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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#191: Sakura

Spring is finally here! In Japan, the season is famously marked by the mass blooming of cherry blossoms, also known as sakura, an event so beautiful it attracts tourists from all over the world. Due to its impressive yet short-lived blooming, the flower symbolizes the fascinatingly transient nature of life — but it’s also associated with a message of renewal, and hope for the future.

To celebrate the new season, this week’s prompts are inspired by cherry blossoms and the feelings they evoke year after year 一 we hope they’ll bloom into great stories!

This week's prompts

Start your story with your character(s) going to buy some flowers.

Spring – 78 stories

Write about a character who is starting to open up to life again.

Character – 68 stories

Write a story about a character who’s late to witness a special event.

Funny – 25 stories

Make Japan (or Japanese culture) an element of your story.

Narrative – 37 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “I feel alive.”

Dialogue – 68 stories

Stories

“FLOWERS ARE DANCING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #191

FLOWERS ARE DANCING “ Roses? Red roses? They are beautiful but…too obvious….white roses then? Or yellow roses?” Paul wondered, he couldn’t decide. His grandmother Ida was turning eighty and he wanted to bring her a floral tribute but he was undecided about which flowers to choose. ROSES…it’s obvious to think of roses when thinking of a floral tribute to celebrate ( to pay homage to) someone, but perhaps it would have been more original to choose other flowers…Orchids perhaps? Or tulips?” Paul found orchids too sumptuous a...

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“fake it till you make it” by Eline Pols

Submitted to Contest #191

tw: homophobia (no slurs), non-graphic violence, some insensitive dialogue, name calling.**"I would like to buy this bouquet please", Kaz politely said.He was going to a swimming competition from his little sister.It was supposed to be a really big deal. Kasey had called him at least 5 times to tell him that this competition would either make or break her swimming career. Which Kaz thought was very dramatic for a high school kid.Anyways he imagined buying flowers was a safe option. If Kasey won, it would be a nice celebration gesture. If she...

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“That Morning” by Camilla Germeus

Submitted to Contest #191

Maria woke up feeling great today without even taking a sip of coffee. She slept for a total of 8 hours and is feeling completely well-rested, and ready to start her day. She knew from the moment she woke up she would want to treat herself and go to her favorite flower shop to buy beautifully smelling flowers. She goes about her morning as follows: A shower, which she spends in cold water because the heating stopped working that morning, however, that didn't deter her. She then proceeds to have breakfast, which ends up with her breakfast bei...

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“A Bushel and a Peck” by Jaelyn Phillips

Submitted to Contest #191

"And a hug around the neck, is how the song goes babe." I shoulder my bag, wobbling a little at the weight. I should've left it in the car, but I was insistent on bringing it in. He holds the door open for me, grabbing the bag despite saying earlier I had it. "Which commercial was that from again," he follows after me into the shop, "it's been on my mind since we got up this morning?" I pull out my list and start gathering some flowers. "It was for one of those commercials on life insurance I think. Can you grab some of those bluebells pleas...

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“Verus” by Naomi P

Submitted to Contest #191

Content Warning: self-harm, insanity, mentions of abuse/harm, and death Fluffy and her sister Penelope entered the florist shop. Flowers were everywhere: on the shelves, hanging from the ceiling, and laid out in rows on the floor. The whole building smelled sweet. There were many different kinds of flowers in the shop, but the cats needed only one. In Catonia, flowers were everything. Red roses symbolized love and hyacinths were an apology. Petunias, however, symbolized hatred. The anger they contained could destroy you. When Fluffy and Pene...

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“Flowers for Jordan” by Emily Brown

Submitted to Contest #191

The shop smells like cut stems and lemon-scented Lysol. It’s one of the few places in this decaying city that stays the same, year after year, even as the lifespan of its patrons shortens and the yellowish haze outside grows thicker. “Six pink carnations, six white daisies, and some green,” she says to the florist. With the middle-aged woman distracted, she browses the half-empty rows of overpriced plants. She detaches an arm of a miniature succulent and pinches a yellow pothos stem off the vine with her fingernails. A scrawny lemo...

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“Sakura” by Gabriella Anderson

Submitted to Contest #191

Spring has come to a small town named Floresdane, secluded from traffic and the hustling crowds of people, somewhere on the corner, a young man named Lucas is opening up his vivid little flower shop with welcoming smells of pollen with his beautiful extravaganzas. While the world around him slowly wakes up, like a flower bud bursting back to life and opening up its petals, to welcome the warmth.*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. *Lucas almost dropped a small pot of delicate violet lilacs out of his hands due to the sudden sound of a vehicle nearby, tearing ...

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“Lilacs for Lucas” by Katie Vogts

Submitted to Contest #191

IV Boston has a flower shop, a good fifteen-minute walk from our house. The flowers remedied the constant aching in my chest. Effectively melting off the shell of misery I had harbored behind since the hot summer months and into the current awakening spring. “Can I get some lilacs, please!” A man bursts through the door of the shop. I see Diana recoil, startled by his booming voice and obnoxious disposition. He wears an expensive-looking business suit with a Bluetooth device clinging to his ear. He began leaning on the counter, putting t...

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“for the boy at the sushi bar. ” by S. M.

Submitted to Contest #191

I go to the market to buy flowers for the boy at the sushi bar. He told me the sun only glows for a lifetime, before the skies are washed out with star-tears and too blue lattes, (their cloud foam all evaporated). I guess I took that as a way of him telling me he remembers only his affinity with time, so flowers seemed an appropriate gift. They live for just a single breath of golden dust, after all. And so: A yellow rose– to convey a sense of friendship; for all the temaki he would sneak to me after the leftover miso stained ...

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“Agoraphobic” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #191

It was the middle of Spring, and William sat in the backseat of his parents’ Buick Rendezvous gazing out over the lush green meadows and fields of colorful flowers as they passed by. The sky was baby blue with a few hints of white from the wisps of clouds that hovered gracefully above. The sun shined brightly through the tinted glass of the SUV causing William to shade his eyes. It was a perfect day to begin the...

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“An Orderly with Flowers” by S. P.

Submitted to Contest #191

Hidden in the back of a cabinet. I kept the bottle of pills the doctor had prescribed me. The prescription was discontinued long ago – finding out I was allergic to the medicine saw to that. Everyone had thought I’d flushed the damned things down the toilet, but in reality I’d kept the bottle hidden away for a rainy day.I did a good enough job of hiding how bad things were. Eight hours a day, I patrolled the hallways of the convalescent home. The Diocese maintained a carefully put together care home for old nuns who’d grown too sick for thei...

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“Pale Ring of Flesh” by Jeffery Young

Submitted to Contest #191

I closed my eyes. “I’m so, so sorry . . .”“I forgive you.”“Wh-what?!”“You heard me. I forgive you.”“But-but I was so cruel to you . . .”“And I forgive you.”“And I cheated on you! After five years!”“I forgive you.”“I betrayed you . . . and I didn’t even regret it.”“Do you regret it now?”“I do!” She sobbed. “Then I forgive you.”“I hurt you so, so badly . . .”“What did I say? I forgive you.”“All those things I said . . .”“I forgive you.”She paused for a long while, sobbing into her shirt sleeve. “You– you can’t possibly mean that. I k...

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“Starting over by Amanda Mthembu” by Amanda Mthembu

Submitted to Contest #191

STARTING OVER BY AMANDA MTHEMBU John never had an easy life growing up, in fact he had wished he never existed. Growing up with a single mother and being a chubby child, means things were quite difficult for him. John was not a talkative person, always kept to himself and never had issues with anyone. It was quite difficult for him at home because his mother was hardly a “mother” to him, John was basically taking care of himself and he matured quicker as he realised, he needed to do things for himself. Going to school was more of a drag fo...

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“The New Planet, The New Life” by Odile Glatz

Submitted to Contest #191

Marcia woke up with a heaviness of having come out of a deep dream state. She had actually been asleep for many days. Someone had sedated her after she had become hysterical by the trauma of leaving earth with the remnant of human beings who escaped. The rest of her family had perished by the fire caused by the enormous asteroid upsetting the very molten core of the earth. The earth had actually moved off of its axis. She had escaped because she had had an interview with NASA minutes before the disaster happ...

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“Old Lady Backflips” by Michael Nguyen

Submitted to Contest #191

Me, Nathan, and my two friends, Enid and Wilson, arrived at the swimming pool together. I asked them what they have been up to since we haven't seen each other in a couple days.“All I do is watch movies and read shitty books. What have you been up to Wilson?”, said Enid.“I programmed my door to open when I wave at it,” said Wilson.“That’s lame,” I replied.“Wow that’s kind of cool.”“You’re such a nerd,” I said.“I know I am and I like it,” Wilson proudly exclaimed.We split up to change clothes and then met back up with Enid in the pool. We got...

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$250

Prize money

276

Contest entries

170

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 31, 2023 EST

Won by Pari Ghodsi 🏆

Title: Lilies

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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