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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

“Away ” by Samantha Rane

Submitted to Contest #224

I can’t sleep… This was supposed to be a couples retreat but I’m here alone. I never thought John would leave me, and for his assistant… how cliché. FOUR years down the drain with someone I thought I would marry! …But right now I’m not thinking about John and his play thing, I’m thinking about the man adjacent to my room. When checking in they fail to inform me of the adjoining door connecting my room and his. When I entered my room, I almost immediately regretted coming on this retreat alone, but it was already paid for and I already took...

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“Sundown in Boy-Town” by Dan D

Submitted to Contest #224

"I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't-" before Sarah could complete her final redundancy, she gave herself a forceful slap across the face. A mirror wasn't needed, the heartbeat in her cheek was evidence it had already begun to swell. "I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't-" SLAP! "Come on!" She leaned her head back and downed the rest of her cola, now it'd been empty before she placed the light aluminum on the table. Just then..CRACK! Another can opened and she picked up right where she left off. The moon was high in th...

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“Sleep” by Joshua Kim

Submitted to Contest #224

Sleep…? “I can’t sleep….” Have you ever had the feeling that something needs to be done, but you were sidetracked because of something? That something is usually ‘productive,’ but in Joanna’s case? Well…. Joanna had to sleep because of the big test tomorrow, but found herself unable to do so, which tortured her since, even though nowadays, she was less infamous, back in high school, her nickname was: “Sleeping Beauty.” Awaiting her prince to come to her to awake her from her sleep with a kiss. But it seemed like her parents ...

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“A Sinking Foundation ” by JENNIFER TABASSUM

Submitted to Contest #224

I can’t sleep. I’ve tried everything to keep these three letters from sinking in. From being my reality. I adjusted the thermostat. Up two degrees. Down three. I disturbed the silence until I ended up with sonic dissonance. The whirring of a boxed fan accompanied by the strings of classical music. Outside my window, the inky sky bleeds into the faintest of blues. I curl into the fetal position. I am a babe in womb, a caterpillar in cocoon. The rhythmic words lull me into semiconsciousness. A shiver runs down my spine and my body becomes unfu...

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“"Sleep" was a bad word in our family” by Dariia Drahoi

Submitted to Contest #224

"I can't sleep," - my baby whispered right in my face. I could see her breath forming a tiny cloud. She smelled like strawberries and a coconut body wash. I was stroking her arm for the past twenty minutes. Up and down. Up and down. She was tired and her little fingers were gripping a fluffy pink duvet. "But you have to, my lovely." I took her hand in mine and gently squeezed it. She looked up at me and smiled. It was late in the night. I brought her outside, she wanted to see the stars before she fell asleep. I felt her getting more cozy...

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“The Sleepless Companion” by Amanda Stangl

Submitted to Contest #224

(Contains mention of severe illness) I can’t sleep. Granted, I restlessly napped periodically throughout the day, while Isabelle was visiting Dr. Robinson, but the walk in the park this evening should have tired me out. Now, I lay in bed next to her, listening to her deep shallow breaths, willing the noise to lull me to sleep. I haven’t been able to sleep for many nights. Since the moon was full. The sound of Isabelle getting sick in the toilet before she crawls into bed every night, leaves me feeling unsettled, my stomach twisting i...

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“Let's play a game” by Agris Engelis

Submitted to Contest #224

“I can’t sleep, I must not sleep.” Jim said, drinking another cup of coffee. “I feel it’s gaze form the dark.” “let’s play a game.” A deep corrosive voice came from the dark wardrobe in his room. He quickly shut the door to block the source of sound. “You can’t hide forever.” The sound now came from underneath his bed. It made Jim run off to the living room and quiver while sitting on the couch. Jim’s consciousness was fading in and out as he tried to fight off the sleep for the third day in the row. “Must… not… sleep.” Jim said as his body ...

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“Forsaken at the Feet of the Mountain God” by Nori Shimada

Submitted to Contest #224

I had been dying for a long time before this day, but the finality of it all still managed to scare me. Over the course of my illness, I had imagined quite a number of scenarios revolving around my demise, yet none had come close to the actuality that consumed me. Or, paralyzed me, rather. In each scenario I dreamt, I had whispered my final words to whoever was near me. My mother, my wife, the nurse on shift, or even the custodian passing by my door. Never had it occurred to me that I would be utterly and terribly alone. And, in each scenar...

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“OLLI OWL’S FANTASTIC-SUPER-DUPER-LOOPTY-LOOPS” by Ruby Nivel Vega

Submitted to Contest #224

OLLI OWL’S FANTASTIC-SUPER-DUPER-LOOPTY-LOOPSBy: Rebecca RamgoolamOlli Owl was the best loopty-loop flier in the whole wide forest. It's not that the other fliers couldn't do some of them, they just weren't as good as Olli. The owls got extremely dizzy and disoriented or far too tired way too fast and the bats would crash into eachother causing all sorts of air traffic problems. The effort wasn't worth it for them. But as for Olli, for months and months he practiced and practiced until he finally got all the loopty-loops perfected.He could d...

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“Forced to Become a Creature of the Night” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #224

Tom Jepson had worked his way up from rookie programer to become the top project manager at Apex Computer Consulting in only five years. His clients relied so strongly on Tom’s expertise that, if he had taken one of the extremely infrequent vacations, they had threatened to pull out of a number of important projects rather than entrust their operations to anyone but Tom while he remained out of the office. Thus, for half a decade, he had put in extra time late into the night a...

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“All Night Long (All Night)” by Luca King Greek

Submitted to Contest #224

Celine confirmed their status on the console, “Gale Crater Dome, only 162 million miles to go!”.“Then we make a right, or a left?” Mordecai joked.Celine flipped to a new window on the console, “NYX II is cruising at just over 20,000 miles per hour. ETA is 6.53 on November 16th, 2038. Mars, here we come!”.“I hope it’s 6.53 in the afternoon”, said Mordecai, “remember to wake me if it’s a morning arrival”. They both laughed.“So, now what, Mr. Poet Laureate?”, said Celine, an inviting smile on her face as she swiveled the pi...

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“The Intruder” by Amber Sattler

Submitted to Contest #224

I’m 31 years old and have never pulled an all-nighter. I’ve never needed to. My study schedule for every exam in university had been carefully and methodically organized and scheduled. I never leave things until the last minute. I attend the occasional party but have never felt the desire to stay up past sunrise. But as I stare down at my fiancé's hospital bed at 7:03 AM, I realize this will be my first. And it’s my fault he’s here.The Night BeforeWhite chalk paint drips down the front of my oversized green sweatshirt. The garage door had ba...

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“What Happens in Vegas...” by Rebecca Kohles

Submitted to Contest #224

My stomach was still doing flip-flops from the plane ride. When I glanced in the gold-framed hotel room mirror, I swore my complexion still had a green tint to it. There had been enough turbulence during the flight to qualify me for the space program, and it was the first time I had ever used those little flight bags for air sickness. In my defense, nearly everyone on the flight had tossed their cookies, and I felt a great deal of sympathy for the flight attendants who had to collect all those bags. Ick! “Are you sure you feel alright, Han...

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“Syncopated in NOLA” by Jon-Michael Schulte

Submitted to Contest #224

I can’t sleep. It’s been 5 hours since I stepped off my 14-hour-long plane ride, and I find myself staring a hole into an evergreen wooden ceiling at 2 AM. Right about now, I’d be bundled up in my cozy cabin all settled in for the night, but instead, I’ve wrestled with my blanket several times and maintained my insomnia thanks to the buzzing street lamps near my window. I roll out of the unfamiliar bed and pull my phone off the nightstand in hopes of finding something mindless to do. I check social media, YouTube, the New York Times, and eve...

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“2:37 AM” by Joel Dmytrow

Submitted to Contest #224

2:37 am. Still haven’t gotten a lick of sleep. Every time my eyes close the pressure headaches set in and the room feels like a spinning top. Flying long distances is always the worst part of any trip. I don’t mind so much the cramped quarters, can deal with the mild irritant of upset babies crying in the background, I can even put up with the slightly oversized gentlemen sitting next to me taking up way too much legroom; however, the nausea and pulsating buildup in my skull always seem to take me out of sorts and leave me feeling discombobu...

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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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