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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

“Pizza Box Message” by Deborah Kay

Submitted to Contest #154

PIZZA BOX MESSAGE “We’re running out of time.” Same man in the same clothes in the same locations shouting the same words holding the same pizza box message echoing the same sentiment: “We’re running out of time.” Martin is on his way to work. His palms are sweating and he’s gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly. Martin will admit to himself only that he is angry, not that he is nervous, maybe even scared. He is grinding his teeth. This will be the fourth morning since Martin first encountered the hom...

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“Tasty Tuesday” by Anne Holliday

Submitted to Contest #154

“We’re running out of time!” Amy shouted, “Drive faster!” “I’m already going nine miles an hour over the speed limit,” Mark said. “I refuse to go any faster.” “But …,” she said, sounding panicked. “If a state trooper stops us, we’ll certainly never make it so stop telling me to drive faster.” Mark couldn’t understand the urgency. It wasn’t as if this would be their first time. And so what if they didn’t make it tonight? There’s always tomorrow. Of course it wouldn’t be the same, but they would still be there. “We’re never goi...

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“Dinner On Tuesday At 5:30” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #154

CW: Alzheimer’s Carter Olson’s fingers tremble as they grip the silver handle of the door. The cab driver tips his hat as Carter says to no one in particular, “We’re running out of time. Annie and me…we’re running out of time.” He doesn’t notice the string of Christmas lights adorning the shopping complex's many windows filled with the latest video games and displays of the hot new toy for Christmas 2021. He simply wraps himself in a bear hug and remarks, “It’s rather nippy for September.” His breath dissipates into the cold air. He leave...

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“Winds of Time” by Zoë Page

Submitted to Contest #154

Time has changed me. Time has been my friend. Time has aged me. Time has rejuvenated me. Time will never end, and neither will I.I start off fluffy and stout, hardly visible as an individual amongst the mass of fuzz that sticks out at odd angles from the rest of our nesting place. Our nesting place, a little yellowish bird, does little except wobble around consuming most things in its path. After time, the yellow starts to fade, and I’m one of the first of us to turn brown. Our nesting place grows bigger and plumper and starts to become incr...

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“The Sentry” by Isa C

Submitted to Contest #154

{content warning: brief mentions of violence} The forest of Sho Prar, brimming with life, secrets, and treasure. The trees speak to the ferns and the moss, sharing gossip and daily news. The nymphs and the fairies meet up to play music by the creek, attracting all sorts of woodland creatures. Explorers congregate with local foxes, inquiring why their compasses are spinning in all sorts of directions. At night, the canopy of leaves is far too thick to see the stars, so the fireflies have taken it upon themselves to compensate. They float a...

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“Blue Eyes” by Angelos Amaxopoulos

Submitted to Contest #154

“We’re running out of time” Evan said calmly as the wind was blowing through their hair. Layla knew he would say it. Still, she felt her stomach tighten and the breeze got colder while they were sitting on the bright green meadow. “I don’t want to leave”, she stared at him with lowered eyebrows. He smiled “It’s only a month, isn’t it?” Layla sighed and turned her head to see the house behind them. The one they grew up in. It’s still the same after all these years. Yes, the walls are discoloured and the door is barely standing, but it ...

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“Tomorrow ” by Julia Timlin

Submitted to Contest #154

“What if we kill her?” Nadja’s words ring through a groggy Archer as she rises, before the sun can peek through the tall pines and creep into her lonely little cabin. Cold water hits her face like an electric shock to her system and she stands, muddy eyes staring back at her from the cracked mirror above the sink. “Are you insane?” Archer’s own hushed hiss had snapped back, fear and paranoia making her swivel her neck around in every direction. But Nadja’s laugh, like a bark, had startled her into meeting her gaze again. ...

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“Escape” by Amy Ingram

Submitted to Contest #154

The first time it happened Cassie thought it was a dream, that she must have been asleep, and dreaming. Since that day, now and then, she had felt a similar sensation when she concentrated on Sonny, in the sliding of taut muscle or the shiver of skin under the tickle of a fly. On this sunny summer Saturday, Cassie was sitting in her favourite place in Sonny's paddock, her back against the steel gate and her legs stretched out in front of her, when it happened again. The morning sun was warm on her shoulder and the side of her face, and glint...

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“Harbinger” by April Lillard

Submitted to Contest #154

A few college students of geology and history were granted access from beyond the great wall to study the land of the “old world”. One of the students, Liza, was collecting dirt samples and discovered a very old door in the ground. She called to her twin brother, Kevin, to come over to help her open it to explore what was inside. "Liza, you're always getting me into trouble," he said as they pried the door open. To their surprise, it was like stepping back in time. In much excitement, Liza scrambles to find a flashlight to show...

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“Deferred Sentence” by Maxwell MacDonald

Submitted to Contest #154

If you had a pulse you were promoted. Ryan Hament was nothing if not a man who could wake up in the morning with an active, beating pulse. He’d been doing it his entire life. All twenty-eight years. It was a point of pride. Letting his heart beat and not getting in the way of that plump, fleshy life fist clenching and relaxing. Moving the blood along where it needed to go. Never letting too much of it spill out at one time either. That was the trick. Keep the blood on the inside. Once it got ...

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“Finding Nemo” by Faith Gathigia

Submitted to Contest #154

Finding Nemo“Don’t come back here, Sandy. Ever”Emmanuel scolded her as he fumbled with the key in the dark, trying to open the apartment’s gate to no avail. The watchman heard his struggle from outside and offered to help by using his own key, but even then, the door was resistant. Sandy found herself wishing the lock would jam completely, then they would be forced to go back to Emmanuel’s house and spend the night there. They stood in silence, waiting, as it was awfully quiet in the complex. The only noise was the occasional cough by the wa...

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“Dalliance of Nin-khursag” by John Hanna

Submitted to Contest #154

Content warning - mature like a dirty joke Enki is an Anunnakis, an alien who emigrated from Nibiru 'The Destroyer' planet during the last pass near Earth almost 3600 years ago. He is royal, son of Antu, mated to Anu the king. His half-sister Nin-khursag is on the planet with him as is his half-brother Enlil. He is a hunk of a man, eight feet of muscle with long brown hair and combed beard under the traditional silver crown anchoring the chain mail dropping across the back of the neck and to the shoulders. He has leather sandals and is nake...

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“The Fog” by Kathleen Shapona

Submitted to Contest #154

The party was in full swing when I arrived. Most of the crowd were from my rowing club, catching up and swapping rowing stories. A few of us were standing in a small circle enjoying a glass of wine and chatting when Jonathan, our team captain, joined us. “Did you hear about Allison?” “No, what about her?” I inquired. “She took out one of the small wooden row boats two days ago and hasn’t returned. They sent a search party out but haven’t found her or the boat.” “That’s awful. What do you think happened?” “Who knows. No one has heard fro...

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“The Forward Company” by Aaron Falk

Submitted to Contest #154

A warm glow washed over Steven as he entered the foyer of the Forward Company's launch facility. Images of a happy family barbeque, children playing in a sprinkler and dogs fetching frisbees flowed across the building’s high dome, so peaceful. He’d designed the company’s human interface program to elicit this exact response, yet he could not control his own reactions. The room exuded a sense of infinity; all was possible here. The company motto repeated at the four cardinal points. There is no going back, but the future is always there ...

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“THE HITCHING POST” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #154

Lydiana’s love of horses seemed to have always been a part of her being. While in high school, most of the others in her birth group couldn’t care less about these long-ago legendary creatures that were often in stories from the Before Time. Her birth-groupers were passionate only about the latest tech inventions created for “Get-Aways,” where they could virtually exist as if in a real world without real world consequences. Admittedly, “Get-Aways” were tempting, but then, her birther group members hadn’t experienced anything else, so w...

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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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