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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#205: Ritualistic

Since time immemorial, humans have developed rituals to deal with change, and all manner of life situations. From birthdays to funerals, to holidays and weddings, to personal habits and rites of passage, these ceremonies often help us find solace, meaning, and belonging in an otherwise chaotic existence.

Rituals exist across all ages and cultures, and take all kinds of shapes and forms 一 from dancing, to praying, to performing 一 and while some have existed for centuries, new ones are created every day. In this week’s prompts, we explore this universal aspect of human culture.

Plus, in case you missed it...📚

The second issue of PROMPTED, our literary magazine, is officially out now! You can download your free copy right here.

This week's prompts

Start your story during a full moon night.

Mystery – 81 stories

Make your protagonist go through a rite of passage.

Character – 54 stories

Write about a character who develops a special ritual to cope with something.

Angst – 89 stories

Make a character perform a ceremony to set something or someone free.

Dramatic – 55 stories

Write about a character who breaks free from a tradition to create a new one.

Character – 26 stories

Stories

“Huntress” by Emily Marcus

Submitted to Contest #205

Every scent is an omen. We read the air and the trees, asking nature to pull us forward or send us home. The sun, finally sunk, inks out her last exuberant display on the dusted sky (one day I hope to be the type of person whose presence is still felt after she leaves a room). The bike path is nearly empty by the time we meet, our laden backpacks speaking mid-Autumn myths of two middle-school girls heading off to finish school projects and study sessions to the few passersby. When we return, empty-handed, it will be too dark to notice us, an...

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“Mirroring” by Helen Nikoleishvili

Submitted to Contest #205

I I cannot recall how I ended up in a small foreign town on Easter night. I do not even remember where this town was, what it was like, or what kind of people lived there. I only recall the Easter evening and the ritual with which the folks there celebrated Easter, or so I assumed. No one told me, nor did I ask anyone, if they believed in the same God as we did in my home country or if they had heard about the resurrection. I discovered everything later. I cannot recall how I ended up at the seaside. People were gathering there slowly. I joi...

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“Moonlight Magic” by Gia ★

Submitted to Contest #205

Blizzard woke in a flurry of excitement. Today was her coming of age! She was so excited that she almost bounced through the roof of her den. She had been preparing for this day for weeks and she was ready for all possible powers the full moon would give her. On a young wolf's coming of age they would get a special power from the full moon which is used to aid their family and tribe. Blizzard was especially nervous because her mother was the leader of their tribe, therefore a big burden to get the right power was on her shoulders. Unable to ...

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“The Soldier” by Marc R. Micciola

Submitted to Contest #205

Damek was incredibly nervous about today, which bothered him greatly because he felt he should be quite happy about turning twenty. Turning twenty was a big moment in the life of a vampire. It was the day you chose your life’s path, deciding to play a specific role in the community for the rest of your days. Most parents groomed their child for a certain career, usually one of their own, seeing as legacy was something vampires held in great esteem. Damek was a special case in the sense that both his mother and his father had very high-rankin...

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“Thanatos” by Jillian Puckett

Submitted to Contest #205

James followed two people down a dark, damp, hallway. James was getting ready to be a part of one of his college’s most top secret and elite societies. Tonight was when he would finally be inducted into the group. With him were two other boys, both his age. One looked like he was going to pee his pants. The members who were leading us were wearing red cloaks and had black skull masks on. James had zero idea who they were, he didn’t know who anyone in the group was. He just knew that one day he’d woken up to an invite to this club...

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“You’ll Want to Stay Away From the Spare Ribs” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #205

“I didn’t know I even had an Uncle Viktor, much less an uncle who was a national hero.” “He’s from the old country, and we seldom speak of LaRocca,” Pavel Pushkin replies. “No, you never speak about the old country. What’s it like?” Misha’s father gives him a loving but patronizing smile, saying, “Not exactly a playground for the Kardashians.” “From what your father has told me, even a native of Siberia might find LaRocca a bit old-fashioned,” Paisley, Misha’s mother says. “So, it’s not exactly, viva LaRocca. But Uncle Viktor seems to h...

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“The Celestials of Turing” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #205

Small towns like Turing are littered across the United States. Well, not exactly like Turing. There are any number of towns with a low populations and with just one set of shops in the town square, none of them having another branch. Many towns had just one elementary school which was also the middle school and high school. However, even though perhaps ten thousand such towns existed in quiet innocence around the continental US, there were none exactly like Turing. There were none that did things quite like they did. This little speech was e...

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“Evermore” by Ava Black

Submitted to Contest #205

Sensitive Content Warning: Abuse; Suicide; Mental Health EVERMORE April 4th, 2030 I wish I could tell Mom and Dad the truth, but it would kill them. The truth is so stupid, too! I hate painting! There! I said it. Especially with Mom. Today, I picked purple instead of red for the flowers I drew. This made Mom cry because Cassy’s favorite color was red. Mom cried so much Dad had to put her to bed. Cassy’s birthday is soon; last year, it stressed out Mom so much that she was hospitalized. Her birthday is the same day as mine because, l...

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“Little Habits” by Raj Bridges

Submitted to Contest #205

“You broke another plate? Didn’t you just break one last week?” Eleanor is exasperated. This was the 182nd plate that Nathan had broken in their 43 years of marriage. “I’m sorry honey, it just slipped out of the drying rack,” Nathan excuses. Sometimes he agreed with his wife’s anger; sometimes, like this time, it felt unjustified and misguided. “What have I been telling you about the drying rack for months? Plates kept on the front edge can roll out and fall!” Eleanor enunciates each word to make sure her husband understands. Nathan is n...

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“Gouri ” by Miranda Soares

Submitted to Contest #205

Gouri By Miranda Soares It’s been three weeks since the clocks stopped ticking, 491 hours since I last breathed, and there are 32 hours left until the world ends. I should probably be enjoying my summer by now, but there is no sun outside. It took us all by surprise. And now, hearing that almost everything I know is a lie, I don’t know what to believe. I wish I understood the cause of this, but I’ve just been told to stay calm. It’s only been dark for three weeks, but it feels more like a long, painful lifetime. I barely remember how it h...

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“Twice living, twilight being” by Matei-Dacian Boboc

Submitted to Contest #205

“What can I do? When, where, how? I’m just a man behind the curtains of my life. A simple life, a simple guy… a broken guy,” he said, and suddenly he covered his face with the hands, letting the tears run down his cheeks. He was truly pathetic, but Olivia comprehended his feelings. Everything was understandable. He felt abandoned but it wasn’t his fault. Also, it wasn’t his parents’ fault too because they were dead. They died in their own house because some murderers messed up their mission. They had to kill Don Alberto, but they entered the...

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“Night Rails” by July St John

Submitted to Contest #205

Like a locomotive, his breath exhaled against the cold night sky. Smoke trailed behind as he made his way down the tracks, rhythmic, purposeful. The full moon cast its soft white glow on the earth below, and he preferred it that way, for two reasons. One, the natural light was soothing, calming, connecting him more deeply with his natural surroundings as he walked. A flashlight just felt in his bones like he didn't belong, he was a guest of his surroundings, and he wanted to belong when he ventured out this way. Two, he only made thi...

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“Eater’s Paradox” by A. L. V.

Submitted to Contest #205

My tongue itches for desserts – the sweet experiences that I forbid myself to delight in. Even as the suburban with my family inside pulls out of the driveway, it isn't until they turn the corner of my neighborhood that I decide to walk over to the cupboard. Stop. You need to stop. Control yourself. &nb...

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“The Show Must Go On” by Sara Southard

Submitted to Contest #205

I pretended like I didn’t see Janine making her way towards my desk. I could see her peacock blue pantsuit approaching in my peripheral vision, the swish of polyester coming at me like the world’s most nosy freight train as she wove between desks. She came to a halt next to me with a huff and a cloud of heavy floral perfume. I kept my eyes on the email I had now read three times without absorbing a word. I hoped if I ignored her long enough she would wander away to bother someone else. I could hear the buzz of the fluorescent lights above me...

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“Tears For No One” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #205

“This place is perfect,” said Felix Radman. We were driving to through Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. I wasn’t recording him this time. “Thieves, gangs, prostitutes, beggars, murderers. Drugs—so much drugs. Most of our drugs are exported from here, did you know that?” Where we were, jobless people slummed in front of weak, rundown housing units. Locals stared at us. “Government corruption, people carrying guns, more people fleeing the country. We can’t count on police here, not if we get randomly attacked or something. This trip ...

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$250

Prize money

305

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 07, 2023 EST

Won by Lindsay Flo 🏆

Title: The Walk

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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