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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

“Darkness Has Fallen” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #149

The darkness is back. I feel it in my bones. I see it everywhere I go. No one can stop the darkness for it has come once again and hit my town of Sandy Shores. Sandy Shores use to be a town of light and beauty. Laughter was in every corner of my small town. Life was full of happiness. Families were together. Friends were having fun with each other. But ever since the darkness came the beauty, the light, the laughter and the happiness have left Sandy Shores. My name is Jamie, this is my story of how the darkness overcame my small town o...

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“Emotional Support Mirror” by K R

Submitted to Contest #149

[content warning for transphobia and language] My mom was waiting for me at the front door when I got home from school that day. Based on her stormy expression and the report card crumpled in her fist, I could already guess which lecture she was gearing up for, so I swerved and went through the garage door instead. “Chelsea!” she shouted after me, hurrying down the front steps so she could keep bothering me, “Get your ass back here. We need to talk about this.” “No, we don’t,” I said, booking it as fast as I could towards t...

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“War Redo ” by Jimmy Burke

Submitted to Contest #149

I started waking up, and the first thing I remembered was that my head hurt. At lot. Everything was black except for the dim lights that were overhead. I wouldn't call them lights, in the same sense as fluoresant lights. It was more a glow, like the glow that you would get from a glow stick that one would use in the wilderness at night. They were very high up - 30 feet or more. And there was a slight vibration in the floor. I could tell that I was inside some sort of vehicle. It was massive. I tried to get up, but as I rose to ...

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“Paul's game” by Tony Coppo

Submitted to Contest #149

Hidden behind a lamppost I spy Paul accosting two young women. I have been following him since dawn and this is already the tenth time. The pattern is always the same: he puts his hand on their shoulder, at first they look at him dismissively, some swat his hand away. Then he opens his notebook and reads aloud for five minutes. Gradually the women's faces light up, most of them have big smiles, the first one approached this morning even chuckled. When he closes his book, they give him an air kiss, some of them put a real smack on his cheek.&...

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“Mysterium” by Maizie Bymers

Submitted to Contest #149

"Come on guys please can we play the Mysterium," I pleaded to my 3 best friends Robert (Rob) Johnson, Ivy Ruth, and Rebecca Garden. "Sure," Rebecca said, twirling in the seats in my basement meeting room which my dad usually uses for work but not today because it was a Saturday. "We always play this game," Rob groaned, which was true but still it's an awesome game. "Plus I'm always stuck as a ghost." "Well not today my dad promised me that he would be a ghost." "Sure, Rubs," Ivy said, sitting down next to Rebecca. "Fine. But you promise me I...

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“A Bone” by Allya Nosmada

Submitted to Contest #149

Darkness. It descended like a black veil on a widow, concealing from the eyes all things good and beautiful all while creating a sort of mystery. It was in this sudden gloom that a young woman got off the train at her stop and looked up to ponder the weather before she continued on. She wore no jacket, carried no umbrella, and wore no rain shoes; yet she did not move briskly to avoid the impending storm. She took her time, descending the station steps and exited out onto the desolate streets. On the street corner that she waited, the light f...

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“A Heavy Message” by Arthur Duckworth

Submitted to Contest #149

The candle flame burned motionlessly, until it flickered with a passing draft. Shadows were momentarily illuminated in the otherwise dark room. The flame then regained its stillness. Tokugawa Ieyasu acknowledged the flame’s greeting and received the message it carried. Such a heavy message.How had it come to this? Only three people knew Ieyasu’s true location; his son Hidetada, General Ogawa Suketada and his consort Saigō no Tsubone. One of those three had betrayed his location to his enemy. True, each one had a reason to strike at Ieyasu, b...

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“Laying Roses” by Zoe B

Submitted to Contest #149

The candle that was lit in the living room flickered in and out, echoing on the walls throughout the room. I tried to focus on that and not the harrowing reality in front of me. I had lied to my parents before and believe me, I tried to think all my ways out but I couldn’t seem to find one. I did the only thing I could and called them. “Judith?”, my mother had answered. I told her I was at our vacation home, that there was something I couldn’t handle and I needed her and my father to meet me here immediately. I think back to all the t...

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“Trail Angel” by Maria Avisal

Submitted to Contest #149

I took the headlamp off and whacked it against my thigh, cursing under my breath as the light flickered again before fading out completely. At least I had already placed the bear cannister at least fifty yards away from the tent and made it back into the tent before the light died. After fumbling around on the floor of the tent for my cell phone, I hit the side button and was surprised to see it was already 9:15pm. Knowing I still had two full days on the trail and couldn’t waste my cell phone, I reluctantly powered it off. For at lea...

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“The Trip to Verdad” by Sam Wilson

Submitted to Contest #149

Frank couldn't remember the last time he ran so fast. Thick brush grabbed at his ankles as he raced toward what he believed to be the edge of the forest, back to the gravel parking lot below the buzzing neon sign outside Lillies Diner."I have to get to Caroline," He pleads out loud as if someone will hear him through the dense trees.He whimpers as he trips over a gnarled root and staggers along. His shoes are now heavy with caked mud. He braces his hands on his thighs. He pants big breaths of damp air as beads of sweat trickle down his foreh...

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“Ambivalence” by Kyle Sager

Submitted to Contest #149

It was the last night of the sodium lights, and one by one they were dying out. How fitting it seemed to be, almost as if they knew their end was in sight, and rather than be snuffed out by the harsh unscrewing of a bulb, they flickered themselves, edging the quiet street closer and closer into the blackness of early-morning June. Exhausted as he was, Silas went out walking, alone in gym shorts and a white tee shirt, his flip-flops slapping the pavement as he stared up at the dancing leaves. They became fractals of shadows at his feet, cast...

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“The Void in the Attic” by Simon Pacis

Submitted to Contest #149

It was the first flicker of what would prove to be far too many over the following days.They were simple enough at first, innocuous even.The light in the ceiling of his office had flickered.But not like the usual flicker of a bulb going out.It was as if that part of the ceiling where the light was supposed to be opened up, showing the dark, deep attic above.He looked at that spot for a fraction of a second, shrugged, and continued with his work.But the next day, he had, perhaps naturally, grown curious about the strange flickering.To his luc...

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“Move Away Humans ” by Karen Lethlean

Submitted to Contest #149

Move away Humans Well into an eerie evening, as twin suns withdrew light from hills appearing to encroach air whispered, here comes night, beware! Someone should switch lights on. Sitting on verandahs, mesmerized by views off into thick trees, unhindered by walls of scrubs were hikers and their leader. Close together, enforcing one another against a sense of isolation dusky surroundings evoked. Flickering lights came over the verandahs, dulled views. The National Pa...

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“Wisp” by Jeremy Renbarger

Submitted to Contest #149

I wake up sitting on the floor with my legs crossed in complete disorienting darkness. In the distance I see a flickering light.But where am I? what was I doing? I am wearing a long sleeved t shirt, shorts, and some sneakers.It feels as if it’s empty space all around me, moderately cold, and nothing but that flickering light. I walk towards it, it’s further away then I originally thought shivering as I move closer I realize that it is a flame by how it shifts side to side and sways as if there was a small draft. Interestingly...

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“On/Off” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #149

On the last day of third grade, the street light over the bus stop flickered. Even if I could have climbed up two stories to tap it, that old wooden light pole would have riddled my hands and thighs with splinters. A pack of Sweet Tarts later, the light turned on in full force, but I could have counted to ten before it turned off. Then, it resumed flickering with a buzz and a crackle, a sizzle and hum. The morning air began to smell like it does after it rains, but more electric, tasting like when you put your mouth on an iron bar on the pla...

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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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