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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

“Blinded By The Light” by Kara Beth Baker

Submitted to Contest #138

Title- Blinded By The Light Word count- 1070 When you’re in addiction, it’s all dark. Because even at its’ lightest, it’s still twilight, at best. That kind of light where it’s not dark yet but it’s eerily not light either. Where the world is quiet, and it’s just you and your head. You know the light exists, it’s what’s you’re looking for.. but it’s always unattainable, just out of reach. You’re always looking for that li...

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“MIST” by Aether Weaver

Submitted to Contest #138

Content Warning: This story contains mental and emotional abuse. I blinked as the last of the fluid drained from the tank, and looked out at the creature before me. It pushed a pair of lenses up its facial protrusion, the orbs behind them wide as they ran down my form and back up to my face. It asked slowly, “Can you understand me?” I watched its mouth move as it spoke. The words held meaning, but I wasn't sure why. I answered, "Yes…" “My name is Doctor Gertrude Oddilair, but you can call me Trudy. Can you say Trudy?” I thought for a ...

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“Fiat Justitia” by Sue Hunter

Submitted to Contest #138

His skin was covered with a layer of grime. Not that he could see it, mind you. It was too dark in his tiny room to see his own hands. Yet he could feel it. It was a mixture of something slimy and gritty, like sand and jelly. Just thinking about jelly made his mouth water, and soon his saliva joined the dirt on his arm. When was the last time the slot on his door opened to give him food? He’d lost all sense of time. There was some semblance of happiness, in his prison. The room...

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“A Matter of Degrees” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #138

A Matter of Degrees Residents of the Northern Hemisphere normally welcomed the chance to throw off their layers of winter clothing and romp with as little attire as possible in the world’s lakes and oceans. They didn’t realize, however, that the sun they so fervently wished for, now could become the instrument of their destruction. As Mother Nature began to close the curtain on 2300 she decided to play a cruel joke on humanity by having the sun shine continuously–24 hours a day. Medical personnel working in emergency rooms across mos...

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“The Day That Never Existed” by Teona Tas

Submitted to Contest #138

Mr. Light woke up at 8 in his hotel room 411 as always. He immediately got up, gently washed his face, combed his hair and got dressed. He was feeling enthusiastic to see his fiance. He was such a romantic lover that the women who saw the way he looked at his fiance would wish that he was their lover. He was skipping down the stairs before he got a small cup of coffee to finish at once to be able to leave for his romantic date as early as possible. Before leaving the hotel, he checked up on his room key which wa...

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“A Little Tale Overheard In the Hospital” by Nick Cevennes

Submitted to Contest #138

Josh Whitham, glazed, corners of his waterlogged coat stained with sticky dust, collar turned inside out and hair unkempt, stared at the rusting, swollen, quivering, nervous, bewildered thing sitting in the west corner of the warehouse. The thing that once symbolized fineness and the last glow of youth twenty years ago was now as hoary and old as himself. Most of all, he didn't know if he had the courage to plunge into its icy jaws again, now he was going to do this alone. He wondered whether it would be an exit to liberation or a coffin to ...

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“The Fall of Phaeton” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #138

Pete never knew his dad lived in a palace. Like, a real palace, a magnificent shining palace of opalescent stone within sight of Mount Olympus, a palace with a grand hall that he would have to walk across one day. Luckily he was wearing his Dodgers’ cap and the long bill protected his eyes from the worst of the glare as he made his way inside. A palace attendant came running forward, saying, “Tut-tut, no hats in the presence of His Royal Highness King Helios.” Pete shrugged the attendant away and said, “I’m his long-lost son—Dad won’t mind...

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“The Perfect Day” by Tedcor Obli

Submitted to Contest #138

Kevin found himself caught on a breeze. The soft, cooling wind floating through him and around him as if trying to embrace him. He felt as if the zephyr would go on forever, never limited by the same gravity that seemed to tie Kevin to the earth. From his gusty hilltop he could see towns and villages amongst the valley’s slopes, their metal and brick buildings sticking above and amongst the green treetops. Civilization was ever present, but it was also an eternity away. Nearby trees moaned slightly, and their leaves rustled as the same whi...

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“The Collapsed, The Elite” by Zi Poromon

Submitted to Contest #138

TW: Violence, gore, language“I’ve been waiting for this day all week!”“Me too boo! I can’t believe it’s been over a year since we’ve seen each other.”“I honestly missed New York so much.”“I missed you like crazy. It was so weird not seeing you in classes anymore. I’m just glad you’re back for the summer, I’m never letting you go.”The vibrant trees pass us by, bathing in the steaming sunshine.My hands dance outside the window, and Kenje laughs at my movements. I love carefree moments like this, when I can get lost in the present.My life has a...

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“The Engagement Party” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #138

Frances placed the last dish in the dishwasher.“Thank you, Frances,” Gram Sarah, her grandmother, said. “My arthritis does a number on my hands at night.” Gram Sarah caressed her swollen knuckles and winced. “It’s a wonderful ring. You and David will be very happy. I just know.”Frances beamed but then stopped. She took a closer look at Gram Sarah’s hands. She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Gram Sarah, how did you get that scar on your knuckle?”Fifty years before Frances and David’s engagement party and before Gram Sarah ...

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“No To Bed” by Lydia Lim

Submitted to Contest #138

When I was younger, I never wanted to go to bed. Clad in warm pajamas with red trucks and blue ships, I’d quiver my lips and approach my parents with the most pitiful doggy eyes I could make. My father never gave in. He’d scowl at me and grunt “Into bed mister!” But afterwards he’d go up to my room and read me a bedtime story. Noisy Little Truck, Big Little Bus…the list trickled on. I loved hearing his gruff voice soften as he acted out voices - squeaky ones, gentle ones and even scary ones. My mother never let me stay up either. S...

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“The Voice of the Night” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #138

“Sorry, tell me again what happens when you turn off the lights?” A rattling breath preceded the answer. “Cold… I can’t breathe… The weight on my chest suffocates me… I can feel… the walls of my skull crushing my brain… No sleep.” An older woman in glasses scribbled a note on her pad, saying in a soft voice, “I see… And this voice you talk about-” “The voice of the night,” he interjected in a hoarse tone, feeling his heartbeat quicken. “Does he only talk to you when it’s dark?” Her brilliant eyes shone through her glasses.&nb...

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“Would You?” by Kyle Nilsen

Submitted to Contest #138

The first glimpse of the ceiling and shortness of breath told him everything he needed to know about the events that were about to take place. He scanned the room left to right, up and down, looking for what he knew was inevitably coming. Two years of restless nights and it still hasn’t settled down. Not even a little. Day after day he found it all the more difficult to focus on the task at hand, let alone enjoy himself outside of his daily obligations. Work became harder and harder, demeanor took a dive and his enthusiasm, or lack ther...

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“I'll Be Home for Christmas” by AshleyAnn Barnes

Submitted to Contest #138

“She’ll be home tomorrow?!” he exclaimed, bouncing in place, his lanky little body half in and half out of a pair of red and white striped footed pajamas. His mother had had them delivered to him for Christmas (Love, Santa the tag had said, but he knew better) and he refused to wear anything else. He was eight years old and slight for his age, but his energy was palpable as a burgeoning storm. Together, we had been working on getting ready for bed for at least an hour, but it seemed we had made very little progress. As he bounced, the lit...

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“Nautical Neophytes” by David Hampton

Submitted to Contest #138

It was summer of 1976 in Springfield, Missouri. Jeff and I were at the Village Inn Pancake House. It was nearly midnight on a Friday and we were knocking down breakfast, which had become a weekend tradition after knocking down several beers at the Alibi Lounge. During that era in Smalltown, USA the Inn was about the only place you could get breakfast at that time of night. I normally had bacon and eggs with biscuits and gravy. Jeff, on the other hand, would always...ALWAYS order pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream on top. Plus, extr...

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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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