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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#220: Out of Place

The air’s beginning to chill and goosebumps are rising on your skin like mushrooms on a log. With Halloween not far off, everything’s beginning to feel a little… strange. It’s got me thinking about all things odd, and one of the most unsettling sensations of all — noticing something that’s out of place.

From things that shouldn’t be where they are, to protagonists far from home, this week’s prompts explore the bizarre, and the uncanny feeling of things being where they don’t belong.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character walking through a desert landscape, when they stumble across something unexpected. “That shouldn’t be there,” they muse.

Dialogue – 51 stories

You arrive at a destination you promised an old friend you’d visit after they passed, only to find them there too.

Mystery – 66 stories

As a child you’re helping your grandparent bake. When you’re sent to the pantry to fetch an ingredient, you discover something odd.

Mystery – 41 stories

Begin your story with a protagonist taking shelter under a bridge during a thunderstorm. An animal scurries past which shouldn’t exist. Against their better judgment, they decide to follow it out.

Fantasy – 50 stories

You’re awakened from your nap by someone asking, “Are you hungry?”. You fell asleep somewhere else entirely.

Mystery – 45 stories

Stories

“The Elephant Graveyard” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #220

“If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.” — Camille Paglia* * *It is odd how the ionized air of the cold desert night refracts the moonlight, which crackles with the spirits of sojourners past. They seem to still inhabit these barren dunes, trying to speak—the whispers of their urgent warning to the living just out of reach. And the bold moon itself, a dead and lifeless desert, is pockmarked with the evidence of a violent past.This shouldn’t be here. African bush elephants. Desert-dwelling eleph...

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“The Gates of Hell” by Karen Corr

Submitted to Contest #220

Jaxby staggered through the desert with two empty water jugs in his backpack, but the heat weighed him down. The protein bars were long gone, but that was just as well because he couldn't have swallowed them anyway. He didn't have any saliva. Step by step, he began to accept that he was going to die. Buzzards circled the sky, watching their supper cook. All he had to do was lay down. His legs and feet wouldn't hold him up much longer.Soon, he thought.The landscape that hadn't changed since he began this journey was suddenly different as some...

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“Disappearing Completely” by Jed Cope

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

It was a promise I made. We’re only as good as the promises we keep, even if those promises are made to ourselves and only ourselves. This promise I made to my best friend. The sort of promise you make when you’re young, never thinking you’ll ever have to do anything about it. Wendy and John once promised each other that if they hadn’t settled down and married by the time they turned thirty then they’d marry each other. I treated my promise like theirs, but of course mine wasn’t a half arsed rejection. My promise was not about maki...

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“A strange sight” by Eddie McKenzie

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

Everybody knew that trolls had been hunted to extinction years ago. It was just common knowledge that they had gone the way of the way of the common European dragon, the garden gnomes and, of course, the great auk. That is a tragedy, of course, but it had also been long accepted as just one of those things that people did, hunting innocent species to extinction, so that people wouldn’t feel quite as bad about their misdeeds for as long as they were able to justify them away as human nature. Now, with that said, Elliot could not quite fi...

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“Miserable Miss Hollydaye” by Anthony Carello

Submitted to Contest #220

As we drive over the winding, bumpy road on the outskirts of a small village, named Linkon I think, I see my dad shift uncomfortably in the passenger seat as my mother carefully navigates the terrain. He looks over at her, and she meets his eyes for a moment, almost like they are having a telepathic talk. For a reason unknown to me, they look… worried? The rhythmic flashing of the varying shades of green through the window and the gentle rocking of the car over uneven ground draw my attention back outside. I stare lazily ...

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“Feed Your Head” by Josephine Harris

Submitted to Contest #220

Her bladder nearly let go with the boom and searing flash of light. Another peal of thunder came close on its heels rumbling and crackling across the sky, and then the torrential downpour kicked in. Tiffany was going to get wet one way or another. Fortunately, the relentless lightning lit up a stone bridge thirty feet in front of her. She sprinted as best she could to the abutment leading down. Scrambling, she lost her footing and slid on her backside in the mud, hoping all the while to be able to stop before reaching the wettest thing ...

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“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

Jess Granger passed away from his third heart attack as he watched Wheel of Fortune in his apartment. An hour later I got the call from his sister Beth. Through her tears she told me the details and said she had made all the final arrangements. His funeral would be on Saturday. We had been friends for a long time, drawn together by our love of baseball. Raised in Boston,Massachusetts, on the south side of the Charles River, Jess was a diehard Red Sox fan while I had other loyalties that he would say changed with the d...

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“Cornfields and Plovers” by Kailani B.

Submitted to Contest #220

“Bad times are a myth.” That’s what Maya always told him.The two of them often spent summer evenings discussing deep subjects while sitting on his back porch steps, slurping root beer floats and staring out across the knee-high cornfields.Maya, ever the dreamer, assured Evan that no matter what happened, nothing could ever be bad. It just might not be what you wanted. So long as you wanted everything in life, well, what could ever be bad?Evan, a staunch pragmatist, insisted that everything in life sat on the Scales of Justice. One side held ...

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“They call me naughty Nancy” by Rebecca Detti

Submitted to Contest #220

St Olaf’s Parish Church, St Agnes, Cornwall‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Alberta Joyce Nancy Ball, also known as ‘Nancy’ to her close friends.’Sound of gigglingHelen thought she heard a snigger coming from the back of the Church. Surely not?! As she was sat at the end of the front pew, she thought she could turn her head without being noticed. At the back of the Church, she saw four very dapper elderly gentlemen. They all wore a single brightly -coloured feather in their lapels. Why do the feathers look...

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“Everyone Calls Me Granny” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #220

I A hunter has become lost in the ancient forest on a cold autumn day. After wandering for hours, the sun has set, and the only light is the full moon streaming through leafless branches. He sees a faint glow shining in the distance and approaches it cautiously. Even from a distance of a few feet, he can smell the aroma of cinnamon and cloves. The bright moon emerges from behind a dark cloud to illuminate the ancient cottage before him. With narrowed eyes and short, quick breaths, a shiver runs up his spine, and he s...

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“Baked into Memory” by Sarah Martyn

Submitted to Contest #220

“You ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's today, sweetie?” “Yeah mommy!” ___________________________________________ Hannah has been going to Grandma and Grandpa’s at least twice a month every month she has been alive these last 5 years. The only exceptions were when Hannah got a pretty nasty stomach flu last year, and when Grandpa had major surgery a couple years ago and needed to recover in peace for a few weeks. These are her mom’s parents. Her dad’s parents are great too, but they live so many states away so she only sees them ma...

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“I Want Bread” by S Hughes

Submitted to Contest #220

“Are you hungry?”I looked around to figure out where the voice was coming from. The room was cold and I could see my breath coming out white. I hugged myself and rubbed my arms, realizing that I was chilled to the bone. My fingers were red and my forearms suddenly grew goosebumps, as if my body has been using sleep to keep warm and was just now learning that it had forgotten to distinguish dream from reality.“Who’s there?” I called out. My voice echoed and I listened to it evaporate into a foreign abyss. Why couldn’t...

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“Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #220

Running along the streets of lower Manhattan, crossing over Centre Street, I kept an even tempo. The sky suddenly darkened as heavy clouds covered the blue sky like spilled ink clouding out over parchment paper.I could have turned back and avoided the storm. But I needed to get my miles in. Post the numbers. Do the work. Think of that Starbucks cappuccino and the warmed-up butter croissant that’s waiting for you.I had already gone five miles by that point. But six miles was my daily minimum. And I was hurting. Right calf cramping. Stich in m...

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“Dreamtime” by M.A. Grace

Submitted to Contest #220

The barren charcoal seas of Mare Crisium span the horizon in all directions. The vast Picard crater is the only natural feature of this desolate landscape. Its high outer ridges cast a long shadow across the crash site, as our white hot star races towards sunset and lunar night approaches.“Harper, put your jumper on,” says Mama’s voice. “It’s getting cold.”The Earth looms large in the sky, about 20 times more massive than it should be. I take small, slow steps towards it, transfixed. That shouldn’t be there, it’s too close.Our planet is spin...

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“Under the weight of rain” by Elise G

Submitted to Contest #220

“Looks like we got ourselves lost.” A voice, low and resigned, words like the crunch of gravel under horse hooves, heavy, stones rolling down an endless plain. The man bends over in his saddle, patting the horse’s steaming flank, kneading his knuckles down its heaving neck. Foam gathers on its lips, frothing and bubbling, dripping to the sodden ground bit by bit, as hot air heaves from its lungs. Ears quiver, hooves stamping anxiously on the floor, eye twitching as it struggles to remove the dying fly caught in its corner, thin limbs caught ...

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$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 20, 2023 EST

Won by D. Grimes 🏆

Title: Fae Touched

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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