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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#200: Heard it Through the Grapevine

It’s perhaps not our most virtuous impulse, but it’s a very human one. The desire to gossip, tell tales, and share stories we’ve heard about others doesn’t always win us friends, but it’s born from a real evolutionary need. Psychologists speculate that the original purpose of gossip was to keep us safe, helping our ancestors identify potential threats, build bonds, and learn what behavior was deemed acceptable or unacceptable by their peers. And, for better or worse, that habit has stuck.


Of course, gossip can (and often does) go too far. It’s up to you how it plays out in this week’s stories; will your characters face consequences for their loose lips, or will gossiping actually save the day?

This week's prompts

Write a story that includes the line “my lips are sealed.”

Adults – 96 stories

Write a story about a piece of gossip that becomes more and more distorted as it passes from person to person.

Adults – 33 stories

Your character is known as the town gossip. One day, it comes back to bite them.

Adults – 22 stories

Write a story about someone trying to track down the source of a rumor.

Adults – 35 stories

Your main character has a secret superpower; the gossip they spread always comes true.

Adults – 24 stories

Stories

“From the Fourth to Bastille Day” by Anne Shillingsburg

Submitted to Contest #200

Leo’s grandmother’s is as French a garden as ever existed in backwater Kansas. Leo will go to southern France in the coming year; his grandmother will likely never go to her ancestral home, but that has not stopped her from putting on Bastille Day in force every year. When he was little, the annual vacation was a family reunion that spanned Fourth of July and Bastille day. Streamers of red, white, and blue flew instead of flags for the Fourth so they could serve dual purpose ten days later, when hot dogs were traded out for croque monsieurs ...

16 comments 16
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“The Darkness of Gossip” by KG Green

Submitted to Contest #200

“The Darkness of Gossip” Chapter 1: Whispers in the Shadows “My lips are sealed”, that's what Clara told everyone in the town last week. They accused her of spreading false information, of being a gossip. But what they didn’t know is that sometimes, whispers hold more truth than anyone could imagine. In the small, tight-knit community of Brookside, lived Clara. She had a knack for collecting rumors and spinning them into stories that spread like wildfire. Clara revealed in the attention it brought her, the power to shape the perception...

5 comments 5
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“Love Wouldn't Melt” by Tom Skye

Submitted to Contest #200

Evan averts his eyes upwards as he meanders through Queen Victoria square tightly grasping Chloe's hand. It looks like 20-25 fresh melts in the square that day, dotted sporadically from corner to corner, each illuminated by the moonlight. The thick Yorkshire clouds had cleared at approximately 2:15 pm against forecast, and those misled had met their end."Don't look sweetheart" he says. "Come quickly". Unable to hold his averted gaze, it strays back to the melts and he and is stung with a familiar guilt. His late father's voice pierces him: "...

14 comments 14
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“The Devil's Rain” by Benny Shaw

Submitted to Contest #200

The Devil’s Rain  By Benny Shaw  For 21 years I had a normal life, I guess. I mean, my childhood was filled with scraped knees, and bruised emotions brought on when my youthful wonder brushed up against mature realities.   From there, a straight line to acne, hormone changes, and awkwardness with girls. You know, normal.  The same mundane motif of the underwhelming, A.K.A, my life, shifted into struggling to pay my bills, trapped in a nowhere job having, no girlfriend having, adulting. And that is where it st...

3 comments 3
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“Instant Dismissal” by Chris Miller

Submitted to Contest #200

Campbell McKenzie assessed his reflection in the plate glass wall at the entrance to the Department of Information Services and Security. Fresh from the gym and ready to lead, until four, when he must be ready to leave, for his hair appointment. He pulled out his phone and snapped a reflection selfie. The government crest and the acronym DISS were etched into the glass over his reflection, colourless but crisp like the watermark on a bank note. He turned his head and snapped another picture in profile. It was quickly cropped to landscape, fi...

6 comments 6
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“The dark secret ” by Sasan Sedighi

Submitted to Contest #200

Taking a break from work, I was in a coffee shop, sipping my flat white and passively listening to the muffled sound of the news coming from the TV on the wall. The news was about the recent interest hike and its impact on ordinary people. “Homebuyers like me who have to downsize their life to meet their next mortgage payments. If the interest rate rises again, I may stop having coffee outside,” I thought with dread.The news moved on to a tropical storm in the southern part of India, the war in Ukraine, and so on until I lost my interest. Bu...

5 comments 5
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“Mirrorline” by John Werner

Submitted to Contest #200

A click and a spark.They say things come in threes. Special Agent Darius French considered the fact that just maybe the cigarette lighter has some inherent design flaw so that it can only light his cigarette after three attempts. He inhales deeply, the burning edge coming alive with angry red heat and a satisfying crackle as he takes in the surroundings and his lungs fill with smoke.An empty motel room. No one to be found. Walking softly across the Berber carpet he kneels down to assess the trail of cuts which have left it shredded and gouge...

12 comments 12
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“When Boredom Strikes” by Laarni Odsey

Submitted to Contest #200

October 2, 2008 I don't know why I did it. Boredom, I think. We'd already played 100 poker games, and no one felt like sharing scary stories in the candlelight. Or maybe they really didn't have any to tell. Not everyone grows up in a house haunted by five different ghosts, after all. Daniel would say it was just me being mean, but whatever. I don't feel bad about it at all. The third floor is for girls only. No boys allowed. It's the rule. When I heard the guy's voice from the staircase, what else was I supposed to do? Ignore it, I gues...

6 comments 6
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“Jude's game” by Bianca Wise

Submitted to Contest #200

TW: brief mentions of suicide and eating disorders "Doesn't Tina look pregnant to you?" said Jude, with her rather manly voice and wandering eyes. I can't recall my response, however I'm sure it was as monotone as one could be. The harshness of her question and the pure hatred in her tone, made me wonder why I ever chose to be her friend. The jabbing comments she would make at everyone's expanse, the terrifying looks she would give from across the room, the terrible Gardenia perfume she was over the moon for, even the small apple-shaped bi...

5 comments 5
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“Rude Words Will Harm You” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #200

“Do you kiss your children goodnight with those foul lips of yours?” The way he said those words was confrontational and then some. There was a twinkle in his eye, but there was no humour to be found there, only something like malice. Like malice, only much, much worse. “What do you mean?” Shirley blurted. “You know full well what I mean…” he told her. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about,” she replied. “Like that is it?” he asked her. “Like what?” she countered. “Lies pass so easily from those lips of yours, but you don...

11 comments 11
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“Gossip is a Thing with Feathers” by Ellen Neuborne

Submitted to Contest #200

Deb was sure she had him by the balls when the Corrine tidbit surfaced. She’d been draped over the bar, mocktail Cosmo in hand, pretending to be tipsy. It wasn’t hard. She just mirrored the gaggle of office girls around her. They were downing the real thing. They hadn’t slipped the bartender $20 to quietly serve them sober drinks all night. They could afford their fun. They weren’t trying to save their careers from the chopping block. “The buns on him – Oh. My God!” “I know, right? Gimme some!” The women of Max Allen Communications w...

12 comments 12
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“TWO SAUCERS OF STRYCHNINE” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #200

**WARNING: A tad profane, though in keeping with the times. *** * *The telephone was ringing off the hook in Louella Parson’s penthouse suite. If a ringtone could fit the caller, this one would spit nails.“Hellooo,” trilled Louella.“Don’t hello me, you backstabbing little ingrate.”“Why, is this the Queen of Hollywood Gossip? Oh no, I forgot. That’s me." “I have a bone to pick with you.”“That’s hardly news, Hedda. You’ve gnawed on more bones than all the beasts at the San Diego Zoo.”“And don’t you forget it, Louella.”...

22 comments 22
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“SECRETS OF A SMALL TOWN” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #200

My lips are sealed, that's all I can say. I was sworn to secrecy by the mayor and the town council. I couldn't tell nobody not even my family. If I told anybody what I saw I would disappear that was a promise the mayor made to me. What the mayor and the council didn't understand is that in a small town, rumors spread very quickly. The mayor nor the council could not have stopped the rumors. People talked and they talked a lot. The rumors spread like wildfire. I heard it all. The mayor and the council are stealing the town's money. The m...

2 comments 2
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“Tales Told in Vain” by Ian James

Submitted to Contest #200

NOWThe elevator doors part, propelling Benjamin and Alice into the hallway, both loaded down with grocery bags. They each lean to one side under the weight."You didn't forget the rice, did you?" Alice asks.Ben just grunts and points with his chin at one bag in particular. The one holding the rice. Alice beams, her grin a spontaneous burst of sunshine, and they exchange a glance of understanding, acknowledging neighbours with casual head bobs as they pass.Living in these flats, running into people is as common as daylight. The homes are neatl...

8 comments 8
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“The Moonlit River” by Tamra Holms

Submitted to Contest #200

        Jeremy watched as the boats slowly drifted through the river nearby where he hid in a bush. It was a ceremony for a goddess they said. Not for mortal eyes. He wasn’t going to live much longer, so this was the last thing on his bucket list. He hid behind the bush so as not to be found out. He had argued with his mother about going out. She made the argument he was too sick to go anywhere, especially on such a cold night as this. He argued it did not matter, because he was not getting better, and...

2 comments 2
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$250

Prize money

210

Contest entries

116

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 02, 2023 EST

Won by Katharine Widdows 🏆

Title: Three Questions

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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