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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#214: The Fall of Summer

For both kids and adults, summer is a time for dreams, freedom, and a break from routine. The scorching summer months offer new beginnings, new experiences, vacations in exotic places (real or backyard imaginings), new friendships, and perhaps even new romance. It’s when memories are created, and when ‘growing up’ happens.

Except there’s never enough time. The days fly by, the memories stack up, and pretty soon Fall’s got a stranglehold. To celebrate the last throes of the season, this week’s prompts encourage you to delve into your memories of the summer we’ve just had, and of summers long past.

This week's prompts

Set your story on the eve of the first day back at school.

Kids – 34 stories

What was meant to be a great bonding vacation turns sour when an uninvited guest tags along.

Summer – 43 stories

Now, as an adult, your character looks back on this summer as the summer when they grew up.

Character – 40 stories

Each year, your character's family goes on the most exotic vacations. Finally they discover why — their family are assassins.

Funny – 36 stories

It’s the last evening of your vacation and you’re watching the sunset with your friends/partner/family, wishing summer would never end. But just as the sun dips below the horizon, you notice it returning in reverse.

Science Fiction – 49 stories

Stories

“Vacationing in the Poconos” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #214

Officer, my given name is Arturo Barcelli, but I Americanized it to Arthur. So be sure to use that one. Arthur Barcelli. Under occupation put down that I am a businessman from Woodbury Heights. Yeah, put that down, businessman. That is what I do for a living. Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. I know what you think I am, but you are wrong. What happened in the past is the past. I’ve done what I can to put distance from me and that summer in 1968 when we went vacationing in the Poconos. You...

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“Fried Chicken” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #214

The sun does not love you. If it did it would stay. It wouldn’t abandon you after three months. Three months of joy and freedom isn’t long enough for anyone. A person needs at least a lifetime of adventure and play and exploration to achieve self-actualization. Trapped in a prison camp, forced to study minerals and long division, who am I supposed to be beyond a statistic in a messed-up system I don’t fully understand.It's 7PM and I’m in the backyard behind my treehouse so no one can easily see me dig a grave for myself. My dog, Buddy, lies ...

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“THE DAY AFTER THE DAY” by Arlin Couch

Submitted to Contest #214

Saturday, September 23rd, 2023, we were leaving the “Wander CampGrand Canyon” camp site to go watch the sunset over the Grand Canyonas we had every night since Thursday evening when we arrived for ourweekend getaway for the last days of summer. Depressed was anunderstatement for how I was feeling, but as we all know, all good thingscome to an end eventually. You know, just like summer does, then it startsgetting chili in the fall, and blistering cold in the winter. But that’s a whole otherstory we can dive into later. My family and I were si...

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“The Lake House” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #214

Walking into the antique shop she felt the anticipation begin to grow. What treasures were awaiting her? Rich in history, some items brought with them their stories from the past while others were a mystery left to one’s imagination. “Oh,” she heard herself actually gasp and made a beeline to the back corner. The desk caught her attention right away, being exactly the style she had been looking for on and off over the years. “Why hello there.” She spoke to the piece of furniture and laughed to acknowledge that she ...

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“Discover the Fall” by Raquel Belury Rosenberg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #214

“I’m so glad we’re doing this,” Mom says just as we hit the highway. “Me too, Mom,” I say. Good timing says the angel I’ve been ignoring since we got into the car. He leans between the driver's and passenger's seats so that his transparent head bobbles between us. “We’re going to have such a good time. I have plans. Look at the binder!” Mom slides a hot pink binder that's been baking on her side of the day over to me like a bartender sliding a shot to a favorite customer. “Of course, there’s a binder,” my eye roll and sigh ...

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“What You Wish For” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #214

Jack lugged the picnic basket up the path toward the overlook. He called back to Melody, his girlfriend, “Hurry, Jill! The sun’ll be setting…” “Jack, please don’t call me Jill. How many times…?” Melody sighed. They found level ground. Jack spread the blanket, placed the basket and stepped over to look at the valley lit by the late summer sun. Leaves would soon turn. Melody stepped beside him and took his hand. They caught their breath while enjoying the view. “What a magnificent day.” “I’m sorry it’s our last together. The perfect e...

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“Saturday, again.” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #214

Saturday’s sunset was spectacular. Every one of us was sad to see it going to sleep, but its departure was a beauty that only the sky could produce. We looked at one another, knowing that we were sharing that bittersweet ending to our holiday. We had to fly home the next day and none of us wanted to. We were in Lake Garda and the weather had been glorious. We’d lounged by the pool in surroundings that bordered on the divine, and the following day, we had no choice but to go back to the dull, dark UK. Remote weather-watching told us that rain...

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“Promise of Summer” by Philip Umbrino

Submitted to Contest #214

Ethan’s summer was boring because he was a wimp. Tomorrow was the first day of his senior year, and he was spending his last free day at Mimi’s, a local coffee shop downtown. Like he did every time he was there, he pretended to work on his summer assignments. It was his cover, considering he didn’t even like coffee. In truth he finished his work weeks ago. Most of July and August were spent at his grandfather’s home, making sure his grandpa got up, ate something, used the bathroom instead of his La-Z-Boy to urinate, and went to bed all witho...

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“Our Last Summer” by David Willett

Submitted to Contest #214

The frosty amber liquid glistens through raised glasses in the ethereal light. We all gather outside to toast our final moments as the sun bids farewell to summer. It had been a season that would never come again. I flick the curls of my auburn fringe to clear my vision and ask my three companions, ‘Are there any better type of beers than summer beers?’ ‘You can’...

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“A Lone Marriage” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #214

Make or break. That’s what it was. That’s what it was for me. Maybe it was for him too. I don’t know anymore. There’s a lot I don’t know, now that my eyes are wide open and I know more than I have ever known. How I wish I could take it all back, every last bit of it. Ignorance was bliss, but then it became difficult. I didn’t want difficult. I think I wanted easy. Easy was a big mistake, but not the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I’m still trying to define that one. I see its shadow, but still I can’t see it for what it is. Perhaps I do...

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“Loretta in Flight: Fly Like an Eagle in a World Full of Chickens” by Indee Anna Prosé

Submitted to Contest #214

Loretta Young squished her plump figure into the tiny confessional in St. John the Evangelist’s Catholic Church. Her knee length jean shorts squeezed her thick thighs as she struggled to kneel down on the step. When she finally knelt down, the step groaned loudly beneath her. She smoothed out the invisible wrinkles on her pink tee-shirt and pulled it taut over her ample bosom and pouchy stomach. Dishwater blonde hair hung on each side of her round face and past her shoulders in stick-straight strands, like dry spaghetti. Laugh lines creas...

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“Nature vs Nurture” by Anthony Carello

Submitted to Contest #214

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.Deep down I probably knew for a while.My. Family. Are. Assassins… Let me explain.***It all started after our most recent family vacation to a beautiful tropical county. Sun, surf, and gorgeous beaches. A teenager couldn’t ask for more. That’s not to mention all the flirty servers, which my Sister seems to think are only acting that way with me to get a larger tip, but she doesn't know my charm. Needless to say, I enjoyed our trips.So, the fact that every time we came home the news would be filled with ta...

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“The Summer I Grew Up” by Evie Adams

Submitted to Contest #214

The summer I grew up was not a happy one. How could it be otherwise? It’s suffering and pain that transform us, not contentment and pleasure, however alluring and attractive they seem. At some point, the nursery and all its soothing safety and warmth have to be ripped away, and the child has to stare at the cold, hard, unfeeling facts of life with no one to comfort her.For me, in that sweltering summer of my late youth, the cold, hard, unfeeling facts of life consisted of a white funeral hall, a silver and sable coffin, and my mother’s corps...

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“The Church at the End of the World” by Cami Green

Submitted to Contest #214

“The world is ending and I am in an itty-bitty, yellow bikini. How the hell am I supposed to run?” Cassia screamed. “Come on,” Theo said. “You know we have to get out of here so run in your bare feet like we used to when we were kids.” Cassia ran off the beach like a deer running from a wolf pack. Her eyes were huge and her heart pounded. But she had been on the track team at school and with her long legs, she was one of the first out of there. “The roads are blocked,” Theo yelled. “We’ll have to run home to take shelter.” “We ...

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“'Til Death Do Us Part” by Aurelia K

Submitted to Contest #214

I stared at him across the table. He was stirring sugar into his coffee, clinking the spoon against the ceramic edges. I sat with my hands curled around my cup, the coffee in it still black and bitter. Cracks in the faux leather booth dug into my thighs, my skin chilly from the blasting AC. My palms began to burn, and I let them, imagining the heat seeping up through my arms into my heart. Ian sipped his sweetened coffee, his eye twitching as the flavor hit his tongue. A 24-hour diner was not the place to go for the best roast. "So. What...

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$250

Prize money

202

Contest entries

94

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 08, 2023 EST

Won by Emily Holding 🏆

Title: Departed, Return

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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