knew each other like the back of their hand...

116 comments 116
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“Say Goodbye at Sunrise” by Alexandra Rodriguez

I have never seen the sun. When I say that, I mean it literally. Not as some dramatic statement about how depressed I am or a metaphor for how I’ve never had a good day in my life. I mean I have literally never seen the sun. You’d think it’s a miserable existence. Never feeling the warmth of a warm summer's day, never laying down on a beach to get gorgeously tan, never being blinded by pur...

17 comments 17
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“Matchstick” by Andrew Sletten

“Piss off Jeffrey,” Machi yelled, half laughing, as he slammed the front door to his villa behind him. He felt hot and sweaty. A vein throbbed in his neck to the tune of his racing pulse. “A cold drink,” he thought, as he used his phone to set the thermostat for his zone to 66 degrees. The lighting shifted to a Caribbean blue tone with another couple taps. Mars, by Holst, builded quietly in the background as his heels c...

15 comments 15
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“Just Right 🚪🗝” by PJ Aitken

“Come on Bea calm down for me!”“I WILL NOT CALM DOWN, DADDY! I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN BUT NOBODY LISTENS!”“Of course we do!”“NOOOO YOU DON’T!”“The noise you’re making, I’d be surprised if the whole world wasn’t listening in to your tantrum podcast.”“OH VERY FUNNY, DADDY. MR COMEDIAN NOW ARE WE?”“Well you have to admit you’re being a bit silly.”“SILLY! ME, SILLY?!? YOU’RE THE ONE WHO LEFT THE FRONT DOOR UNLOCKED!”“…”“WHAT’S WRONG? NOT GOT ANYTHING FUNNY TO SAY?”“Bea,...

18 comments 18
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“Last Light” by Michał Przywara

Melancholia never saw Hex coming as she ran down the community centre hallway. He slammed into her with enough force to send her bodily into the peeling brick wall, a blow strong enough to break a normal person’s bones. She bounced off the wall and recovered almost immediately, drawing herself up with a snarl. “What the hell, Hex–” “–shhh!–” Hex hissed at her. His wide eyes darted left and right.

20 comments 20
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“Latitude Sixty-Nine” by Thomas Graham

On March 5, 2022, a research expedition’s remote submersible spotted the wreck of HMS Endurance, sitting intact ten thousand feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea. The ship has rested there since November 21, 1915, when, after months of being trapped in pack ice, she crumpled from the pressure and sank. The history of the ship and the failed attempt of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent are well known, as all twenty-eight members of the expedition overcame improba...

21 comments 21 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“TMI” by Riel Rosehill

It’s a mild September morning, when you tell your parents you feel too unwell to go to school, and it isn’t a lie. But it isn’t the truth either. The truth hit you the previous night, in the colour of crimson on paper white, the red dripping onto the stone floor tiles. Your face paled to match the paint on the wall behind, as your reflection, wide eyed, stared back at you under the harsh brightness of bat...

38 comments 38
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$250

Prize money

248

Contest entries

157

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 25, 2022 EST

Won by Christopher Kelley 🏆

Title: After the Rock

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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