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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

“The Lieutenant's Trial” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #224

Lieutenant Stark Denmark opened his eyes from his dreamless slumber and noted the time of day: five hundred hours. First light was barely breaking over the horizon, and he knew he had another hour to present himself before the court. It was his trial, after all. It could very well be his last.The uniform was cleaned, pressed, and awaiting his return. The black shoes were already shined and waxed, smelling like they had not been worn before. He grimaced; those bastards did it again! Menial tasks like keeping his clothes cleaned and polishing ...

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“Rises and Sets” by Teigen Bond

Submitted to Contest #224

We share the same sky, yet we hardly ever see each other. He rises only when I set, though sometimes you can see me lingering in the predawn hours while he peeks over the horizon, hoping to catch a glimpse of his glorious face. I can never manage to stay around long enough to view anything other than a cheek, an eyelash, the tip of a strong chin. I always wonder why it seems like he is so scared to be seen with me. It’s not like I have any hope of outshining his brightness. Even when my face is lit round and full; when Venus herself pales to...

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“Vampire Coffee” by Sarah Rae Pruitt

Submitted to Contest #224

“So how’s the vampire?” 25-year-old Mona scoffed. “Don’t call him that!” “But you knew exactly who I was talking about, didn’t you?” came her slightly older sister, Beth’s, smug reply. They stood in the kitchen of Mona’s apartment. Mona was making dinner; Beth stood beside her and sipped from a huge glass of rosé. &...

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“The Blackbird Sings” by Chris Pye

Submitted to Contest #224

I can't sleep. Owl-eyed, I watch the dark, dragging its black body through the night.I let my ears wander the house. Somewhere, I hear a quiet murmur and imagine a hummingbird struggling softly against a window. Down the corridor, a tiny conductor taps lightly on a music stand. Outside in the garden, my mind sees an old man gently creaking his rocking chair.And next to me, I hear faint waves running in and out over a pebbled shore: my wife lies deeply sleeping. Her body is an island under the blankets; her hair cast on the ...

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“Halley's Comet” by Danielle LeBlanc

Submitted to Contest #224

The sunset was particularly pink that winter night in 1986. It was March 13th to be exact. A big snow storm had just passed through the coastal province of Nova Scotia. “A nor’easter’s on its way,” the locals had been saying; their own term for describing the winds from the northeast that create the often turbulent—yet commonplace—weather for that time of year in Atlantic Canada. The power had been out for well over a day but had finally been restored. Marjorie stood by the window above her kitchen sink, steeping her tea. She always had...

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“The Crow & The Wolf” by Brandon Vaughn

Submitted to Contest #224

It was late and I hadn't been sleeping well. Waking at all hours from nightmares and panic attacks I dread going to sleep every night. It’s a side effect from the war, but that hadn't been over for more than a few years. Sully, the one person in this world I trusted, was out. Gone off on whatever nighttime adventure tickled his fancy. He suffered from long-term trauma as well, not just from the most recent war. I was alone in the bookshop. The second floor's only source of light came from the dim glow of the moon, casting eerie shadows in od...

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“Dawn and Crepuscolo” by Jenni Bradshaw

Submitted to Contest #224

“Hi Liz.”“Hey Dawn. Did you hear about the company’s holiday party yet? Do you know what you’re gonna wear?”“Ah, no. I haven’t checked my emails yet. I just got home.”Balancing my luggage and take-out Chinese food in one hand with my phone lodged between ear and shoulder, I dig through my purse for my apartment keys. It’s been a month I haven’t had to think of this place, or work.I traded my mediocre reality for a fairytale life traveling throughout Italy, which has been a bucket list item for me for quite some time now. I’m glad I finally w...

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“Whispers of Wakefulness: A Midnight Tapestry” by Frank Amaya

Submitted to Contest #224

In the quiet hush of midnight's embrace, where shadows dance in the soft glow of a silver moon, a solitary figure found himself entangled in the delicate threads of insomnia. The world, draped in a tapestry of dreams, seemed elusive, slipping through the grasp of weary eyes.In a room adorned with the echoes of a clock's rhythmic sighs, a whispered lament rose like the fragrance of forgotten flowers. "I can't sleep," confessed the soul to the stillness, as if the very air held the secrets of the restless night.Outside, the stars glittered lik...

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“Baby By My Side” by Carri Mattan

Submitted to Contest #224

BABY BY MY SIDE For weeks I’ve followed him, always just behind him, always just out of my reach with our baby by my side. It is the baby he does not know we have – born only a few weeks ago while he was gone. I did not understand it when he said...

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“Cereal and Steak” by Wake Lloire

Submitted to Contest #224

I used to be a night owl. I’d stay up reading under my covers with the contraband flashlight my godmother bought me. I would wait for my parents to go to sleep, I’d slip into the living room and put on my favourite record at the time, a weathered copy of Hooked on Classics, and I’d snuggle back into my bed with one of my favourite OZ books (there are fourteen from the original series, most folks don’t know that). My favourite was one about a boy who’s island was attacked and he was left alone with a talking goat, the ridiculous king who rode...

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“Later” by Kat Fawley

Submitted to Contest #224

The landlady says "the old man’s lived here 'for forever,'" and because redundancy irks you, your chin drops floor-ward and a little to the right, affording your creasing left eye its familiar hiding spot in the shadow beside the bridge of your nose - a reflex that’s stuck since your mother first mentioned it. It made sense to move here. The rent is lower than the going rate in the city, and you love hardwood floors, anyway. Irene doesn’t live here. Irene lives in the city.It’s 6:30 PM. You walk down the stairs to your half-filled ...

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“Poor, Poor, Placida” by Xylianna Clay

Submitted to Contest #224

Placida missed the sky. She missed her gaze being held by someone who spoke with her. In the same language. He missed her in return. Their days slid by each other like oil and water. He did not sleep. She slept like the dead. By nightfall, she left with the moon. He dozed and dreamt of her return in the cool of dawn. She would slip back into their rhythm unobtrusively. Today, the composer of their little orchestra missed a beat somewhere, and they stood at opposing ends of the kitch...

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“Shifts of Fate” by Shelby Carrie

Submitted to Contest #224

4:30 a.m. Knowing there were only thirty minutes left in his shift made Jacob stand a little taller. The clunky metallic body armor he wore was getting heavier by the hour. On paper, a six-hour shift seems easy. Yet, standing watch outside a kitchen door, with only the rhythmic ticking of a grandfather clock for company, anything beyond six hours would drive him to the brink of insanity. The only light in the hallway came from scarcely places sconces on the marble walls, enhancing even the smallest shadows of movement in the otherwise still...

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“Essy 37 Head of State” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #224

I wasn’t chosen to pull the trigger but would do so had my number been called. Surprisingly after all the years of despair and decline we had kept the tradition of the weekly lottery. Each week the country tuned in to hear the cheery voice announce the winning numbers. Unknown to the public, the first number called last week determined who would do the deed. If no one had an exact match, whoever was closest was tagged it, the one to assassinate the dictator. We had little time to waste and a lot of moving pieces as the co...

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“Bump in the Night” by Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #224

The noise downstairs stirs me awake. Looking at the digital clock, I can see the time in red electric letters. 2:35 am, so I’m already upset even before I fully register the noise. My bedroom is pitch black, so I fumble around for a moment before finding the bedside lamp. Switching it on bathes me in a pale orange glow, and I can see, outside of its immediate brightness, outlines of the room around me. Nothing is out of place. There are no silhouettes looming over me or fingers tapping at my window -the blinds are drawn anyway- so I think, m...

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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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