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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

“The Bee” by Mildred Okwako

Submitted to Contest #22

THE BEESince I came to this village six years ago, I have keenly observed that my old grandmother spends her new year in a rather unusual way. Not once have I observed her go to the farm to plant vegetables on the first days of January. According to her, farming means plenty of food to her family throughout the year. She also farms to act as a role model to the youth, who, according to her, are generally lazy. Therefore,...

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“The Best Time of The Year” by Kristina Nichols

Submitted to Contest #22

“New Year’s Eve is finally upon us dearest Cuddles!” Oscar exclaimed to his brown tabby who was lounging lazily by the heater. Oscar began to pace up and down the length of his living room in his shoebox-sized apartment, “I must get prepared to celebrate” suddenly Oscars pacing came to an abrupt stop “oh my! I almost forgot to decorate before I made the meal” upon the realization of his forgetfulness he chuckled to himself. Making his way to his bedroom he flips on the light switch, illuminating his unnaturally green colored room, and slides...

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“Colorful Stick” by Gunel Jabrayilova

Submitted to Contest #22

The illusion of freshness, and a new chapter in a non-existent book. The feeling that everything horrible that happened is left behind between the dusty pieces of the past even though they all were on your shoulders just a couple of hours ago. Fireworks going off, children screaming, fake and real snowflakes mixing in the air. The lights turning on and off, torturing easily irritated people, vibrant colors swarming off. Rene took her eyes off the window and took a deep breath. She was watching the whole thing like it was happening in the nex...

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“Another New You” by K M Hasling

Submitted to Contest #22

A New Year, a new you. The psychedelic advertisement email projected onto the ceiling as if she didn’t remember. Lying on the bed, Julia was awake, but she wasn’t ready to get up. She wanted more time to think. She rolled over to silence her phone from the new message, hoping that she didn’t wake her husband, Odin."Have you thought about what you want the new you to be like?" he asked. He was awake. Rats."It’s so much more than a new workout routine, honey. I’m still deciding," she said."What did you think about my suggestion? To go red?""I ...

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“Social Bingo” by Ana Marie Dollano

Submitted to Contest #22

I have always believed the notion that life after retirement can be a complicated time, but surprises come in ways we never expect. Since I retired, I have found pleasure in the quietude of early morning walks to the nearby convenience store, the church or just within the community because it brightens up my mood and keeps my laziness at bay throughout the day. Besides the fact that walking is generally an ideal wellness exercise, I have come to realise that it spurred a rather spontaneous interest in my natural curiosity in the daily c...

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“The First Footing” by Rosie Clemo

Submitted to Contest #22

Mrs Edwards scraped a nail against the mouldy window sill and sighed. She’d scrubbed it only a few weeks ago, but the mottled wood had bucked and bloomed in the heat. The tree was wilting too, a bushy, dark-leaved thing stuck in the corner, placed there after she had received a letter from her sister.“We do not entirely agree with inviting the whole tree into one’s home.” Her sister had written, “But one must trust in Queen Victoria and not fear the peculiar customs of her Germanic relations. I enclose a print of Her Majesty’s Christmas for ...

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“The Decafeast” by Connor Fenton

Submitted to Contest #22

Days after the winter solstice, the sunset hour had begun its slow retreat further and further into the evening, soon to give way to days longer than nights and morning drives to work accompanied by warm sunlight. For the time being, the air was still crisp outside, frost glistened on the lawns of the detached houses and Ken nursed a hangover on the sofa. More accurately, he nursed a series of hangovers that had been compiled and consolidated into one super hangover which taught him the true cost of ‘Christmas Pints’, the age-old tradition o...

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“Smokey Blood Shadow” by Devin Ward

Submitted to Contest #22

“Agh!” I shriek as quietly as I can manage. “What is it?” Mom asks leaning over, faking a conscience. “Nothing, I’m fine,” I lie as I rush to the bathroom. My finger is surgically slashed half open from the x-acto knife, but I don’t want to her to see me bleed. I can take care of this myself. The blood flows from my finger as I rinse it off in the sink. Oh my god it hurts, and I haven’t even put alcohol on it yet. Maybe I should drink some alcohol first? No no, I’m fine. I tell myself I can push through, and a trip to the kitchen for a shot ...

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“New Year's Skin” by Laura Smith

Submitted to Contest #22

And then, as the new day dawned they striped away our flesh. They knew that the flesh was past its prime. We had pasted the time for this year’s harvesting. The night before, they laid us in rows and sanitized the tools. They couldn’t afford to waste a moment each 31st of December. The process took all day, and those of us that they didn’t get to before midnight would retain his/her/their dermis until the following year. If the skin had become too fastened to the musculature underneath, we may carry it even longer— possibly for life. Just th...

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“The Great Wilderness in the Sky” by Noah Harvey

Submitted to Contest #22

We met in the basement of a house I didn’t recognize; a house belonging to a friend of a friend. I’m not sure who she knew, but I knew that I wanted it to be me. I approached her and tried to strike up a conversation, sloppily albeit successfully. She had no name, or at least none that she wanted me to know, so I came to find that neither did I. She spoke of hobbies that I can’t remember and books that I’ll never read. I spoke of movies and an unhealthy longing to write my own someday. We were selfish conversationalists. I asked questions so...

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“Alone Amongst Everyone” by Blue Minium

Submitted to Contest #22

Alone Amongst Everyone By Annie LittlewolfCeleste scurried along, carefully picking her way through the dirt-packed ice and snow on the sidewalks. Everyone was hurrying, eager to get somewhere inside, out of the blistering cold, even if it meant into a crowded bar, or into the lobby of a hotel. Except for her. Celeste was alone; she was always alone. Even in a crowd, she was alone. Even with two people, she was alone. It was the way it was. She had accepted that. So she continued ...

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“A Tale As Old As Time...” by Jai Lush Law

Submitted to Contest #22

Blair Madison woke up at ten in the morning on December 31st with a stretch and a groan. The dull wintry light shone through her sheer curtains hanging up just at the foot of her bed. New Year's Eve was one of Blair's most favorite holidays, especially living in the city. She climbed out of her bed and her feet met the cold hardwood flooring as she made her way to her bathroom. She ran a brush through her thick copper waves and ran the shower. Steam soon filled the bathroom as she undressed and let the water stream down her muscles. Normally...

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“a different kind of fairytale” by Solana Bailey

Submitted to Contest #22

If you're anything like me, spending hours in a loud environment filled with acquaintances, isn't the ideal way to bring in the new year. Especially when you vowed that this year would be different. When I got the email to the annual work new years eve party, needless to say I was a little apprehensive. Its not that I had anything better to do, but how am I to make 2020 a special year if I stick to the status quo? All day at work was filled with questions and discussions about this party. What are you wearing? Who are you bringing? Was all t...

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“Little by Little” by K. L. Jones

Submitted to Contest #22

“What are you most afraid of?”Her eyes glittered like the lights reflecting off the glass building across the crowded city street below. Her hair, as dark as his eyes, blew across her face, but she didn’t move it away and he resisted the urge to do it for her. “I don’t know. I guess-” she sighed then, heavily, before taking a drink from the champagne flute she held delicately between two fingers “-I’m afraid that nothing’s going to change.”He nodded at that, taking a swig of his own drink, a mixture of apple cider and rum. The two of them we...

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“I'll be gone at Midnight” by Emily Cannon

Submitted to Contest #22

There was some drinking, of course, but Carlotta wasn’t interested in the drinks. If she had been a younger, prettier woman she might have found the prospect of free drinks more likable. But she was mostly here for the books, wasn’t she? Her long-time friend had invited Carlotta to her work party. It was just like Carlotta to have a librarian as a friend. It was also just like Carlotta to have gotten banned from the very library where Zeala worked. It had been an accident. Well, mostly. But apparently, the ban did...

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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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