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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#22: Auld Lang Syne

From the Times Square Ball drop to the old Spanish tradition of trying to fit 12 grapes into your mouth at midnight — New Year's Eve comes with a host of different rituals and traditions.

Maybe a new one of yours will be submitting a New Year's-themed story to the Reedsy Prompts contest? 😊 In which case, we don't want to keep you any longer! So...

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... write! And have yourself a Happy New Year.

This week's prompts

Write a short story about a person who goes to bed on Valentine's Day and wakes up in 1920.

Holiday – 41 stories

Write a short story about someone with unconventional New Year's traditions.

Holiday – 44 stories

Two strangers meet at a New Year's Eve party. They spend the party together, and then never see each other again.

Winter – 79 stories

Write a short story in which the last line is the countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve.

Winter – 97 stories

Write a short story about someone who does not spend December 31st celebrating New Year's Eve.

Winter – 77 stories

Stories

“A lost last hope” by Hamidouche Abderraouf

Submitted to Contest #22

On 31st December, the old man, Dean, woke up at 11:00 am. Rubbing his old dense gray beard and in slow short steps, he went toward the bathroom in his shack. On his way going to his humble bathroom, he saw himself in an old broken mirror, and then he stopped. He watched his face and realized how the time and things that happened in the old days made him. He stood for about half an hour before the mirror thinking of everything. Then he goes to the bathroom. Dean was short and chubby; he had long hair and a rounded miserable face. H...

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“Modern Day Shakespeare ” by Casey Mullins

Submitted to Contest #22

He has a baby-face. Young and sensitive and full of emotions. A desire to be loved. New with relationships and nothing of seriousness. She’s 10 years older and has a kid. He’s barely out of high school with the world at his feet. They work together and he was her trainer. He sees her and falls. He knows it’s a dangerous game, a woman who is damaged from a domestic violence breakup up with a young son. She’s like a magnet pulling him in. Her beauty, her personality, and all the kindness she has to offer, after how wrong she’s been done. In th...

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“Nothing to Celebrate” by Kara O

Submitted to Contest #22

The fire crackled as a log split; its insides consumed from within. Azma tossed another branch in. Her fingers throbbed, numbed by the cold. The air, dry as would be this time of the year, pinched her cheeks raw, cracked her lips, and froze the inside of her nose. She would be warmer if she would sit a bit closer, but the glare of the light irritated her, burning her irises and making spots dance in her vision. So she made do by hugging herself. The air seeped through the thin fabric of her green sweater and robbed her of body...

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“New Years Eve Revelation” by Ropafadzo Zinyuke

Submitted to Contest #22

“This should help,” He said with genuine concern echoing in his voice as he passed the ice pack to me. I simply nodded and grabbed the ice pack as I quivered with anger bottled up from all the times he had made an effort to hurt everyone around him's feelings with his words and actions. “I'm sorry,” He said staring at the bruised bump on my forehead he was responsible for but I didn’t respond because I knew the rage fueling inside me would explode like a volcano releasing nothing but deadly toxins and chemicals I would regret saying because ...

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“The 15 Minute Party” by Book Worm

Submitted to Contest #22

New Year’s Eve did not mean much in India other than to Christians, anglicized upper class elite and youth of all classes educated in missionary institutions until the 1990s. The rest spent it watching the annual late-night entertainment programme on the state-owned channel Doordarshan anchored by a young man and a woman with clipped British accents and include a pot pourri of Indian and Western music and dance, the highlight being a live performance by a celebrity Bollywood singer. Majority of Indians would ring in the new year to ‘the nigh...

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“THE LETTER IN THE SYMMERLY” by Sharat Jacob

Submitted to Contest #22

“I don’t care about your stupid year and don’t you ever come back, you mindless little kitten!”, I yelled at the paperboy cycling away to stay alive. “You know, I can’t do that as you do have a daily subscription!” he shouted out as he shot out of sight.After ensuring he had gone away, I settled down at the kitchen table with the newspaper sprawled in front of me. Snorted at the headlines. Happy New Year, my foot! Nothing but a waste of money and resources which could be used for better purposes. I mean, come on, everyone’s really losing a f...

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“A Fresh Start” by Emily Domedion

Submitted to Contest #22

Seeing the city in daylight was a startling change for Sarah. She was used to experiencing the city mostly at night, with lights shining from thousands of windows above her, and the fog of car exhaust from the street and her breath all mingled together against an ashy black sky. But today being a holiday, she had gotten out of work early, and the sun was just starting to set. Its golden light was diluted to a watercolor glow by grey clouds and grey buildings and grey asphalt. The people she passed as she walked home were vibrant with color, ...

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“Love and Promises” by Courtney Cook

Submitted to Contest #22

Sometimes Jade didn’t keep her promises. Usually an endearing trait, she could fall so far into her work that she wouldn’t return home for days. Alice gazed up from her spot on the floor to the wooden cuckoo clock on the wall as the bird flew out to signify another passed hour. 10pm and Jade still wasn’t home. Alice never interrupted her wife while she was at her studio, but it was New Year’s Eve so she picked up her phone to try and call her. It went straight to voicemail. Alice sighed and tried to tell herself that it didn’t matter. She th...

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“Out of Time” by Echo West

Submitted to Contest #22

There was nothing in this world that I wanted to do more than sit down and watch some TV as I drank a whiskey sour. It had been an exhausting year, an even more exhausting month, and I deserved some relaxation on the last day of the year. But just as I had prepared my drink and was ready to sit down, my cellphone rang. I took my phone out of my pocket and saw that it was my boss. I set down my drink, let out a sigh, and answered the phone. “Hello?” I said. “Hi, Richard. I’m sorry to bother you after you’ve finished work for...

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“The Nonsense of New Year's Eve” by Justine Burns

Submitted to Contest #22

Alexander McKinley did NOT do holidays. Not Christmas, not thanksgiving, not Valentine’s day. It’s all a bit of frivolous nonsense, thank you very much. You see, Alexander had a VERY structured routine, and he didn’t like anyone disturbing it, not one bit. He rose at exactly half past 5 every morning, with or without an alarm. Alexander didn’t need alarms to stay on schedule, they were for late people. He ate breakfast at 604, and lunch at 1104. At exactly half past 3 every day, rain or shine, Alexander left his small apartment and walk...

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“Heartbreak Eve” by Lenora Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #22

It’s December the most dreaded month of the year for many, but not for her. She looked forward to this time of the year, the winter holidays. She once loved so deep that her heart only knew him. She clung to his every word, the smell of his sweat, the way he slightly tossed and turned while sleeping. When he wasn’t there her world was incomplete. She knows this is unhealthy behavior, but this is who she is.One day he started acting strange, he seemed uncomfortable. Something she’s never experienced from him since they’ve been toget...

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“The New Year's Eve Tragedy” by Amy Bennett

Submitted to Contest #22

Rachel Coriam’s brother Dennis was tragically killed on his own birthday which - sadly and ironically enough - coincided with New Year’s Eve. And it is for this very sad reason that she and her parents dread every New Year’s Eve that rolls around. Here is Rachel’s heartbreaking story:Ever since my brother died under such horrific circumstances on the final day of the year, which also happened to have been the very day he was supposed to be celebrating having turned a year older, I’ve been unable to stop having recurring nightmares about the ...

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“Countdown” by Sophie Liu

Submitted to Contest #22

… 60! Time is honestly such a superficial concept. They’re outside counting down to midnight, only a minute away—but what is midnight? Twelve PM, which in itself is utterly abstract. So some call it the “darkest hour,” or say that midnight is the moment halfway between two consecutive moments when the sun is at its highest—which is an utter mouthful, anyway. But then the question is, what is a minute? What is a second? A minute is 1/1440th of the time between one midnight and the next, and a second is 1/60th of that. What sort of numbers are...

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“New Years Past” by Ryan Croxall

Submitted to Contest #22

“Mr Williams, would you like to come into the dining room with the rest of the residents, we’re going to be seeing the new year in in about 45 minutes?”“No thank you nurse Daisy, I’m quite happy where I am, the new year isn’t really a big event for me anymore.”“Okay well if you change your mind, just let me know and I’ll bring you through, okay?”George’s eyes scanned the room until he locked onto the single photo frame that sat upon his bedside table, “Nurse, do you have 5 minutes to spare? I want to talk to you about something.” The nurse l...

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“Old New Years ” by Daeyonna Smith

Submitted to Contest #22

Sometimes you get stuck in the future, you shouldn‘t forget the past. Maria is a secretary women, everything about her life screams “normal”. Her husband wants her to become a house wife but she’s been refusing. New years eve they have a big argument and she actually thinks about it. ‘If it will make him happy‘ she starts to think to herself before bed. She goes to sleep miserable before waking up. She decides to start things off right. So she gets up. before realizing that she’s not in her home. So she slowly walks towards the living room o...

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$50

Prize money

338

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 03, 2020 EST

Won by Emily Hemmings 🏆

Title: Pagliacci on the Q Train

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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