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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#2: Toni Morrison

This week, we mourn the loss of an incredible figure in American literature: Toni Morrison. A Nobel Laureate and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Morrison penned eleven novels in her lifetime, including Beloved, Song of Solomon, and The Bluest Eye. We hope to honor her with this edition of our competition, featuring prompts based on the resounding themes of these and other works in her remarkable oeuvre.

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone who's haunted by their past.

Narrative – 69 stories

Write a story about someone trying to escape their situation.

Novel – 47 stories

Write a story in which someone experiences discrimination.

Novel – 18 stories

Write a story about someone who defies social conventions.

Narrative – 15 stories

Write a story in which something seemingly innocent symbolizes something much darker.

Novel – 22 stories

Stories

“The Birds” by Nicole Chapman

Submitted to Contest #2

A soft squeaking noise emerged from the side of tiny, chipped porcelain teacup while my fingers slipped lazily around the edges due to iridescent soap bubbles latched onto the lip. While washing the prized heirloom passed down from Nana, the sunlight trickled through the large, poorly insulated glass window allowing for a gentle kiss of warmth to brush my peaceful sideways grin as I watch out into the morning. Dew twinkled like starshine on the overgrown patches of weeds, grass and flowers in my backyard that seemed to melt into a...

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“The house that haunted ” by Anita Ghimire

Submitted to Contest #2

We had rented a single room in a five storied building in a poor neighborhood of Kathmandu which reminded me of a prison cell cramped with 6 prisoners. Sunlight could barely penetrate through the only window as another tall house outside blocked the view. So we basically lived in the dark. The building was ancient and the paint on the walls had faded which left patchy taint on them. The plaster had peeled off on most places. The lowest floor of the house was the darkest and the light bulb hanging on the ceiling didn't work. There were only t...

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“The Toxicology Report” by Howard Englander

Submitted to Contest #2

That’s him! I’m absolutely certain of it, that’s him. Kenny Booth was not one to create drama. He avoided scenes and seldom made them. When he first spied the gangling, seventy-something man standing among the men assembled in the reception room he remained impassive, his double-take imperceptible. The Groucho Marx swivel was not in his repertoire or his personality. He simply blinked, his brain recording the re-scan of a high-tech facial recognition program, pixels and hues compared to archived files from a seldom a...

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“Jacky” by Robert Kibble

Submitted to Contest #2

Even after thirty years, her memory still consumed me. Seldom had a month gone by when I hadn’t done a quick Google search to see if she existed anywhere online, but to no avail. She was resolutely invisible, either as Jacky McCall or Jacqueline McCall. I’d even checked people she’d been friends with. Nothing. And then, without warning, the hurricane that was Jacky burst into my life, and left me driving a van with a dead body in it.It started innocuously enough. I was walking home from my security shift, same r...

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“Lost in Loss” by Kristie McCollum

Submitted to Contest #2

I came running down the stairs wearing my overalls and 1995 Janet Jackson World Tour t-shirt I had gotten last year. I could smell the chicken my mom was frying and couldn’t wait to eat.“Trick or treating hours are from 5 to 9 pm. Have fun out there and be safe!” the news reporter stated with glee in her witch costume. “Well guess you heard that, Cass,” my mom called from the kitchen. “Be home no later than 9:30, and I mean it.”Cass, my oldest sister, was beautiful and smart. My mom tried her best to keep her focused in her final year o...

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“The Sky is Always Gray” by Joey Bowyer

Submitted to Contest #2

A slate gray sky with the promise of havoc greeted me at the door. The gravel beneath my feet crunched and gave way for me. Even the steps seemed to groan a little bit less as they welcomed me home after nearly a decade. My hands swept over moss covered railings and foot after foot I arrived. The door saluted me as if I was a veteran returning from war. It was a mockery of my entire life. Red paint peeled in curls from the wood. Someone had stolen the knocker at some point. I reached for the knob and twisted it. Unlocked. It was ne...

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“Will you risk your life, or face the consequence? ” by Amy Elizabeth

Submitted to Contest #2

I pack my travel bag and make my way to the front door leaving my family behind. I stare at the family photo one last time, we are all sitting on the sofa me, my brother, mum and dad. We are all wearing matching t-shirts with Jones written across them to symbolise our last name. We are all cheesing big. I place the picture back down on the table and hear the bathroom door open and hold my breath. They can’t hear me whoever they are, I wait for a few seconds and hear them again shuffling back into their room.I unlock the front door slowly so ...

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“Break it Down” by Joseph Gozum

Submitted to Contest #2

Caleb loved his new girlfriend, Faith. She was beautiful, smart, and funny. He looked at her as if she was the only woman on earth, but something kept Caleb from popping the big question. His previous engagement had left an emotional scar that was a constant reminder of how badly love can get. He would recall the pain and torment he felt the last time he placed his trust on someone, but that was not all that he remembered. There was also a phase of bliss, happy thoughts that could persuade a smile on his face. However, that relationship left...

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“the misery of love” by Cherryl Apriliani

Submitted to Contest #2

"Please stay" Irfan couldn’t stop crying and begging for Cherryl to not leave him.She knew all along this day would come, eventually, the day where she was gonna leave the town for good to move to LA and alas leave his boyfriend behind. She wished she would have any other choices, but unfortunately, this was her fate. Irfan and Cherryl had been in a relationship for 5 years now, as luck would have it, they never stop talking to each other through face time especially during night time, and that was something she would cherish in he...

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“Haunting Abound ” by Jessica Porter

Submitted to Contest #2

Hello? Is any one there? Occasionally I can hear the distant echo of people behind me. They sound so close at times, but so distant at the same time. Like an echo of the past, specifically sent to bring chills down my spine. Why aren't you answering me? Sometimes it is hard to believe that you are gone, I still remember when I was told the news. It was around midnight, a decade ago. I was lounging on the porch of your house while you ran to the store, we were just relaxing, and the night was hot as all get out, which demanded that you get so...

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“Until the sun goes behind the clouds” by Kalea Acuna

Submitted to Contest #2

“Good morning, Rian.” I jolt awake, a pool of sweat surrounding me in my bed. I could have sworn I heard her voice....”Have you missed me?” My neck pops as my head jolts around, trying to find her face. The room is dark, but I can see her sea green eyes clearer than day. There she is, sitting in the corner of my room in her favorite bean bag chair. “Yay, you’re awake.” She stands up, and runs over to the side of my bed. Every movement seems so real and lively. Her shoulder length, sunflower blonde hair bobbed with every movement. It’s ...

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“A walk through life.” by Vincent Tollun

Submitted to Contest #2

It's cold, so cold where I am. I lie here with this sorrowful glint in my eye, and I think of the outside, that loving hand of warmth, of light and breeze and the smells of summer,passion, love and life. It's a shame that I’m only allowed out once a year, which seems a little quaint now that I think on it but that’s just how it is. I really do love those little outings. There are so many things that I regret but most of all I miss that day, the last day that I was allowed out. It's sad, it really is. I remember it so vividly. Thinking back o...

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“Sunshine Girl” by K Page

Submitted to Contest #2

No, no. I was getting dizzy, nauseous, everything around me too harsh, the lights, walls, floor of the grocery store all too starkly white, drilling into my eyes. An all-too-familiar feeling. What terrible timing. Why now? Please not now. Someone was going to approach me soon, a concerned grandmother-type, maybe, or one of those red-shirted, dull-eyed employees. The red-shirt employee would wonder why he always got the worst shift because now he had to deal with the madwoman in aisle nine – maybe he should try to find a job o...

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“Blue Eyes” by Amanda Leigh

Submitted to Contest #2

Since I can remember, people have always commented on my eyes. They are light steely blue with a deep, bold, dark ring around the iris. My fifth grade teacher was the forest to tell me that piercing blue eyes is a sign of "crazy." It was the first and not the last time I heard it. It always scared me when people said that eyes are the window to the soul, and because of that phrase, I avoided eye contact as a kid.Now, I am well into my 20's, and I find all of this talk of "crazy" as a self-fulfilling prophecy. With the onset of symptoms aroun...

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“Golden Child” by Cardin Tran

Submitted to Contest #2

The golden child flaws humans in a way that no mutation can. I didn’t realize that I was a golden child until it was too late.My name is Brian Telt. My brother, Bill Telt, died before he could even experience the phenomenon that is light and the luxury that is sound. I may have taken it for granted, but the senses are a great comfort that we overlook. The sight of our own beauty, even though it comes with the incompetence to realizing our hideousness, whether inside or out, is a gift that we don’t appreciate enough. Auditory sense is the too...

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$50

Prize money

171

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 16, 2019 EST

Won by Amy St. Pierre 🏆

Title: Kids

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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