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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 Remember The Day When They Took Me Away...” by ★ 𝑷𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑯𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 ★

Submitted to Contest #140

"Tell us another story!" Cindy and Lewis asked their grandfather, once again. It was a night like any other night, the moon bright and the stars glowing against the dark sky. They sat up in Cindy's bedroom, the children on the pink-sheeted bed and Grandfather in the comfy hanging chair. Every night they would sit down and listen to his adventures. "I think I've run out of happy stories. All that I still remember that I haven't told you yet are sad. Some of my stories are not quite ready for you to hear yet."&...

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“A Comedy of Rx’s” by Jacob Monroe

Submitted to Contest #140

“Are you sure you’re okay?” My therapist asked. She knows I’m not but she’s more interested in how I answer. “I have been a bit ‘off,’ at work lately. Nothing too serious,” I tacked on so she didn’t overreact. “I think I’m just over-tired. I’ve just been distracted, is all.” She jotted something in her notepad. “Just at work? Or have these difficulties extended to other aspects of your life?” “Just at work, I don’t want to point fingers but most of this is Julia’s fault.” “Who’s Julia?” She wondered at the name she didn’t recognize. ...

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“The Inside Pockets” by Gabriela D. Martin

Submitted to Contest #140

The patient sized up the doctor, unsure if to step forward in the office or turn around and run.“Come in and have a seat, the doctor said with a calm, easygoing smile, pointing to the light-blue armchairs in the middle of the room. She sat down herself and crossed her legs at the ankles. Middle-aged, shoulder-length auburn hair, black frame glasses, dressed in a white silk blouse and charcoal grey trousers.The patient, a young woman in her early twenties, short, corpulent followed the doctor in the seating area."Are we waiting for your frien...

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“What Does it Mean to be Human? ” by Amalia Wompa

Submitted to Contest #140

“Things are never gonna be the same now...” He said as he leaned against the banister, trusting it with all his weight, perhaps even what weighed on his mind. He was wearing a thick black parka, the one I’d gotten him a few years ago. I wondered for a moment why he didn’t offer it to me. Ponderosa pines sprinkled the white blanket of snow that lay still on the ground, almost like plastic. We stood on the wooden porch together, little splinters of wood shooting up between the planks that made up the balcony beneath us. I inched ...

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“LUCKY ME” by Jennifer Claire Pulling

Submitted to Contest #140

If you were a first time subscriber to Bright’s Lending Library you might be excused if you thought you had wandered into the drawing room of a country house. There were comfortable armchairs and sofas, a deep piled carpet and overall the genteel atmosphere of neatly dressed helpful assistants. Bright’s offered a haven to bored housewives, retired military men and titled gentry. Here they could browse, climb sturdy ladders to reach a desired title, or settle themselves for a good read. The library had existed since Mabel Bright, wife o...

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“Addiction” by Allie Mae Sakry

Submitted to Contest #140

“May I use the bathroom?” I waited with my raised hand for Mr. Westeadt to excuse me at the same time during his history class for the nth time. I never took more than a few minutes, so he was never suspicious of me doing anything bad like doing drugs or skipping class. He sighed and gestured to the door. I hurried out without my backpack or any of my belongings that weren’t already in my jeans’ pockets. I never took them; I already had everything I needed. I made sure nobody was in the hall as I stepped into the solitary unisex bathroom....

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“The Day Her Memory Changed” by Adrienne Sharp

Submitted to Contest #140

The Day Her Memory Changed (Word Count 1489) Time and temperature seemed suspended as my sister, and I stood in the parking lot watching the air ambulance take off. Looking at each other from behind solemn matter of fact masks, there was a feeling of being in the wrong place. We were usually faceless bystanders wondering who the patient was. This time all we could think about was how at 71, our mother probably wouldn’t remember her first helicopter ride. Just a few hours before, she had left her apartment building to pic...

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“The Color Red” by K Alex Walker

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember her in the color red. Gunpowder, the stench of infection, the screams of the dying…most days, I forgot the sounds, the smells. But her, I will always remember in red. Today, her family dressed her in yellow. And, again for the last time, I would say goodbye. It had been over seventy years since we’d last seen each other. The last memory I’d had of her was standing on opposite sides of a busy square, the distance between us lengthened by the knowledge we would never see each other again. Eleanor. We’d known ...

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“Anhedonia” by Charlene Simon

Submitted to Contest #140

(This story contains the loss of a loved one)The fingers of light pouring through the glass floor-to-ceiling windows of my apartment draw the curtains of sleep from the haze in my mind and let consciousness diffuse in. I have a fleeting thought to get out of bed, and almost will myself to, but something leaches my strength. I struggle to lift my hand to filter the light hitting my tear-stained and watery red eyes and rub at a pulsing spot in the space between my brows. Even such rudimentary actions eat away at my remaining strength, so I jus...

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“Prelude to a Catastrophe” by Bruce Friedman

Submitted to Contest #140

All of the chattering in the assembled group ceased as Fiona, the Queen, majestically entered the main chamber of the colony. The name of the colony, Westparkia, was derived from its location in the historical downtown park of the city. She strode proudly on all of her six legs to the podium in front and gracefully waved them to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd.She was in her natural element and milking the situation for all of the adulation that it was worth. Her appearance was unusual, given that most of her time was normally reserved...

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“The Beast in My Jungle” by Robert Ford

Submitted to Contest #140

The Beast in My Jungle By Robert Ford When I was a sophomore in college, I took a literature course that was devoted to the extensive novels and short stories of Henry James. Among his many works, I fixated, almost to the point of obsession, on his short story The Beast in the Jungle. The main character is convinced that his life will be defined by some catastrophic or spectacular event and that the event is lying in wait for him like a beast in the jungle waiting to spring. I decided to eliminate the idea that I would suffer a cat...

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“I Will Lay Me Down” by Abigail F. Taylor

Submitted to Contest #140

TW: Suicidal thoughtsWe were coming back from a day trip to Fallingwater and stopped to swim in a river that cut through the low-slung hills. After an hour of driving, our stepdad, Mark, a native to the general area, pointed out the windscreen. “Here! We can picnic just on the side.”Mom dropped her feet, from where they'd been sunning on the dashboard. She offered one of her signature, premeditated smiles. “How nice.”Beth, my sister, drab and dreary, huffed. Lately, she spent her mornings expertly patting her face ghostly with pale creams an...

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“13 Years Ago” by E. Roux

Submitted to Contest #140

I had almost forgotten about it, until one day I see a golden envelope sliding under my door. I get it in my hand and turn it around. ‘Class of 2009’ is written neatly on the front. I sigh of boredom as I open it and take out the invitation. Reunion. How nice. “That is an event I’ll be avoiding at all costs.” At least that’s what I’ve said to Maggie when we were on the final year of high school, one day talking throughout a break. And I believe I’ll keep my word. We haven’t even finished the year, and most were already making plans how...

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“a good thing” by Joi W

Submitted to Contest #140

Two hours ago, a man drowned in a shallow body of water known as dithery lake. This man, my brother, though in good health and of sound mind, will be found dead and abandoned soon in a lake no more than 5 feet deep. So maybe he didn’t drown. Maybe he commited suicide. Maybe sirens lured him from land with their enticing voices. Maybe he was murdered. Well, it doesn’t matter, it's not for me to say. This man went by Frederick Morrison, a 6’5 giant with the biggest heart you could possibly imagine. At 46 Frederick was a college professor...

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“How We Used To Be” by Shelby B

Submitted to Contest #140

You spend years of your life with someone. You get to know their favorite foods. You get to know what their hair looks like first thing in the morning. You get to know about every single detail of them. You find yourself in love with everything about them, even the bad parts. You think there won’t ever come a day where you would despise that person. You would be wrong. You would be so completely wrong. I could be biased, but I’m just speaking from experience. I hate my husband. I hate when he comes home from work and goes straight to the cou...

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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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