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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

“Cherry blossoms after the storm” by Heloise Petit

Submitted to Contest #191

I can’t think. I can’t let myself think. If I do, if I let any thought leak out into my head from the sealed little box where I keep them, I will crumble. I feel my body pulsate with pain as I repeat these words to myself, tapping my chest rhythmically with a tear trickling from my eye. This has been my reality for quite some time now and to be honest, I can’t remember a mythical time when I felt okay. From today it will arguably be worse though. I am losing my job. I woke up from yet another night of troubled insomnia with bu...

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“FLOWER POWER” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #191

How appropriate that it was the one song I needed to hear to brighten my day. After a morning from hell, and to make things better in my head, I had to get away from it all and go somewhere, anywhere. With determination and purpose, I strode down the sidewalk on my way to the café only to be stopped in my tracks when this song caught me by surprise coming from a kiosk in the marketplace. "You are my sunshine, My only sunshine, You make me happy, When skies are gray." Stepping into the marketplace, I gathered a fresh, floral bundle of as...

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“Pennyworth” by Terry Scott

Submitted to Contest #191

Horace and Agnes Pennyworth delighted in their pragmatism, and they wouldn't have it any other way. They were the last people you'd expect to be swayed by anything flashy or frivolous - they just didn't buy into the nonsense of frippery. It was on a fine spring afternoon that young Horace, an accountant, and Agnes strolled along the busy downtown street. Horace had just been promoted, and Agnes thought a leisurely stroll seemed fitting. Arms linked, they weaved their way through the crowds of window shoppers, giving the window displays lit...

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“"Someday We'll Walk Together in the Raysof the Beautiful Sun"” by Pauline Taylor

Submitted to Contest #191

“Someday We’ll Walk Together in the Rays of the Beautiful Sun” In the fading sunlight, I could hear birds calling to each other as if they were signaling that it was time for me to go home. But, I didn’t want to go home. I knew he would be there sitting on the couch acting as if he isn’t sitting there waiting for me to come in the door, daring me to come in after the clock struck 6:05pm. It takes me exactly 45 minutes at the most to get home from work and I bet not step in that door a minute after 6:05pm, 6:06pm and I was su...

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“Voice of a New Day” by T.M. Kehoe

Submitted to Contest #191

My eyes open, and I am awake. The house is silent. A sudden clunking noise lets me know the ice maker in the kitchen refrigerator dumped its load into the ice bin. The silence rings, echoes, mocks me with everything that is missing. There is no sound of the hospital air mattress with its constant baffle and pressure. No snoring and gasping, or calls for help. I take a deep breath. The window is open, letting in the scents of an early spring morning. The house no longer smells like body waste products. I roll over on the bed, began my m...

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“Objectionable” by Brian Rohrig

Submitted to Contest #191

It’s not easy getting fired. It’s not just the loss of income, the burden of looking for another job, the uncomfortable position you find yourself in when on your next job application you’re asked if you’ve ever been terminated: Do you tell the truth or stretch the truth or outright lie? But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is knowing you didn’t make the cut. You weren’t good enough. You weren’t one of us. Anyone can make a mistake. They could have overlooked it, found a way to work through it. But they jumped on it, li...

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“Bedford Sty ‘Till I Die” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #191

Laura Kilgore opens the door to the palatial mansion she shares with her husband, heavyweight champion Kellin Kilgore. Pierre Cerdan takes off his beret, smiling sheepishly as he steps inside. The anxious manager can already feel himself starting to sweat. “It’s been two months. I think it’s time Kellin did an interview. How are you doing, Laura?” “Coping.” “Thank you for doing that piece for 60 Minutes. They used a lot of past footage of Kellin, so it was like he was being interviewed live too. You made him look very sympathetic.” “I wa...

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“Maybe” by Dean Fenton

Submitted to Contest #191

When you are young, it’s easy to miss just how hard life can be. The world seems to be an adventure waiting to happen, the possibilities seem limitless and the future can only be better. Each new love, new job or new place is just another experience waiting to happen. Risk is just a fancy word for fear and pain is just a fleeting sensation. The world is waiting to be conquered and happiness is sure to follow. Maybe riches lay around the corner. Maybe true love. Maybe great adventures.Howard Scal...

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“Coming Back to Life” by Stephie Kulec

Submitted to Contest #191

SENSITIVE THEMES: Mental health; substance abuse; suicideI am 36 years old, but I have already experienced three rebirths. By rebirth, I mean an almost literal “coming back to life”. One where I discarded my old life and rediscovered life with all its beauty and promise again. The first rebirth occurred when I was only 17 years old. Yes, most kids are coming into their own around that age, but for me, I finally blossomed into a butterfly from the warm cocoon of anxiety and depression that had held me back for far too many years during my ado...

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“Coffee Shop Curmudgeon” by Joel Bloom

Submitted to Contest #191

Hoover stood in line at the coffee shop and looked over the menu board. "Frappa Crappa..." he mumbled.." what happened to just plain coffee? Who the @%$! thought of putting oatmilk in anything? I mean, once it existed, people were gonna mix it in, but why bother to MILK an oat in the first place? Who thought of oatmilk at all? Do oats lactate? Do almonds? Do freaking soybeans?!? Its freaking oatJUICE! What's next? Skittle Latte?" He waved the two millenials who were standing behind him in line to go ahead of him. But in truth he needed a m...

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“Almost Missed the Miracle” by Marsh Sterling

Submitted to Contest #191

Trigger warning: Content includes alcohol abuse, violence, and suicide attempt.Almost Missed the MiracleMarsh SterlingAprilEmbarrassed by the tears trailing down my cheeks against my will, I surreptitiously wiped them off on my sleeve. I took a bite of the moist cake that looked like it was decorated by a 4-year-old. Maybe it was? But there was no cake in the world that ever tasted better.I was surrounded by a motley crew of people. Some appeared to have walked in from an unsheltered persons’ encampment. All were friendly and welcoming. They...

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“THE PRIEST WAS THE LAST TO ARRIVE” by Mary Jo Maguire

Submitted to Contest #191

The Lodge was available in Grand Lake, Colorado for a Memorial Day wedding reception. My daughter and her fiancé were thrilled! It made sense to exchange vows in a small, Catholic Church tucked back among Aspen and Evergreens and only a short distance from the sparkling, mountain lake. After all, they sailed competitively on this body of water and now they would sail through a wedding ceremony and, more importantly, a long and happy life together. The guest list was so lengthy that it curled like a grocery recei...

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“The next girl was pretty and looked close to my age.” by •Bubble _ Tea •

Submitted to Contest #191

The next girl was pretty and looked close to my age. I could see she was closer to Gold Star than I was to Eagle Scout by the badges sewn in formation down to her rope belt. She moved faster than the first girl, so you could see the brass pin to her sash bounce off her caboose in a rhythm allegro. If I were Gene Autry I would come up with the next verse before Tex Williams took a breath, but anything less than an aria would insult her erudition. I was no Tajo, this was proven time and again, but I could still steal from The Sh...

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“Pallbearers and Pit Bulls” by Kelly Sayre

Submitted to Contest #191

Imogen pulled into the parking lot of the Dragonfly Cove Marina. She and her four best girlfriends spent so much time here that they’d become known to all as the Dragonfly Darlings. Under normal circumstances, meeting here meant a day filled with boating, sunshine, floating, and plenty of laughter. But today was different. While she was here to meet Willa and Rae, two of the Dragonfly Darlings, it wasn’t for a recreational day on the lake. They were due at the funeral of their longtime friend, Delia Preston. The word ‘friend’ wasn’t quite r...

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“The Japanese lady in Bangkok” by Dao Huy Kien

Submitted to Contest #191

Liem was gazing out of the car window. “Is it your first time in Bangkok, Sir?” the taxi driver asked him. “No, I’ve been here twice” he said. Liem felt as though it was his first time in this city, however. He did not remember anything about the city as the last time he came here was nearly ten years before. In his memory, it was just a city like any other city in this world. Nevertheless, he had a feeling that Bangkok had changed a lot and emerged to be a world-class city with modern buildings and advanced infrastructure. “I di...

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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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