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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.

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 – 53 stories

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

Summer – 40 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

“Until You” by Annie Jandermark

Submitted to Contest #138

I sometimes wonder why I am still here. It's not like I want to die per se, it's just...living can be exhausting sometimes. Just going through the motions, day in and day out, nothing really changing and nothing really mattering. Just existing for the sake of existing. Surviving out of pure routine. Day in, day out. Nothing changing, nothing mattering. I used to be able to enjoy life. I think. I don't remember that much anymore. But I know I used to be a lot happier when I was younger. I remember I was curious, eager to experience new ...

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“Maya and the Hidden Sun” by Mihnea Balan

Submitted to Contest #138

The heat left its mark on every little sand particle in the desert but that year was different, the Year of Maya as we call it today. The ground began to fade and grew lines until it looked like chapped lips. The little bugs with their bell-like ringing began to die out from thirst. Maya remembered finding their black carcasses burning under the unyielding sun. Because the bugs began to die out, the desert jackals became hungry and starved. Maya still shudders to this day when she remembers finding a half-eaten jackal while playing with her ...

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“Twyla's Picnic” by Karissa Walsh

Submitted to Contest #138

Twyla hobbled through the forest of Spanish moss draped oak trees, carrying a large sweetgrass basket tucked into the crook of her right arm. The wrinkled mahogany fingers of her left hand, grasped onto a tall carved walking stick, which she used to pull each of her ancient steps forward. Eventually, she reached her picnic destination, and sat her old bones down on a tree stump near the edge of a lagoon. As she was pulling out miscellaneous items from her basket, a few algae-covered logs in the murky green water began to drift toward...

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“To Stay Awake” by Austin Baker

Submitted to Contest #138

There are some things you can only see when you sleep. Memories that serve as a glimpse into the past, back when the days had the color of roses and the food didn’t taste like ash. Dreams that are bitter only in the fact that you know they must end, but oh so sweet while they last. To be reunited with lost loves and dear friends is the most precious thing sleep offers us. But for a few others, dreaming instead serves as a portal into new worlds. The past can provide them no comfort, so the Sandman ferries them elsewhere. To these far-away s...

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“The Anomaly” by Mike Panasitti

Submitted to Contest #138

For twelve days, Seyla had stopped spinning. The planet drifted in orbit around the twin stars Solaris and Helios, but always with the same face to the suns. This astrophysical Anomaly had not only toppled the prevalent theory of gravity, but had relegated half the globe to permanent night, the other half to perpetual day. The light side of Seyla faced certain doom. The globe had ceased to rotate during the middle of summer, an...

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“To Olek with Love” by Frank Lester

Submitted to Contest #138

The painful warble of air raid sirens pierced the chilling night. Anna threw the covers off and stumbled toward Oleksander’s bedroom. She dared not turn on the lights.“Olek! Olek!”“Mama?”“Gather your backpack. They’re coming.”The fourth attack this week, their routine memorized, they reached the shelter, an abandoned subway station, within minutes.Two weeks before, her husband, Faddei, had urged and pleaded with her to go with Olek to her sister in Krakow, but Anna would have nothing of it.“This is our home! I will not let them force us from...

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“The Free Man of Kyiv” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #138

“Have you seen my dog?” Frightened faces just shook their obvious, disengaged response as they rushed past the young ten-year-old boy, trying to get them to stop. Strains of panic caused old and young to duck for cover with every sound of an explosion - whether it be close or distant. This was unrequited life existing in the shadow of the modern bear, who had flexed its muscles and stamped its authori...

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“Solar Tech Support” by Zach Martz

Submitted to Contest #138

“Hello, and thank you for calling the Sun, your number one supplier of light and energy in the Solar System. For quality assurance, this call may be monitored and recorded. For English, press 1. For Spanish, presione numero dos. For Martian, uhgaz rino di-di-di. For Neptune Death Squad-Speak, press EARTHMEN MUST DIE! #4.” “Thank you. If you are calling in regards to your solar energy service, press 1. For warranty and billing questions, press 2. For information about your location’s next scheduled solar eclipse, press 3. If you spent too m...

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“Sunshine Brings the Darkness” by Jeannette Miller

Submitted to Contest #138

It’s been 8 days since that freak electrical storm hit the town and left enough electrical ions in the atmosphere to keep the sun from setting. 8 days of around the clock sunshine. It sounded like a huge sonic boom coupled with a bit of a quake in the ground then nothing. Perfect stillness right in the middle of the day. Not even the birds could be heard chirping. It was kind of eerie. Lainie remembers walking out of the post office when it happened and then only being able to see spots for the next two hours straight. It was a good thing i...

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“Sunday Morning” by Cheyenne Nicole

Submitted to Contest #138

My eyes are shut tight as the morning sun peers its way through the curtains of my bedroom. Maybe if I close them long enough it’ll go away, or if I ignore it, it’ll just cease to exist and therefore not bother me. The start of a new day, a symbol that yesterday is over and today has only just begun. Dread rolls its way through my body starting at my ears, raking its way across my skin and settling deep in my bones. Tired, sore, sad bones. Feigning productivity, I sit up and take in my surroundings. My queen bed nestled perfectly in on...

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“No Strings Attached” by Clyde Laffan

Submitted to Contest #138

Lee fills the picnic basket with more small goods than they can possibly eat in an afternoon: a truffle-spiked duck liver parfait, olives stuffed with Spanish anchovies, venison salami, imported Brie, oat crackers, and chocolate chip cookies. He takes a chilled bottled of Chardonnay, one he'd set aside for a special occasion, and places it in the wicker picnic basket loaned to him by his boss Helen. He changes the sheets, vacuums the carpet, scrubs the toilet, removes stray hairs from the bathroom sink, waters his houseplant and empties the...

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“Don't Feed the Fish” by Savannah Bullock

Submitted to Contest #138

One morning, when I was around nine years old, my mother woke me up on what I thought would be just another school day. To my surprise, as I was wiping my eyes, She excitedly asked, "Do you want to skip school today?" This was completely out of the ordinary, but it was not an opportunity I was going to pass up. Back then, my parents were in the midst of a messy divorce, and I think she was looking for a way to escape reality. The weather that day was absolutely perfect. It was the first day after a long, gray and piercingly cold wi...

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“The Last Moment” by Brendan Prince

Submitted to Contest #138

I put toothpaste on my toothbrush, ran cool water over it, and started brushing my teeth. It's times like this when my mind starts to wander.She's always on my mind, but I feel like we're growing apart. I have some apprehension about the future. I was so ready for that future that I've always seen with her, but now I'm not so sure. This feeling makes me physically sick.Do I need to take a nausea pill?I try to think back to when we first met. She was wearing a pink sweater, and she was very obviously nervous about meeting me, and I found it v...

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“City of Gloom” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #138

This morning was not unlike any other morning in the City of Gloom. In fact, it was difficult to distinguish if it was morning at all, for day and night look the same here. The Gloom city council is scheduled to meet later today to discuss the urgent issues at hand. Mayor Grumble heads up the committee of eight. I am the mayor’s assistant, Phineas Foghat. &n...

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“The Forest Unknown” by Sim K

Submitted to Contest #138

The Forest UnknownI walk through the forest, I'm supposed to be asleep. There’s a scent in the air, and its covering me like a heavy moist blanket (the nice kind) and the biting brisk wind is awakening. I walk on the forest floor, hues of green and brown surrounding me in layers.The twigs snap under my boots and my candle lights the way, for heaven forbid I use a torch and modernise myself on this walk I am taking.But I cannot remember what made me get up, or why I even started this journey impromptu. But I do know that the least I cant to i...

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$250

Prize money

245

Contest entries

154

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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