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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#195: Sidekicks and Second Strings

Growing up, I was never a huge fan of superheroes. Maybe because I didn’t really identify with the grand, brave acts and main-character energy of the likes of Spider-Man, Batman, or even Sherlock Holmes. Instead, I was partial to the less flashy, secondary characters: the Watsons working quietly behind the scenes, the bassist in the band, or the defenders who quietly keep the team from conceding points, while the quarterback gets most of the credit.

This week, I want your stories to be an ode to the unsung heroes, the underdogs of storytelling, and the small acts that, collectively, can be just as heroic as catching the bad guy or defeating evil in one grand swoop.

This week's prompts

Set your story in a staff room of an essential profession that is often undervalued — nurses, cafeteria staff, sanitation workers, etc.

Character – 51 stories

Write a story from the point of view of a sidekick, or someone who is happy to stay away from the limelight.

Character – 87 stories

Write a story about someone who receives — or makes — a life-changing, anonymous donation.

Dramatic – 23 stories

Write a story that includes the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Dialogue – 27 stories

Write about someone who is learning to recognize and take credit for their own achievements.

Character – 18 stories

Stories

“The Watch” by C. Charles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #195

The faint buzz from the fluorescent lights overhead was vaguely grating, like when you’re about to drift into sleep on a hot summer night and you hear a mosquito fly by your head, not so close that you wake up fully, but close enough that it pulls you from the edge of sleep. The lights tinged the break room in a faint, stomach-churning green, made worse by how white the room was. The walls were white, the cupboards were white, the fridge, the tables, the chairs. White. The sickly green hue was made worse by the grey, shadowless light ...

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“Sancho Panza's Last Dance” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #195

I return to avenge my friend in the shadow of a windmill. Charging at it on my trusty steed, I cry a warrior’s cry. “No hay viento en el infierno!” The windmill will not budge. It only turns. I pull back on the reins. My horse makes not a sound. There is no sound to make. It would be captured by the wind. My horse is not a horse. She is a giant caterpillar. She is not a butterfly, but her name is Luna. Luna Panza, my only living friend. All others are ghosts. Ghosts that search the Heavens for my face. “Sigo vivo y no se porque...

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“Zeppo” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #195

Sit down, sit down… There’s no point in having an office like this if I cannot share it with fans, especially ones like you. You really look beat up, as you should be if you really traveled all this way just to speak to me. My secretary would not have believed it without my letter and your determination. So please…take a breath and we can start. * You are absolutely right. Most of the fans know nothing about me. They don’t even know my real name (impressed that you found that out; so much information out there if you hunt for it). Herbert wo...

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“Ezra and Ada” by Chelsey B

Submitted to Contest #195

Ezra stepped out of his mom’s mini van and was immediately hit in the face by a gust of wind. He reached back inside and grabbed his hat from the cup holder of his booster seat before pushing the button to close the door. Ezra stuffed his curls into the knit cap and pulled it down past his ears, then zipped his sweatshirt as high as it would go. It wasn’t cold, but he didn’t like wind. Once he was comfortable, Ezra turned to look at the playground. He scanned the climbing structure in search of his twin sister, Ada. It wasn’t hard to...

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“It’s Just a Sketch” by Daniel Rogers

Submitted to Contest #195

His pencil flew across the page as Mark looked up and down between his notebook and his teacher. He was sketching her while she read a textbook to the class. He sketched the desk she was standing behind and even the smart board behind her. He loved to sketch, even though he knew he wasn’t good. But that didn’t stop him, he just made sure no one saw them. He was always careful to hide his drawings, mostly in his math book, since his math teacher only made them use it at home, he knew he wouldn’t have to open it in front of anyone. ...

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“3’ x 8’ x 6’” by Chris Miller

Submitted to Contest #195

Anubis looked down on the breakroom from his place on the highest shelf among the spare lightbulbs and binbags. A cobweb that spanned the space between his dusty snout and a small, spare watering can fluttered in the updraft of the electric heater. Under his basalt gaze, close to the ticking heater, a man in a heavy coat sat quietly at a table reading a newspaper. Opposite him a much younger man drummed at the screen of his phone with mantis thumbs. “When can I start digging the holes?” said the younger man, without looking up...

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“AITA? or WWMD?” by Anne Shillingsburg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #195

To Mr. R. Walton, St. Petersburgh, June 10, 17__My Dear Robert, It was with tremendous satisfaction that I received your copious packet of letters sent from St. Petersburgh. I am greatly relieved that you have returned to civilization intact. You were perhaps apprehensive that I would not credit your amazing tales, but you may rest assured that I do not imagine you could have made yourself out to be such a dolt in a story of your own invention. I have recounted the tale to several acquaintances, and they are of one mind with me: t...

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“Muted Love in the Cafeteria” by Sarah Martyn

Submitted to Contest #195

Thanks, Dottie, Stephen said with his eyes. He didn’t exactly smile. His mouth may curve at the corner into, at best, a smirk. The fake kind he had to muster effort to make. He definitely didn’t speak. Ever since his mom became a widow, Stephen never spoke. He did speak at one point, but almost overnight, he stopped speaking. It didn’t exactly create a great experience for him at school, where he spent most of his time. Students and teachers alike gave him cold shoulders and dirty looks. They seemed to take his silence personally. At home,...

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“Winning ticket” by John Rutherford

Submitted to Contest #195

Dot stared hard at her stewed cup of tea, clenched tightly between hands, as though she were praying at an altar. Thinking deeply about her life and her problems. It was a normal day, sitting in Jim’s café along the road from Liverpool Street station, waiting for her son to arrive by bus from his school. Good hearted Jim, the owner of the small café, generously served Dot her afternoon tea without opening the till. Jim was from Glasgow, a broad red-faced man, who had owned the café before Dot arrived in the area. The café was small, just a h...

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“Midnight Tea - Part 1/2” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #195

Finding Your Place in Routines. The Guest. Attachment. Benzie arrived at the Swindle & Swine after dawn. It was the beginning of fall; the air was cool and crisp. He brought two logs into his arms and, balancing the load with a huff, reached into his pocket to fetch a key to the kitchen’s back door. Pushing it open with his hip, he entered the inn to gently lay the logs next to the kitchen’s blue and gray fieldstone hearth. Elina Hogsbreath, the inn’s proprietor, slept above the kitchen, and Benzie was mindful of her comfort. Going to th...

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“Midnight Tea - Part 2/2” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #195

Benzie in the Closet. Elina’s Guest. The Way of Halflings. Benzie started, arrested from sleep by the sound of a table dragged across the hardwood floor. He wiped the drool from his face and brushed crusty sediment from his eyes. Faint firelight emanated from under the closet door, allowing him to make out shadows of his surroundings. Alone, Benzie Fernbottom huddled against the back wall of a narrow supply closet beside a mop and tin water pail. Listening, Benzie didn’t hear any voices, but he did hear Elina’s footfalls as she went ba...

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“Michelin Start-Up” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #195

“I can’t believe I fell for another of your stupid ideas.” “How was I to know they had guard dogs.” “You plan ahead, you muppet! You survey the location, jot down times of comings and goings, and discreetly make enquiries as to their security setup.” “I did all that! Even made friends wif one of the secretaries, Jan. I’d bring her sandwiches each lunchtime, and we’d sit on that wall just below us, talking.” “And…?” “You know. What she did on the weekends, what films she’d seen. Normal chitchat.” “Anything about operating hours, security came...

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“The Waiting Game” by Trish Flip

Submitted to Contest #195

Five to five. The clock ticks in the office. Those of us who are here listen and wait. Tick tock, who is afraid of the big bad clock. In the impersonal staff room with motivational posters and workplace health and safety signs, the social workers silently rinse their coffee mugs, empty their lunches from the fridge and keep their ears peeled for the ring of a mobile phone. We ignore the laminated signs with pictures of rubbish bins and cleaning wipes telling us to ‘clean up after yourselves.’ We listen and we wait. We wait and we hope. Ther...

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“Maev and the Gift of Flight ” by Daniel Rosas

Submitted to Contest #195

Maev let out a frustrated sigh. It had been three months. Three months and she hadn’t been able to master a single spell. She stared at her red, shiny scaled hands hoping they could give her an answer. Groaning Maev flopped back onto her bed. It’s not fair! she thought sullenly. She had been given this gift, or more a curse rather, that had transformed her into a dragon. It had been her ticket to get into the most prestigious school for spells & incantations in the Kingdom. Before she could run circles around all those naturally gi...

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“Initial Response” by Mister X

Submitted to Contest #195

“Ok, Myron. Let me get this straight. You’ve decided you want to be a superhero…” “I haven’t decided I want to be a superhero, Mortimer. I am a superhero.” “You are?” “Yep. I just found out I came from a planet far, far away. As a result, I have superpowers on my new planet, Earth.” “What kind of superpowers?” “Well, technically I have just a single superpower.” “Do tell.” “I can complete tax forms at superspeed with TurboTax accuracy. I’ve been doing my parents' taxes since I was three, and they’ve never been audited. I...

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$250

Prize money

206

Contest entries

92

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 28, 2023 EST

Won by Geir Westrul 🏆

Title: Untold

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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