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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#157: The Green-Eyed Monster

Reality TV is a big guilty pleasure of mine, and the guiltiest of all those pleasures is probably Love Island. I've spent the last few weeks glued to my screen each night, chatting about it to anybody who's willing to listen — and a good few people who aren't.

One recurring theme of the show is jealousy; contestants break up and make up endlessly, and jealousy often has a hand in the drama that plays out between them. Of course, jealousy isn't always of the romantic variety, and envy over what we don't have can infiltrate our lives in strange and unexpected ways.

This week's prompts tackle the green-eyed monster, and how it can lead us astray — plus a tiny nod to Love Island. I couldn't resist.

This week's prompts

Write about a relationship, either romantic or platonic, that is being affected by jealousy.

Romance – 71 stories

Write about someone deliberately trying to make somebody else envious.

Dark – 25 stories

Write about a character who discovers the grass isn't actually greener on the other side.

Middle School – 44 stories

Write about two characters who both want what the other has, without knowing the feeling is mutual.

Adults – 27 stories

Write about somebody looking for love on a reality TV show.

Romance – 18 stories

Stories

“Green statistrically not Good” by Brian Bywater

Submitted to Contest #157

Green, statistically not Good I regret doing it, I am aware striking a Politician is frowned upon. I have apologised, just give me the opportunity to explain Officer. My job was the cause. Without that none of it would have happened. At least that is what I tell myself. Over and over again I attribute it to that one thing, until I almost believe it to be the truth. Why anyone asked for the statistics related to green eyes bothered me from the outset. I am a Statistician working for a Government Department, a Department principally design...

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“The Cause and Effect of Freshly Baked Bread ” by Kelly P

Submitted to Contest #157

I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again trying to refocus while sweat is pouring down my forehead and beating music is surrounding me. I wish this was from me dancing my heart out at the club on a Saturday night, where I would have at least had an excuse to feel the way I am feeling. Seeing another girl talking to him cannot cause me this much dishevel, I tell myself. Her glossy blonde hair is just past her shoulders at the perfect length causing it to bounce when she turns. She is dressed in a tank top tight enough to show her cleavage, ...

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“With So Much Love” by Isa C

Submitted to Contest #157

{content warning: themes of death, grief, and mental health}Dear June,I’m not sure how to start this, I have a lot I want to tell you in such little time. When I say “tell you”, I don’t really mean that. It’s been four months since I’ve died. I spend my days drifting through my old streets, watching kids play and neighbors flock to chat about whatever. Sometimes whenever friends meet up at those wooden tables, I sit near them and just listen. When I close my eyes it feels I am really there, breathing and laughing with them. I find it di...

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“The Sweatshirt Dilemma” by Lauren Larsson

Submitted to Contest #157

The doorbell rang. Ding Dong. I padded towards the door, expecting to find the UPS man, but instead saw a small, blonde woman standing on the front steps. Her hair, obviously bleached with the brown roots a couple of inches long, was thrown up into a bun and she was wearing a tube top and too-short jean shorts. She wore a pair of oversized dark sunglasses that bulged out from her pallid face as if they were bug eyes drawn on by a cartoonist. “Oh, Hi!” She said after a moment, taking me in the same way that I had been taking he...

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“Blocked” by Stephanie Knaack

Submitted to Contest #157

A week before Riley was set to leave, she figured it was now or never. She’d have to tell Anita sometime. “So, I might be going on an artist’s retreat with some of my coworkers. Like, just the four of us, at an Airbnb or something.” Riley said, washing her face at the sink. “Hold on a sec. What’d you say?” Anita asked, shutting off the shower and stepping out. “My coworkers and I are doing a writer’s retreat of our own.” Riley repeat...

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“Love and Jealousy” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #157

Love and Jealousy, two superficial words that exist in your mind to make you crazy. What is love? love exist only to break your heart. Don't get me started on jealousy that will only drive me crazy. How can two simple words hurt so much? Here is the answer in one word, Hudson. Now you must be wondering who Hudson is. Hudson is a guy I've known my whole life. You can say he's my best friend. Me and Hudson spent a lot of fun times together doing stuff as friends like going to the movies, playing video games, going out to eat and so on. Dur...

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“Breaking” by Louise W

Submitted to Contest #157

Hazel burst through the doorway of her Communications 101 classroom, shivering from the biting mid-autumn wind. She was only five minutes late, but the professor was already deep into a lecture on crisis communications. A few of the other students glanced up at her as she squeezed past them and dropped into in an empty seat, but most seemed as though they hadn’t even noticed the interruption. “You didn’t miss much,” the girl to Hazel’s left whispered. She was slender and long-legged, with warm brown skin and a bundle of curls piled atop he...

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“The Photograph ” by Sophie Conquest

Submitted to Contest #157

May 1999: The flash was like a halo. In the second it took to envelop them, she was reaching up to fix his tie, shimmying the smooth material so that the knot fit securely, with perfect symmetry, into his collar. The fingers of her right hand rested on the fabric in a neat arc, like a violinist’s. Her left arm was nestled tightly into the space between her body and his, where she could feel the warm strength of his chest beneath the thin linen of his shirt. Her shoulders, uncovered and golden in the soft glow of the marquee lights, were thro...

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“Diary of a guilty mom” by Tia Janay

Submitted to Contest #157

“Uhhh” I moaned as I rolled over. The baby was in the crib hollering. He must have been crying for a while because he was already standing up but his eyes were still shut. I turned on the side table lamp and glanced over at my husband, sound asleep. “Uhhh” I moaned louder hoping to stir him, but nothing. Stiff as a log he slept there. He had always been a heavy sleeper. I thought I had been a heavy sleeper at one time, but then we had kids. And now only he slept. Lucky bastard. I hoisted myself up and trudged over to the crib on th...

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“Destiny's Sacrifice” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #157

Destiny’s Sacrifice The pain and despair she felt bleed from the deepest recess of her soul; a void that could not be filled, cleansed, erased, or eradicated; always consuming, growing, gnawing, overwhelming her. In a state of semiconsciousness, she bleakly, deliberately, sullenly, slipped into the kitchen and retrieved the sharpest carving knife from the culinary block. Filled with an unquenchable rage that welled up within her, dredged up from the black, near-mortal wound that had been permanently instilled from relentless years of abu...

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“Melancholy Sea” by Amoxtli Garcia

Submitted to Contest #157

Mentions of infertility Verbal insults disguised as affable compliments were spoken on an August night. Dazzling white light spread throughout the area where amateur people lounged as they practiced their backswings for ten dollars a bucket. Vacant slots in a busy schedule permit an evening rendezvous at the local top golf. Away from pending emails and oblivious partners. Esme swung at the golf ball, sending it soaring into the air and letting it get lost with the others that littered the field. “I think I’m improving.” “Definitely the...

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“Me, Myself, And I” by Glenn Holt

Submitted to Contest #157

My name is Greg. It means to watch in Greek. I have always loved to watch the world, to see how the crowd behaves. Often I wonder why people do what they do.One thing I have noticed is that making someone jealous seems easier than it looks.Too make someone jealous they must believe that you have more purpose with the another person you are spending time with than the person that becomes jealous.I am jealous of the world spinning… You see the world does not need any purpose to spin but as a conscious living breathing human being, my deep dark...

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“Jealousy Doesn't Look Good On You” by Victoria Hillis

Submitted to Contest #157

I was jealous from the start. Of course, I didn’t see it… not right away at least. Under different circumstances, if I didn’t love him as much as I did, perhaps I would have declined his offer of marriage. But like every other girl in the world, I was starstruck. He was everything; the world’s favorite boy. He had it all – charm, good looks, talent. He could have had anybody in the world he wanted and they would have been his, but he wanted me; he loved me.That was the most painful part of it all, I think. That he loved me. It should have be...

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“Green Eyes” by Debra Porter

Submitted to Contest #157

Green Eyes “There’s my favourite kept man!” Colin felt the practiced smile curve his lips. The first few times Jack used this as his opening, Colin had pointed out the company his very successful wife was running had been built by him, but Jack always ignored the statement. They’d both been members at the exclusive country club they were now sitting in for years, so the banter wasn’t new. Normally, Colin would have let it drop, but he was feeling vaguely discontented today, so he decided to respond in kind. “So where’s your lovely wife tod...

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“If/Then” by Catrina Bowles

Submitted to Contest #157

Captain Huxley wipes the sweat from his brow with the blue kerchief he wears around his neck. He rolls out his wrist before grabbing hold of the wire cutters once more. He examines the nest of wiring in the sedan-sized spaceship engine with a frown, his dark brown curls falling into his eyes, despite the engine grease weighing down his locks. “Okay, ALAN. I’ve got green to yellow, red to red. What’s up next?” The ship’s Assisted Light-speed Astronautics Navigation System - dubbed ALAN by Huxley - responds in a British accent more sui...

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$250

Prize money

185

Contest entries

88

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 05, 2022 EST

Won by Zack Powell 🏆

Title: Wish You Were Here

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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