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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#151: Back to the Reboot

This past week we’ve been inspired by Lightyear, Top Gun: Maverick, and all the prequels, sequels, and reboots hitting our screens lately. For many of us, reboots inspire a sense of nostalgia, or déjà vu. But how do you interpret them? Do you welcome new creatives and their reimaginings of the past, or do you crave something fresh in its own right?

Of course, repetition can be creepy — and it can even become boring — but it can also open the doorway to improvement and growth. However you feel about the ever-rebirthing media cycle surrounding us, we hope you’ll find inspiration in these week’s prompts:

This week's prompts

Write about a character who wakes up in their past life, or as a future reincarnation of themself.

Fantasy – 54 stories

Write about somebody breaking a cycle.

Narrative – 42 stories

Write about a character who keeps ending up in the same place.

Sad – 40 stories

Repeat the same line of dialogue, from the same character, three separate times.

Middle School – 58 stories

Write about a character who’s expected to follow in someone’s footsteps.

Kids – 38 stories

Stories

“moths ” by Grace R

Submitted to Contest #151

There was so much darkness in the beginning, then suddenly, from nowhere, the window appeared. It was modest, with a peeling white frame and deep, velvety blue curtains that hung loosely from its sides. I had wanted so desperately to reach my arm out and stroke the curtains with my fingertips, but I couldn’t see my body. I couldn’t feel my body. I had no weight to myself, but I could feel the wood beneath me, the dirt above me. The window, in its modest nature, revealed nothing to me at first, as if it were sheepish. All I co...

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“Trapped” by Varian Rain

Submitted to Contest #151

Cells are boring and bland, does a TV hurt anyone? A little entertainment besides counting the dotted acoustic ceiling could be good. In fact, Simon Barlow had quite a few suggestions to enhance the stay of prisoners, for starters, maybe a rug. The floor was quite cold when you took off your shoes. Not like I just stepped out of a shower cold but like I just stepped in snow and ran around the house cold. Before she could think of the next suggestion, the door smashed open, “Shoot, this is not the control center,” Duh. — — — Gloria Barl...

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“Sisyphus Back on the Cattle Drive” by Hope Linter

Submitted to Contest #151

Harry woke up wearing dirty long underwear, sleeping in wool blankets and surrounded by a small canvas tarp that came to just a couple feet off his head. His bones and muscles were creaky, and he wanted to close his eyes, except this time he were the Trail Boss, on the big cattle drive from Bandera Texas to the Railhead in Lousiana. If the job worked out this time, and all that he made weren’t lost afore he made it home, he’d get his family off to the West. He’d hang on with all fiersest tenacity of the best bull rider....

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“Don't forget to remember ” by Haydn Rogan

Submitted to Contest #151

This was going to hurt. It had before and it would again. But nothing you need to survive is ever free. One way or another you always paid the price.Nyssa bolted awake. The sweat beaded on her brow.“Take me back in. I can handle it.” She massaged her forehead willing her trembling hands to quell the embers of a budding migraine.“Nyssa you can’t. The levels of acetylcholine coursing through your cerebral cortex are…” Konrad paused. “If you go back in you might not wake up.”“I know the risks.” She settled herself back down onto the metal plint...

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“Her and I ” by Vita K.

Submitted to Contest #151

TW: Quick mention of death. Oh dear. Why is she crying now? And at someone's grave? I step on a few flowers as I run toward her, feeling so heavy for some reason but I manage to get to her just as she turns her head in my direction and I hug her. She doesn’t throw her arms around me as I expected, being her solace in every other situation, but harshly pushes me away yelling: “Who are you?!” What does she mean it’s me I- I reach toward her and notice my hand is bigger and has rough skin around my nails, which are short, for a differenc...

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“And Will Again” by Drew Herman

Submitted to Contest #151

Munch, munch, swish. I’ve done this one before, or one very like it, I think while nosing my way around a milkweed. An idle thought, like all of them, but vaguely comforting in an indifferent universe, especially when combined with a sunny day and grass just turning crispy, yet still holding a juicy touch of last week’s rains. Downright peaceful. “Moo,” said Millie, ever the alarmist. The rest of us ignore her, except for Amy, who spares a quick glance up at all the nothing that prompted the remark. Based on the smell of the air and the girt...

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“Awe-Inspiring Perseverance” by Ryan Roarke

Submitted to Contest #151

From the back of a dusty tavern booth in a forgotten corner of the city, Jesper bided his time. His biding came easiest when telling the stories of others. While most preferred the fables and legends of heroes from faraway lands, he found himself enraptured by the ordinary. He believed every person was themself a book, and with quick glances between bitter sips from an old pewter mug, he attempted to read their chapters. He started with the pair sitting in an adjacent booth. While together they told a story of friends reunited after a lo...

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“AWAKENING AT DAWN” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #151

AWAKENING AT DAWN It was not yet daylight when Martha awoke from a night of agitated, confused dreams . She was exhausted. In her dreams of that night, which had just gone, she had always been fighting against overwhelming adversaries ( opponents), who towered over her, who she knew she could never defeat, as she knew she should fight as long as she could, even thought she would have to succumb in the end. Even though she knew she was going to be defeated, she would have to keep fighting ...

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“The Nest Egg” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #151

Doris shouted a perfunctory goodbye as as Jim departed for the golf club that evening. She volunteered at an organization which supported victims of domestic violence and had spent the afternoon at the thrift shop, assigned to unpack and sort donations with a bouncy young lady of her daughter’s age. She was ready to sit down and relax.“Hi, I’m Lily,” the new volunteer had said, proffering her hand. “Nice to meet you. Just tell me what to do and I’ll have at it.”Doris had smiled, enjoying Lily’s self-confidence. It was a stark contrast to her...

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“Shoot Second” by Shawn Kirkpatrick

Submitted to Contest #151

Shoot Second They sat in four very evenly spaced rows consisting of five two person tables in a high school chemistry room like setting. The one exception was that the thick tabletops were white. All computer tablets were to be turned off by 7:30 PM sharp, when Captain Harris would address the group with their beginning shift briefing. This was a carefully selected group set to run main patrols overnights from Wednesday through Saturday over the next ten-week shift cycle while most of the district 28 Police Department...

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“Nested beans” by Erika Jonsson

Submitted to Contest #151

On the calmest of days, I go to the kitchen to make coffee. My caffeine addiction is acting up again. I think my chakra needs its daily realignment. I see the empty coffee bag on my living room table. Typical. Suddenly I remember there was a two-for-one special. I got the two different exotic blends, probably some Caribbean beans. Store-brand obviously but I still remember being impressed. I am a student after all, thus I could not pass up this golden opportunity to fuel my addictions responsibly. When I enter the kitchen, I realize that I l...

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“A Little Advice ” by Anne Marie Lavalette

Submitted to Contest #151

I don’t recommend nursing a broken heart while eating a greasy calzone in a mall cafeteria. Especially my local mall, where you’re almost always bound to be one of two people in the entire cafeteria. The other person is the janitor, whose lack of ass and boatload of keys means his pants are hanging by a belt and a prayer. He stands in place wiping a rag over the same clean table with the same dead eyes in a perpetual frozen state since the nineteen nineties. He’s like the mosquito stuck in a sad sepia resin of capitalism’s underbel...

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“Through her eyes.” by Shan Hart

Submitted to Contest #151

I hate the smell of this cedar trunk in the hallway closet, but it’s the only space in the house I can hide from my mother. As soon as she got on the phone with Aunt Betsy and said the dreaded words, dress, and heels, I knew it was my cue to disappear. I would have left out the backdoor and headed over to Lindsey’s house, but she would have found me way too fast. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother. I really do. I just hate how much she wants to make me into something I’m not, or rather someone I’m not. It’s been a year since Da...

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“Little Rabbit” by M Esp

Submitted to Contest #151

(The following contains adult themes, sexual content, strong language and drug use.) “She’ll ruin you, you know?” Sean told me. People can warn you all day and all night. Hell, they even put warning labels larger than the logo on cigarettes. Your parents become so impassioned when you ignore them that they slap you around. Reminding you of the consequences if you do not heed their warnings. Yet like a moth to the flame, we meander and amble into the fire. Now there's something more satisfying about a lesson learned, taking that risk. It co...

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“Awakening” by Kyle Meyer

Submitted to Contest #151

“Ah good choice! Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets.” Stephen said passing the book over the counter to the gray-haired women standing in front of him. “Mine too!” She said. “You’re such a soulful mind Stephen, I’ll see next week.” “See you then Gladys, enjoy.” Stephen went over to the return bin, reached into his cordoroy pocket for the keys, and opened it; grabbing a stack of books he headed for the shelves. He glanced at his watch, three o’cloc...

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$250

Prize money

232

Contest entries

108

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 24, 2022 EST

Won by Kelsey H 🏆

Title: The Lake

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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