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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

“Thr Art of the Dragoon” by Will Oyowe

Submitted to Contest #205

Dzeliera and I first met Lideria at the Dragoon Academy's military induction in town. Lideria guided us outside, with Dzeliera, my fellow graduate, smoking and me self-consciously talking to other admired on-lookers as if I was afraid my idleness would make the others find me out. Lideria, we learned, besides being one of the best dragon commanders of her generation, was also a professional artist and kept many different papers in a special tattered pouch slung over her shoulder. She chatted while smoking her pipe and quickly took a liking t...

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“Coping Mechanism of the Common Man” by Esperanza Gant

Submitted to Contest #205

Coping Mechanism for the Common Man Tick. Tick. Tick. The clock on Aaron’s bedside table was the only sound filling his dead apartment. Aaron lay motionless in his bed, staring up at his ceiling. The sunrise peeked through his curtains turning his whitewashed walls blue. Brrring. Brrring. Aaron turned his alarm off on the second ring. “Three…four…five…six…” At seven he rose from his bed. By nine, the covers had been replaced as if he had never slept in them. It was exactly ten steps to the bathroom. Aaron couldn’t hear ...

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“Clockwork” by Jordan Armstrong

Submitted to Contest #205

There’s a small joy in waking up before the alarm rings. The transition from dream to reality becomes soft, and special; waking from a dream without violence almost feels like a holiday. I smelled the sea air coming in through the western window, motivating my eyes to open, albeit with some early morning difficulty. Our home wasn’t large- upstairs master and guest bedrooms, downstairs kitchen, dining/living room- but it was beachfront property, worth every penny. I took a deep breath, enjoying the smells of the ocean- for a moment, I caugh...

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“Breathe” by Brittany Johnston

Submitted to Contest #205

Penny closed her eyes and pressed her face to the cold windowpane, trying in vain to synchronize her breathing with the croaking frogs. The early morning lay quiet as the household slumbered. Time suspended between winter's stark weariness and spring's vibrant joy, a stark contrast to the chaos from the previous evening. She tried to forget the state of the room behind her. Boxes were scattered in the middle of the floor. They were mercilessly torn through. Papers and books were thrown in lopsided piles, their pages bent and ripped. Clothing...

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“Blemish” by Olivia Inez

Submitted to Contest #205

Her heart screams for her to stop, but she can’t. It’s too late. She knows she shouldn’t do this, that doing this will drastically change the course of her life. Her mind tells her it’s okay, throwing excuse after excuse to her, attempting to slow the pounding of her heart. She lowers herself to the ground, dirtying her once perfectly white dress. The dull hues of the forest from the morning fog make the bright crimson stand out incredibly. She finds the rose and forcefully plucks it from the earth. She brings it up to her lips, taking a dee...

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“Habit Forming” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #205

Language is a conspiracy, it ties you up in lies. Language tricks you, it seduces you into a state of languorous complacency. It’s what isn’t said that is the worst of it, language then masks what should be glaring omissions and turns your world into a mush of mild confusion. Smoking, drinking and not washing your hands after you’ve paid a visit to the loo are referred to as bad habits. What a joke! Well, the joke is on me. The joke has always been on me. I’ve got all the way to thirty two years of age and only now do I get that I am...

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“Erie” by Naomi Passapera

Submitted to Contest #205

Erie was here even after her death. Maybe it was because I couldn't let go in the beginning. Maybe it caused her to stay horribly long. Whatever the reason, I knew that something had happened when Dad came home with a grave look on his pale, oval face, red tear streaks woven down piercing eyes."Dad?" I had said in a small voice, putting down the puzzle pieces I had a handful of in each hand. I felt sweat build up on my forehead, making my bangs stick to my head. I had smoothed them away. "What happened?"He... didn't answer. No, it was that n...

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“The Idiot” by Rohana Chomick

Submitted to Contest #205

I don’t believe in God or the Devil or destiny. I don’t believe in much, actually. My mother wonders what she did so horribly wrong in raising me that I would turn out to be such “an empty shell of a human being.” Thanks, Mom, I love you too. Ha! I’m just an average person with no ambition, no dreams, no wannabe future. Really, does it matter? We’re all gonna die, anyway. Can’t stop that lovely part of existence. So, I say screw it. Just keep breathing every day, see what happens in the 24 hours that encapsulates you, wait to experience wh...

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“Painted Red” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #205

Last light. It's like first light for the sailors of old, except it is the final hour of sunlight before the darkness of night swallows the sun for the second half of the day. Usually, Tholan would be busy at this time with the cruxes, setting up new boundaries. This night, however, was different. It was his turn to patrol with Lindia, and both would be checking upon the older cruxes near the trees about five miles out from their community. This night, there was going to be a full moon. This meant one thing: the Hunters would be co...

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“a mothers love ” by Melanie Page

Submitted to Contest #205

Finally, the time had come. 19 years, she had waited. 19 years, she had patiently watched countless full moons come and go, each one a step upon a ladder, leading the way to the promise of a meeting with this exact full moon. 19 years, since her doting, sweet, kind-hearted mother performed her most treasured ritual in hopes of protection for an eternity. 19 years, since her mother walked away from that same illuminating, hopeful moon and lost her life.The details of her mother’s death were always ones that Luna wished she had never gone look...

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“Date under a Full Moon” by Marta Lourenço

Submitted to Contest #205

Mia stared at the full moon. She could feel its light touching her skin as she tried to remain in control of her powers. She had been a mermaid for less than a year, so she wasn’t quite good at that yet. Especially on a full moon night. “Are you sure you don’t want any help?” She asked, walking back into the kitchen. Clara, her girlfriend who didn’t know about the supernatural part of her life, was baking a chocolate cake. Mia’s mom had gone on a business trip for the weekend, so they took the chance to spend those two days together with th...

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“Dryad” by Marie Maher

Submitted to Contest #205

We were outside, in the garden, when it happened. I remember it was dark, though the moon was fat and bright. “Reggie” I said softly, and moved forward to take his hand. I felt some remorse, it was true. He was so dull, so hopeless, so wrong for me. But still, I was sorry for the hurt I was about to cause him; yet the excitement inside me was bubbling, raising higher in my breast, threatening to spill from my mouth and eyes and ears like white hot lava. Reg saw it in my face and recoiled. Shock replaced suspicion on his shrivelled feature...

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“Northwoods be Jammin’” by Amanda Rantanen

Submitted to Contest #205

The light of the full moon cast its glow on the Thimbleberry patch making it an especially good night for Sierra Ann Squatch to pick berries at her property near Copper Harbor, Michigan. For the past several years, Ms. S.A. Squatch has been living alone in a secret location deep in the woods. We had the rare opportunity for an interview with Ms. Squatch, who is the owner of Northwoods be Jammin’. She allowed us to meet up with her at midnight in the middle of nowhere so long as we didn’t bring cameras and we promised not to disclose her exac...

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“Harvest Moon” by Daniel Fore

Submitted to Contest #205

The burgundy disk emanated a sinister glare; the moon full, a monocle observing the night. Wind swished through the evening, behind schedule, hustling to reach its destination before reprehension. In the distance, an auburn tail, fire hose thickness, disappeared into the overgrown Texas Sage. “Did you see that, Daphne? ...

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“Absolution” by Vladimir 4757

Submitted to Contest #205

Far into the black vacuum of space, through the empty abyss, a spaceship lands on a lonely planet, made of water, where an eternal typhoon rages on, and people live in fear. Two Cultists arrived on this planet, the planet of Ossieus, with one goal in mind : to kill a God.“Wretched, Move forward and survey.” The Rohessian Hunter radioed as she left her spacecraft. She was wearing an all-black armored overcoat with a specialized mask that had four lenses, with three on the right side of the mask in a triangular pattern and the fourth one on th...

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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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