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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#222: Show Me The Way

When navigating life’s challenges, we could all use a little guidance — someone who can show us the way, or give us the wisdom we need to follow the right path. In literature, much like in reality, coaches and mentors are often central to a protagonist’s development, offering training, advice, or tools to succeed in their Hero’s Journey.

What's fascinating about mentors is that they come in different shapes and forms. They might be a nurturing figure, who offers wisdom and support; a harsh and unyielding professor, who demands the impossible; an unconventional thinker who brings a unique perspective. Sometimes the guidance doesn’t even come in human form: perhaps it’s a dream, a spirit, a faith, or an item, like a totem, a book, or a map.

This week’s prompts are all about people (or things) that, in one way or another, have a pivotal role in someone’s journey.

🥇 Winner

“Just Like Him” by Audrey McKenna

🏆 Winner of Contest #222

Content warning: sexual violence, languageWhen I was four years old, my sister and I were messing around at the pool. I slipped and hit my head on the concrete. It split open in the back. I remember the lifeguard gave me a squishy ball to squeeze. I remember she said I could keep it. I remember my dad scooped me up in his arms. It doesn’t make sense that it happened this way, but I remember he carried me all the way to the emergency room. I remember the pressure of my face pressing into a pillow as the doctor stapled my head back togeth...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“In Search of Inspiration” by Michał Przywara

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

Finally, after months of waiting, after countless arguments with the shipper, with border services, with his wife Shirley and with his son Miles, and with his wallet to cover all the extra importing fees, Carl Jones’s package arrived and sat in his study. It was a dented cardboard box, basketball-sized, swaddled with duct tape, and it screamed nondescript. If he had passed it in the street he would have kept on walking, avoiding eye contact – were it not for the shipping label, which said: to Carl, from Industrial Creativity Corporation. “It...

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“Reverse” by Mollie Rodgers

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

When I was a child, my hedgehog ate her babies, just popped the little hoglets like popcorn shrimp one night while I slept, blissfully unaware, on the other side of the room. I couldn’t look at her tank without wanting to puke, and even the sight of pink jellybeans set my stomach roiling. Eventually, my mother foisted the infanticider onto my cousin, and as I said my goodbyes, I stared into those beady, remorseless eyes, and thought, “Monster.”But, like… I get it now.The Dinner Table Tyrant glares at me overtop Broccoli Mountain, her pink pl...

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“The Avalanche” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

Most people think they’d hear it coming. They imagine it like the movies–a low rumble that grows into a roar, as of an awakening giant. In reality, once you pass the trigger point into the convexity, the slab makes almost no noise at all. It sloughs and sighs, a gruff whisper that builds at your back and pelts you with shards, its full magnitude only apparent when it’s too late to do anything. In the next breath, the mountain swallows you whole, using its thousand-pound jaw to crack your skis and snap your ribs and t...

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“The Eggcentric Apprentice: Finnegan's Whimsical Way” by Pino De Francesco

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

Alright, let's spin a yarn, shall we? Gather 'round, and let me tell you a tale most extraordinary about a young lad named Finnegan Potts, who lived in the quaint, magical village of Whistleberry Hollow. Now, Whistleberry Hollow wasn't your ordinary hamlet; nay, it was a place where the trees whispered secrets and the rivers hummed lullabies. But our tale isn't about the peculiarity of the village—oh no, it's about Finnegan's encounter with the most bizarre mentor any hero-in-the-making could stumble upon. Finnegan was the sort of fellow w...

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“A Humble Headshrinker Deviates” by John Healey

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

“Well, I subscribe to the Freudian school of thought.” His thick, veiny hand creaked slowly open and I pulled back the solderin’ iron. He judged my work with eyes that I reckon were prob’ly normal-sized, but were so deep-set that they looked positively tiny, peerin’ out from that overhang forehead of his. That forehead absolutely burstin’ with knowledge. “What this means,” he began, and I moved to the next connection, takin’ his silence as an affirmatory. “Is that our problems, in the end, stem from the impossible expectations thrust u...

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This week's prompts

Start your story with a student on their first day of apprenticeship.

Teens – 18 stories

Write about a character who has a love/hate relationship with their mentor.

Character – 36 stories

Write about a mentor whose methods are controversial.

Character – 22 stories

Write a story about a character who finds guidance in an unlikely place.

Dramatic – 81 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “You’ve got this.”

Dialogue – 53 stories

Stories

“Just Like Him” by Audrey McKenna

🏆 Winner of Contest #222

Content warning: sexual violence, languageWhen I was four years old, my sister and I were messing around at the pool. I slipped and hit my head on the concrete. It split open in the back. I remember the lifeguard gave me a squishy ball to squeeze. I remember she said I could keep it. I remember my dad scooped me up in his arms. It doesn’t make sense that it happened this way, but I remember he carried me all the way to the emergency room. I remember the pressure of my face pressing into a pillow as the doctor stapled my head back togeth...

155 comments 155

Read story

“In Search of Inspiration” by Michał Przywara

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

Finally, after months of waiting, after countless arguments with the shipper, with border services, with his wife Shirley and with his son Miles, and with his wallet to cover all the extra importing fees, Carl Jones’s package arrived and sat in his study. It was a dented cardboard box, basketball-sized, swaddled with duct tape, and it screamed nondescript. If he had passed it in the street he would have kept on walking, avoiding eye contact – were it not for the shipping label, which said: to Carl, from Industrial Creativity Corporation. “It...

Read story

“The Library of Disappearing Things” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #222

Boris Bondarenko lived in a multicolored cottage house in a one-road village in the Ukranian countryside and had the remarkable ability to read every known language. Most of the anointed were marked from birth, but Boris went unnoticed by the Library for years. It was strange then, but also appropriate, given his time in the world, that it fell on him to prevent the whole thing from burning to the ground.As a boy, Boris loved to run through the sunflower fields and chase bees. Boris’s childhood duties included cutting up cucumbers and potato...

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“Welcome to Novice Night ” by Livana Teagan

Submitted to Contest #222

“Why did you take this class if you are only going to stare at a blank piece of paper?”I glance up to see who's speaking. It’s a man with boyish looks and curious blue eyes. He sits at the desk next to mine. His paper already holds all kinds of objects. A square with deep shadows. A sphere with lots of pencil shading like the one on the board in front of the class. It looks even cleaner than the one our instructor drew. The rest of his paper holds a flawless cylinder. It captures the light hitting it at the perfect angle. It’s so smooth it l...

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“Orphan Jack” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #222

TW: Swearing and mention of death.Jack strolled down the dusty streets of the port towards the space shuttle for his interview. Pale men and women, ignorant after months or years in vacuum, were shifting cargo. The suns of Hellebore cooked the flesh of offworlders to a glowing boiled lobster tan that was in vogue amongst incomers.Jack pulled down the brim of his cap. He lifted the collar of his boiler suit with one hand to save his neck from the crispy barbeque fate of the crowds. In his other hand he carried his beloved toolbox. He’d scratc...

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“Luella Goes to Forest School” by Chelsey B

Submitted to Contest #222

Luella was usually hard to get out of bed in the morning, but today, she jumped up as soon as her Mom came to wake her. “I’m going to forest school today!” she cheered, as she leaned in for a hug. Finally, after a year of hearing all about the fun to be had in the woods from her older brother, it was her turn. “What do you need to do before we can leave for school?” Luella’s mom asked. Luella looked down at her pajamas. “Get dressed!” she said. She opened a drawer and selected her rainbow shirt and a pair of polka dotted pants fr...

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“The Instructor” by Karen Corr

Submitted to Contest #222

**Contains violence and death in a disturbing dystopian world**Good morning. You may address me as Instructor. Please take your seats, was written on the blackboard.A man in a white jumpsuit adorned with medals stood before the board with his hands clasped behind his back and watched the students file in. When they seemed ready, he began the class with a question."How many lives does an E-Fighter have? Some have only one, you see, and that leads to the next question. How many lives do you have? If you do indeed have ...

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“Sweet And Sour” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #222

“Any more words of wisdom?” “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” “You come up with that, yourself?” “It’s Shakespeare.” “When have you read any Shakespeare?” “It says it on this small piece of paper, quoting Shakespeare.” “I thought you only read stuff when it’s got pictures in it.” “I’ll have you know that we are living in the new age of literary enlightenment.” “What, reading comics?” “They’re starting to be referred to as graphic novels, now.” “More commonly known as children’s books.” “They come with a rating, Tom. So, they ain’t f...

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“Hometown Boy” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #222

Hometown Boy The year was 1920. Nine-year-old, Dutch, moaned to his four-year-older brother, Moon, “This is all there is?” “Yeah, ain't it grand? Everything they promised. Well, nothing like the run-down row houses of Chicago. Maybe you don't remember them but they were crammed in pretty tight with no room to play ball at all. Had to walk down two or three streets and cross busy traffic lanes just to get to green open space at a park. Never knew what kind of riff-raft might jump out at ya. Ma wouldn't let us go alone and Dad, well, he was ...

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“Talk is Cheap” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #222

Twenty years it took me. Twenty long, hard years. Twenty years to discern the meaning of just a few small words. But then, that’s living and living is all we’ve got. “You’ve got this,” my Mother said these words whilst wearing a pained smile and then she let go of her very last breath, letting go of my hand and her mortal coil as that warm air wheezed out of her. The transformation was shocking. I saw the life seep away from her and I wondered where it went. This wasn’t my Mum. Not anymore it wasn’t. She’d left me and she’d left me...

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“Brown Fur” by Tom Skye

Submitted to Contest #222

It was the fourteenth day in a row Daisy found herself animal tracking in the forest. By her feet was another clump of brown fur. She kneeled to pick it up, rolling the tough strands between her finger and thumb before allowing them to settle in her palm. A short gust of wind lifted them from her hand, and she watched as they spread across the air and into nature. The surrounding trees towered beyond sight and lined deep in every direction, but the thick greenery that shrouded them cast no shadow, allowing light from a blazing pink sky to il...

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“Ramirez Took My Hand” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #222

Ramirez shows up three minutes early everyday. I am to be here ten minutes earlier. Somehow she knows if I’m not. The wall is blank. It was painted over in the night. A lost white. As if a blizzard had swept in to confiscate the previous day’s mural. I am allowed one brush and two colors. I may choose the colors the night before, but I must do so having no idea what Ramirez will ask me to paint. According to her, she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for until she walks into the studio. The wall is three times as high as either of us. T...

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“Beowulf: Big Brother” by AnneMarie Miles

Submitted to Contest #222

I had thought old age would bring me the finer things in life, like a small staircase at the foot of Mother and Father’s bed to help me climb up without having to jump; or chicken broth in my kibble to soften it; or more frequented walks; or heck, maybe some freaking pain meds that would make the world feel like it had when I was a puppy. Those were all the things my older friends at the park had bragged about when they told him what to expect in my elderly years, and it was the only thing that made reaching my tenth birthday something to lo...

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“Reverse” by Mollie Rodgers

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #222

When I was a child, my hedgehog ate her babies, just popped the little hoglets like popcorn shrimp one night while I slept, blissfully unaware, on the other side of the room. I couldn’t look at her tank without wanting to puke, and even the sight of pink jellybeans set my stomach roiling. Eventually, my mother foisted the infanticider onto my cousin, and as I said my goodbyes, I stared into those beady, remorseless eyes, and thought, “Monster.”But, like… I get it now.The Dinner Table Tyrant glares at me overtop Broccoli Mountain, her pink pl...

Read story

“Where do electrons go when the lights go out? ” by Antonio Disi

Submitted to Contest #222

I'm an electron, a tiny piece of the puzzle, dancing through the spirals of existence. I carry questions that burn within me like fiery sparks. "Who am I? Where do I come from? What's my role in this cosmic dance?" Immersed in the uncharted darkness of atoms, I seek a light that can illuminate the unknown paths of my universe. My trajectories may seem to stretch into infinity, but within me, there's an irresistible desire to understand what lies between the folds of reality. One day, as I followed the orbits around my nucleus, I heard a dist...

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$250

Prize money

210

Contest entries

101

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 03, 2023 EST

Won by Audrey McKenna 🏆

Title: Just Like Him

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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