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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

“Looking for Excitement ” by Avril Armstrong

Submitted to Contest #191

Looking for Excitement? 1471 words ex. title Haruto stepped out of the elevator feigning a confidence he didn't feel. Nine young men wearing masks stood in line. As he watched, one of them swayed and fainted to the floor. An older man, wearing a striped, wide-belted, kimono, jerked his head, indicating for Haruto to join the line up, then he dragged the body of the unconscious youth across to the elevator, bundled it in and pressed the DOWN arrow. Haruto took his place in the vacated gap...

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“Sakura - Kara Fuji and Japan” by Karel Fontaine

Submitted to Contest #191

Kara Fuji travelled slowly through a small rural village in Akita Prefecture, Honshu. Then, over a little bridge, she spied Sakura. Beside a cluster of ancient wooden shrines, a grotto of statuette Bodhisattvas, with little red skull caps, looking like cherry-top cherubs, was a narrow avenue of soft-pink, frothy, petals-dropping-in-the-breeze gorgeousness. Either side of the walkway to the main shrine stood cherry trees, their pink canopies touching. The trees were short and trimmed, their gnarly bark thick and flaking. ...

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“Bring it home” by Mitchell Stephens

Submitted to Contest #191

The following is based on a true story from the accounts of my Grandfather. A tear of sweat slid down his brow and onto his cheek. But he never flinched. His focus was on one absolute certainty, that with two outs, a second strike and facing the end of the ninth inning, it was all up to Alan to bring his team home, and show these Yanks how the game of baseball was played by the boys under the Southern Cross. His arms were heavy and his hands were blistered, the lack of wrapping around the bat digging into his skin, but still he never flinc...

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“Ikigai” by M L Siddall

Submitted to Contest #191

What is your ‘thing’? What is your purpose? What is your reason for being? Is your passion for architecture? Is it for snow-tipped mountains? Is it for laughter that cracks a frown? Do you value friendships, or do you value your own wealth? Are you driven by a desire to gain or by a desire to conserve? Do you want to take life fast? Or do you want to take life slow? My life’s worth is in the little things. The small souvenirs of life. The memories that I alone have possession of to keep in the pocket of my mind. The warm, sweet smell of jam...

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“A Simple Ceremony” by JM Daisy

Submitted to Contest #191

(Warning: Story involves mental health)There is a cliff close to our house; it is one mile from our front door. There is a barricade around the edge of the cliff, but I created my way through years ago. Every day when the voices get loud and I feel my control slipping through my fingertips I run to the cliff. I sit and feel the mist, cool and clean, coming up from the water over 60 feet below. As it calms every inch of me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes I sit and take in the mist that the cliff gives to me. My parents ask...

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“Tanya” by Laura Pasek

Submitted to Contest #191

“I feel alive,” Tanya said. “You’re not,” assured a voice coming from overhead. “Hmpf,” Tanya sighed. She thought she was invincible. Her liver certainly had been tested enough. “Wait, Dad?” Her head cocked toward the sound. “I am whoever you need me to be,” responded the sound. “Oh, that’s fucked up.” Tanya looked around. It seemed as if the place was an endless plane of white. It was dead silent, aside from her voice and the one from overhead. The temperature was pleasant–not too hot, not too cold. ...

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“The Bucket List Runner” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #191

Warning: Discussion of Breast Cancer Lisa balances on one foot and pulls the other one behind her grasping onto her electric blue tennis shoes. She feels the stretch on top of her thigh. She holds it there for a bit and then lets her foot go and does the same with the other one. She crouched on one foot, leaving the other foot on the ground, and felt the stretch on her inner thigh. She switches her position again so she is crouched on the other foot. Her orange pants were a little obnoxious, but Lisa didn’t c...

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“Sleeping Beauty” by Keith Maynard Jr

Submitted to Contest #191

The sun gleams on his face, as he kneels there in jubilation.“I feel alive”, he utters in what would be praise it seems. One could suppose he should feel such a way. Yes, it’s good to be alive.The air still chills in this land of white. An adventure called him forth, he said it was hidden in an old book of wood… wood, who uses wood to make a book. Who would- anyway doubting him was the obvious choice. I mean-“Bree, we should get going?”“Going?”“Yeah, it’s a long trek to the bottom.”“Bottom?”“Haha, I see you’re still doubting me”, pointing to...

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“RoboDog” by Adam Thompson

Submitted to Contest #191

RoboDog initializes. Power one-hundred percent. Satellite connection re-established. The Eye says, “Hello world. You are connected.” RoboDog systems check. Visual system. Optimal. No errors detected. Physical system. Functional. Unknown damage on right hindquarter and rear leg. Requesting repairs. The Eye says, “Repairs have been scheduled. Damage information uploaded.” Weapons system. Optimal. No errors detected. Ammunition. Fifty rounds. Two rockets. One bomb. Software system. Optimal. No errors detected. Movement check. Walk f...

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“Why don't you want to meet new people, Ma?...” by Space Writer

Submitted to Contest #191

"...Because I don't like people. I told you that a million times before." That was the answer I kept giving my daughter every time she asked me why I didn't want to attend her job's free museum night. My daughter, Sarah, who is the complete opposite of me is a lively twenty-year-old college student who is living her best life as an artist and curator-in-training at the Detroit Museum of Art. I didn't finish college, due to dropping out to have her my freshman year. I suck at drawing, despite having taken a few art courses myself. And I'm n...

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“Goalline Turnover” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #191

Wanted high school football coach to lead championship-caliber team. The ad immediately caught the eye of the former high school football star as he paged through the local Bonn Bugel newspaper in the rundown kitchen of the fleabag motel five miles outside of the Maryland suburb he had called home since completing rehab in the Shoreline Health Recovery Unit six months ago. Contrary to the beliefs of many of the tongue-wagging upp...

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“Are You Doing Something More Important?” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #191

“Are you doing something more important?” The whole office shouted out as Foster Elif was about to blow the candles on his retirement cake. His face turned red and he stopped in mid blow. Guvenilir stepped up to pat him on the back and assure him they all meant it in good fun. Road Worthy Pre Owned Auto Sales had five outlets in the city and Foster had been the head mechanic for all of them, but the oncoming of computerization and a painful sit down with the bosses had ended his career. The company had not don...

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“The Speech” by Marie Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #191

5:43am. Vera woke to a phone call. She fumbled groggily for the phone on her bedside table, knocking it onto the floor. She fished it up by its charging cord, blinking at the bright light in the dark room. It was Oliver. She rolled onto her back, unplugging the phone and sliding the button on the screen to answer it. “Oliver do you know what time it is here?” she asked, putting the phone to her ear and putting her other hand on her head. “Vera, the project isn’t done.” She sighed loudly. “What are you talking about?” “Marketing won’t p...

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“A Promise to Bunnie” by K.F. Stoker

Submitted to Contest #191

content warning: animal death --- “Next!” The checkout queue finally moves up one person. I click my phone screen on and off repeatedly, as if that will slow down the clock. There’s a floral-patterned box and a plush rabbit balanced in my other hand — I’m lucky that it’s mid-March and every seasonal aisle is filled with this stuff. But I promised my eight-year-old sister I’d be home by 3:45, and I’m not sure I’ll make it in time. The plan was to catch the bus after class and go straight home for the funeral, but when I headed out this ...

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“Don’t talk to me about your stupid stars” by J.J. Erwin

Submitted to Contest #191

Of course it wasn’t about the meteor shower. He couldn’t care less about the meteors. Well, that’s not entirely true. He cared a little. He had never seen one and was curious what it would look like. He imagined, perhaps wrongly, bright streaks across the sky like smoky sparklers cutting through the black of a 4th of July night. Really it was about a boy. For Patrick, it was always about a boy. He hated that about himself, for many reasons, some darker than others. But there he sat in his car outside his best friend’s house clawing...

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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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