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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#172: Feel the Feels

Have you been honest about how you’re feeling lately? Our emotions can be our grounding pillars, but also lead us completely astray. With Taylor Swift’s soul-baring confessional album Midnights breaking all possible global records and the year-end nearing, I bet you’re getting into the feels 一 about different people, events, and things happening in your life. This could be one prominent emotion, or a messy amalgamation of them. To quote Taylor, you might be feeling “Happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time”.

In the spirit of Midnights and one last dose of ‘normalcy’ pre-festivities, this week’s prompts are inspired by the most complicated but wonderful thing about human beings 一 our feelings.

This week's prompts

Set your story in a world devoid of logic, where feelings govern all decision-making.

Angst – 22 stories

Write about a character who must confess their true feelings by midnight, or risk losing it all.

Romance – 35 stories

Write about a character reminiscing over something they should have said, and how their life would be completely different had they said it.

Sad – 63 stories

Set your story in an unfiltered world, where people are always honest about how they feel.

Dystopian – 23 stories

Write a story about a character who acts like they ‘don’t have feelings’ — except they’re just putting up a facade.

Character – 45 stories

Stories

“The Crafting of Fadhilla - a LitRPG Story” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #172

Name: Fadhilla MoshiTime Remaining: 6 minutesA graduate of World Altruism’s Vision program, Fadhilla Moshi, sat in a computer center in Tanzania’s central city of Dar Es Salaam and had only 6 minutes left to live, but she found time for her father.His sad voice came over the line, “I hope they let you return home, someday.”“Probably not anytime soon, Papa. We Chagga are too good at this, and after all, you are the one that sent me here, weren’t you?”“Our family is proud of you.”A telltale vibration in her headgear let her know the explosive ...

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“Foley's Follies” by Mike Panasitti

Submitted to Contest #172

Madness is a rational response to a crazy world. It’s not uncommon to hear academically-informed detractors of psychiatry utter this or a similar phrase. According to some medical anthropologists, mental illness is not so much a product of genetic inheritance as it is a result of social and cultural pressures. For example, what explains the fact that depression is one of the most common mental disorders today? Given today’s world, with its incessant discord, its crippling anomie, its precarious brinkmanship, what’s there ...

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“6:63” by Gem Cassia

Submitted to Contest #172

As the earth embraces my flesh, I can’t help but recall the moment of your birth. (I’m writing this letter as I lie dead. Of course, this cannot be a physical letter, but rather a metaphysical one. You’ve always had a penchant for the abstract. I only hope you can read my handwriting. Please understand— it is rather difficult to maintain good penmanship when one no longer has a sentient body.) I’ve always derived a certain sense of satisfaction from living my life in multiples of three. You were born at exactly three past s...

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“Rural Route 12: Madvent Hits Middle Age” by Wendy Kaminski

Submitted to Contest #172

SENSITIVE CONTENT: Mental health issues, homelessness, substance abuse, cursing, sexual debauchery, hints at murder, sacrilege, crime ... this story has no redeeming value, as one might expect in a world full of unfiltered sociopathic Dans, and you probably should not read it at all.~~~It was the end of the season, and Dan was quickly painting himself into a corner. That was the thing with Madvent: you had to start small. He had been celebrating it long enough to know that, but come December 1st every year, his enthusiasm for celebration mad...

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“If” by Gia Pape

Submitted to Contest #172

It was a little after midnight, the snow was lightly falling, frosting the ground with cold, sugary powder. The night was cloaked in a thick layer of darkness, yet the moon was ever so slightly luminescent against the sky. It seemed to him he was in a dream; it was the perfect aesthetic for reminiscing. And so he did. He reminisced…and images of her flooded his quiet cogitations. It was late October, cool and breezy. School was bumpy and rough, and life seemed boring. He was the bag boy at the local grocer and going through the mo...

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“2046” by Marilyn Filewood

Submitted to Contest #172

I was so lucky when the world ended. I had the good fortune, you see, to have been born into a Doomsday cult, and we had prepared for it every day of our lives. It was almost a relief when it came. Why, we all wanted to shout, why didn't you listen to us? Two generations ago, our community had bought an abandoned mining town at the very end of the world, the tip of New Zealand's southern isle. Conveniently, it came with a schoolhouse, medical centre, and small police station with gaol. The stroke of serendipity was that it had miles of dee...

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“The Substance of Things Hoped For” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #172

Jolik Corona had seven kills under his belt before he turned fourteen. By the time he was thirty, he had reached triple digits in this area and was a legend on the Temporal Anomaly Force. Still, ninety-seven percent of the population died quietly. Despite their best efforts, the TAF hadn’t found a way to go back in time to stop the scourge of the NCC-1701 virus. No one could find the exact origin of the virus, for it had spread quickly, and it seemed to start on every continent at approximately the same time. What was known about the virus ...

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“Recall” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #172

Trey’s breakfast was ready a few seconds after seven-thirty; efficiency down 0.002 percent. I made a note of it in my logs and continued to my next task.“Good morning, sir,” I said. “Breakfast is served. I will prepare a warm towel for your shower.”“Schedule?” he asked.“Meeting, nine-thirty to eleven with the board. Lunch date at twelve with Leo.” It was all I could do not to spit out the name. I couldn’t stand the man. “Nothing scheduled after. Will you be returning home early this evening?”“Home at six. I want salmon for dinner.”“Yes, sir....

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“All He Ever Wanted” by Kiyomi Appleton Gaines

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #172

He had no emotional modulation. He just accepted and believed any thought that came into his mind, and his heart would react as if it were true. The thoughts weren’t intentional, weren’t chosen, weren’t thoughtful, but subconscious little blips that popped up and ran along animal neural circuitry long-established that said – you are under threat. He was afraid all the time, but men like him weren’t given room to be afraid, so he got angry, and tried to control and manipulate every variable to predict outcomes, to keep himself safe. Yet of co...

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“King Hunch” by Melony Beard

Submitted to Contest #172

A short, jolly fellow named King Hunch ruled Aurora Island. The citizens of the island trusted King Hunch even though he often had changing perceptions of how to rule the land. He often had dreams which led him to make important decisions or sometimes, he just had a hunch of how things should be done. King Hunch was from a lengthy line of family members gifted with a believed discernment and insight, so no one questioned him. Well, not until the day, a little boy was born, named Philomath, better known as Phil.Phil was born on March 2nd, oth...

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“The Deadline” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #172

Regrets? I’ve had a few. What about love? That never lasts long.Are you certain about that? No, but I know regret lasts forever.Maybe your love was too perfect to be true? That’s possible, but what’s your point?You should’ve told her how you felt.You make it sound so simple.#We’d only known each other for three weeks before we started living together. I fell in love with Madeline without thinking it through and I think she just she went along with it. It was like two lost pieces of a jigsaw when we came tog...

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“Sunday Funday” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #172

It was times like this when Danielle would let her mind wander, inching its way back to an evening that had been ripe with possibility, with chances. Actually, it wasn’t just times like this. It wasn’t just on days when Alec was drunk and maudlin, or the nights when he didn’t come home and she lay awake, her bleary eyes trained to the window, waiting for his headlights. It wasn’t only in the scary moments, when he reminded her that every aspect of her cushy lifestyle was because of him. It wasn’t just the moments when she found hotel key c...

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“The Son of Cinderella” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #172

Being the son of Cinderella, you’d think I lived a charmed life, or so says the eldest heir to the Charming family. But by the time I reached the age of six, I had already tired of hearing the story about my mother, and to this day, it makes me sick. “Fairy Godmothers, indeed,” I cried out to mt mother. “I’m seventeen! Do you still expect me to believe that childish story?” My mother sighed. “Lawrence my son, how many times have I told you that my words are true? Just because one day you’ll be sitting on your father’s throne, doesn’t give ...

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“Hearts and Hunters” by Jack Bell

Submitted to Contest #172

Honesty is the best policy, but only by default. It is the least worst option. This applies not only to politics, historical inquiry, business deals and game shows, but also, agonizingly enough, to matters of the heart. Walter Pendrick learnt this the hard way. If, on one very fateful occasion, he’d honestly expressed his feelings, the dreary morass of his later life may have been very different. I Detest You. Three little words—in Walter’s case barely making up three syllables—which, with the possible exception of the second word, trip so...

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“Dr Doidge's Address” by Jim Firth

Submitted to Contest #172

Are you tired of people telling you the way they actually feel about you? Are you sick of their inconsiderate behaviour? Their lack of politeness? Then you’re one of the 28% percent of the population with their social filter still intact. You’ve chosen not to tamper with your brain. Congratulations, smartypants. It wasn’t that hard, was it? So why can’t the other 72% get it right? These filterless fools are doing more than just romping around rubbing everyone up the wrong way. They’re Careless. Callous. Cold-hearted. Their selfish behaviour ...

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$250

Prize money

188

Contest entries

90

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 18, 2022 EST

Won by Lisa Lange 🏆

Title: Apples and Trees

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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