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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 – 41 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

“Time for God” by Mark Sheehan

Submitted to Contest #151

Hank settled in for the fifty-one minute journey from Perth to Mandurah. The train eased cautiously out of Perth Underground, like a turtle’s head from its shell. Picking up speed, the train settled into the lulling clickety-clack train track rhythm. Managing to stay awake during the short stop at Elizabeth Quay, Hank drifted off soon after. Letting his hoodie swaddled head loll against the window, he basked in the warmth of the winter sun. Quickly, Hank surrendered to deep sleep, floating in the endless sea of his subconscious. He dreamt o...

4 comments 4
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“Breath In” by Amanda Dehertoghe

Submitted to Contest #151

Breath In Monday 9:00am The café where she had her coffee every morning before work looked just as busy as always. Mostly the same faces shuffling by, no real distinction between them in her eyes. They might as well be part of the décor. She had been coming to this café every morning for the last two years in the futile attempt to boost her energy before going into work. Unfortunately, although coffee does help wake her up, it does not provide motivation. She didn’t hate her job, it was just part of a series in, what seemed to be, a never-e...

4 comments 4
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“Make It Stop” by Nicole Meade

Submitted to Contest #151

I've never considered myself to be special. I'm not extraordinary in any way. I wake up everyday, go through the same routine over and over, take care of my family the best I can, and end my day by losing myself in a good mystery book. The only notable thing about my life is that I have a reputation for being the girl who hates rain. I'm often mocked and ridiculed for canceling plans if the sky clouds up. It's not storms or thunder or lightning that scares me, simply the rain. The anxiety that it causes requires me to plan my whole life arou...

8 comments 8
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“Caught” by Lauren Garner

Submitted to Contest #151

An innocent invention gone right, or a step toward a one-world currency? That's the question many ask as bitcoin floods every country's market, enticing people to invest in digital currency. Who created bitcoin? What was their intention, and why did they suddenly disappear? I asked those questions as I opened the investigation into bitcoin and Satoshi Nakamoto. No one knew who this person was, but I was sure I would find out. And I did. It was February 1, 2021, when I was sitting at a small cafe called Two Chicks in New Orleans, Louisiana....

1 comment 1
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“Da Nile” by K.J. Dyer

Submitted to Contest #151

The wind wasn't blowing “Marilyn’s” skirt up, nor was it penguin cold. It was probably, seven to eight miles per hour, off the Pacific ocean in early spring. If you live in the Midwest, it was definitely still winter and you won’t need a Punxsutawney pampered rodent to tell you so.Here, in Southern California, February is not really winter and nor is it really spring. As the sun goes down the ocean sneaks in at the ankles and chills your bones. The wind was blowing in over the backs of the parents sitting in the stands, invading the game its...

11 comments 11
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“Marienvoglein” by Lonnie Russo

Submitted to Contest #151

The first ladybug of the season found me on one of those unseasonably warm days when the autumn dared retreat—when a high morning sun and the right amount of haze could conspire to make a person forget the summer had already gone. It was not the first one I had seen that year, of course. They had been flitting about in flashes of red since the spring. I had figured by now, though, they would all be hiding, holed up in damp crevices and corners to wait out the approaching winter.This one had six spots. It landed easily in my hands as my dress...

10 comments 10
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“Life of a cherry blossom” by Neko Ikemoto

Submitted to Contest #151

Toshiro galloped across the battlefield, his stallion’s hooves thundering in the quiet reverence that had descended when the last swords were sheathed. The rhythm was soothing, assuring him he would soon see his lord. The generals’ reports he had gathered were not the only reason he stood in the stirrups and kept urging his mount forward. They were not even the most important reason.  Trusting his horse to pick the best way back to the camp, he loosened the reins and looked around. The last rays of the setting sun painted the grass sca...

6 comments 6
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“You, Me, and the Existential Dread” by Sue Hunter

Submitted to Contest #151

It’s hard to break something you don’t know exists. If you don’t know what a car is, how can you crash it? How are you supposed to chop down a tree if you don’t understand what an axe does? But, even if you did know how to crash the car or chop the tree, what if you physically couldn’t? Isn’t that worse, in some way? That, despite you wanting to do something, you just couldn’t. Your feet can’t reach the pedals. Your arms can’t hold the axe. You simply do not have the ability to break anything at all. Oh, yeah, sorry. Guess I got carried a...

2 comments 2
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“Stuart's Got This” by Sean Sorce

Submitted to Contest #151

'I got this,' I said to myself as I was beginning to walk down towards the starting line with the other contenders. It was a hot gorgeous day for lacrosse tryouts and everyone was doing their best including myself. I've always liked thia sport for the longest I could remember. I had to be at least seven years old when I first saw it on national television. Sure, I do like me some football and basketball, but lacrosse always had my full attention no matter what.  Considerably, I wqs very active and athletic, I begged my parents to tryo...

2 comments 2
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“Joanne” by Amanda Anderson

Submitted to Contest #151

Joane woke up with a groan. Her back was stiff. Still, she rolled out of bed and walked over to the Keurig. She couldn’t quite remember when she and her husband, Allen, had decided to put it in her bedroom, but today she was beyond thankful for it. She felt like a cup of coffee before facing her day would be the perfect start for her day. The smell of french vanilla coffee filled the air as Joanne opened her bedroom window. She desired to hear the sounds of the morning birds, but found it difficult. Yet again, Allen’s friends could be heard...

3 comments 3
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“Paved in Dark Gold” by R W Mack

Submitted to Contest #151

An ocean away from his west-coast California office, a man stepped into bright Milan sunshine. Less than an hour before, he'd decided he deserved a vacation. Crowds had cheered the first successful quantum-transport of live humans half a decade earlier. Commercial pods became available soon after, at premium prices. Business, finance and leisure luxuries changed overnight. Every global corporate district and opulent resort proposed installing transport hubs to stay competitive.Back at the Los Angeles Aphi-Solutions transport hub, the man's s...

7 comments 7
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“A Past Life” by Luwana Ransier

Submitted to Contest #151

A PAST LIFE Since I had no significant other to go home to, I would take classes in the evenings after work. After spending an evening with a group of women talking about past life regression, I was eager to get home and practice what I had learned. I wanted to see if it was possible to dream about a past life. So, after getting ready for bed I did my meditations, drank my tea, laid down in my bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.  I must have been in rem sleep because I was dreaming about a place I knew. It was in the past, in...

1 comment 1
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“Ayeba The Huntress Retires” by Kristin Johnson

Submitted to Contest #151

Fictional characters never retire. Ayeba the Huntress, twenty, glared at the unfamiliar blue room in which sweet soothing music played and blossoms filled the air with their scent. She fitted an arrow, carved from hartwood, polished with a nine days’ finish, to her bow.  “Where am I?” This did not look like the rolling meadows of her home planet, Or’yan. Or the.metal machine-domes that displaced swaths of trees from her jungle home. These machine-domes, with people that crawled in and out like bees or ants, all carrying their metal...

5 comments 5
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“I did it! I did it!” by Francesca Zanoni

Submitted to Contest #151

Why have I not bought the book again? How I am I supposed to pass this exam if I don’t even have the book? My dad is going to kill me if I don’t pass it. Statistics 101. I used to be really good at maths in high school. I got lost somewhere this semester. I probably get lost every Friday at the Lazy Lizard and every Saturday at the Boston Beanery, and every Wednesday, and Tuesday, and…whatever… No, now I remember, I forgot to buy the book because of that girl, what’s her name? Maggy? Maggy Jane? Man, she drove me mad for months… And now I am...

2 comments 2
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“If the Shoe Fits” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #151

People often described Noah as a trouble-maker. Or at least a problem. No one disputed his fierce independence. He held high standards for himself. To quote Winston Churchill, “There were things, up with which he would not put.” His exacting standards often confused those offering assistance. His curt responses to such offers earned him a variety of nick-names. Noah felt such names reflected more upon those naming him, than upon himself. In short, Noah didn’t respect people giving orders, or those offering a ‘helping hand.’ Even when for ‘...

0 comments 0
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$250

Prize money

233

Contest entries

110

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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