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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

“After Midnight (you can let it all hang out)” by Laurel Hanson

Submitted to Contest #172

She doesn’t seem all that happy to hear that I am her fairy godmother. She seems, in fact, downright – what’s the word you’d use? – skeptical. That’s it. Highly skeptical.She’s standing in her doorway, looking over my shoulder at my trim little landing craft, pointing her chin at it like it’s a discarded mining shuttle. I glance back at the running lights flickering over its surface in ultra-violet waves. The last time I had been assigned to this system, I’d had an older model landing pod with orange lights detectable to the human eye. ...

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“Behind Closed Doors” by Kaili Colford

Submitted to Contest #172

Trigger warning: swearing, death, climateI was never meant to be with Rémy. The timing was always off. But, if I am honest with myself, we were always too chicken shit to reveal our true feelings for one another anyway. Just a sliver of courage is what our pathetic selves needed. We could have avoided a great deal of heartache – but most importantly, prevented Freyja’s untimely death.It’s a regular night in 2066, nothing to see here folks. Just a couple of kids in their mid-twenties back in my childhood bedroom. Rather than face off in VR ba...

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“The Truth Hurts” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #172

“You’re sure about this?” asked a squat figure enrobed so completely all that was to see of him was his voluminous robe. “Do we have an alternative, brother?” said a tall figure. This figure also sported a robe, but the way it hung off him was reminiscent of the caricature of Death, a caricature that deeply annoyed Death herself, because for starters, people seemed to think Death was a he. She, Death that was, wouldn’t be seen dead in a drab robe. Why opt for something so boring and shapeless when there was an abundance of vibrant and...

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“Feelings for Sale” by Os Cole

Submitted to Contest #172

Do you feel tired? Lonely? Overworked? Then I have the solution for you! Riley Hayes here for Empath-51. The IDA approved tablets to suppress your logic and make you feel all your emotions all the time! Do you ever get up in the morning feeling worn out but you drag yourself to work anyway? Not with Empath-51! Don’t let your logical brain force you to work. If you're tired Empath-51 will help you stay in bed guilt free! Who doesn’t go to work and feel obligated to put in a few extra hours at the end of the day? Is that your logical bra...

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“Why Can't We Rewind?” by Daniel Fernandes

Submitted to Contest #172

Why can't we rewind time? The purpose is unknown. God has a plan they say. Mistakes lead to growth. Most would use time like soap to clean. We choose our path although others disagree. We throw ourselves into situations and neglect the rest. Proceed with life and abandon the consequence.Some would try to use a defibrillator to spark love again. Give life to death as would any friend.Some would become rich and offer bullshit to recommend. Screw the system and claim it's to defend.Some would just come clean and do things right instead. Abandon...

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“A MAN'S LIFE” by BRUCE MARTIN

Submitted to Contest #172

As the horticulturist could predict the type of defective flower emanating from a diseased and desiccated seed, the life course of a man could be equally reckoned by observing his beginnings. Jim Tomlinson, a wreck of a man, had chosen the wrong parents, and thereby suffered the consequences. His father was a capricious and jealous old goat, prone to sudden explosions of violence and abuse, with alcohol often the accelerant. His mother was a broken woman, having long ago abandoned any thought of a normal, good life. Her greatest pleasures no...

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“Honestly?” by Dave Abare

Submitted to Contest #172

“You’re wearing that? Come on.”“What’s the matter with it?”“It makes you look like a tangerine rolled in crushed walnuts.”“So, you can go out looking like a drunk public defender in a bad episode of 70’s television but I’m a jerk for trying to be a little flashier?”“Hey, I paid four hundred bucks for this suit! Stole fifty of it right out of our son’s top drawer to help pay for it.”“He already dislikes you so that little tidbit ought to freeze you out for good.”The two of them laughed before positioning themselves in front of the mirror, str...

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“The Last Knock” by Caitlin McDaniel

Submitted to Contest #172

I knew who was banging on the door before I even opened it. This was already the second time this week. I braced myself as I opened the door and not for the cold air. “Hi Kara,” I greeted. “Erica, I’m so glad you’re up. I’m in a pinch and could use a little money for the bus. Pretty please!” We both knew it wasn’t for the bus, but I was too tired to argue with her. She looked tired too. Although, her eyelids weren’t heavy from working overtime. “One second,” I sighed. She leaned against the door frame in a casualn...

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“As if I care.” by Tammie Williams

Submitted to Contest #172

Hmphhh. That was my attitude towards all of them. They didn't care about me, so why should I care about them? Most people see me as a happy go lucky kinda girl. Always the one planning the outings, the one who is the life of the party. If I had a dime for every time someone mentioned how strong I was, and how it seemed I just take everything in stride I might be able to afford the counselor I so desperately need. But the truth is, I'm really screwed up. No one knows the depth of the darkness I hold inside. Because, let's face it, no one real...

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“INNER BEAUTY” by BRUCE MARTIN

Submitted to Contest #172

John Stenheimer wanted to kill someone. And not just anyone. He wanted to kill a Black man or a Jew. Either one would do; it didn’t really matter. As the leader of a local neo-Nazi group in a Southern state, he had to set a certain example for his followers. He had just earlier given a powerful, riveting speech to his acolytes, leading them in the chant, “Blood and soil! Blood and soil! Jews and Negros will not replace us!” John Stenheimer had all the visible requisites of a neo-Nazi. His blond hair was styled in a crewcut. He had the ...

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“Green tea” by Marija Rozman

Submitted to Contest #172

It is 6:00 am, no one is at work for another hour, except for me and a few others who were sent here to serve. I go to the room where morning meetings occur and I start my cleaning immediately, I sterilize the surfaces, vacuum, put new flowers, I even start on the morning coffee. Here at firm, everyone has their own preferences and it is quite complicated: black coffee, coffee with sugar and milk, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, the list goes on. However, there is one cup of green tea I serve every morning and it is for her, Meredith, tall, blue-ey...

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“Mean Machine” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #172

“Whereas the acts pertaining to the previous clause hereto form this part of the agreement, there is no representation, direct or implied, on behalf of the licensor…” Jeremy looked around him at the people who surrounded him in this place of worship and he wondered how it was that he was surrounded by beatific faces. Not for the first time, he wondered whether there was something in the water supply, or even in the air itself. Why was it that he was immune to all this nonsense? This was all gobbledegook, but somehow it struck a chord with ...

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“Green is Green” by Tamarin Butcher

Submitted to Contest #172

The bag was pulled suddenly from her head, the hours of being jostled and dragged apparently at an end. She looked around quickly, her blinking eyes straining against the sudden light. Bright light. The sort of light one found in a televised trial scenario. "Anxiously, you stand accused of blatantly disregarding your birth name and fomenting rebellion in your peers. How do you plead?" The girl who was once named Anxiously smiled. This is what Curiously had prepared her for. ******************************* The day had started...

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“the effigy” by Aza P

Submitted to Contest #172

I'm a rock. At least that's what I tell myself in my head. Over and over. Sometimes I like to believe it’s the truth. I’m a rock. Not “I feel like a rock” or “I’m like a rock.” Just “I am a rock”. A creature carved from hardened magma, trapped indefinitely in a moment that will never exist again. I am made of stone and nothing can hurt me. I am heartless. Capable of vapid thought and insipid rationality, of cold callousness as an inanimate object. I am cruel to the point of monstrosity. Harsh like the jagged edges of a serrated k...

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“My Acacia ” by Jennifer Cameron

Submitted to Contest #172

Mentions of domestic abuse, emotional manipulation, self-harm and suicide references, mental health issues and mild swearing. No one sees the wolf but me; cobalt grey fur and piercing eyes, one blue and one green. She’s gorgeous so it seems fitting that her name is Acacia meaning ‘queen of the wolves.’ Red pearls bubbled up through the tears in my skin, melting and merging into one another to create a crimson river. Over time they would knit together and form silver lines on my once untarnished canvas. I am simply paper that has been paint...

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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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