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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

“Chalchiuhtlatonal” by Andrew Sweet

Submitted to Contest #205

**** Trigger Warning: This story involves a terminal illness and may be unsuitable or triggering for some. **** A gentle breeze ebbs and flows, licking at my skin like the eternal ocean which laps at its sandy shores. Instead of deadwood, an invisible sea of pregnant air brings me aromas: damp earth and rotting wood are its gifts. I sense in it the painful desire for rain as the humidity cries out for its deliverance from the saturated air, ready to embrace the earth and trees like an insatiable lover. Here I stand, forgotten like an unsent...

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“ON A CLEAR MOONLIT NIGHT” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #205

ON A CLEAR MOONLIT NIGHT The brightness of the full moon illuminated the field below as Matt stared down from the top of the ridge. The brilliance was incredible; as if a cordon of floodlights had been switched on so clearly could he see everything. The four cows tethered by their feet, lowing crazily in an effort to escape their imprisonment and, high in the trees, the net threshing back and forth as the captive attempted to dislodge the trap from where it had catapulted once sprung. Matt, accompanied by the two Brazilian s...

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“Ritual or compulsive behavior” by ML2022023 ONG HONG SHEN ALVIN PETER

Submitted to Contest #205

It was race day. The Kayaking Marathon. I packed my green towel and water bottle. “I got this!” I said to myself. The green cloth and water bottle are must-haves for every race. Whenever I participate in kayaking competitions, I cannot do without these 2 items. The Kayaking Marathon is an annual event which boast participants from all over the region. The race venue was packed and buzzed with activity. Organizers, officials, coaches, physiotherapists and other staff crossed the narrow paths near the launching ar...

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“The Naming Day” by Kevin Bettany

Submitted to Contest #205

A few weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon in the beautiful English countryside setting of Devonshire, an event involving about fifty friends and family gathered to mark our latest grandson’s birth. Called a ‘naming day’ it represented a kind of non-Christian christening. Perhaps, partly because I think paganism predates Christianity my son and his partner hoped, like themselves, that everyone would be touched by a deeper and more meaningful experience of creation. Obviously, as infants, we would have been present when our parents had us ei...

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“Nostalgia” by John-Paul Cote

Submitted to Contest #205

Harlan felt panicked that far down the dark alley. The lights reached far enough to leave everything in shadow or silhouette. Something scurried between his feet. His shoes stuck in God knew what. He was waiting to be knifed by a junkie looking for a few credits to feed his habit or arrested by the cops for just being there.He felt out of place. Clean-cut and dressed nicely. He had a good job. He had close friends and family. What was he doing?Harlan was here with two men. One was Walsh, his friend and the contact for this underworld f...

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“Winter Solstice” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #205

Winter is death. That is all there is to it. Everything comes to an end and even the Sun God distances herself from the cursed land, abandoning us to the cold and the dark. Leaving us with nothing but a dwindling hope that a new life will arise from within the earth and afford us another portion of time and a harvest that might just see us through the next time of death. I wish that was all there was to it, but there is more. More death and despair. The dying land summons forth the Winter Demon and we are compelled to make a suitable...

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“London Puzzles” by Ray Samber

Submitted to Contest #205

A thin layer of dust hung in the air as he lay there letting the effects take over, a slow cascade of tingles spread through his body and his eyes widened, his mind floating away into another dimension. Pangs of guilt wash over London, as he had promised that last time would be the last time, but slip ups come way too easy and staying clean makes things too real. Hours pass before he starts to slip back into reality. Jerod’s gonna be so mad. I can’t believe I messed up. Again! Now I gotta start all over. “Well, was it worth it?” Jerod asks, ...

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“Dust to Dust” by Dora Acosta

Submitted to Contest #205

I remember the night we left Haiti like a dream. It was a hot and sticky August night, and my little brother and I slept huddled together on the same bed. He had wet his bed the day before, so his mattress was still leaning on the patio railing to dry. My mother woke us hurriedly, shaking our legs in hushed tones. “We have to go,” she urged. “Grab your things,” she continued as she walked to the other end of the room. I remember thinking, what things? What time is it? But as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I saw our school b...

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“The Real Meaning of Love.” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #205

It was happy hour again. The week had rolled by, dramatically. Nate sat at the bar, he was the wise old owl of his engineering firm. His juniors were pussy footing around him, trying not to be insensitive. Nate's week had not kicked off so well, not great at all. On Sunday, his long time society wife had sat him down, for the 'talk'. She had fallen in love with a society doctor, the man of her dreams. Nate felt absolutely nothing, as she left the scene with her designer suitcases. His wife no longer had anything to say, neither did he. Nate ...

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“God of Frozen Things” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #205

Given the name Siku at his birth in a small village a few miles south of Barrow (Utqiagvik) fifteen years ago, Raffie Torngarsuk was educated in a small St. Germaine, a small missionary school in Wainwright, Alaska where he learned to read and write English and worship a God that had not come to save his people. Since his teachers had difficulty saying his name, with permission from his parents Ida and Petuwaq, they changed his name to Raffie Skye. Since Torngarsuk was the Inuit god of the sky, Sister Yolinda told him as h...

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“The Sin Known Only to One” by C.P. Lewis

Submitted to Contest #205

“Who was your first time with?” His eyes shot open. The moment of ecstasy and comfort was suddenly smashed. Blood began to flow to his forehead and cheeks. He stared up at the ceiling, pretending not to have heard the question. However, he knew that she would not drop the inquiry so easily so he began running through all the things he could respond with. He was stuck somewhere between, he was still a virgin and it was with a hitchhiking fortune teller, when she asked again. This time pretending deaf wouldn’t work. “It was just with some ...

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“Luna Belle and the Cave to Nightland” by Jewel Cobalt

Submitted to Contest #205

Luna: “We have our mission and the time is now to act! It is our responsibility to find the vandals and stop them! Why? Because I made a promise and we, at the Protect the Canyons Club, always keep our promises. Also, because I volunteered.” Jason stands on a rock, doing his best to give a noble encouraging speech. “You volunteered!?” Cali interrupts. She, like the rest of us, was under the impression that Jason was tasked with this responsibility so we could prove our commitment to the Nature Center before we were allowed to use it ...

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“Moonlight's Birth” by Sarah Hopgood

Submitted to Contest #205

“Are you sure you want to?” the nervous voice of Mikael asked as he stared at the small goblet that rested upon an ancient stone pedestal that rested in the center of the basement and had esoteric lines and runes etched into the concrete floor surrounding it. “Love, I promise nothing bad will happen” came the voice of Johnathan, the young man who had captured Mikael’s heart at the age of fifteen upon the boy’s first day of school. Johnathan was only two years older than Mikael, but the pair had been inseparable from the moment...

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“Untithed Earnings for Starbucks and Smashing the Patriarchy” by Angela Ginsburg

Submitted to Contest #205

I’ve never been that into weddings. Like when I was little I didn’t dream of myself in white and put my mom’s sheer scarves over my face and take those weird steps where you bring your foot next to the first and stop before you take the next one. And now I’m actively against them: they’re this weird relic of a patriarchal society where the dad gives the daughter (whom he owns!) to the husband because he needs an heir factory and the dad doesn’t want to pay to feed the girl anymore. Nevermind the only reason he has to spend money on her is th...

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“The Dehumanization of Adam Longtree” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #205

The Dehumanization of Adam Longtree(Language.) 1. White-collar criminals out on bond get to wear white-collar attire to court. Adam Longtree’s attorney, a salaried Public Defender with a questionable commitment to the task, had him dressed in a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a bright red tie. Add clean-shaven, with every hair in place, and an endearing smile, Adam looked more like a figurine on top of a wedding cake than a hardened criminal. Unfortunately for Adam, the jury based its conclusions more on the facts of the case than...

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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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