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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.

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

“Whispers of the Enchanted Forest” by Jennifer Farina Stewart

Submitted to Contest #222

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Invitation The city of Eldoria was bustling with activity as Alex, a curious young man, walked along the cobblestone streets. As he walked, he noticed something peculiar - a weathered parchment peeking out from beneath one of the stones on the ground. Intrigued, he bent down to pick it up and examined it closely. The parchment read: "Seeker of Adventure, embark on a quest to uncover the hidden treasures of the Enchanted Forest. Meet at the Moonlit Inn at midnight." Alex's mind raced with excitement and wonder...

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“Nancy's Notes” by Holly Witte

Submitted to Contest #222

For Charlotte, it was a reunion straight out of the movies, which was appropriate since it was with the woman who had been her drama teacher and mentor in college; a woman, it would be accurate to say, Charlotte had openly adored from the first moment she saw her on the first day of classes of freshman year. Nancy – Mrs. I, as we called our professors in those days, glided into the classroom, graceful, feminine, and important even on those impossibly high heels, wearing a tight skirt and tucked in sweater.&n...

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“Lizard” by Lydia Carter

Submitted to Contest #222

The knife sinks quickly into the man’s flank, the sound a wet squelch and a harsh, sharp cry. I pull back quickly, lest he have one final surge of adrenaline and make another swing at me. That’s how it usually goes, with men like this. Proud men, who fight until the end. I hate killing them the most. It’s shitty, to kill someone you ca see yourself admiring. In another life. Another time. Another me. He doesn’t have that final surge, though. He falls, the crack of his knees hitting the broken concrete sickening sound. I take ano...

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“Mr. Fisher, the unlikely mentor ” by GRACE TIBBETTS

Submitted to Contest #222

Mentor in an unexpected place It was the summer of 1982 at the heart of small-town Cobleskill, NY. And me and my sister were up at the crack of dawn, dreams of dollar signs in our eyes. We were sure the entire town would be showing up like gangbusters to buy our rocks. We set up our display on our front lawn, me, 8 years old, and Roberta, my sister, 6 years old. I mean, we had given up an entire summer day of playing to put our hard work into this. And it was such a beautiful day, one of the perfect ones that was not to hot ...

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“The Light That Guides Us” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #222

The problem is the problem. So now here's the catch, how do I go from a general a + b = c to finding the right answer? The only one that I am looking for to get out of this life of hell shoved at me and brought to me by bad karma. That's the problem. Jawn's life stayed pretty neutral after high school graduation. He wasn't off to see New York City or take any other joy ride to a swank venue. With what, his tip money? Working as a busboy, evenings and weekends in a dreamland job at a burger place was his gig. Everyone in the senior...

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“The Mentor from Hell” by Rudy Greene

Submitted to Contest #222

He glided through the hospital hallway as if he was walking on air. Brimming with enthusiasm and confidence, it was the first day of his fellowship. Ronny Livingston had accumulated awards and accolades everywhere he went. Through college, medical school, internship and residency, he had shone. It was his destiny to excel, be the best. His parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts told him so. You could tell just looking at him that he was something special. He was tall, had a high forehead, a Roman nose, upturned mouth and those penetrating d...

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“In A World Of Pure Imagination ” by Caroline Campbell

Submitted to Contest #222

Stuart has had enough of Violet. This much she knows. He lifts his face upwards to the Artex kitchen ceiling as if appealing to a higher power to give him strength. “This can’t go on, Violet. We can’t go on.” Violet says nothing as she watches him. Stuart ’s eyes are extraordinarily beady, and quite close together. He looks like a tall pink mongoose. It occurs to her that she really does not find him attractive at all. This realisation collides with a gut-punch of panic that he appears to be serious about ending things between them this time...

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“The Boy, the Mother, and the Witch's Wind” by Enn Wren

Submitted to Contest #222

The boy was only 3 years old at the time, but already showing signs of oddities. The first one occurred on a December morn, in the early hours of dawn before the birds woke. The mother rose from a nightmare to the faint sounds of her son, the boy, speaking to someone in his room. The voice was masculine, old, and gruff. The mother panicked, fearing that some intruder had forced his way inside the house and was attempting to kidnap her boy. She cautiously sprang to her feet, grabbing the hunter’s knife from under her pillow and quietly crept ...

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“Death’s Sacrifice ” by Kacie Dawson

Submitted to Contest #222

I startle awake to banging on my chamber doors "....ake up. My Prince...WAKE UP!" Sweat beads on my forehead slicking my black hair down, a sigh escapes me, another nightmare. You would think in the company of death you wouldn't have those anymore. Nightmares are for children, people with family's, with things to love and to fear losing. I already have nothing. No family, no home other then this rotten place. "one....one moment" I stutter crawling unsteadily out of my damp sheets to my door. I open the large wooden door fully, letting the co...

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“The Mystery of the Adventure” by Hosea Guy

Submitted to Contest #222

Feeling stressed? reads the black and yellow sticker on the door of the bathroom stall. Below the two-worded question is a list of campus-provided resources: a phone number to call, a separate number to text, the email addresses of six counselors, another email address, this one belonging to the whole of the Campus Health and Wellness department, and then a four-step breathing exercise. “Oh,” I say, smirking. “Well, thank God for that—suicide averted.” I lean over from where I’m sitting on the toilet and open the blue duffel bag I br...

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“Angels Among Us” by DH Irving

Submitted to Contest #222

Angels Among Us By D.H.Irving “You’ve got this.” These words greeted the young man as he slowly peeked his head into the large, nearly empty room. Forty feet long by forty feet wide, the room itself was nothing short of an exercise in sterility. White walls, white floors and bare florescent tubing housed in long tin fixtures lit the room in a cool pale brilliance that lent more to the feeling of a surgical setting than the interview that he had been summoned to partake in. Stark and empty, there were no chairs or desks, nor couches or ...

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“It's Not Always The Way It Looks” by Nancy Malcolm

Submitted to Contest #222

It’s Not Always The Way It Looks She sat slumped over on the red-flowered couch in my office. Her hair, a dingy blonde with dark roots, was greasy and her face was stained with old makeup and fresh tears. The police officer stood between us, his rough hands resting on his thick belt which held handcuffs, a radio, and the ever-present tazer. “I found her behind the school, near the apartments...

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““Guided by Aurora's Light”” by E.L. Lallak

Submitted to Contest #222

Sarah's face contorted in agony as she felt the primal, unbridled energy surge through her, tearing away the civilized layers of her existence. She was a cavewoman succumbing to the fierce forces of nature, reducing her to a creature of raw instinct and primal struggle."I can't do this." She mouthed silently, unable to find the breath needed to articulate her defeat.Aurora, a frail and gentle woman with a perplexing inner strength, bent over and looked into Sarah's wild and desperate eyes. She clenched her hands and released a burst of energ...

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“Daddy's Little Girl” by Jill Potter

Submitted to Contest #222

Jennifer sits at the kitchen table, the sun hitting her dark brown hair and highlighting the pretty red undertones. Her face is drawn and pale and she stares at the glass of soda on the table as though her life is over. I want to comfort her but at the same time, I fear that my words might sound hypocritical for I too am grappling with mixed feelings about her father getting married tomorrow. “It’ll be alri...

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“Such a Nice Girl” by Parul Shah

Submitted to Contest #222

Sitting there in the packed living room with its faux leather black and white sofas and improbably- bad green, leopard print rug, all of it shipped from China like slow-release carcinogenic bombs, killing us slowly with our own bad taste, Sneha thought. Sneha often found herself holding her breath when she and Dhruv would visit, first out of renewed shock at the horrifying aesthetics and then trying to not inhale the residual fumes of Chinese synthetic carpet manufacturing. She’d never breathed easily in her in-law’s house with its g...

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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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