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#227: Snowed Under

As the nights grow longer and the air turns colder, winter is just around the corner for those of us on the Northern hemisphere. Some people hunker down and prepare to weather the storm, while others welcome the snow and icy wind with great excitement. Even if you can’t wait for the coming spring, you have to admit — there’s something magical about winter. The buzz of the holidays, or even just that particular feeling of sitting in front of a fire for warmth while the wind howls outside, can’t be beat.

Whether you’re planning on hibernating or embracing the cold, this week’s prompts evoke everything we love about winter.

🥇 Winner

“The Winters of My Discontent” by Warren Keen

🏆 Winner of Contest #227

I didn’t wake up on November 29th, 2023. The day prior I remember vividly. I drove two hours into western Minnesota to replace some fuses in a pad-mount transformer. Easy job when you bring the right fuses. I wasn’t prepared to stand outside in the freezing cold all day waiting for them. Waiting is the coldest thing you can do. I had checked the weather that morning, but I refused to acknowledge that it was long john season already. “Can’t stand this cold, huh?” the guy said when he showed up with the fuses and found me shivering. “Does a be...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Blizzard” by AnneMarie Miles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

The blizzard was inside him now, in more ways than one. He felt his bones grow goosebumps the way he thought they could only appear on his skin. They seemed to shiver between the muscle and tissue that were once soft, now like icicles hardening beneath the surface. His fingers and toes succumbed to their numbness much quicker than they had in the earlier days, warning him that even five minutes of stillness was too dangerous. But as he shifted in the small cab of his truck, the effort felt enormous, and his breath threatened to release the l...

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“The Outer Lands ” by Livana Teagan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

Ice crystals descend from a sunless sky in a transient spell. They hit the destitute ground with a warning, inescapable and silent. Anther watches them, jaw tensed, through a hole in the metal wall used for a window. They tell a story. Winter has arrived.A welcoming sight to those fortunate enough to live in the Inner City. Resentment twists inside Anther’s gut like a venomous snake, paused and waiting to strike, as he pictures their faces full of delight. Are they watching the dawning of a new season from their balconies, sipping hot drinks...

Read story

“Evolving Draft” by Suma Jayachandar

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

I remember the foggy morning I had clothed you in a cyan co-ord set, handed you over to the conductor of the preschool bus, and waved goodbye as you struggled not to cry. I came back home and cried over a cup of coffee. It was the first week of you starting school and it took me a while to get used to an empty home till you returned at noon. Your Pops and I stand with you near the campus cafeteria after breakfast; you with a moustache that has still not seen its first shave and a face a little less transparent than it was all those years ago...

Read story

“This Don’t Happen in Apalachicola” by David McCahan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

It was darker than anywhere he’d ever been. Colder too. Colder than darker if that was possible. The dim light from the tent he just left in the camp now distant behind him was the only thing that made it possible to see. But he knew where he was going. He’d gone there dozens of times. He measured out the steps, counted them. The sound of the snow crunching under his boots served as a cadence as he walked. “Stone? Is that you?” a voice came from somewhere in the void before him. “Who else would be stupid enough to be out here?” S...

Read story

“The Last Shindig” by Hamilton Briggs

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

Outside, the first snow covers the yard. The arms of the elms have turned white and a northern wind seeps through the windows.My husband slips across the ice to his Jeep. The engine starts, sputters, and dies. Finally, the ignition turns over and the Jeep pulls down the long driveway that leads to the street.I walk slowly down the hall, the soles of my feet cold on the wooden floor. I slip off my robe. A bruise spreads over my abdomen, purple at the center and gray at the edges. In a day, it will turn yellow-green.I stand beneath the shower ...

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“Polar Night” by Nick Baldino

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

“Give me that thing” Chunhui grabs the cigarette from Bobby’s hand. There is a moment where their fingers touch, the warmest feeling in Alaska’s Northern Slope, and then it is gone. “No need to get handsy,” Bobby says to her. His voice is a dead whisper against the sweeping brown coastline, but she can hear him. They’re sitting shoulder to shoulder on the dried-out vertebrae of a bowhead whale. “You wish, cheechako.” Her lips are around the filter now, pursed in a way he has never seen. Bobby is glad to be under six inches of parka- hi...

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“Why Is Jake Always So Lucky?” by Paul Crehan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

Why Is Jake Always So Lucky?A short story by Paul CrehanAs a kid, he was the one who found quarters on the sidewalk—and a lot of times he’d get two Hershey Bars out of the vending machine when he’d just paid for one. Two or three times, when he wasn’t ready for a test, the teacher wouldn't show up. Test cancelled. Stuff like that. His whole life.And look at this now, today—the first snowfall of the season, coming down like God had emptied the bin of his paper shredder, and there’d be no less than three feet of it in a couple of hours. And th...

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“Cooler Heads Prevail” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

tw: animal gore, gun violence“When’s the last time it snowed here?” Christine asks as she’s filling the food trough. I hold off on answering so I don’t have to compete with the pour of alfalfa pellets and the frantic scramble of the pronghorn to get to their meal.“In July? Never.” I hate discussing the past; it’s littered with landmines. “It’s supposed to be monsoon season. But even in the winter, it hasn’t snowed like this since…I don’t know…2024 or ‘25? Over a decade ago. I remember I uploaded a video of a golden eagle perched on the back ...

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This week's prompts

Start your story with someone looking out the window and seeing the first snowfall of the season.

Winter – 86 stories

Start your story with a description of the cold, using lots of sensory detail.

Winter – 65 stories

Write a story where someone shares a cup of hot chocolate with a friend.

Holiday – 55 stories

Your character hates the holidays, and jets out of town every year — but a historic snow storm means that this time, they can’t make their escape.

Winter – 32 stories

Write about a character emerging from hibernation, whether literally or metaphorically.

Winter – 61 stories

Stories

“The Winters of My Discontent” by Warren Keen

🏆 Winner of Contest #227

I didn’t wake up on November 29th, 2023. The day prior I remember vividly. I drove two hours into western Minnesota to replace some fuses in a pad-mount transformer. Easy job when you bring the right fuses. I wasn’t prepared to stand outside in the freezing cold all day waiting for them. Waiting is the coldest thing you can do. I had checked the weather that morning, but I refused to acknowledge that it was long john season already. “Can’t stand this cold, huh?” the guy said when he showed up with the fuses and found me shivering. “Does a be...

Read story

“Blizzard” by AnneMarie Miles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

The blizzard was inside him now, in more ways than one. He felt his bones grow goosebumps the way he thought they could only appear on his skin. They seemed to shiver between the muscle and tissue that were once soft, now like icicles hardening beneath the surface. His fingers and toes succumbed to their numbness much quicker than they had in the earlier days, warning him that even five minutes of stillness was too dangerous. But as he shifted in the small cab of his truck, the effort felt enormous, and his breath threatened to release the l...

Read story

“The Outer Lands ” by Livana Teagan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

Ice crystals descend from a sunless sky in a transient spell. They hit the destitute ground with a warning, inescapable and silent. Anther watches them, jaw tensed, through a hole in the metal wall used for a window. They tell a story. Winter has arrived.A welcoming sight to those fortunate enough to live in the Inner City. Resentment twists inside Anther’s gut like a venomous snake, paused and waiting to strike, as he pictures their faces full of delight. Are they watching the dawning of a new season from their balconies, sipping hot drinks...

Read story

“The Arborist” by J. D. Lair

Submitted to Contest #227

Oaks shed many an acorn when heavy rains are on the horizon. Edward knew this and should have seen the signs with this particular oak late last fall. Torrential rains indeed came in the early spring, ending a decade-long drought. The storms created havoc with fallen branches and mudslides across the valley. He thought his oak would weather the storm, with its deep roots and strong trunk. His late wife Susan had even helped him take great care of maintaining its canopy. Once it got a taste of bountiful water though, it did not care to stop dr...

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“Because of the Storm” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #227

George Salter came upon his eighth empty bus shelter, and sighed. The bench inside the Plexiglas enclosure looked so inviting, but he knew he’d never get up again if he sat down now, and the app on his phone told him the same thing it had told him at the other seven stops: “Bus delayed.” He huffed, wiped hoarfrost from his brow, and trudged around the next snowdrift – his baggage trundling ever behind him. Every step was half-jerk and half-stumble. The only things that kept him going were thoughts of the Riviera Maya, of the all-inclusive st...

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“Evolving Draft” by Suma Jayachandar

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

I remember the foggy morning I had clothed you in a cyan co-ord set, handed you over to the conductor of the preschool bus, and waved goodbye as you struggled not to cry. I came back home and cried over a cup of coffee. It was the first week of you starting school and it took me a while to get used to an empty home till you returned at noon. Your Pops and I stand with you near the campus cafeteria after breakfast; you with a moustache that has still not seen its first shave and a face a little less transparent than it was all those years ago...

Read story

“Farmhouse Dinner” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #227

Christina wondered how long she should wait before she reported her husband missing. Two days seemed too soon, but a week too long. Who would take a whole week to notice their husband missing? She held her hot cocoa in both hands, sipping it slowly as she watched the gentle flakes drifting through the pine trees. The first cold snap of the season had come with several inches of snow, and it covered the ground in a white, soft blanket. She loved being alone in her kitchen, and had spent the morning rearranging her utensils, th...

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“BUDAPEST” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #227

“Tom, has it been snowin?”“Not quite, Eric?”“First day of Winter brings the first snow of the season. Result!”“It’s not snowing, Eric.”“I must ‘ave slept through it.”“You were passed out, Eric. There’s a difference.”“Was I? That bleedin’ Jägermeister is strong stuff, innit.”“You’re not supposed to drink the whole bottle all at once, Eric.”“Yeah, well, I got a taste for it in Budapest at the dentist’s office, didn’t I. They give you shots of it while you’re waiting to see the tooth puller.”“Instead of anaesthetic?”“Nah, they give you that too...

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“Crimson Snow” by Alice Brooks

Submitted to Contest #227

Sensitive themes warning: Contains description of death and self-injury.Fighting to keep going, the snow crunches under her bare feet, sending icy shivers down her spine, but she barely takes note of it. The footprints she leaves behind turn visibly red, slowly dragging on proof of what she had done. She is wearing a white satin dress, sticking to her skin like an unwanted embrace she can’t escape. It’s wet, and the freezing air turns her breath into fleeting clouds, escaping from her blue-tinted lips, and her toes are icicles threatening to...

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“This Don’t Happen in Apalachicola” by David McCahan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

It was darker than anywhere he’d ever been. Colder too. Colder than darker if that was possible. The dim light from the tent he just left in the camp now distant behind him was the only thing that made it possible to see. But he knew where he was going. He’d gone there dozens of times. He measured out the steps, counted them. The sound of the snow crunching under his boots served as a cadence as he walked. “Stone? Is that you?” a voice came from somewhere in the void before him. “Who else would be stupid enough to be out here?” S...

Read story

“See You Next Year” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #227

Anne had requested a room on a lower floor. When she entered her suite to find a floor-to-ceiling window confronting her with a view of lower Manhattan, she nearly fainted on the spot. Her acrophobia had begun later in life, somewhere in her 40’s, and thirty years later she still couldn’t shake it. Carefully--and with half-closed eyes--she found the switch for the automated curtains and watched as the city disappeared behind a wall of beige. Her trips to New York were something of a reverse exit from hibernation. Whereas her friends on the...

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“Champurrado ” by Mallory Jones

Submitted to Contest #227

The house had never been this quiet before. You could almost smell the hazy dust as it drifted through the air, illuminated by sunbeams shining through the curtains. It was a misplaced silence, but a peaceful one. If you closed your eyes and focused, you could hear the distant laughter of cousins gathered at Christmastime, of babies crying and mothers shushing, of clattering pots and muffled conversation in the kitchen. These sounds weren’t ghosts, though, just— echoes. The last resonance of the full and joyful lives that were lived within t...

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“The Last Shindig” by Hamilton Briggs

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #227

Outside, the first snow covers the yard. The arms of the elms have turned white and a northern wind seeps through the windows.My husband slips across the ice to his Jeep. The engine starts, sputters, and dies. Finally, the ignition turns over and the Jeep pulls down the long driveway that leads to the street.I walk slowly down the hall, the soles of my feet cold on the wooden floor. I slip off my robe. A bruise spreads over my abdomen, purple at the center and gray at the edges. In a day, it will turn yellow-green.I stand beneath the shower ...

Read story

“O Unholy Night” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #227

Iceland’s winter festivities are a perfect excuse to feast and make merry, and I partake with an insatiable appetite. I adore the endless nights wandering abroad and relish chance encounters with hapless stragglers trudging home. They all laugh when I tell them, “Carol singing’s not to my taste,” and chuckle when I say, “Choristers are delightful and sweet.” But how their mirth dissolves as I envelop them in my cloak and whisper. “What a toothsome treat you are. You’re good enough to eat.”* * *I despise summer like all cold-blooded creatures...

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“No Up, No Down, No Light, No Sound” by Aeris Walker

Submitted to Contest #227

There is no up, no down, no light, no sound. Your legs are bent above you—or maybe below—and you are as immobile as a fish in ice. You thrash and jerk your head from side to side and achieve nothing but filling your ears and nose and mouth with snow. You inhale the icy crystals and choke. The biting cold penetrates every surface of your existence. Your world is dark, your head raging with the rush of panic-laced blood coursing through you.A kaleidoscope of thoughts explodes in your mind—the foremost being that you are too young to die. The s...

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$250

Prize money

299

Contest entries

130

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 08, 2023 EST

Won by Warren Keen 🏆

Title: The Winters of My Discontent

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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