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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#212: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I don't really exchange letters with anyone, but if I did, I'd receive them with great anticipation. There's something very unpredictable about a letter: it can provide insight into a person's most private feelings, make a public statement, or share news of events big and small, from historic events to everyday gossip. You just never know until you open it.

This week's prompts are inspired by all things epistolary.

This week's prompts

Write a story in the form of a letter, or multiple letters back and forth.

Short Story – 147 stories

Write an epistolary story set during a major historical event. The event may be the subject of the letters directly, or be referenced in the background.

Historical Fiction – 30 stories

Write a story about a pair of pen pals.

Character – 26 stories

A mysterious letter is delivered to your character's home. It's not addressed to them, but they can't resist peeking...

Mystery – 64 stories

Set your story in a post office.

Fiction – 36 stories

Stories

“The Driver” by Kade Baker

Submitted to Contest #212

I suppose it all started a couple years ago, around the beginning of August. It seems like a long time ago, when I discuss the matter with my husband, Dennis. Back then I wasn’t married, and I was very lonely. I recall early in the morning, finding the first of the letters slid carefully and precisely halfway through my front door letter box. Unlike the usual postie who fires my envelopes through the plate like a change-bearing child at the pier, this delivery was conducted with tenderness. The kettle had just started boiling, and my tong...

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“Return to Sender” by Charlotte Kelley

Submitted to Contest #212

August 15th Dear Jo, Please, do not tear up this letter. I know you have not heard from me in a while (I couldn't reach you in any conventional way, but by some miracle, I remembered your address). This is not a question I take pleasure in asking. I am, quite honestly, stuck. You knew all about my moods, the anxieties you would call "obstacles" or "roadblocks" - after we parted I started referring to these as mere parts of me, not defects. Perhaps influence is a selfish thing, or a beast with poisoned talons, or even a one-sided mirror. ...

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“Signed, Sealed, Delivered...and Destroyed(?!)” by Gabriel Perez

Submitted to Contest #212

Dear Hal,Your message in the space bottle was received. We here on the planet Kabangers are overjoyed. We have speculated for centuries the existence of other life in the cosmos, and now we are holding in our hands the proof that we have always longed for and desired. In our great wisdom, we have decided to communicate with you in the same way you have reached out to us. Therefore, we are sending this message back to you in the same space bottle that you so graciously sent our way. We hope that is to your li...

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“Pickles” by Yvonne Scott

Submitted to Contest #212

It’s Labor Day afternoon, 2020. I take my seat in the tight semi-circle of my two cousins and their kids outlining the cluttered work area in the middle of my uncle and aunt’s small living room. My uncle fumbles or maybe trembles, I can’t tell, as he searches among his precarious stacks of papers, books, and magazines arrayed on tables behind him. His angular bowed body and sagging skin retain only the faintest whisper of the once vibrant, husky, tall man with a ready wit and scholar’s mind I’ve always admired. He deftly slides a finger into...

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“Letters from Borneo” by Padmini Sankar

Submitted to Contest #212

Letters from Borneo Jesselton British North Borneo 9th December 1941 Dear Appa, My respects and namaskarams to you and Amma. You may perhaps be wondering why I am writing to you so soon after my last letter, to which I have not yet received your reply. Appa, a big event occurred recently that I have to tell you about. Neelakantan came home yesterday morning. I had just put baby to sleep, when he came rushing in. "The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor," he shouted. Well, I couldn't really understand what the issue was. "Where is this ...

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“Letters to a Heartfelt Island” by D.J.J. MIZZI

Submitted to Contest #212

Letters to a Heartfelt Island June 2, 1939, London, England. Dear Mikiel, It’s extremely difficult to know how to start a letter, especially to someone you’ve never met; in the same way it’s difficult to speak to a stranger. But it becomes easier once you get started, and after that it gets easier still. In the end you’re glad for it because you’ve made a new friend. There we go – I’ve started and it wasn’t so hard at all. I’m very glad my uncle put me in touch with you. I’ve been wanting a new pen-friend, and when my uncle told me he’d m...

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“With Love” by Sandhya Ramachandran

Submitted to Contest #212

How to keep yourself warm in the winter? For Dummies By Dawn and Binky Learn to: - Gather a great assortment of firewood – big and medium logs, kindling, and so on - Arrange newspaper and wood under and over a grate - Use a lighter safely to set the paper to flames - Choose the most cosy and comfortable winter clothing – socks, mittens, earmuffs, and a coat - Ask your mother nicely for hot chocolate and healthy chips - Ask your aunt nicely to read or sing to you something while rocking on the rocking chair Dawn held out the yellow crinkl...

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“Yours” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #212

It began on holiday, or rather the holiday was a beginning of sorts. That Summer was a hot one, almost too hot. Certainly too hot to be laying under canvas. The tents were ovens and setting them up had been more than a chore, the pegs reluctant to enter the scorched and baked earth and in return, the earth placing rocks inconveniently in their way. For Dan, the holiday was a cause of some discomfort. He was at that awkward age. This he had been told on occasion in a way that he would come to realise was confrontationally patron...

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“On The Run” by Liya Dawit

Submitted to Contest #212

Dear Donna,How are you doing? I’m doing well, though it’d be erroneous to say the same for Mother. She’s worried, worried that the knights will break down our door any moment, worried that when Father goes out, he won’t return, worried that we’ll succumb from hunger before the war even ends, and worried that they’ll come and take me and Helen away, of course, she doesn’t say any of this, but it's plain to see.I’m getting better at hiding my ability though. When Mother wasn't busy working, she taught me to keep it under control.Helen tells me...

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“Pretty in Purple. ” by Lexxi Z

Submitted to Contest #212

Most people try to stay clear of trouble. I am not most people. I should have been. It would have led me down a much easier path, but here we are. Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me set the scene for you. August, hot and blistering, was here and I was in the thick of it. I had just moved to the sprawling three acre plot of what I hoped would one day be a farm, on a day thick with humidity. The heat was bad enough, and humidity was new to me, so when the mail arrived, I did not retrieve it immediately. I could see a vague shape...

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“Ouroboros” by Jeff Veyera

Submitted to Contest #212

It was an envelope. A white envelope which felt oddly heavy as Neve Temple ran her fingers over its edges as she contemplated what to do with it. The oddly-flourished iridescent green lettering had her address on it all right, but the name of the addressee---one Gyles Mayhew---didn’t live here. She could ...

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“Thorns” by Sofia Baquedano

Submitted to Contest #212

Matilda was running late. She knew so not because she’d looked at her phone and checked the time, but because she could feel it. As she brushed her teeth and stared at them in the mirror for a second too long, making sure she’d gotten all the spots, she could feel the tick-tacking of an unseen clock. She ran to the kitchen, had a piece of toast and gulped down black coffee. She sprinted back to the bathroom and brushed her teeth one more time, to get the bitter taste out: she despised coffee. Finally, having grabbed her purse a...

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“Sealed by Infinity” by James Milne

Submitted to Contest #212

Ruth's day had been rotten. Point of fact, she was closer to tears by the time she had got to her doorstep, than she had ever been in public - at least since she was a kid. The shame and pain had her hand shaking when she went to unlock the door. Australians are supposed to be tough. We never let the world in on just how crap we might be doing. The door opened easily, and as it did, a letter that had been jammed in, and Ruth had been too preoccupied to notice, shot straight into her face. Causing her to yell, step backwards, miss the s...

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“Fated Delivery” by Inna Daki

Submitted to Contest #212

Fated DeliveryAnd in the front door of Efferty Drasso’s house, a letter is being dropped by the postman. Addressed to someone that Efferty doesn’t even know exist, but soon, he is going to find out more than he would bargain for.“Oh man, what a day…how dare he even say those things to me?! All the things I did for the company the whole month went down the river just like that! That asshole!”. These are his thoughts as he steps on his front door. “But the bills and letters keep coming no matter the crappy day you had to endure” he scoffed. An...

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“The Ties That Bind” by Anthony Carello

Submitted to Contest #212

In a village forgotten by time, kilometers from the British hub of London, George groggily stumbled down the hallway of his two-bedroom house. The floors gave a slight creak under the weight of his steps. When he got to the living room, he put his robe on and opened the curtain in a quick motion. The early morning light was sharp in his still sleepy eyes, but he wanted to take in the morning. Hmmm! Saturday! My favourite day of the week and since Alice took the kids to go visit the in-law… George’s lips perked upward into a grin, h...

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$250

Prize money

303

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 25, 2023 EST

Won by Wendy M 🏆

Title: The Last Of The Bright Young Things

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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