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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

“The Plague Doctor” by Caodi Achim

Submitted to Contest #154

I first noticed the man on a sunny day in June. At the time I lived in a downtown suburban area. My apartment was on the fourth floor of a new complex, where I lived with my older sister and her boyfriend while I took my prereqs in nursing from the local community college. None of that is particularly important other than the fact that I’d never seen anything out of the ordinary. As a nineteen-year-old woman, I even felt relatively safe taking jogs on my own in the neighborhood. I felt safe in that neighborhood. Then, one day...

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“An ASSESSMENT of TIME” by Brian Bywater

Submitted to Contest #154

AN ASSESSMENT OF TIME “We are running out of time Jed.’ “No Marcia, we are not. The Bank does not open until ten am. The Manager does not arrive until ten fifteen. By then we are fully set up waiting for him to open the main safe so we can make our withdrawal. It has to be the main safe. The smaller one the head teller opens does not have enough cash. I explained all of this in detail before we got here.” “I know. What happens if he is late? We could run out of time.” “What is this fixation you have with time? Do you realise just ho...

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“NOT RELEVANT” by Brian Bywater

Submitted to Contest #154

NOT RELEVANT It is definitely time to take some affirmative action and I know exactly what I will do, I’ll sit him down and talk to him about my concerns. Perhaps if I run through it my mind I might be able to anticipate his objections. Oh and doesn’t he have a way of directing the conversation. How will I begin? Let’s try this to grab his attention. Can I talk to you? I mean really talk about a subject for a change without you turning the conversation into a litany of ‘it’s all about you and what is going on in your life’. Can we do that...

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“Absorbed into Irrelevance” by Danielle Jumper

Submitted to Contest #154

Samantha gave me red liquid in a crystal flute. “Drink this, Dana,” she giggled. Samantha always giggled. She was short and cute and never laughed, only giggled. I drank from the crystal flute. It tasted like punch from an eight year old’s birthday party. “You’ll be in our sorority soon,” Samantha giggled. “We like you.” I giggled back at Samantha. I had never giggled before I came here to college. I laughed openly and with tears and snorts sometimes when my best friend Jeannie and I watched movies together back in high school. Jeann...

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“Snakes in the garden” by Zachary Lloyd

Submitted to Contest #154

Holding in the tears is hard when all you did was tell the truth. Snakes in the garden helps with the rodents, so sometimes it’s easier to tend to the garden if you don’t kill the garden snakes. This was something my mother always used to tell me daily. Showing up at the club feels weird sometimes with all the people who know me shaking hands, dapping people up, and more just to show me respect for the amount of time I have put in here. Sometimes it can be exhausting having to be this way , I hear all the conversations in my positi...

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“Dis-irrellevance” by Leo Gindl

Submitted to Contest #154

The bells are singing once more upon this city I have created. Hundreds of people walk like voided souls amongst the streets and white doves fill the blue sky with nothing but a feeling of peace. Why but why does it feel like my work is not done yet? Have I forgotten something important? Is my Kin not as established amongst Humankind like I am? The bells…they are still singing my name. Here on my bed atop a tower amidst the clouds, I hear them loud and clear. What have I done wrong this time? Has my reign been toxic? Have I maimed my people ...

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“Bad Skin Day” by Jeffrey Taylor

Submitted to Contest #154

Bad Skin Day The big screen looms above me, and it looks like the surface of a planet that’s wandered too close to the sun. A nightmare landscape of active volcanoes, deep fissures and craters. They’re masters of h...

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“CHARLIE'S NOSEDIVE” by Mark Edmonds

Submitted to Contest #154

CHARLIE’S NOSEDIVEIn his younger days Charlie Schriver had been a solidly built guy. He had worked for many years in construction where his natural strength was an asset. In his youth he had been a skilful amateur football player. He eventually met and dated Sarah. They kept each other company for two years until they married and together, they had two children. He was a nice guy. He was hard working and supportive of others. Everyone loved him. Family life was good.A very unfortunate incident disrupted the life of their entire family when a...

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“Growing Old” by JP Branski

Submitted to Contest #154

“Hey, Jason, did you need any help with your homework?” inquired old Theodore, Jason’s father.“No thanks, I am going over to Garret’s place to study,” shouted Jason from his room.“No thanks…” a phrase that has become all to common to Theodore in recent years. His daughter, Breanna, started her first year of college and now lives in the dorms a few states away. Jason, while still in high school, got his license last summer and got an old beater from a police auction. Ever since his mother passed away two years ago, Jason spends more time over...

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“Human Nature” by Falyn Owens

Submitted to Contest #154

Who am I? This afternoon I assume the identity of a girl who has not yet graduated into womanhood, but rather stands on the cusp of not quite girl, but not yet considered adult enough in a world demanding permanent titles. This frozen shell of a girl remains stagnant and isolated within her mortal body at the bottom of a dirt-encrusted boat. The sound of waves lapping against the metal underside soothes the dull, demanding ache within my chest. Today I reflect on a girl whose curiosity dwells on the thought of purpose in all thi...

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“Behind Forgotten Walls” by Mars Thorn

Submitted to Contest #154

1988 It was the summer of 1988 the summer I turned 15 one week before my birthday. It was the summer Zachariah Fletcher was driven to the hospital, the sirens waking up the whole town. By the next morning he was pronounced dead. Zachariah Fletcher was not still my brother and he killed himself. I was the one who found him foam coming out of his mouth vomit on the floor all around him. My brother had overdosed.i never thought he would end up like this in all the years i've known him and i never noticed a thing. It never struck me you would ...

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“Circle in the Sky” by Shon Washburn

Submitted to Contest #154

Kelsey sat in her Volvo sedan, clicking through channels on her radio, even if she only had four to choose from nowadays. She had smooshed her car into the back of a triangular parking lot designed to cram three cars into the space of only Kelsey’s. Combing her fingers through her coarse strawberry blonde hair which saddled a round face with a somewhat pointed chin and squeezing her eyebrows together, she floated her head up naturally as she ballooned her lungs with air. Kelsey wondered who in the Godless land of California supplied a toddle...

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“Raining, but Gently” by Octavia Kuransky

Submitted to Contest #154

Raining, but Gently a short story by Octavia Kuransky 2250 words Grace could not find the match to her black shoe. The T-strap in patent, not the sling back with the gold heel. She was on her knees now digging through the bottom of the closet. Fingering the shoe boxes now on the closet shelf. Now under the bed, under the makeup chair, under the bureau. She was running late and in just a few minutes it would be too late. She didn’t feel too bad about it. She didn’t want to go anyway. It was an obligation type thing. An acquaintance she was ...

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“Nothing Else” by Jenny Blur

Submitted to Contest #154

This story contains strong language. “I could use some help here,” Marion said sharply. She was talking to a pudgy, bearded man hunched over a desk behind the front counter of AAA Video Rentals and Repair. She sounded more irritated than she intended, realized that would get her nowhere, and forced a tight smile. Patience, she thought. She really did need help. She was a small woman and the VCR she was carrying was awkward in her arms. She shifted it from side to side. Its edges dug into her forearms and the cord fell to t...

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“The Lonely ” by Sullivan Dark

Submitted to Contest #154

The Lonely "Only the Lonely knows how I feel tonight,"__ Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. I am sitting here in this room, surrounded by all these people, I look at their faces, and I wonder, is anyone here besides me feeling The Lonely? I talk, am social, and smile and look the part, but inside, The Lonely is with me. At times, he tries to overwhelm me, drag me down to a dark and damp place so overwhelming that no matter how hard I try… I simply can't climb to the rim of the crevasse. The people at this par...

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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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