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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#224: Night Owls and Early Birds

I’ve never been much of a night owl. I can stay up late, but always live to regret it the next day, and you’re unlikely to ever find me burning the midnight oil. Instead, if there’s something urgent to attend to, I’d rather do it in the quiet calm of a pre-dawn morning.

It’s interesting how, as a species, our preferences vary so wildly in this regard. Some of us are up and moving before the rest of the world has even rubbed the sleep from their eyes, while some of us rarely are awake during daylight hours. Two people’s waking windows may only overlap at dawn and dusk, before going their separate ways. This week’s prompts are a celebration of the night owls, the early birds, and anything in between.

This week's prompts

Set your story before dawn. Your character has woken up early for a particular reason.

Fiction – 94 stories

Write a story about two people living together who have opposing sleep cycles, and only cross paths at dawn and dusk.

Character – 49 stories

Start your story with someone saying “I can’t sleep.”

Dramatic – 87 stories

Write a story about someone pulling an all nighter.

Fiction – 35 stories

Write about someone who can’t sleep due to jet lag, and decides to set out and explore their new city at night instead.

Adventure – 20 stories

Stories

“She Died” by Donna Triplett

Submitted to Contest #224

SHE DIED By Donna Y. Triplett This story contains substance abuse, sex, violence. Gasping into wakefulness, this nightmare that had become her reality began again. The never-ending cycle repeating itself over and over, spinning out of control. She had tried countless times to escape her corner of hell, only to find herself being sucked back into it. In her lucid moments, she’d often ask herself, “Why?” The answer was always the same, “Because I really don’t want to leave.” Pushing herself to her feet, in an unsteady gait she shuff...

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“The Stranger's Thanksgiving” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #224

The orange and purple of the faintest glimpse of twilight had only just begun to creep over the eastern sky outside my window when I awoke. Truly, a magical thing. It’s as though God, the great painter of the world, has made a yellowish brushstroke just at the flat plain at the edge of the world, blending it in with the inky blackness of the pure night sky with a single masterful swipe. You’d think I was weird, of course, if I told you that I awoke this early of my own volition, on Sunday of all days. In fact, I set my alarm this earl...

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“The Snow Globe” by Robert McCue

Submitted to Contest #224

Outside their window the snow is falling. One of two sisters, not eighteen years old between then, has ventured out from under her mom's chenille blankets. There's no heat upstairs and the floors are bare wood, worn to a fine patina from generations of use. Downstairs the fireplace is going. The crackle and scent of smoke mixes with the smell of pine from the tall Christmas tree across the room, by the turn in the stairs. The red and green lights and the little touch of heat they give off are turned off until morning. Outside the wood siding...

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“The Dream” by Samantha Jane

Submitted to Contest #224

Ivy awoke slowly and lay still for several minutes. Like other mornings, it wasn’t a fight to leave the pillows. There was no heaviness. There was a dream, soft and calm like this space between dawn and daylight. She lingered at the edge of awake, wanting to let the dream percolate. It felt real and important. Soft navy twilight. A harbor? Calm twinkling water. A solid man with broad shoulders covered in a cozy wool sweater the vibrant emerald shade of sitka spruce. She couldn’t see his face except for a hint of stubble. Tall, mu...

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“Feels So Good- Five a.m.” by Constance Blaize-Shorter

Submitted to Contest #224

Feels So Good Five a.m. By Constance Blaize-Shorter The alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m., and my body feels like I've been in the worst accident ever! My knees and back are aching as they begin their morning ritual by strapping me to the bed. Before I leave the bed, I kiss my husband's lower back and slide from under the covers ever so quietly. The temperature in the house is crisp, and the sun has not come up yet. I want to lay back down under the covers, but I must keep this fitness train moving. My feet hit the ground; I raise my arms over m...

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“Livin' On Tokyo Time” by Jaymes Bluff

Submitted to Contest #224

“Brody, you’re gonna wanna get up, dude,” Toby shouted from the kitchen, accentuated by the sound of air popped popcorn and the roar of commentary coming from the living room TV. “The pre-show’s almost over, man, you’re gonna miss the good stuff!” I roll over and mean mug my alarm clock, taking dutiful note of the red digits glaring back at me. 2:47 a.m. “This better be worth it,” I mumbled to myself as I leapt out of bed and into my clothes, grabbing the first pair of shorts and relatively clean shirt from the ground and tossing it ...

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“Dawn's Early Light: Maverick's Runway Mishap” by Todd Nigro

Submitted to Contest #224

At the almost mythical hour of 4:45 AM, a time when even the most diligent of night owls consider calling it a day, our house was catapulted into chaos by Maverick, our 13-year-old miniature dachshund. Maverick, with his noble gray beard and a spirit that belied his years, had decided to kick off his day with a bang. In my bed, nestled comfortably under the blankets, I was deep in a dream where I was the undefeated champion in an intergalactic pillow-fighting league. Maverick’s barking, rhythmic and insistent, shattered that dream like a b...

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“Death De Facto” by Crowley Foster

Submitted to Contest #224

[ Caution! Story contains character death and hints at grief.] There was a tingle in his wiring, gently nudging him awake from his resting position beside the power outlet. He didn’t feel anything, as it took a while for all of his software to kick in – but once it did, he found that he still felt off. Just wrong. He peeked out of the window, checking to see what time it was, before remembering that he had a clock built into his system. An older clock...

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“"Dear Dera"” by Kike Mariam

Submitted to Contest #224

My alarm rings the second time, and I groan and snooze again. The persistent melody of the alarm echoes through the room, a soundtrack to my reluctance to face the day. It rings again after a while, and I finally muster the strength to get up and switch it off. I look out the window and see the first rays of sunlight gently kiss the horizon, painting the sky with hues of pink and orange. The world is still quiet and serene; a perfect time to hear myself breathe and think. The birds are chirping louder than usual, a symphony of nature that co...

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“The Lost Princess” by Adia Wendling

Submitted to Contest #224

It was just before dawn, when my alarm started its shrill screaming. I jumped up, rubbing my eyes, and slammed down the snooze button. I debated sleeping for a few more minutes, but I had something to do. Something urgent. So I climbed out of bed and put on my fighting leathers. I was just about to open my door when I heard the shouting. Not bad shouting but excited shouting. It was beginning. I grabbed the brass handle and opened the old oak door. Instantly I was met by a group of others rushing past my door, chattering with nervous ene...

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“The Afterworld ” by Marisa E. Cardin

Submitted to Contest #224

The alarm blared in my ear. I rolled over, slapping it off with a grunt and forcing my legs over the side of the bed. Another dawn, I thought groggily, glancing over to the window where the faintest bit of light was just beginning to appear. Thirty minutes to get ready, thirty minutes to get downtown, and sixty five minutes until I’ve officially missed my Monday dose. I’d never missed a dose before, not even this deep into the dead Chicago winter. The words of the current mayor, Salma O'Moore, rang through my head as I pulled a...

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“Time and Solitude” by Jeff M.

Submitted to Contest #224

He reached for the nightstand before he had fully departed from the dream, frantic to silence the blaring alarm. With eyes closed, his hand wandered the darkness until it grasped the device. Squeezing every button recognizable by touch. The synthetic noise of a camera shutter marked the addition of yet another addition to his collection of attempted snoozes. 0505 in military time; otherwise known as 5:05 a.m. Did he have this one already or was it a duplicate? At one point in time, he had the complete set of 0400 to 0700 in five-minute incre...

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“It's Not a Good Time to be Alive” by Laura Huffman

Submitted to Contest #224

Before the light of day a blinding flash of electrifying lightning bolted across the tar black sky like fireworks and lit up a second-floor bedroom where Wilma was rolling a dead man into a shitty smelling blanket soaked with urine. As a gust of wind and a downpour of heavy rain battered the windowpanes the lights flickered in the unheated mansion and went out. Cursing the dark, Wilma blindly dragged the guy across the bedroom floor, down the dark hallway to a ...

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“My Whole Life and Some of His” by James Harris

Submitted to Contest #224

I’m a rat. I’m hungry. And it’s dark. I woke up for the first time before dawn, which has now become a common occurrence. It was probably one of the darkest mornings I’ve ever experienced. I can barely see my brothers and sisters right next to me, let alone my surroundings. I struggle to latch onto a teat because my siblings are so much bigger than me. But I’m hungry. I finally squeeze my way through and start sucking but my mother moves away. It wasn’t clear to me at the time, but she didn’t want me. And because she didn’t want me, neither ...

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“I Can't Sleep” by Judy Alexander

Submitted to Contest #224

(This story contains sensitive subject matter. It deals with the current war going on between Israel and Hamas. There is not explicit violence but it does talk about what Hamas did on October 7) I can’t sleep. It’s not all that unusual for me. When I turned sixty-six five years ago my sleep patterns changed and insomnia set in. Most nights I count backward from 200 and generally get back to sleep. But tonight felt different. I just felt something wasn’t right. Maybe it was nerves–I was trying to memorize my lines for a play I was recently ca...

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$250

Prize money

285

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 17, 2023 EST

Won by Mallory Jones 🏆

Title: Goldfish

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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