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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#139: Growing Up

As March reaches its conclusion and nature comes into full bloom (at least in the Northern hemisphere), it’s a time to reflect on growth. While shoots are emerging and flowers start to bud, it’s inspiring to think how big things flourish from such small beginnings.

This week’s prompts are about just that. Whether your characters have already gone through big changes, or are just beginning them, it’s time to get growing. I’ll see you back here for the next contest, when we’ll all be one week older and, hopefully, one week wiser.

This week's prompts

Write a story that involves a character donating a box of clothes which have been outgrown.

Middle School – 49 stories

Start your story with someone having their height marked on a door frame.

Middle School – 36 stories

Format your story in the style of diary entries.

Middle School – 52 stories

Start your story with the words: “Grow up.”

Angst – 62 stories

Write about a character sowing seeds for the future (literally or figuratively).

Spring – 38 stories

Stories

“Tongue-Tied to Each Other ” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #139

“Aw c’mon, man. Grow up!” Ralph laughed after accessing my latest girlfriend. “You can’t be serious. Her?” “What’s wrong with Kacey?” “Nothing, if you like bubbleheads. What do you have in common with her? What do you talk about?” “We really don’t talk a lot,” I replied, smiling. “Y...

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“Good bye.” by Allyson Sue

Submitted to Contest #139

Tw: drug use, cursing, mentions of SH, Suicide, SA Grow up. A term I hear way too frequently. Anytime I'm eager, fearful, cheerful, or perhaps even bitter over a small inconvenience. “Grow up”, What does that phrase truly signify? To act older? To grow taller? This has been on my mind for a bit. I keep hearing this expression over and over and over. At school, at home, at the grocery store, at the doctor. How can I “grow up”? It's not like I can miraculously get older or taller or more mature but I'll keep trying because I don't like...

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“Unwarranted Exchange” by Rachel Funk

Submitted to Contest #139

The car ride was much longer than she had initially anticipated. Avery had known it would drag on, seeing as the morose driver didn’t seem like the chatty type. She also knew there was a lengthy distance between the orphanage and her newest foster home, if she could call it that; place of employment seemed more realistic. This family had no claim on her other than her name on the payroll. As she propped her face against her hand, she couldn’t help but wonder what they would be like. Sister Bethany wasn’t all t...

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“The end and beginning of life” by Cherilyn Rose

Submitted to Contest #139

The waves collected the bioluminescent algae into a chaotic society of billions. They churned in a perfect mass with enough darkness in between to still show each individual life form. A single figure stood ankle deep in the swirling light. Ceremonial robes locked under the weight of the water as it wicked upwards. His eyes were a black mirror to the glowing sea. It was time. It was the end of an era and the dawn of a new one. A time of forced celebration and more than a few dissenters disappearing into the night. It is quite the ask to e...

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“The Last Tomato Plant” by Cathy Not

Submitted to Contest #139

The glass door was open just a crack, enough to keep any curious nocturnal visitors from investigating too far. Alfred plodded down the familiar steps from his back door, another lovely day, he thought as he ducked under the low branch of an apple tree and let the fresh air into the sheltered suntrap of the 8x6ft greenhouse. He loved this time of year, the flourishing garden was rich with lush vegetation and blackbird song. A single ant trekked over the soil clumps conquering its very own mountainous terrain. ‘Where are you off to?’ Alfred m...

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“Never Too Old To grow up” by Ray Maher

Submitted to Contest #139

Never Too Old To Grow Up Once upon a time, about sixty years ago, my mother yelled in anger and frustration at me, “Raymond, you have to grow up and get up in the mornings. The school bus won’t wait for you to get out of bed. I won’t call you again!” My mother was true to her word as she was done with my chronic reluctance to get up when she called me. She got me an alarm clock and said, “Set your alarm and get yourself up.” In high school, getting up in time to catch the bus was hard to do, but I did master it with the help of my alarm c...

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“A Face in a Room” by L.J Sunwing

Submitted to Contest #139

Marlo makes his way into the auditorium, pulling his hat down and glasses over his face to avoid being noticed. Being famous tended to stunt the normal aspects of his life that he used to enjoy. It had also caused him great anxiety but he had managed to fair well between some therapy and medication. This book made him want to know who wrote it, to him it was something on the level of a great author even if the general public did not see it that way. The young actor looks down at the paperback copy he has in his hands of a book that reads H...

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“Enlightenment” by Sue Russell

Submitted to Contest #139

I started to wipe my sweaty palms down my silk white pants, the ones that matched the black and white checked jacket forgotten in my closet and stopped before I left a permanent stain. Instead, I raised my head and gazed at the crowd of hostile expressions waiting for me to explain why the Board allowed high school teachers to include racial equity lessons in history class. Other board members shifted in their chairs as I rose to speak. Even though we lived in a progressive, suburban school district, the loudest protests arose from middle c...

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“Mother's Stones” by Jennifer Johnson

Submitted to Contest #139

The first thing I remember of the valley is the grey. Grey dust from the marching feet of men and horses. Grey soot from their long-dead fires. Grey ash from the trees left standing after those heedlessly abandoned fires, their tortured grey skeletons reaching towards heaven. Even the mighty Sun, bearing down with childbed vigor, only added heat to the grey haze. The dust devils that stirred at our passage did not bring coolness nor did they break the miasma. The air about the River was slightly cooler, though the water was near black. H...

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“Money Tree” by Matthew Berg

Submitted to Contest #139

It was a beautiful summer day of one hundred five degrees Fahrenheit, with thick smog covering nearly every inch of the sky. Naturally, it’s days like these when children should be out enjoying the weather. Or at least that’s what Jeffrey thought. “Come on, John! Let’s go out and play Money Tree,” the boy said. Jeffrey’s friend John pouted and stayed planted on his plastic chair, spinning it around to face the other boy. “I’m tired of playing Money Tree with you,” John admitted. “You don’t play the right way!” Jeffrey scoffed at this before ...

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“Forest in the desert ” by Rainey Pigott

Submitted to Contest #139

The sun beat down on the scorched earth. The landscape was sparse, except for the occasional skeletal shrubs, scattered pieces of abandoned machinery, and bones. The faint but insistent beeping of his metal detector was maddening but was preferred to the anxiety inducing high pitched shrieks it made when it detected something. It could just be a piece of scrap from a long dead machine, or it could be a live bomb. He avoided all of them. He had lost track of how many days he had been patrolling the desert. It was becoming more difficult to te...

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“Time For A Change” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #139

She couldn’t make up her mind as to what to do with them. It had been long enough since the death of her beloved husband for her to feel strong enough to sort out a few things and move on. Of course he was the love of her life and they had many years together but she couldn’t be sad any longer – it was time to find new things to do, grow and flourish….’goodness only knows how much time I have left on this earth’. June had decided to sort out the attic once and for all. Bill had been gone for a year now and she had felt for a few weeks that...

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“Going Through The Darkest Sunshine” by Ina Haymond

Submitted to Contest #139

Going Through The Darkest Sunshine 08. August 2017 - Tuesday My dear diary, Sometimes I feel you are my one and only true friend in my life. You listen patiently when I struggle, when I am happy or even go on rants. I never feel judged by you and you never make me feel bad. I swear sometimes I even get the feeling you sending me signs when I go about my day. When I just wrote down something and no one but you knows about it, sometimes I will come across it wherever I am! I want to believe you have a special bond with God a...

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“Inconclusive” by Jarron Blake

Submitted to Contest #139

When you see this, I will be gone. I promised my councilor I’d give it a year, and that day is approaching in 7 days. I also promised to try journaling, but never late than never I guess. This is what I did all week; read it or don’t. To whom it may concern, should have started it with that, oh well, I want you all to know that I am not angry at anyone. I don’t blame anyone. I will try to keep this as impartial as I possibly can, please do not speculate. Monday, January, xx, 20xx The Pond 5:00-6:00pm There were thirteen g...

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“Buried Rage” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #139

(CW: References to alcohol abuse and related traumatic events) “Grow up.” Captain Westheimer glared at Private Jahn as the younger man was giggling every time some unsuspecting soul sat on the whoopie cushion he had placed on the bench outside one of the prisoner barracks—that whoopie cushion happened to be invisible, and Jahn had been holding the spell for quite some time, enjoying people’s reactions whenever they sat down and immediately when searching for the cushion. “Come on, Captain, it’s hilarious. They can’t figure out where the ...

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$250

Prize money

236

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 01, 2022 EST

Won by Alex Sultan 🏆

Title: buried in saipan

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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