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#149: Of Stranger Things

After its much-awaited release last week, the fourth season of Stranger Things has taken the world by storm. First aired in 2016, this television show stars a group of D&D-loving kids and unlikely heroes in a topsy-turvy world. Its creators took inspiration from many classic thrillers, and the show has in turn been influencing writers to write Stranger Things books. 


Whether you’ve been swept up by this sensational show or not, I hope my Stranger Things-inspired prompts can propel you into a story of your own this week:

🥇 Winner

“How to Win a Game of Chess Without Really Trying” by Katy Borobia

Disclaimer: There is no easy way to win a game of chess. But that’s only if by “winning” you mean hunting down your opponent’s king until he is gasping for air in a solitary corner, his vision fading into the black and white static of the board as your opponent (John, Meera, or Jeremy) commits seppuku by resignation. Only gradually will you return to the hard seats and smudged tabletops of your school’s B-grade lunch counter. You'll blink in a daze at the face of your opponent who, you must remember, is your friend in real life.<...

133 comments 133 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Them Indiana Boys, On Them Indiana Nights” by Shea West

(TW/CW: Mentions of active drug use, drug activity, STD's, infidelity, foul language)➾➾Your loved ones stopped by your apartment last night. Their faces twisted in disgust as they scanned your space looking for a clear spot to sit. Their faces–solemn and united– and you thought, well, this can’t be good. When did you last see Aunt June? Or your old best friend Hank? He hadn’t returned a single one of your calls in ages. Dad lingered in the doorway in his oiled up coveralls ...

66 comments 66 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“On, Off” by C. A. Janke

On, off. On, off. Onoffonoffonoff. On. I’d been standing in the cramped hall of my apartment for a full five minutes, just watching the bulb flicker.Well, I’d been seeing that light glitch out for weeks now. It’s just that today I decided to plant my feet and stare until my vision went screwy.It was always that same pattern. On and off, on and off, then it would rapid-fire blink, then it would be on again for a few moments before starting the whole damn routine over again. I th...

23 comments 23 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Overtopping” by Jay McKenzie

(This story shares its title with a performance celebrating the resilience and heart of the people of Lismore in the 2017 floods, created and developed by Sunita and Zeb of RealArtWorks, Lismore)We stand on the balcony, Heidi and I, hair whipping across our faces. The rain has fallen in sheets for days, backdropped by a gunmetal sky. Heidi’s eyes are wide. She shivers, wraps her arms across her chest. I want to draw her to me, but my arms won’t move. “Will we be oka...

42 comments 42 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Playing with Fire” by H. J. Pargeter

'We need to sort that out. It’s bad for customers,’ said the waitress, pointing at the flickering lightbulb.'What customers,’ joked Mike. The waitress got back to wiping down the tables without a response.Business was bad for Brompton Station Cafe. Three weeks left, Mike reckoned. Brompton had just got its own, brand-spanking-new Underground station. It had made the Overground line, and with it Brompton Station, redundant.'An occupational hazard,’ the ticket officer kept saying to Mike, thinking himself very witty. Mi...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Seedling” by EJ Lagerberg

The light bulb flickered, humming to a dim glow in the sitting room of Symon Shevchenko’s farmhouse. He had refused to leave. He had lived in that house his entire life, born there, his father born there; he was too old, he told the mayor, to pick up and come to town with everyone else. What would he do there? He is farmer. He does not know how to live in a small apartment, surrounded by concrete. If the darkness decided to envelope him, so be it.    He picked up a tattered copy of Gogol’s Dead Souls, pu...

5 comments 5 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Light Outside” by Hamilton Briggs

June 2020 A light flashed through the curtains of her bedroom. Alicia reached for the bathrobe in the chair next to her and pulled it around her. She knew she would find the old man standing at the window She padded quietly up the wood stairs so as not to alarm him. Alicia turned the door handle quickly. As she had expected, he sto...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Write about a character who is trying to convince others to play a game.

Kids – 22 stories

Start your story with the flickering of a light.

Kids – 103 stories

Write about two people who form a bond with each other through music.

Middle School – 48 stories

Set your story in a town that’s teetering on the edge of something dark, literally or metaphorically.

Dystopian – 53 stories

Write a story about an unlikely group (or pair) of friends.

Middle School – 43 stories

Stories

“How to Win a Game of Chess Without Really Trying” by Katy Borobia

Disclaimer: There is no easy way to win a game of chess. But that’s only if by “winning” you mean hunting down your opponent’s king until he is gasping for air in a solitary corner, his vision fading into the black and white static of the board as your opponent (John, Meera, or Jeremy) commits seppuku by resignation. Only gradually will you return to the hard seats and smudged tabletops of your school’s B-grade lunch counter. You'll blink in a daze at the face of your opponent who, you must remember, is your friend in real life.<...

133 comments 133 WINNER 🏆
Read story

“Them Indiana Boys, On Them Indiana Nights” by Shea West

(TW/CW: Mentions of active drug use, drug activity, STD's, infidelity, foul language)➾➾Your loved ones stopped by your apartment last night. Their faces twisted in disgust as they scanned your space looking for a clear spot to sit. Their faces–solemn and united– and you thought, well, this can’t be good. When did you last see Aunt June? Or your old best friend Hank? He hadn’t returned a single one of your calls in ages. Dad lingered in the doorway in his oiled up coveralls ...

66 comments 66 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Just Ask the Lamp” by Kanika G

“The aqua blue dress or the cherry red jumpsuit?” I say, holding up the two dresses in front of the mirror. The table lamp on the dresser continues to light up the room with its steady beam of light. “Sorry, still getting used to it,” I say, shaking my head. “Which of these two dresses will look more flattering on me tonight — the aqua blue dress or the cherry red jumpsuit?” I say, enunciating each word.

59 comments 59
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“For the Rest of My Life” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Their high school friends had gone on ahead, laughing and teasing one another, yet the thought of entering the Fall Festival’s “Howl-O-Scream” terrified her. It was the not knowing what lurked in the darkened corners that bothered her the most. She hated being surprised. “Are you ready?” her boyfriend asked. Boyfriend. What an insubstantial word for what he meant to her. She loved him beyond measure.“I’m not sure,” she replied, reaching for his hand. “You don’t have to go,” he s...

43 comments 43
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“Reasons to Be Thankful” by Zack Powell

The first thing I notice when I poke my head in the university's Indigenous Peoples' Appreciation Club is that there are only two members, one guy and one girl. The second thing I notice is that neither is Indigenous.They sit at adjacent desks in the corner of the classroom. The girl, whose platinum hair is brighter than the overhead lighting, poses for a selfie, closing one eye and flashing a peace sign Nixon-style. The guy preoccupies himself with a game of Pokémon Go, swiping violently at his phone screen and cursing ...

40 comments 40
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“Rhubarb Pie” by Michał Przywara

Present day…Diamond Pete Lansing, aged sixty-eight, slammed his red-faced fists on the conference room table. “No! No! No!” he screamed, each word accented with a slam and followed by a mist of spittle. “Gonna git my trucks! Gonna git my guns!”Virginia and Wilson Buss, aged sixty-four and sixty-five, glanced at each other. Their faces were tight and they held hands beneath the table. Father Norval, a spry fifty-five, stood up and licked his lips. “Peter, please–”“-Aww, hell naw!” Diamond Pete said. He threw his white ...

51 comments 51
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“To Carry Me Home” by Hannah P. Simmons

(For my Father)Mama’s house is at the end of the shortest street in Bennetsville. It isn’t even what you’d call a street, really. Just a little hook off the main road that circles behind Jason’s greenhouse. I don’t know if there’s even a street sign there. Us locals know where to find it, and travelers don’t have no reason to look. Nothing there for them to be interested in, ‘cept maybe the greenhouse or the little church just past that. But for me, it’s home.Or, it was.Growing up on this littl...

50 comments 50
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“Only After You Lived” by Riel Rosehill

(Content Warning: This story contains mentions of physical violence, child abuse, self harm and suicide.)The croquet ball in my room didn’t belong to my family. It was an old wooden model with weathered, dirty-looking red paint, chipped and scratched all over its dimpled surface. I only learned about the game when I asked my parents what the ball was for, and dad bought me a mallet to play with it in the back garden. I only hit it a few times before I got bored, it wasn’t all that exciting really. Leaving it on ...

48 comments 48
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“On, Off” by C. A. Janke

On, off. On, off. Onoffonoffonoff. On. I’d been standing in the cramped hall of my apartment for a full five minutes, just watching the bulb flicker.Well, I’d been seeing that light glitch out for weeks now. It’s just that today I decided to plant my feet and stare until my vision went screwy.It was always that same pattern. On and off, on and off, then it would rapid-fire blink, then it would be on again for a few moments before starting the whole damn routine over again. I th...

23 comments 23 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Listen ” by S.K. Wulf

CW: gun violence (not graphic)Wake up, Mr. Woodridge. Open your eyes. Come on, open them up. I see you’re confused and—now, there’s no need to be rude. The chains are there for a reason. Please don’t struggle, you’ll only hurt yourself. Listen, and I’ll explain.Feel free to take a drink of water. There’s a bottle to your left. There was no need to do that. You will be thirsty later. Sit still, please, stop shouting. You can’t get out a...

36 comments 36
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“Second Chance, Third Strike” by Thom Brodkin

Prisons have a unique smell—a curious cross between perspiration and despair. Debbie noticed it each time she came to visit Seth. It’s a little like blindness, she contemplated as the guard led her to the visitation room. Debbie had heard how people who had lost their sight would marvel at how their other senses became heightened. It must be like that with freedom, too, she reasoned. Her eyes darted around, noticing every crack and stain on the drab walls as she passed through the locked doors and dingy corridors

51 comments 51
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“The Overtopping” by Jay McKenzie

(This story shares its title with a performance celebrating the resilience and heart of the people of Lismore in the 2017 floods, created and developed by Sunita and Zeb of RealArtWorks, Lismore)We stand on the balcony, Heidi and I, hair whipping across our faces. The rain has fallen in sheets for days, backdropped by a gunmetal sky. Heidi’s eyes are wide. She shivers, wraps her arms across her chest. I want to draw her to me, but my arms won’t move. “Will we be oka...

42 comments 42 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Mixtapes of August” by Kevin Broccoli

I told myself I wouldn’t let him break my heart in a parking lot.When Nick returned home for the summer, his parents had converted his room into a pilates studio. That meant he was sleeping on a pull-out in the living room. Spending time at his house had been difficult back when they were in high school, but now there was nowhere for them to hide. Maybe that had been the point of eradicating his homeward privacy. His parents, like many who suspected their child was growing up in ways they couldn’t adjust to, might have t...

33 comments 33
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“The Resting Place” by Beth Jackson

CW: Mention of bloodA light flickers and I open my eyes. I’m nowhere. Drowning in white. I roll onto my knees and cough.Streetlamps stretch into the fog, and I stagger to my feet, stumbling towards the light. A man leans against the closest streetlamp, and I freeze. I look at his shoes.Boots. Heavy black boots, with scuffed toes and worn yellow stitching, frayed laces tied in a clumsy bow.The pressure in my chest eases, and I run towards him. He turns. His face is bla...

20 comments 20
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“Song of the Forest” by Aeris Walker

According to the lore, Humans cannot experience the music of the forest.At least, that’s what I’ve always been told. They are a species of just five senses, and even those have limitations; colors appear muted, sounds fall flat. Apparently, their hearing abilities are so atrophied they can only discern one distinct voice in a bird’s song, completely missing the three-part harmony of its chirped tune. It is clear they lack the sense of perception; I’ve seen it. I have watched the humans interact with almost no acknowledgement of one...

54 comments 54
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$250

Prize money

268

Contest entries

127

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 10, 2022 EST

Won by Katy Borobia 🏆

Title: How to Win a Game of Chess Without Really Trying

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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