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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#140: Down Memory Lane

It’s no secret that many writers draw inspiration for their writing from real life, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, when you’re searching for things to write about, taking a memory of your own and altering it is a reliable way to get out of a bout of writer’s block.

Memory is an important concept when writing fiction, as it helps connect the past to the present — so this week, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

This week's prompts

Start your story with the narrator or a character saying “I remember…”

Angst – 102 stories

Write about a character with an unreliable memory.

Character – 46 stories

End your story with total oblivion.

Horror – 24 stories

Write a story that involves a flashback.

Fiction – 71 stories

Write a story inspired by a memory of yours.

Nonfiction – 90 stories

Stories

“I Will Never Forget” by Renee Elizabeth

Submitted to Contest #140

Trigger Warning: Violence and Sexual Harassment I remember when you could step outside and take a stroll without seeing a government enforcer on every street corner. When it wasn't normal to see a family being thrown into an enforcer's car; the children screaming and the mother weeping. When it was normal for families to live together instead of being separated by gender. This makes me sound old, I know. But I'm not, I swear. I just remember what everyone else seems to have forgotten. About seven years ago, a new terrorist group starte...

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“Lost and Confused” by Ammar Shehata

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember the book of mazes: a gift my parents handed me when I was seven. It was too thick, too heavy to hold with one hand, but being hugged it fit just fine. Opening it to a random page all but guaranteed a brand-new maze. I would try to solve a few mazes each day – four, maybe five. Mama would be preparing the dinner table for when father got home. Before attempting a maze, I’d first establish whether I could reach the end, perfectly, lest the pristineness of the book be tainted by my mistakes. Surely it wouldn’t be acceptable to bl...

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“Tales from the Vatican Archives: File M5:1-5” by Ives Beckley

Submitted to Contest #140

From the Vatican Archives: File M5:1-5 Posted from The Convent of Las Hermanitas de los Mansos, Sanitorium - Manta, Ecuador From Christian Drewitt November 17, 2010 Dearest Lyra, Where to start? It’s been a year or more since I last wrote, my love, and I hope that this letter will explain everything. I’ve included everything into a file, they gave me everything, everything. Now, it is clear to me that the things that have transpired have happened for a purpose by God, Himself. The good sisters of this convent where I have awoken ha...

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“Homemade Marmelade” by Anoella Lowin

Submitted to Contest #140

When somebody knocks on my bedroom door, I wake up but I don't open my eyes. Not yet. I can sense that it is day, there are flashes of light in front of my closed eyelids, and I can hear the birds chirping outside. I always leave my window ajar during the night and I never close the curtains. I want to know what is going on outside. Someone told me just recently that I should better close it because it's cold in November and my lungs wouldn't welcome the icy breeze coming in while I'm asleep. Who was that again? I can't remember. Maybe it wa...

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“Lost in Love” by Jackie Palm

Submitted to Contest #140

“Sarah, what did I tell you about coming in so late? It’s after 10! Your mother and I get so worried about you!” he wrung his hands together anxiously, eyes darting around the room. Something wasn’t quite right.“Grandad, it’s Hannah,” she placed her hand gently on top of his. Sometimes, if you provided a gentle touch before he became too agitated, it would seem to anchor him back in the present time and place. But there was only ever a small window of time to accomplish this that seemed to be getting even smaller the more it progressed.Tom w...

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“Sugar Pot” by Sama Bakht

Submitted to Contest #140

No. It's not them. Better move away now. You don’t want to be standing there too long, peering through the netting of the window, and have that nosey old Mrs Chip just happen to come up. Mrs Chip. Dippy Chippy. That’s who she is. Peeping tom, she’ll call you. She’ll tell you how they won't come, the miserable old bat. Just because her own children and grandchildren have abandoned her. Who could like the misery guts of an old windbag? No, no, don’t call her that, you know better, God-fearing woman that you are. But you still don’t want her to...

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“Living Treasures” by Jim McParland

Submitted to Contest #140

With long-established skill, Andy's slim metallic hooked blade slid through the Georgian window's gap and flicked the simple catch free. After securing the well-used piece inside his greatcoat's outer pocket, Andy's gloved hands eased the window open. Levering himself onto the sill, he paused. Thanks to the Christmas Eve full moon, his eyes soon accustomed themselves to the dark interior. There were no obstructions beneath him. "Anything?" Mark asked. "Quie...

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“Grateful” by Courtney Renee

Submitted to Contest #140

My hand trembled as I turned the key to our apartment. I stepped over the threshold cautiously, my breath caught in my chest. My mother’s feet tapped behind me, and I heard her click the door behind us. The sound only intensified the sensation of being zipped in a time capsule, deprived of oxygen. My coffee mug was still sitting on the island that separated the kitchen from our living room. It was white, with playful gold lettering that spelled “grateful”. That mug once brought me a sense of peace, but seeing it now only brought knot...

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“"They're Gonna' Stick a Needle in Me"” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #140

“They’re Gonna’ Stick a Needle in Me” It was the ceiling. However much he wished it were otherwise, it was improbable that Carl would find a room without a ceiling. They all look pretty much alike, so it was not surprising that his bedroom ceiling would often snap him back to another place at another time.“Why are we going to Terra Haute, George?”“It’s a BOP holdover. They sort us out there and then ship us to our long-term placement. It will just be a couple of days.”Carl really didn’t care where he was going. He just wanted to get off that...

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“The Staircase” by Pauline Whitchurch

Submitted to Contest #140

It was Autumn I believe, 1971, a long time ago. Almost five decades ago as I write this story. I had just graduated high school in Northern California, so that dreadful part of my life was now behind me. Don’t get me wrong, high school was OK, it was just not the high point of my life filled with great times and lifelong friends. I could not wait to get out into the world. I had a fantastic job at a title company, part time during school and full time in the summers for almost 3 years at that time. ...

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“Flight Of The Humans” by The Musicalman24601

Submitted to Contest #140

"BRRRRRRRRRRRING!" I rushed out with everyone else as soon as that bell rang out. To all of us, that was our freedom call in the afternoon. The bell told us to spend the final 45 minutes of our school day outside on the playground. The playground had been many things for all of us; it had been a castle to fend of the field dwellers which surrounded us, it had been a spaceship that we all managed to gather otherworldly materials to save the earth, and it had even been the massive bank which one group protected & others tried to rob. ...

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“Scarred for Life” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #140

The first major upset in my life occurred when I was nine months old, although I was, of course, far too young to remember it. It was during the middle of February 1948; I caught a cold. My mother put a saucepan of milk on top of the stove and lit the gas. The liquid is heated to a pleasantly warm temperature, after which a quantity of butter is added. In those days, warm milk and butter was Glasgow’s general homeopathic medicine for any child’s nose that ran with two green streams. In winter, the two green streams would become a river notic...

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“Bully Teacher, Bully Kid” by Matt Ward

Submitted to Contest #140

Bully Teacher, Bully Kid (Based on a true story) I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico and, yes, I’m Mexican American, born here but of Hispanic parents. But the story I’m about to tell you happened in a small town in California. I was visiting my grandmother during the summer vacation from school. It was 1989, I was 14 years old. My grandmother lived just a block away from the local high school. During the summer, the school’s gym was kept open for the town’s teens to have something to do. There was also a small ...

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“I'll Be With You Soon” by Carlos Flores

Submitted to Contest #140

If it were up to me, you’d be here with me now. Those were the last words I heard from her. Those were the last sounds that came out of her mouth that found their way into my mind after entering my ears. Now they stay there echoing. Bouncing off the walls in there as if it was a dark, desolate cave. A little whisper that gets louder with every passing moment, becoming a steady droning hum that drowns out everything else and leaving room for nothing at all. By this stage, that is exactly how I feel. Empty and dark like a desolate cave, w...

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“Anna” by Ambar Sánchez

Submitted to Contest #140

Anna learned that every legend holds some truth. She grew up reading tales and scary stories just to try to make sense of something she couldn't really understand. She didn't believe in ghosts or in any of the spirits and monsters she read about, she was just looking for an answer.She soon would leave her hometown for college, but if she didn't clear her mind before leaving, she feared the past would haunt her.She never told anyone about the memories that lurked in her mind and, sometimes, even her dreams. She was not superstitious, but she ...

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$250

Prize money

333

Contest entries

170

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 08, 2022 EST

Won by Cecilia Maddison 🏆

Title: Old Soul

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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