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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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:

This week's prompts

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

Kids – 20 stories

Start your story with the flickering of a light.

Kids – 98 stories

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

Middle School – 46 stories

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

Dystopian – 50 stories

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

Middle School – 43 stories

Stories

“Waking Up” by Geran Caywood

Submitted to Contest #149

Before I opened my eyes, before I could have registered the sky above me, I felt the grass against my hands poking me from below and decided that I was on the ground. Opening my eyes confirmed as much. White and blue passed over slowly, cut by nearby rooftops. I grabbed at the same grass and used it for just the slightest bit more leverage to right myself, wiping sleep from my eyes with the inside of my shoulder in the same movement. A second push, with my legs, and I was standing. I looked down to my watch, and found time creeping i...

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“A Tale of Tails” by Gregory Wright

Submitted to Contest #149

In a small rural town, nobody can hide. Everyone knows everyone and, in addition, each other’s proclivities and oddities. The town that Edgar Gibbon grew up in wasn’t any different. He attended the same small elementary school in the center of the town where for decades, everyone in the town had. Once he completed that, he then entered the middle school that included additional students from the smaller outer towns that didn’t have a student population to support a junior high school of their own. That was when Edgar met Jimmy Zimmerman. On ...

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“Ouija Wine Wednesdays” by Kelly DiMario

Submitted to Contest #149

I’ve never seen a ghost, but I believe the people that have. I spend a lot of my time pondering what lies on the other side of this life, knowing deep down that my ‘research’ will only ever lead into a purgatory of unresolve, deep diving into an unanswerable abyss. That infamous Houdini secret word is ever present in my mind during my other worldly pursuits. The story goes that during their own quest for answers about what exists in the afterlife, Harry and Bess also set out to unmask fraudulent psychics (oxymoron?) in the process. Bess, ful...

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“The Hunter's Game” by Merinda Forwood

Submitted to Contest #149

Do you want to play a game? I used to ask that question all the time, like lots of kids on the playground. Then we grow up, and most adults stop asking it. Maybe if they want to play cards, or some kind of board game, or a computer game. I still ask it regularly, but now, thanks to some movie I’ve never seen, it is a question that must be asked in a creepy voice if it is to be asked properly. Fortunately, that works for me. I live out in the woods, miles from anywhere. I don’t have anything nearby to encourage visitors. Those who play ...

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“What Have I Gotten Into?” by Ravea LaGeorge

Submitted to Contest #149

The lights darkened once more before blinking back to full brightness. They had been doing such for hours, as Rylie rushed around the apartment. They were packing as quickly as they could. Once more, the lights flickered, and for a moment Rylie thought they saw someone watching through the window. But no. That was impossible. The curtains were still covering them and as much as the lights flickered, there was no storm. Just a threat in the air. Something was coming. A crack echoed through the apartment, causing Rylie to pause in thei...

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“Wisdom of the Gods” by Samantha Shaffer

Submitted to Contest #149

The light from the fire at the end of the torch flickered along the cave walls. A young archaeologist cautiously made her way deeper into the cave. She was convinced she was on the right track to the greatest discovery in history. For her entire career, Isendra had searched for a lost civilization known as the Dracanae. The legends had mystified scientists and intrigued the masses but no one knew if it was real or just a story. Brief accounts had been found but no real hard evidence. No one had even found artifacts that the...

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“Sun Setting” by Kevin Morley

Submitted to Contest #149

The rising sun painted beautiful purples and reds against the fleeing summertime clouds. I could just make out the colors through the trees on my neighbor’s property. Evidence of dawn lit the distant tramway and bounced off the hover traffic beneath it, where people raced about their busy morning rituals. I sipped my coffee as the sun inched higher in the sky. It stood burning in the heavens in moments, eons of energy waiting to awaken each new day. I reached for my novel, nothing fancy, but something worth reading at dawn in the half-light ...

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“The Light In Europa” by Kyle Rieger

Submitted to Contest #149

From a distance it was a small flickering light in a vast sea of darkness. Invisible to the naked eye, being dwarfed by the other, much stronger, lights surrounding it. Alone and isolated, something that no human was ever meant to see, but humanity has a way of looking past what they can see to see what could be. What could be took time and innovation, four years of meticulous calculation and numerous simulations to establish a base of operations on the frozen over sphere known as Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, and that was after si...

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“The Mishaps of Two 'Third-Wheelers'” by Nev C

Submitted to Contest #149

The lights installed into the school hallway flickered at least a hundred feet away from where I was. A slow sequence, lasting only a few seconds, that no one except me seemed to pay any mind to. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now, I found the off-white luminescence to be odd against the beaming neon rays that surrounded the campus. Nothing unusual about the sight, however. There were probably damn near over eighty teens here at the school-hosted dance, all of which were enjoying the event to their heart’s- however separate- content. Popula...

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“A flicker of light” by Shahane Sahakyan

Submitted to Contest #149

A flicker of light and she appeared in some beautiful and unusual place. There was a beautiful garden around, the trees and flowers were different, but at the same time they complemented each other. The sounds of birds were heard, the sun was shining. It was so harmonious and calm there that she forgot about everything, about all her failures and achievements, did not think about the past or the future. The girl was sure that this was a dream, but she did not want to wake up. She just wanted to be and feel this moment as the most beautiful i...

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“The Lights” by Rene Cabezudo

Submitted to Contest #149

The Lights Click. The lights went on. Displayed unnaturally out of George’s basement window. Now, they went off. Click. Back on again. If there was one word that would not describe George, it was unreliable. Click. Went off. The flickering of the lights that emanated from his basement were always the same dull, white colors that can be seen from far distances, because they were as bright as the northern lights...

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“THE OBSIDIAN MIRROR” by Del Gibson

Submitted to Contest #149

THE OBSIDIAN MIRROR by Del Gibson I wake in horrifying fright, because the lights are flickering in our bedroom. It’s deathly dark and cold. Winter’s harshness smashes hail stones at the windows. Gradually, my hearing hones in on the cacophony of sounds surrounding me. The sickly green glow of the digital clock beside our bed says it is 1:11 pm. Someone is running around our bed, giggling, which at first I thought were our kids. Then I thought I must still be dreaming – until a sound by the closet peaks my hearing. Leaning desperately over m...

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“Our Hopes and Dreams” by Eli Schaub

Submitted to Contest #149

The lights flickered on and off, just like our hopes and dreams. The weather was raging outside. The newscaster declared that this would be “The storm of the century”. In our raggedy apartment, Leon was pacing back and forth in front of the landline phone, exclaiming “How long will it take? He should have called by now!” “Be patient, my friend. He said they will call today, and they will.” I responded. This was the day we have both been waiting for since we met. The Diablo Circus, one of the most prestigious circuses in the world, would call...

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“A Flicker of Light” by Chris Holland

Submitted to Contest #149

I woke suddenly, my alarm clock showing 3.30am. In my half awake state I wondered what had awakened me so suddenly. It was a flicker of light I decided as another flash of light briefly lit up the black sky outside. The night was like pitch; there was no moon and the stars were covered by a thick blanket of clouds. I climbed out of bed and peered out the window looking down at the garden below. It was dead quiet, no sounds came up to me through the open window. The soft breeze that brushed my face was cool but was not enough to stir the leav...

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“The Fox's Scream” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #149

Susie shook her little flashlight desperately as it flickered and went out. The battery must have died. Hiding deep under her covers, she had been about to escape to the Shire with Bilbo, her current literary hero. She didn’t dare turn on her bedroom light in case her mother noticed. Her mother had a habit of going outside to look up at Susie’s window to make sure her light was out. If it was on, her mother was liable to barge into the bedroom, followed by Hank who would be trying to calm her down. Depending on her state of intoxication, she...

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$250

Prize money

256

Contest entries

123

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 10, 2022 EST

Won by Katy B 🏆

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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