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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 Firefly” by Elizabeth VerBryck

Submitted to Contest #154

July 20, 1949The day of the discovery began with a muted sun and a balmy breeze, a rarity in July. Dillmont, the sleepy suburb I grew up in, awoke with the sun. Its bleary eyed residents emerged from their homes and soaked in the refreshing Saturday morning on their wicker porch furniture. As the sun rose above town, lawn mowers traced uniform lines across the primped front yards, tea kettles screamed, and the weekend seemed to be off to a pleasant start.Unbeknownst to us, the object sitting in the center of Sunday Road was prepared to chang...

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“The Inheritance” by Frances Hogg Lochow

Submitted to Contest #154

“For his grandson, Eric, I will translate,” said the white-haired lawyer.Eric felt embarrassed. Why was this old guy rubbing his face in it? Was it his fault that his mother died when he was a baby, so he had never learned to speak Chinese?Mr. Po settled his spectacles on his nose and looked at the document in his hand. “Chen Wang provides to Ling-Yu, his eldest daughter, the jade horse.” Everyone clapped as an assistant handed a statuette of a galloping green horse to the lady sitting across from Eric. Then another aunt received an ivory ne...

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“Just in time.” by K.J. Dyer

Submitted to Contest #154

NOTE: This story contains suggestive content, foul language, adult subject matter. Penny paced back and forth across her living room as police officers took statements from friends and neighbors, trying to determine the where-bout’s of her mother. “Where have you been? My mother has been missing since yesterday. I came home from school and she was just gone. I waited up all night for her and called you several times. This morning I called the police, they said she had to be missing for 24 hours before they could do anything and that she ...

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“Waiting for Winnifred” by Dana Murray

Submitted to Contest #154

CW: Harsh language including homophobic slurs I was eight years old the first time I kissed Winnifred. We were in one of those covered tubes on the playground, the hard plastic rife with static electricity. It was warm, and mostly dark, the sun muted through the bright orange of the tube. And it just seemed like the right thing to do. Winnifred was going by a different name at the time, and she seemed to all the world a strange, shy little boy. I could sense something different about her, though. Even under the layers of confusion and r...

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“Running Out Of Time” by T.M. Kehoe

Submitted to Contest #154

“We’re running out of time.” He spoke softly, calming my panic. “They are going to medicate you, then probably give you shock treatments. After that, your life will never be the same. You will never see me or talk to me again. Is that what you really want?” I’m unable to speak. To never see or speak with my friends, ever again? How could they do that to me? “Of course that’s not what I want! How could you even think that? You know how much you mean to me. You and the rest of my friends. Before you, I had nothing. Now, I belong. I know you gu...

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“Investing in sin” by Tony Coppo

Submitted to Contest #154

"Did you know that official time is not true solar time?" I ask, nonchalantly sipping my whiskey, pushing my glasses straight up my nose and putting on a mysterious grin. Even as I walked into the gray bar of the Novotel at Heathrow Airport, her long legs ran into my eye like the waving of a red flag on a gaur. Her blonde locks flapped with every tap of her stiletto heels on the wooden floor. Her yellow aura shone gold on the gray interior in which my pot-bellied colleagues hung puffily in brown seats. Through her, the painful memory of the ...

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“Hey! What About Me?!” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #154

Hey! What About Me?! “I don’t get no respect.” – Rodney DangerfieldThis is nuts. Dark, crowded and wet. I about can’t take it anymore. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Dogs are two months. I could live with that. Or how about mice? Twenty-five days tops! And I have to put up with this for nine months? Life ain’t ...

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“That One Friend” by Laura Eliz

Submitted to Contest #154

We all have that one friend in our life that knows everything about us, who has seen us at our best, and our worst and still likes us. The friend that we can laugh with about anything and when you laugh it is so hard that you start to cry. That one friend that we almost ended up dating but for whatever reason, we didn’t. Don’t act like you don’t have that friend. You have one and are probably thinking of them as you read this and if you don't, at one point I bet you did. I have a friend like...

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“8:30 pm” by Kyla Writes

Submitted to Contest #154

"Would you like to start with some appetizer, ma'am?" The waiter questions as he pulls a chair for me. I settle down on it, and place my purse behind me before shaking my head at him with a small smile. "No, thank you. I'm waiting for someone." The waiter nodded and slips away, leaving the menu on the table for me to skim through. I check my watch, 7:44pm. I know I came here way early even though Sam and I were supposed to meet at 8, but I sincerely felt bad when I stood her up last week on our date and figured it would be ...

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“The Path to Tallinn” by Erik Brun

Submitted to Contest #154

*Content Warning: Mild foul language* The Baltic States have always captivated me. Seemingly hidden from the rest of the world, not quite Russian, not quite European. A mix of both, yet each held its own unique identity. Decades could be spent exploring the mesmerizing arrays of old shops and eateries tucked away in tight cobblestone-laden alleys. All of them sure to hold brazen stories of resistance against Russia, most of them ending in heartbreaking disappointment. I only had a few more nights in the capital city, Tallinn. Activity in...

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“Musket on the Ledge” by Daltin Danser

Submitted to Contest #154

I think I woke up around midday. I was prostrate in the grass, blowing as hard as I could through my nostrils. I must have sounded like an angry bull, but I couldn’t get rid of that damned smell. When I say ‘damned’ smell, I am not being unnecessarily crass. This was a smell only the Devil himself could produce. Dead bodies and gun smoke… more than I thought possible. I was far from the battlefield, as far away as my legs were able to carry me. Still, the Damned Smell lingered. Would there be anyone searching for me? The General thoug...

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“McDonald’s Run” by Jeremy Renbarger

Submitted to Contest #154

“We’re running out of time!” my dad yells.“McDonald’s breakfast ends in *looks at watch*“Eight minutes!”We are sitting at the light right before the McDonald’s. It’s a right turn and we are in the right lane. One elongated minute passes, and the light turns green. We turn into the parking lot, I see the big yellow arches, it was like in the movies. My dad sees how the drive-thru line was insanely long, so he says he’s gonna just park. My dad never had a problem parking far for ease, but in the interest of time, he pulled up right ...

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“Ready for Your Dream” by Ren B

Submitted to Contest #154

My agency in West L.A. has vivid posters of wonderlands: the Ganges, Mount Fuji, Madagascar, and Galapagos. Never been to any. The wall behind me holds a gigantic world map with colored pins stuck throughout the planet. A desk in the corner is piled high with traveler’s literature, maps, and brochures. The smell of freshly ground coffee fills the air. I cherish my job; manifesting someone’s dream, by whisking them away to some far-off world. Better than that self-help book you got last month. I admit it; I get lost in my work; I am...

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“The Rhapsody of Reality and Desire” by Mahogany Ree

Submitted to Contest #154

“Keep drooling like that and the levees gon break” “What?” “I see you seeing sitting over there seeing what you seeing.” “Shut up Kendra.” I laughed. “Ain’t he fine?” “Girl that man is delicious, but according to the street committee he’s got his hooks in Robyn. Or Robyn’s got her hooks in him.” Kendra shrugged. “Robyn who?” “HR on the third floor, first office to the left, Robyn.” “Noooo.” “Yeah girl. They be trying to keep things professional down at the office but me and Leroy saw them all hugged up, lovey dovey, and whatnot ...

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“Sanctum” by Taylor Van Horne

Submitted to Contest #154

The boy dashed up to the priest. “Quick, Father. Fetch the key.” The priest raised his eyes. He lifted his hands that had nested in his lap and let them drop to his sides. “What is it? Why the hurry?” The young boy panted after his run. His bare feet were dirty from the dust of the dry forest path. “Faranji.” The priest smiled to himself, and the smile came slowly to his lips. Faranji, yes. Always the foreigners. Always in a hurry. His parishioners ca...

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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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