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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#154: The Right Timing

It has come to our attention that Backstreet Boys (you know, the famous boy band from the 90s) recently announced that they'll be releasing a Christmas album. Naturally, this week's prompts are all about timing.

In a rapidly changing world, it can be hard to keep up sometimes. The newest TikTok is old almost as soon as it has gone viral, and trends come and go quicker than the seasons. And yet, some things are timeless classics. Taking inspiration from the ebb and flow of time, here are this week’s prompts:

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone saying, “We’re running out of time.”

Middle School – 77 stories

Write a story about someone who feels increasingly irrelevant.

Sad – 57 stories

Write a story — romantic or not — about two characters who can’t find the right timing.

Romance – 32 stories

Write a story about an object that has been around for centuries or passed down generations.

Kids – 46 stories

Write a story featuring an element of time-travel or anachronism.

Science Fiction – 68 stories

Stories

“A History Lesson” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #154

“You have to admit, it is a great story! Proof of a personal connection of a freed slave to US president!” “Rumblings of an old man with dementia-” “These books are over 150 years old, and first editions of President Grant’s memoirs!” Kiara said, trying to pass her optimism over to her boyfriend Terrence. “I looked them up on the internet. The dark leather editions can bring $5 to $6,000 depending on condition. And- with what I showed you, and the story Grandpa told me, I think we can get 10 times that.” Kiara said. “...

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“The Coin” by Finn Williamson

Submitted to Contest #154

My father was thirty when I watched him through the crack in our barn door talking to my grandfather. I was nine, and had recently taken up snooping as a casual hobby. I’d been caught a couple of times, nothing particularly awful, mostly listening in on my parents arguing about money late at night or overhearing my sister’s conversations on the cellphones. Nothing terrible enough to warrant more than a slap on the wrist from my parents, and nothing I learned was awful enough to make me regret it. Catching my dad and grandfather happened by a...

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“The Cursed Cuckoo Clock” by Meredith Gifford

Submitted to Contest #154

Junie just turned eighteen. She has decided to move out of her family home and into her first apartment. As she’s packing up her bedroom, her mother knocks on the door, opens it a crack and peeks her head inside. “Need some help packing Junie?” “No thanks, I’m just about done!” “You haven’t forgotten about the most important thing, have you?” “What? I didn’t forget anything?” “The Cuckoo clock that is downstairs in the foyer. You have to bring it with you. Junie stomps her foot. “But I don’t want to bring great, great grandfather’s Cuckoo Cl...

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“Cycles” by Jermaine Packer

Submitted to Contest #154

“David! David!” That bellowing voice you hear echoing through the hallway is my dad. I don’t know what he wants. He probably wants me to get something for him. You know how fathers do. I think it’s a power thing. For instance, ‘ come in here and get the remote.’ Or ‘ hand me my phone that is sitting across the table from me. Or the ultimate power move, ‘bring me the toilet paper while I have this bathroom door open so you can smell all my scent.’ Oh my goodness, it is the absolute worst. But, we still love them.I especially love my dad....

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“0088” by Steven Sain

Submitted to Contest #154

Unsurprisingly, the explosion was vast and all consuming. One spark ignited an unattended gas leak, triggering a military storage of chemical weapons to fulminate. It incinerated everything within a mile radius and killed thousands. To those unlucky enough to witness the plant’s catastrophic failure, it would be a tragedy seared forever in their memories. For Jeremy, it was infuriating. “Damn it, if that lanky prick bumps into me one more time I’m going to decapitate him.” He pulled out a chrome tallier, its white-on-black digits read 0087...

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“The Grand Wise-sir” by Ness Turner

Submitted to Contest #154

Cold. The world around me comes into focus, into being, and I can see dark shapes moving. My face - yes, that’s what it is, a face - I can feel my own face, pressed very hard against cool surfaces all around. But the surface is getting warmer. Warmer. It’s like I’m looking through fogged up glass in the morning. But actually, you never see that happen anymore. Since I’ve grown up, they’ve found ways to keep glass transparent whatever the weather. Or they just change the weather entirely, if it’s out of favour that day. But the fogg...

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“Destination Freedom ” by Pstarr Starr

Submitted to Contest #154

Destination Freedom She watched the tall man with the black beard and big black stovepipe hat. He wore a black suit and stood very straight. He was the President her grandaddy had told her. Her daddy wasn't here today because he had gone to fight the war. He never came back. Her grandaddy told her that daddy was a hero that helped win the war. Still she wanted her daddy. Also, he was nice to everyone including the colored folks. That's why daddy went to fight the war. He believed in this man here and the things he said. The President...

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“The Thing” by Anna Smith

Submitted to Contest #154

The tenth and final time somebody found the object, it was 1987. Laura found it on the side of the road, and picked it up. She was an artist and finding and using detritus she had found was something that she often did. She couldn't even figure out what it was until she saw the glass eyes, and the feeling of fur between her fingers made sense. It was a teddy bear, the fur the only thing left of the child's toy. "Hey," she said, softly, running her fingers over what was left of it, covered in dirt and leaves as it was. The stuffing had comple...

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“Another Time” by Marie White

Submitted to Contest #154

Katie sent her the most determined stare she’d managed in years, her left hand’s two remaining fingers curled around her pumpkin spice latte. The voices of the café’s other patrons dulled to a murmur. Liliana examined the branch-like gray stripes on the marble tile below. “You’ve gotta take me,” Katie said, voice also more forceful than Liliana had ever heard it. Liliana remained silent; the request had come out of nowhere. When her late grandmother had told her about the por...

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“Phht... and Faith” by Glenn Holt

Submitted to Contest #154

Mary met Jim in high school. Mary acted in the school play, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. Mary as Snoopy doing the dance of joy for supper time made the whole crowd laugh and applaud. The insane joy moved over Jim. He fell instantly in love with Mary’s energetic and happy dog portrayal. He thought what an amazing woman. His friend Priscilla arranged a meeting with her friend Mary.Mary fell in love with the serious and logical Jim. She started calling him Jimmy on their first date. She is still the only person alive other than his mom that...

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“Time Bends You” by Dempsey Hyatt

Submitted to Contest #154

I was working in my shop as a Chemist when a woman walked in with a gun and shot me. My bulletproof lab coat deflected the six.44 Magnum shots, but it still felt like getting pummeled. Bullets ricocheted, breaking beakers, vials, and other glassware. I winced, verified my body was not Swiss cheese with a glance, then gawked at my assailant. She was young, maybe in her twenties which meant she was born into the apocalypse. She wore a black tank top with black polymer pants and a clear visor with a digital displ...

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“Second Cycle” by Shlomo Ben- Zvi

Submitted to Contest #154

I pulled the red lever on the ceiling of my sleep compartment, just inches above my head, and took a deep breath. The bubble I lay in fogged up and I began to feel groggy from the gas it released. All on schedule. My body was in a tight space in more ways than one. My bed was comfy – comfy beyond anything I’d ever experienced, and for good reason. I assumed if I was going to sleep for a few hundred years the last thing I needed was to wake up with a sore back. The compartment, a bed surrounded by a chemically stren...

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“The Traversers” by Kelsey Johnson

Submitted to Contest #154

Somewhere over the Atlantic, 1745. Captain Hale was found freshly dead in his quarters early Monday morning, and before the sun had even reached its peak everyone on the Consolata was believing something different. Hanged himself with his belt, said one. No, the decision was made with a bullet, said another. Yet more theories floated about. Gazes slid to and fro, searching for a too-shifty eye or a too-quick breath. Ellis was the one who discovered the corpse. He’d cracked the door open, thro...

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“Long Journey Home” by Duane Burke

Submitted to Contest #154

Luci just wanted to go home. Volcanic ash rained from the sky and lava flowed freely less than a hundred meters away as she hid. Hid from the elements. Hid from her pursuers. Hid from her sisters. She could just make out the outline of her lab door about a hundred meters away through the thick haze that engulfed large sections of the island now. The fastest people on Earth could cover a hundred meters in less than ten seconds. She would have to be much faster at that distance to outrun the pursuit from her sisters and get to safety in ...

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“ The Bloody Regret” by Jiaying Cheng

Submitted to Contest #154

Five years had passed. The alarm clock rung with the humming of the birds outside, and Larry still woke up with the unforgettable nightmare he had for five years. In the nightmare, an emaciated and short boy stood in the gym feebly with a long scout rope in his hands. Larry clearly know that he was trying to save the boy, but the boy always vanished without a trace when Larry ran across him. And then, he woke up and realized that he was panting breathlessly as if he was at the scene in person. No one had ever aske...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

112

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 15, 2022 EST

Won by Suma Jayachandar 🏆

Title: Moonlight and Madness

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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