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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#226: Temptation Time

Temptation comes in many forms this time of year, and our ability to resist seems to wear a little thin during these cold winter months. Some of these temptations are innocuous, from a little over-shopping to a well-deserved third helping at Thanksgiving dinner, while others prove a little more problematic, like the temptation to snap at loved ones after a long weekend in close quarters.

This week’s prompts are all about impulses, indulgence, and the way in which wants and needs tend to blur around the edges after a glass or two of mulled wine.

This week's prompts

Your family’s holiday dinners always end with everyone at each other’s throats. This year you’re determined to keep a low profile, but your patience is being put to the test.

Thanksgiving – 38 stories

At some point in your story, a character says “You’re better than this…”.

Thanksgiving – 56 stories

Your character finally gives into a temptation they've been avoiding, and becomes better because of it.

Thanksgiving – 31 stories

Write a story about somebody trying to rationalize giving into temptation, even though they know they shouldn’t.

Thanksgiving – 42 stories

Black Friday is the one day of the year where the Devil makes selling your soul a good thing, although there are some bizarre T’s & C’s.

Thanksgiving – 22 stories

Stories

“BLACK FRIDAY DEALS!! HUGE DISCOUNTS ON YOUR SOUL!!” by Sam Sansoucy

Submitted to Contest #226

"Welcome to Hell, please take a seat in the waiting room down the hall." I frantically turned my head. I was in more of a tunnel than a hall. Claustrophobically small, near-pitch-black, but just visible enough to see something at its end. "How did I get here?" I cry out, unable to move a muscle. "Please proceed to the waiting room," said the ominous voice from nowhere. It was a cheerful, carefree female voice. I had to crouch to move forward. I couldn’t see a thing. “AH!” I screamed, running forward, unable to stand properly. I con...

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“Oscar and Dolores vs The In-Laws” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #226

Dolores blots her ruby red lipstick in front of the bathroom mirror. “Are you almost ready to go to mother’s, Oscar?” she bellows.“Am I almost ready? I’ve been ready for the past hour!”“Then come in here and let me have a look at you.” Dolores can hear Oscar grumbling as he approaches. Eyes wide enough to pop out of her head, she fumes. “Oscar! Did you really think wearing a shirt missing the top button to my mother’s Christmas dinner would be all right? Seriously!” Shrugging, Oscar strolls into the ba...

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“Because He Likes You” by Sofia Olivarez

Submitted to Contest #226

My mother once told me about a time when she and Papí were arguing, and he got so angry that he raised a lamp to hit her with. Those were the days when we would hear his footsteps stomping up the front porch and rush to our places—me at my desk, Mamí in the kitchen—like actors right before the curtains come up. The smallest inconveniences could send him into a tempest of rage. Anyway, when he lifted that lamp she got right in his face, she tells me, felt his hot rage smack her with each pant. “If you’re gonna hit me,” she growled, and now th...

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“resigned. ” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #226

“Hey Tammy, are you busy?” Clarke asked as he steps into Tammy’s cubicle. Her internal eyeroll is engaged with this constant question from those above her in the totem pole of office politics. She wishes she could ask them: “don’t you pay me to be busy?” Minimizing the document she had open on the right side of her double monitor, she turns to Clarke. Tammy is famous around the office for what everyone has taken to calling “Tammy’s waterfall”. She places all of her “to-do” paperwork on the left-hand side of her desk. The least important it...

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“Carpe Diem” by Malcolm Twigg

Submitted to Contest #226

Archie Wellbeloved was a mess, emotionally and physically. His name didn’t fit for a start. Exasperated at his lack of get up and go, his girlfriend had got up and gone herself. That same day he’d been laid off work; some hacker had raided his bank account and he was skint until the bank sorted it out; his hair was a mess; his clothes unkempt, and his trainers looked like a pair of exploded tyres. Much like the deflated tyres on his car as he gazed down at them in undisguised bile, an unfortunate product of the neighbourhood in which he live...

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“SPAM” by Rose Lind

Submitted to Contest #226

Caution swearing.Read at you're own risk...I loved my new glasses. The thick black frames lounged on my nose. The plastic arms touched, not clutched. The lens allowed my peripheral vision to relax. My eyes watered a little but they had to no longer try, try real hard to read. I could even see a large protruding, unplucked hair on my upper lip! I did not have to rely so heavily on my tactile sense or memory, or my hearing to inform me of my blurry world.After drinking a couple of coffees and finding my last cigarette filter, from crawling on ...

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“Click-Clack” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #226

Chloride, Arizona 1880 The scorpion crawling over his face brings Dustin Racklin back to consciousness. Wheezing, and hacking up blood, Dustin realizes he’s near death. He recalls being ambushed, shot in the leg, side, and through the lungs by two sidewinders and a boy he called his kin. Dustin had robbed the one o’clock stage out of Jacinto along with Deke Drummond, Deuce Railey, and JoJo. The calculating, thirty-eight-year-old Deuce was a dandy, but also a master planner, and twenty-eight-year-old, foul-tempered Drummond lived to see...

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“A Family Affair ” by Keshawna Burks

Submitted to Contest #226

TRIGGER WARNING: Explicit language and mention of substance abuseIt had been five years since I'd been home for the holidays. The last time I was home for Thanksgiving dinner, I uncovered a massive secret my mother was keeping. She swore me to secrecy. What kind of mother would force her child to keep such a secret from her father? I resented her for that. I also blamed her for my little sister Joy's drug addiction and for my older brother Jonathan's gambling problem. She had single handily destroyed our whole family.This year, she had begge...

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“What My Therapist Doesn't Know” by Needs Chocolate

Submitted to Contest #226

It's a freezing day in December, almost Christmas. My breath puffs out like clouds of cigarette smoke in the clear night air of the motel parking lot. At the moment, I wish it was cigarette smoke because I can't remember being this nervous in a very long time. Maybe the Christmas Eve service twenty years ago, when a pushy grandmother shoved her mini-skirted teen granddaughter up to the piano in our little Baptist Church and plopped an unfamiliar piece of music before me, stating, "Missy is going to sing. Play this." This wasn't our Baptist...

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“The Tin Horse” by Paul Littler

Submitted to Contest #226

Archie Button desired just two things in life; having what he wanted then wanting what he had. It was the latter bothering him outside the filthy window of a rundown junk shop, draped in dust coated cobwebs and stuffed with piles of faded newspapers, battered furniture and sad looking, worn-out toys. “You already have too much junk” Linda, his wife, reminded him. If he wanted more, he’d have to make space by getting rid of some of the tat littering what he referred to as his ‘workshop’. Archie loved hi...

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“Embracing my chaos” by Dinara Seksembayeva

Submitted to Contest #226

Do you feel it?” someone whispered, her voice filled with concern. “Definitely…it feels surreal, to harness such power…it is dangerous though, Serenai” her sister responded, her voice becoming hushed in the end. “Agreed, but remember, we’re not alone here, we must be very cautious, someone might see you channeling, you know what happens to such people” Serenai told her sister, with a racing heart. Her stern eyes and trembling lips reveal that fear for her sister’s life since she is the only family she has in this heinous realm. Losing her ...

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“Only One” by William Duke

Submitted to Contest #226

The advertisement promises the Ultimate Black Friday event. *** Come to Jerome, AZ to have your wish fulfilled by Lucifer himself. Only one soul from all wishers will be forfeited to the devil. The more people that participate, the more will get a free wish. Don’t miss your opportunity to have your dreams fulfilled. *** Thousands of people descend on Jerome. There is a constant stream of cars, but no slowdowns. There are no accidents. There is no shortage of parking spaces, or pumps for gasoline. There is no line...

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“Tis The Season” by Liz Elletson

Submitted to Contest #226

“What’s the matter? Did you taste something sour?” Marty looked at his girlfriend, Alice, when he heard the spoon drop into her cereal bowl.“No, I didn’t taste anything sour,” Alice mimicked. “I just got a text from your sister, Norma.” She held the phone to Marty’s face. “She is reminding me about dinner this evening. I mean, how can I forget although I wish I could. She’s been sending me messages for over a month now, and this time she texts me the recipe for mashed potatoes. I mean, really? Last year she told me to make sure I follow the ...

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“Temptful Day” by Lloyd Napier

Submitted to Contest #226

The self-driving car hummed softly as it glided to a stop in front of my childhood home. Its sleek design and quiet efficiency were stark reminders of the world outside our family's old, somewhat anachronistic house. The familiar facade, with solar panels glistening on the roof and a smart garden system tending to the winter plants, contrasted with the memories of Thanksgivings past. "Home," the car's AI assistant chimed in a soothing tone as the door slid open silently. "Just keep a low profile," I reminded myself, stepping onto the drive...

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“Shades of the Prison-House” by Luca King Greek

Submitted to Contest #226

The glossy postcard from Australia depicted a lazy-looking town of empty roads, deserted pavements, and rows of identical little houses, each within a small square garden. To Simon Platt’s eye, it looked like a place for old-age pensioners and their fat constipated dogs. He flipped the card over and re-read his father’s short ‘miss-you mate’ message which was almost identical to the one he’d received a few weeks ago.Simon’s mother, Sylvia was exasperated at his disdain for their plans, “Your father says every day is like a summer S...

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$250

Prize money

189

Contest entries

87

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 01, 2023 EST

Won by Chris Campbell 🏆

Title: Forthright Thursday

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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