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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

“Me & Thee & She” by Barbara Nosek

Submitted to Contest #214

{Adult language}Well that lasted exactly two minutes. One mile.My beautiful dream becoming reality – now apparently over. This was going to be our chance to re-connect, away from our busy work lives, away from our community commitments, away from our household responsibilities. A romantic getaway, just the two of us in a cozy cabin, looking forward to ten days of all the fun places and scenic splendors of central Wisconsin. But then, oh so close to the freeway and freedom, it all started turning bad.On the side street that leads across the m...

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“Theo and the Girl Who Cried Rice” by Guinnevere Rose

Submitted to Contest #214

Theodore Hallows hated summer. He also hated vacations. How much more did he hate summer vacation. He’d been able to bale on the last few, but his mother was insistent that he join this year’s family trip to Hawaii before he left home to travel the world. From the airport, Theo helped his sister, Daffodil, carry her many, many suitcases. He didn’t question it when one seemed particularly heavy. To be fair, all her suitcases were heavy, most likely packed to ...

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“The Summer I became Me” by Brooke Olivia

Submitted to Contest #214

2030 7th of SeptemberDear Diary, The summer of 2023. The summer I became me. The summer it all changed.I'm ready to talk about it now. 7 years later, here I sit ready to finally admit the truth about the summer of 2023. I remember that summer like it was yesterday. The memories are still engraved into me like an open wound that’s not yet healed. I remember it all too well. Why? Because that’s when I finally woke up. I stopped tolerating life. I stopped surviving. I started truly living and noticing the beauty that’s around me. Love. Isn...

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“Not Everyone Grew Up That Summer” by Douglas Goff

Submitted to Contest #214

“Go! Go! Go!” I screamed at my younger brother Ken, as I shoved him towards the bright sunlight of the open door, with many hands grasping and pulling at my clothes! My three sisters, Julie, Joni, and Lisa were trapped behind me, my body blocking the aisle. Ken was only a couple of feet from the wide open door with only one obstacle left. Linda the bus driver lunged at him with her large robust body, but Ken was scrappy. He squeezed past her meaty grasp and was out and running for it. It had become a Bus 9...

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“The Home that's Away” by Michael Franchetti

Submitted to Contest #214

I didn't really know what was happening, all that I knew was that I was moving, then I wasn't. So when the man asked, "Do you know how fast you were going?", I was able to respond only because this was one of the few answers that I always had the answer to. "I believe I was going the speed limit officer, but I could always be wrong," I replied, throwing on my happiest face to appease him. He didn’t bite. "Sir can you step out of the car please,” the elderly man commanded. This too I was familiar with, although this test was one I knew was a...

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“From Porsche to Peeling Paint” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #214

Shannon Myers pressed the flat red button on the large screen. She was dangerously close to losing reception and wanted to end the call as soon as possible. The horrification of hanging up mid sentence on her new boss. They were close to closing their series B funding for their AI driven startup that would revolutionize how any normal person could trade stocks. Shannon’s life seemed to have changed quickly. After attending Penn State, her career started on Wall Street and although her paychecks became rather large, she sp...

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“The letter she will never send” by Margarita Escobar

Submitted to Contest #214

The letter she will never send Elisa was aware she could never send the letter. It was impossible. But the memory of Pablo remained vivid in her mind as if it all happened yesterday. The countryside had a special place in Elisa’s heart. Rivers, forest, the smell of fresh wheat harvest, the aroma of wildflowers, and the scent of ripe fruit took her to a different time, filling her soul with happiness and nostalgia. It was summer a long time ago. As city kids, going to the coun...

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“When I was a Child ” by Deliliah Smith

Submitted to Contest #214

“Okay, everyone, I know you are all absolutely thrilled to be back at school, but if you could all just pause your chitchat so we could get started.” The class fell silent. This was Lauras favourite class. 9A English. Last year when the Head of the Department had presented them to her he had described them as “trouble makers, idiots and a motley crew.” It had been Lauras first year as a qualified English Teacher, she had come into the profession slightly later after completing an undergraduate in English literature and working for a small ed...

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“The Magic of Summers Lost” by Jonathan Quidangen

Submitted to Contest #214

Whenever my parents read us the stories of Peter Pan, they would always end it by telling my brothers and me to ‘never grow up’. They told us to stay as childlike as possible and that we would never stop seeing the world's magic. Every Summer, my father made it a point to take us camping to new places. We would camp by the beach, in the forest, on a mountain. My brothers and I longed for the family camping trips to escape city life's monotony. Sitting around the campfire, my father would tell us fantastic stories, and the world around us wou...

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“I'll endure it if I must” by Sally-Ann Hodgekiss

Submitted to Contest #214

“Seriously Rachele? You’ve been like this since you were a child. I want. I must do it now. Goal oriented to the point where your father and I just gave up fighting and waved as you headed out the door. You returned eventually. Monaco. Tomorrow. You win another trip to some, admittedly very suave, location at the ass end of the world… Well Europe but look where that’s heading. Euro? The Brits got it right. Merging all those countries together was a bad idea from the start. One goes down the drain, they all follow after and clog up the pipes ...

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“A Tale Of The Unexpected” by Susanne O'Connor

Submitted to Contest #214

A Tale Of The Unexpected Our summer vacations nearly always ended abruptly. I asked myself why did Daddy takes us to such places, different all of them, off the beaten track. If it had been the South of France or a delicious Greek Island, I could have been happy but it was mainly some overpopulated South American city, Columbia mainly. We went there five times in all. Now don’t get me wrong, Bogota has a lot going for it. It’s charming cobbled streets and multi-coloured houses could have you thinking you were in the Cinque Terre or the Am...

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“Warn the Others” by YEMISI B

Submitted to Contest #214

The smog of the city sat comfortably on top of the hills of San Diego enveloping the palm trees and houses in a dense haze. The view had become commonplace as the Baileys’ found themselves in San Diego once again for the fourth time in a matter of sixth months. Not that it surprised Gavin. He had long suspected that his parents would come back to San Diego to complete their assignment. The truth was that he had been keeping a close eye on his parents for the past two years and he finally felt that he could comfortably tell the rest of his si...

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“I Went to Italy and All I Got Was this Shocking Secret ” by Emma Cassidy

Submitted to Contest #214

The sticky July heat plasters my hair to the nape of my neck as we sprint through Vatican City. Angry outbursts follow us as shocked tourists jump out of our path to avoid being barreled over. St. Peter’s Square is inundated with people, making it difficult to move. I risk a quick glance behind me and see a black-clad figure push their way through a tour group, determined in their pursuit of my brother Simeon and me. Shit, shit, shit, I think to myself. &nbs...

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“A Matter of Degrees” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #214

As a lifelong resident of the Northern Hemisphere, I normally looked sadly on the onslaught of fall and winter. During the summer my friends and I had romped with as little attire as possible in our local lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. This year, though, we didn’t realize that the sun whose disappearance we so sadly mourned could become the instrument of the world’s destruction. As Mother Nature began to close the curtain on 2300, news reports began to surface about natur...

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“A Higher Calling” by J.R. Dell

Submitted to Contest #214

The day was perfect. A beautiful end to our small vacation. We all had just left the bar in a stupor. Heading for the beach to light the bonfire we had grown accustomed to sitting by. It was just about dusk, and the sun-kissed waters were reflecting the spread of warm red shears across the sky, mixing with vibrant orange and soft rose-pink hues above. We got to what had been our usual spot for the past 2 weeks and decided to light the fire before it got dark. I sat down with Ashley at the back of the group. We hadn’t known each other long, b...

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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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