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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#158: It's All Good, Man

With only a few episodes left to air, the legal drama Better Call Saul is coming to an end. Along with the Breaking Bad saga, this spin-off garnered dozens of nominations and countless fans around the world through excellent character development and storytelling. Saul Goodman’s colorful suits, elaborate scams, and wordplay (“It’S all Good, man”) will be hard to forget.

Whether you're familiar with the series, or this is your first time hearing about it, there'll be something for you in this week's prompts — inspired by the show's characters and themes.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a couple sharing a cigarette in a parking lot.

Adults – 66 stories

Write about a character with questionable morals.

Dark – 41 stories

Write a story where the law plays an important role.

High School – 24 stories

Write a story about a character who is trying to become a better person.

Middle School – 42 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “It’s not fair.”

Middle School – 72 stories

Stories

“To Balance the Law” by Kylee Kalgren

Submitted to Contest #158

The Law demands balance. Just as every spoken word requires a breath, and as every movement needs the tremor of a heartbeat, so to must the Law be paid. - The Book of Law They say the Crow moon always brings bad luck. Ara had never believed that. Her ma often told her luck was something you make for yourself. If you weren’t strong enough to make your luck, you weren’t strong enough for the world. The Law had a ruthless sense of balance. Be strong and live. Be weak and die. But now, Ara would have believed anything you told her...

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“Binkie's Boardwalk” by Zoe Tribley

Submitted to Contest #158

Binkie’s Boardwalk The morning after, everyone was still here but not as how they came. Jynx was nestled in the left cup of someone’s bra, flung awry and dangling from the ceiling fan. Due to an influx of runaways lately, him and Nesta came late and shot back the liquor early. He was an orange tabby, mewling in his sleep, and Nesta was a pale rat snake, beginning at the couch and ending behind the granite bar. The line of her body was a golden em dash, her patchwork of scales stretching with every drowsy sigh. Across the wa...

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“Jessie's Story” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #158

I'm here to tell you a story about a young girl who was so bad no one wanted to be around her. This girl had such a disregard for life that she was incapable of feelings. The things she did was unheard of for a girl. Those around her tried to get her the help she needed, but she refused. This young girl hated everything and everyone including family and friends. She would hurt anyone she came into contact with. She simply didn't care. She went about life without any feelings for herself or the people who cared about her. This young girl'...

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“Gargoyle ” by Janene Roberts

Submitted to Contest #158

At the base of the house, at the place where the concrete foundation met the lush green lawn, Oliver was crouching like a gargoyle. His shoulders were hunched over, a scowl marred his brows, and if it hadn’t been for that damn awful lighting one would even be able to see the way his fingers were held, the first two digits outstretched, the remainder curled away. The hands themselves were long, elegant. A piano player's hands. Oliver had painted the fingernails of those hands sometime in the week because the chipped blotches...

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“Harold Irresistible” by Andrew Sweet

Submitted to Contest #158

Warning: Sexual theme (not explicit) and (brief) depictions of nudity. She wants me. The thought that went through Harold's mind as he shared the cramped elevator, surrounded on all sides with mirrors that couldn't hide the woman in the midriff-exposing halter-top that had been kind enough to hold the elevator door for him in the four-star hotel that tried so hard to pretend to be a five-star. No. Ten…eleven…twelve… Fourteen. That was Harold's floor number. But the next floor to light was fifteen, even though he'd hammered the button thric...

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“Let There Be Life” by Lee Skidmore

Submitted to Contest #158

Jennett screamed as the thin bones in her forearm snapped. The servo-suited mugger had grabbed her too hard in his excitement. With his other hand, he snatched her bag, ripping it painfully from her. Jennett screamed again as he suddenly let go of her broken arm. She hit the cold, wet concrete hard. Protectively, she curled her defenseless little body around her crushed limb, and sobbed as the freezing rain rattled around her. "You're sure this is going to work?" said Jennett to the man standing behind the lab-coated woman that stood smili...

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“Herb's Plan to Become a Better Person” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #158

Herb’s Plan to Become a Better Person“If you’re trying to find yourself , a good place to start is where you were yesterday.” &n...

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“Moby's Redemption” by H. C. Willem

Submitted to Contest #158

He walked down the street with a feeling of lost purpose. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was here, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave either. He walked past the abandoned buildings, the winding skyscrapers stretching to the sky. It was black everywhere except for the tinted light of spaceships flying in the sky, shining down on the world below. There was a slight stench in the air, but he simply ignored it. He felt as if there was a reason why he’d come here, but he has long forgotten it. He did not feel like himself; he felt as if he ...

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“Blind Bidding Wars” by Te Bo

Submitted to Contest #158

"The South facing balcony removes any concern for the afternoon sun. Yet has this seaview unlike other stacks that face the other block." Meg stretched her iphone towards Rachel to show the compass indicating S 165°. Rachel nodded and backed into the living room. This is the best unit so far. I could place my TV on this side, extend out the kitchen toward the main door and enclose it with a glass sliding door. The layout is definitely more squarish than the earlier one. "Do you have any more questions for me? Or would you like to take a...

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“The Snowflake, The Angel” by E Kosacolsky

Submitted to Contest #158

**Contains mentions of abuse, death, and blood, which may be sensitive to some readers.** The cold traced over her cheeks, freezing each breath she exhaled. Her frostbitten fingers clawed at her meager cloak, pulling it over her bony shoulders and malnourished ribs as she shivered. Every ounce of her being wanted to run back home and huddle by the warm hearth she left behind, letting all the tension in her bones melt away as the ice did in the spring sun. She wanted to throw off her worn boots which did little to protect her from th...

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“The Alliance” by Jane Bradshaw

Submitted to Contest #158

Was joining this group a smart move? It was out of my comfort zone – and not something I ever imagined doing. The persistence of my best friend James, along with a lot of thought and deliberation, had led me to this clandestine meeting tonight. It was here we would learn the purpose of the Alliance. My invitation had come via a brown nondescript envelope, shoved under my door. James had texted me the instructions for how to view it. After pouring lemon juice over the blank paper, I placed it under a black light, and the scribbled instr...

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“Cola and Cigarettes” by Adam K.

Submitted to Contest #158

Looking out over the courtyard, he could not help but wonder how so many people project their feelings, but he has to keep his bottle up to the point of being shattered. The damp chill of a storm was approaching. Harry is sitting on a bench trying to work up the nerve to go bum a cigarette from his crush. He does not smoke, but he is not sure what else to do to get Seth’s attention. Seth is in the grade above his, popular with all the girls, and openly flirted with all of them. He does not have a girlfriend that Harry knows about, b...

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“THE WAY IT IS/ THE WAY IT’S GOING TO BE” by Norma Gauld

Submitted to Contest #158

The bills were piled loosely to theright of the home-made ledger. A pen, blue and white with the words, “take it on,” printed along the side rested on the empty pages of the ledger. Besid e that was her pay cheque for two weeks waitressing at the neighbourhood drive-through diner. A half filled cup of warm coffee sat by the bills and the Buz Light Year figure lay just beyond the clutter of the dirty dinner dishes. Joan, a bit over-weight woman in her early forties, was hunched over the mess in front of her. With her left hand ...

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“A Thirst for Love” by Yvonne Clarke

Submitted to Contest #158

I live with Dad now, not Mum, but he won’t tell me why. The trouble with Dad’s place is the space. Think Grand Designs - it’s a house, not a home. Minimalism is king, and its emptiness echoes like an art gallery, its concrete floors cold and unyielding. I swear Dad wouldn’t mind if the bathroom was open plan. The reflection in the vast expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows lures unsuspecting birds to their deaths mid-flight. I pick up the broken-necked victims, dig holes at the base of the trees which surround the house, and bury them with d...

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“Matilda ” by Ooi Yun Sheng

Submitted to Contest #158

Part 1: The BeastIt was not a peaceful day.There lurked in the corner obscurest and darkest of Matilda’s heart, in ambush, a monster so violent, that to keep it harnessed required the power intensest and the will firmest. Had there been a chance, with the utmost vigour and might, like a drowning man tried to clutch at a straw close at hand in the sea, would the monster have crushed the fetters, torn the harness and sprung from its former position towards its long-desired object, determined to rend it into atoms. But such an opportunity was r...

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$250

Prize money

245

Contest entries

103

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 12, 2022 EST

Won by Scott Christenson 🏆

Title: Your Cat™️ Customer Service

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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