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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#213: The Human Touch

For most people, platonic touch is a central part of being human. When words are not enough, a warm hug or a comforting hand on the shoulder can soothe, support, and create a sense of belonging. But the phrase has another meaning; adding a ‘human touch’ to your work and interactions can also be a way to show empathy and compassion without physically touching. And when that ‘human touch’ is missing from someone or something, it can start to verge on the uncanny.


This week’s prompts are centered around the concept of ‘the human touch’, both literally and figuratively — the comfort it can bring, but also that otherworldly and uneasy feeling we can get when there’s a distinct lack of it in the art and creations we encounter.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character looking closely at something, or someone. They can't quite decide if what they're looking at is natural, or man-made.

Science Fiction – 51 stories

Start or end your story with a character receiving a hug or words of comfort.

Dramatic – 101 stories

Write a story about someone who is losing feeling in their hands and/or fingers.

Character – 46 stories

Write about someone with a Midas touch: everything they touch turns to [fill in the blank].

Character – 39 stories

Write about an AI or person trying to inject a ‘human touch’ into their work.

Science Fiction – 49 stories

Stories

“Attaboy, Joey!” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #213

Attaboy, Joey!“Attaboy, Joey! Nice swing. You can do it!”Truth be told, Joey couldn’t do it.Strike three.Joey slowly walked off the field with his head down. His Dad understood the hurt and put his arms around him.“It’s okay, Joey, you’ll get ‘em next time.”Tom didn’t really believe that, but that’s what dads say.You may have heard a coach say something like, “What a kid lacks in talent can be made up for with hard work and desire.” Don’t believe it. Joey had the heart of a lion, and he made the Little Engine That Could look like a slacker, ...

7 comments 7
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“Comic Con-voluted” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #213

“SPLASH!” Was the sound of once living flesh and bone being transformed into water molecules, soaking into the dry, parched floor of the desert planet – some twelve light years from Earth. “Hydro, what have you done?” The elder-looking statesman alarmingly asked. “That was the high priest of Orr. There will be repercussions now from the Orronauts.” “So what!” Came the impetuous reply. “If their guards get anywhere near me, I’ll lay my powerful hands on them and turn them into vapour.” “Stop! Wait!” Came the outcry from the furrowed brow wiza...

16 comments 16
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“No Offense, But...” by Mackenzie Littledale

Submitted to Contest #213

Sometimes the thing you choose as the clear winner turns into a steaming pile of shit. I used to tell everyone that artificial intelligence marked the start of a revolution guaranteed to improve the world. It would give people time to do what they love and create a new leisure class -  with me in it of course. Ha. Nothing will revolutionize humanity like a dose of humiliation. “Davionne will be with you soon,” the assistant said from the office doorway. “Make yourself comfortable, Tommy.” She closed the door, leaving me in a silent an...

19 comments 19
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“Drowning Behind Her” by Julia Rock

Submitted to Contest #213

Her hand lifts as I lift mine. Her head tilts as I tilt mine. But she does not exist. Not anymore. Not yet. The screen is, for all intents and purposes, a mirror. A glimpse at the final product. A glance into my future appearance. When the doctors are done with me I will look like her. I will be her. (No, I will be me. But I will look like her. I am not her. I am me. I am me. I am me I am me I Am Me I AM ME IAMMEIAMMEIAMME).  They call me by her name. My name, now. (NO.) I have stolen it from her. (Soon she will steal everything from m...

1 comment 1
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“Target(ed) ” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #213

“LIZZZZ! Liz! Hey!”I stopped in my tracks as that high pitched voice invaded my unprepared eardrums. The drawn out zzzz was like a nest of hornets swarming my head. I recognized that voice. I debated running. Hiding. I could slip down the housewares aisle and pretend I didn’t hear her. Stoop down low and really investigate the specifications on a coffee maker. Something. Anything.           Nope. Too late. She was now jog-running at me. I could hear her quickening steps and knew it was n...

19 comments 19
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“On the precipice of understanding” by James Larder

Submitted to Contest #213

‘Leave the women to it.’ Father led me out of the kitchen dining area, as he dangled a cigar in front of my nose. ‘This has been burning a hole in my pocket since dessert.’ He slapped me on the back of my shoulder.The sound of pans clanging and plates being scrapped accompanied us as we edged away. We had been dining since seven. The time was now past ten. I had arrived late yesterday evening, from London.My parents are disgustingly rich. This is their house, in the Cotswolds. Six bedrooms, three bathrooms, an acre sized garden- Bird bath, r...

12 comments 12
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“The Globe” by Lily Finch

Submitted to Contest #213

“Look at you, Susan Blakely; it’s nice to see you this morning. What are you now, eight years old?” Mr. Martens smiled at Susan as she entered his Pawn Shop. “Hi Mr. Martens, I’ve come for a snowglobe, please. All the girls are getting together for a party, and we’re supposed to bring a snow globe with us. Do you have anything like that?"  ”Well, I don’t have a real snow globe, but what would you say if I told you I had something better?” “Oh, I don’t know about that. I mean, what is it?” “Why, it’s right over here. ...

14 comments 14
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“Uncomfortably Numb” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #213

We take so much for granted. I suppose we have to. We haven’t the time to be grateful for everything we have and all that we are. We’re a sad paradox and that inherent conflict of our existence shames us. I am closely observing my hands in the autumnal light, turning them this way and that, and I am thinking of all the time I have wasted. All the things that I could have done, but didn’t bother to do. I put so many things off and in deferring, I said no to them ever happening.  I place my hand on my face and I savour the moment. Tea...

11 comments 11
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“Fortune Teller” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #213

“I have to go.” Rachel sat there for a moment transfixed on her iPhone. Then, shot up explosively from their table with the white tablecloth stained by spilled red wine. Without a beat, she was on her phone. She barked furiously into the receiver.  She held it in front of her mouth about six inches from her face. Her head jerked forward with punchy exclamations. She turned her back to him and walked out. Jacob was left sitting at his table in the River Palm Terrace in Edgewater, a half-finished filet on his plate...

7 comments 7
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“Untouchable” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #213

Sensitive content warning: emotional domestic abuse and control. I haven’t been touched in five years. I can’t remember what it feels like anymore. My life has become so robotic; it’s hard to tell what I’m feeling anymore. My husband told me he was a good man. That should have been the first cause for alarm bells, but I took him at his word. I trusted him from the minute we met, because why wouldn’t I? I had never met someone of his calibre before. Coexistence is hard when someone dehumanises you daily. I walk into the same room as him at...

12 comments 12
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“The Familiar Pain of Not Knowing” by Jonah Balding

Submitted to Contest #213

It’s 9:00am and I have spent the whole morning and the whole night getting the best sleep of my life. The kind where you wake up and your eyes feel light and your muscles are completely loose. The kind where you know that no matter what happens between this moment of awakening and the next moment of rest, there is nothing you can’t do. I’ve woken up feeling like the most fortunate person in the world. I slowly open my eyes and and immediately notice a bright, beautiful white light that permeates the room. I take a moment to bask myself in th...

4 comments 4
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“Sunsets of sorrows: A story of loss, hope and lifelong friendship” by Avinash Johnson

Submitted to Contest #213

The last rays of the sun had set on a very tough day when I found myself sitting alone on the only park bench in the park, a weathered and aged piece of wood that had witnessed countless stories, just like the one that was unfolding before it. This day had been no ordinary day; it had been an exceptionally challenging one, one that seemed to be a culmination of a series of unfortunate events that had unfolded in my life recently. The park itself, a sprawling oasis of nature in the heart of the city, had always been a place of solace for me, ...

6 comments 6
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“I and I ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #213

I and I In creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives I and I One said to the other, "No man sees my face and lives" Bob Dylan I saw him again.  I was riding the New York Subway from Union Square to Morley Advertising on 72cd Street near Lenox Hill.  I was wearing my earbuds, but when I saw him get on, I removed them.  I wanted to hear his voice.  I wanted to get as close as I could to him just to see who he was or who he thought he was. But when I saw his face, it was like looking into the mirror at my ow...

4 comments 4
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“The Woman Trapped Behind the Glass” by Sean Wilson

Submitted to Contest #213

“Excuse me Joshua but I seem to be stuck on this wall,” a voice says behind me. I look at my manuscript, now over five hundred pages long, and put down my pen. How long has it been since I’ve had a visitor? The wood floor creaks underneath me as I place two hands on my desk and push myself up. As I turn around, nobody is at my door. Am I imagining things? “Not there. Up here!” I swivel my head to the right and see that a woman’s face is, indeed, on my wall. She seems to be trapped behind glass. Is she real? I shuffle over and analyze her gre...

2 comments 2
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“A good soldier ” by Lyle Closs

Submitted to Contest #213

“Mate, pull me pants up will ya?” I saw him a few metres ahead on Pitt Street in 1979. I had just started working at Medibank. A lowly clerical job was all I was good for then. I rented a room in a house in Chippendale and could walk to work in central Sydney. My hair was long and my attitude could best be described as lackadaisical. I wore the required shirt and tie and ironed my trousers once a week to maintain some form of dignity and acceptability. What I really wanted to do was buy a Triumph Trident and ride into the sunset. “Ar Jesus,...

0 comments 0
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$250

Prize money

286

Contest entries

124

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 01, 2023 EST

Won by Jonathan Page 🏆

Title: The Porcelain Village

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.

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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