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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#143: Beautiful World, There You Are

Today (April 22nd) is Earth Day, and since it’s far too easy to doomscroll our way through discussions about the climate crisis, I thought we could also find more positive ways to show our appreciation for this planet. This week’s prompts are inspired by the beautiful world we live in, and the ways we can reconnect with it.

This week's prompts

Set your story in the woods or on a campground.

Summer – 82 stories

Write about a character who loves cloud gazing.

Fluff – 55 stories

Start or end your story with a person buying a house plant.

Fluff – 63 stories

Write about a trip to see a natural sight that’s usually only ever seen in photos.

Adventure – 9 stories

Write a story involving a friendship between two different species.

Vampire – 44 stories

Stories

“Ms. Glen's Garden ” by Ashlynn Altman

Submitted to Contest #143

Community service sucks. Community service sucks even more when you're sixteen and this was supposed to be your spring break. Community service sucks, even more, when you're assigned to slaving away in some random old woman's garden all day while your friends get to do things like chill out on the beach and stay up all night. But the part that sucks the most? Knowing I'm only having to do it because of my own mother, to begin with. Apparently, I smoke too much for her to handle anymore (which I think is a little bit dramatic, but whatever). ...

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“The Angel and the Philosopher” by Gabriela D. Martin

Submitted to Contest #143

*** The story also contains controversial themes as lethal injection/death penalty and abortion procedure etc. ***(Joshua name in Hebrew - "God is my salvation"Anne name- “God has favored me”)It may surprise you that a celestial being like me is fascinated by a mere mortal like you. I am not ashamed to admit that often times I roam the earth to observe beings like you. You don't know it, but humans are such riveting creatures, that even us - heavenly entities - leave the presence of God to meet you. To get an eyeful of you.I have seen you be...

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“The Boom-Boom-Caw” by Danielle Roach

Submitted to Contest #143

“Fred!” Bang, bang, bang. “Fred, you home?!” The startling noise of a ten-year-old's balled up fists beating down a friend's front door is a very impressive display. When he adds his young, impatient voice into the commotion, it would be a wonder if someone didn’t hear him. “Golly, Sam. Quiet down!” Fred hollers down from the second-floor window. “I’m coming, geesh!” He loudly shuts the window and Sam, upon hearing his friend's response, begins pacing on the porch as if he’d waited a lifetime. When Fred finally opens the ...

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“Welcome to Nature” by Cora Irelan

Submitted to Contest #143

“I’m telling you, it was awful!” “Come on, sis. It was a camping trip with your boyfriend. Sleeping under the stars, cuddled up in a sleeping bag–that’s romantic. How bad could it possibly have been?” She transferred the baby from her hip to his highchair as she asked. “Oh ho ho! You have no freaking idea! Let me paint you a picture…” # The couple arrived at the site just after noon. The trees offered welcome shade from the blazing sun above, and a refreshing breeze blew over the lake toward them. They could see the water through a gap in...

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“Wolverine Lake” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #143

“The trees encountered on a country stroll Reveal a lot about that country’s soul… A culture is no better than its woods.” ― W.H.Auden Katrina and I were strolling down Lake Road, licking the stubs of the tiger-stripe ice cream cones we’d bought at Green’s Grocery. We were surrounded by the flicker and buzz of an idyllic summer day, one of many we spent at the family cottage during summer vacation. The drone of a motor far out on the lake; the rustle of small creatures in the shaded forest we walked beside: we were oblivious to these noise...

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“The Pond” by Jennifer Braveheart

Submitted to Contest #143

The wind howled with the unrelenting roar of Mother Nature, she toppled trees and shook the roof of the old woman’s mountain cabin. She was on a mission only Mother Nature could do. Her mission today was Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Let the games begin! Mother Nature began to roar. The rain was relentless. This was probably one of the worst storms to hit the mountain in decades. The smoke from the old cabin’s chimney was being carried across the tree tops of the West Virginia Mountains. There was no one was within tw...

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“Sing for Me” by Ben ONeill

Submitted to Contest #143

Torn stood alone on the crowded deck. The humans around him were afraid. Terrified, in fact. He could smell it, a sickly-sweet perfume hanging over the entire fleet, filling his sensitive nostrils almost to bursting. Yet, even so, he could not begrudge the men their fear. Not in this. It was right they be afraid. Fitting. They sailed to make war upon a legend, after all. Soris the Unassailable, the Singing City. The first and last stronghold of the First Lords itself. They sailed to wake the wrath of the Sleeping God. For anything sane...

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“Nobody Can Make You Bleed Your Own Blood” by Carmen Lee

Submitted to Contest #143

You know those moments in life that seem eternal, but are really ephemeral? Those moments when you’re on the brink of existential discovery, because it’s you and nature. It’s you and the universe. It’s just you…zzzzzzzzzzzThen it’s not.ZZZZZZZZZZNo. That is not the sound of peaceful snoring as you sleep in the unencumbered natural habitat of humanity (which is the fancy way of saying outside). That is not a peaceful drifting of a person who has fallen asleep in their tent under the twinkly sky above them, as the trees whisper in a cocooning ...

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“Tony’s Picnic - Another Tony Adventure” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #143

Tony, Antonia’s stuffed panda, tried to control his excitement. He watched the commotion of prepping for a family excursion to the woods. Anticipation made him quiver with excitement. Not wanting to be left behind, he sat amidst the chaos. Tony always wanted to go on a picnic and ‘Get back to the land,’ as the song said. Only Tony heard, ‘get back to bamboo.’ Either way, he wanted to reconnect with his roots. Especially if they were bamboo roots. Antonia placed Tony atop the wicker picnic basket. She called out, “Mom! That’s everythi...

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“Soy. Lent. Green/Running” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #143

Clever men in lab coats and suits were certain that nothing could go wrong. Smarter women behind them were tired of telling them otherwise. The Enormous Halcyon Collider, younger brother of the LHC, had been converted into a chrono gate. People who didn’t have Doctor Who and Stargate boxed sets of DVDs just called it a time door. It was time to turn it on. 10:00 someone’s standard time. &...

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“Catch and Release” by Susanne Perry

Submitted to Contest #143

She hated birds. All birds. It wasn’t so much the birds themselves, or the way they preened, or even the sounds they make. It’s the wings she can’t stand, how they flutter and sputter with frantic spasms of insanity. It made no sense how the feathered creatures could sit quietly and patiently one minute then startle with frenetic motion the next. The agitated activity made her heart feel like it was going to explode from the fear and loathing. It hadn’t always been this way. At one time she had enjoyed the birdsong of the mornings, the cooin...

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“Ice-breaker” by V VAIDEHI

Submitted to Contest #143

It sounded like the drone of an airplane overhead. Kiran pricked up her ears and sat up along with her sleeping bag. She looked at the huddled figure next to her in the cramped tent. He stirred, and peeped out with a question mark on his face. His head and neck were wrapped in a woolen cap and a muffler. He had ignored ...

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“Happiness comes in Fiddles” by Carla Carvallo

Submitted to Contest #143

You feel like you’re drowning on dry land. You try to push past that growing lump in your throat, the pain that wraps around your voice box and expands like a disease. It takes and it demands and it knocks the breath out of you. The tears collect within your eye socket like a flood waiting to break free. You’ve been here before. Like a door, your eyes slam shut. You try to reject this, this thing labeled attack and breakdown and you choose to put no labels on it. You force yourself to break out of th...

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“Unlikely Companions” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #143

It was another sweltering day in the African Savanna, as young Adisa strolled closely by his father’s side. Adisa’s father, Negus, was the leader of the pride, and ruler of all the Savanna. Adisa gazed up at his father’s magnificence as the wind blew through his thick mane. Adisa wanted to be just like him when he grew up. The long grass was almost as tall as Adisa, so to see what was ahead, he needed to leap up...

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“Deep Woods” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #143

If you have ever been up in the hills of California around the Sierras near Truckee, there are some deep woods. As a younger man, I used to be employed by lumber camps. That’s where I met Jim Northrupt, another malcontent from the San Joaquin Valley tired of working on his father’s large alfalfa farm near Tracy. We were just kids back from the war in the Pacific and suddenly the world wasn’t as large as it had been when we left. We were in the same unit, Jim and I. We saw a lot of our buddies get chewed u...

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$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

139

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 29, 2022 EST

Won by Zack Powell 🏆

Title: What Happens in Vegas

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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