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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

“Birthday Present” by Rebecca McGregor

Submitted to Contest #191

Henry ducked into the flower shop and was immediately met with a myriad of scents. He didn’t know enough about flowers to identify what he was smelling, but the combination wasn’t wholly unpleasant. The bouquets and displays before him, however, were overwhelming and made him second-guess this idea altogether. It was Nick's birthday, though. Henry couldn’t show up for their date empty-handed, and it was far too late to order something else. Flowers would at least show he’d remembered, right? But then there wer...

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“Sometimes I buy flowers for myself ! ” by Sasan Dosi

Submitted to Contest #191

When I entered the Walmart, except a family from Puerto Rico having several children of different ages, a few people shopping in different sections and Walmart employees moving from one side to the other with little feeling and arranging the shelves, I didn't see anyone else. Undoubtedly, this emptiness was normal since the morning. I went to the flower shelf and began to walk around the bouquets having been decorated with special beauty and on them, a small paper had congratulated Valentine's Day: "Happy Valentine's Day." While I was moving...

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“Flowers for the Dead, A Long Road for the Mourning” by Jacob Weber

Submitted to Contest #191

The world is a dry place in these strange times. If you want to honor your dead the old way, you’ve got a long road to walk. River City and its spring blooms await the weary pilgrim. The path stretches long and straight across the cracked soil of the high plains, grayish-red bricks a counterpoint to the muted yellow of the surrounding grassland. I’ve heard it said that the Pilgrim’s Road was originally laid by scouting parties preceding some conquering Roman legion on its long march across the countryside. This seems an obvious falsehood,...

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“Can You Buy A Man Flowers?” by Christopher Gunn

Submitted to Contest #191

THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF ‘VINCE’S RELUCTANT NIGHT OUT’It’s still pretty cold, which makes me wonder where this little stand gets their flowers. The bodega owners wheeled it out last weekend to commemorate the first day of spring. My eye went right to the splash of colors in the salt stained downtown, with it’s old mills and dirty canals. Any day now we would get that vernal rain which would finally wash that salt away. Not yet, though, which makes these vibrant blooms so striking. I haven’t bought flowers in so long; I’m not entirely sure w...

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“April” by Nico D.

Submitted to Contest #191

Author's note: I apologize for any formatting issues. I kept trying to fix the paragraph indents in Reedsy's editor but they just wouldn't save for whatever reason.It was ten in the morning, and Trader Joe’s was packed to the gills. The electric heat from outside seeped in through the automatic doors, and the sheer amount of people inside the store didn’t do its climate any favors, either. Darren had been waiting in line for a good fifteen minutes now, wondering how such a popular store in this part of town could be so woefully understaffed...

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“Victorious spring” by Marinette Novak

Submitted to Contest #191

It has been a year since the war in Ukraine began. It was a big shock for all of us. Nobody thought that Russia would invade so soon. The first days were like in a blur. I was only 15, a teenager. The endless air-raid sirens I'd heard in the movies became reality and I wasn't ready for it. I think nobody was. But the scariest thing was to realise that your life had been turned upside down in just one night, and all your plans, dreams, everything you had built was ruined. But I tried ...

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“Leland's Penumbra” by Doug Joseph

Submitted to Contest #191

Sunlight crawled through Leland’s bedroom and finally reached his right cheek. The warm caress on his face and the fragrance of blooming flowers tantalized his senses. For once in a long while, waking up was easy. Many years separated the last time he left his curtains open to allow the outside world to peak into his solitude. He wasted no time and rolled out of bed. Age had prohibited him from leaping, but that is what occurred in his mind.With unbounded energy, he breezed through his morning activity of getting ready for the day. Everythin...

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“Are the Cherry Blossoms Blooming?” by Maruna Rizh'ye

Submitted to Contest #191

A glass box placed in a void of white,It’s owner and prisoner the same.The key sat by their knee,But the jailbird only wished to stay. ————————————————————It was raining almost every day now, now that the snowfall had stopped.Rin preferred it to the biting frost that would come to nip at her nose, and cause her to have a sore throat every morning. Even so, the overcast that greeted the world each day, making it hard to distinct dawn from dusk, did nothing to lift anyone’s spirits.Some days were bet...

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“The Traveler” by Max Moyer

Submitted to Contest #191

1The Traveler recognized this place, as one does when the past has imprinted geography on memory. The curve of the dusty road lined with pecan trees a dozen feet tall tugged on the edge of his mind like a child testing a kite string. A child. Yes. The corner of a dim recollection tore open, and memory flooded through. He had walked in this very spot many years before.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“Lars, drop it here,” said the Traveler, planting the shovel blade in the soft soil and reflexively drawing his shirt cuff across his forehe...

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“Against the storm” by Mg Bot172

Submitted to Contest #191

Our table was placed next to the window, looking out at the city and the evening sky. It was late summertime; therefore, the sun hadn’t gone down yet even though it was already eight o’clock. That’s why I made sure to get us the best spot in the whole restaurant when I made our reservations. It had taken months of waiting, but we were finally here, enjoying what she believed to be just another fancy date.But this, believe it or not, was not just another date. Of course, I was managing to hide it somewhat. But even so, my guts had tied themse...

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“Smiles of Stars” by Elisheva L

Submitted to Contest #191

Hey! This story contains mentions of panic attacks, depression, and death. If those are sensitive topics for you, I'd recommend skipping this one. Katherine is being stared at. They are subtle enough, but not quite so that she can’t tell. She takes a sip from her red solo cup- it’s just water, but she hadn’t wanted to draw attention to herself. Yet she’d still managed. Not for her choice of drink, but for something she hadn’t anticipated. She was smiling. Katherine Langhart was smiling. She didn’t remember the last time she’d don...

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“Moving Forward: A Journey Through Grief and Healing” by Tyler P

Submitted to Contest #191

Katie sat in her living room, gazing out the window as the sun slowly set beyond the horizon. It had been six months since she lost her husband in a tragic accident, and she had been struggling to come to terms with his sudden death ever since. Her world had been turned upside down, and she had retreated into herself, shutting out the world and everything in it. But today was different. Today, something had shifted within her, and she felt a glimmer of hope that she hadn't felt in months. It had started earlier that day, when she had gone ...

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“FINDING JOY” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #191

Shondra dragged herself out of her disheveled bed after another sleepless night. She stumbled to the bathroom not looking in the mirror because she knew what she would see—a hollow-eyed, bedraggled woman with tangled curls and without a spark of life. She didn’t want to see this version of herself. It was bad enough feeling like this, so she wouldn’t look. After relieving herself, she washed her hands, the one act of caring for her body she still enacted due to engrained habit. She shuffled to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and gr...

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“The Other Woman ” by Andrea Sumner

Submitted to Contest #191

“And I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.” I stood in the back of the church, all the seats having been taken. The spot of shame for late guests and awkward plus ones. The chilled champagne I brought -now lukewarm- in one hand, my mauve colored heels in the other. All around the guests cheered; the love of my life kissed his bride. You know you had that one friend growing up -when you didn’t understand love or commitment or any of those adult subjects - but you both promised by the time you were o...

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“Lilacs, Cherry Blossoms, and Sand” by David Sanchez

Submitted to Contest #191

Julia and Bob danced in front of the reception crowd and everyone was having a blast. The DJ played “Atomic Dog” and that got a lot of people out of their seats and onto the dance floor. Julia and Bob got down, shaking their rumps and laughing. Carole and I were at our table in the reception hall, which was catty corner to the open bar. We took turns getting a drink and watched the crowd dance. Everyone else who sat with us got up to dance, except for some of my older relatives who were content with admiring the rest of us celebrate. “Just...

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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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