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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#234: Time Out

Often, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in a day. We juggle dozens of warring obligations — work, home, friends, family — alongside our own wants and needs. At one time, you might back out of a friend’s birthday to visit an ailing family member. But at another, you’ll go to an important work conference rather than visiting your mother across the country. You never know how much time you have — to make your career, to follow your dreams, to spend with your family. It’s an uncertainty we all learn how to live with, one way or another.

In the spirit of this uncertainty, this week’s prompts focus on time. Who has it and who doesn’t, and who is trying to carve it out, minute by minute.

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone whose time is running out.

Angst – 112 stories

Write a story about someone who wishes they could turn back time.

Character – 70 stories

Write about someone taking advantage of some unexpected free time.

Fluff – 31 stories

Start or end your story with someone saying, “We have all the time in the world.”

Dialogue – 71 stories

Set your story in a place that’s frozen in time — literally or metaphorically.

Narrative – 56 stories

Stories

“The Clock Keeper” by Savannah Robbins

Submitted to Contest #234

The last clock was burned seventeen years before I was born. As a child, I marveled at the image of a clock in our historical texts. The little hand and big hand, going around and around with no other obligations. The Government workers modeled their lives around the clock. It told them what time to wake up, what time to kiss their children goodbye, how long their hands were going to toil until bleeding and blistered, how long until they would do it all over again. The world carried on this way until the people began to rebel. They w...

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“Is Love A Competition?” by Tracy Brown

Submitted to Contest #234

Hello, my love. Grab yourself your favorite drink. Come closer, open your mind, and shine your eyes because the topic of the day is: Is Love a competition, and why is dating hard? We have had this conversation before, but allow me to dig a little deeper on this chilly day with beautiful skies. Here goes. We have been dating for the past six months. Our relationship has been a rollercoaster, we have experienced all the emotional highs and lows, and all the unexpected turns, but we have managed to beat the odds, and this is bec...

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“Gentleman Joe.....” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #234

"Hey, big fella! What have you got there?" Gentleman Joe looked at the clear plastic bag his son, Joe Junior, was holding. "It's Guppies! They have live babies. I won the family day raffle. We have to get them a fish tank. Mum said." Gentleman Joe inwardly groaned. He had finally married later in life, being wed to the beautiful Marie. He was now a loving grey nurse, who had sired Joe Junior, their twelve year old heir to their non-billions. Gentleman Joe wondered how much an expedition to forage at the pet shop was going to cost. He worked...

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“Time and an Empty Chair” by Elle Green

Submitted to Contest #234

"Good morning, Penelope. Such a good kitty," Ann baby-talked her aging tabby cat. Ann was up too early as always and glad for the furry company. Her phone hadn't gone off yet - she'd even beaten the alarm this morning. A moment later the screen lit up and the alarm rang out. "Breakfast" the screen read. But it wasn't for her breakfast. Five in the morning was not her idea of a good time to eat. She needed to take that alarm and a dozen others off her phone - she wasn't ready for that. Already the reality of her husband Alan's death was man...

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“Mysterious Man, So Familiar” by Amy B

Submitted to Contest #234

Mysterious Man, So Familiar Time. Such an odd little construct. I have rarely bored myself with the intricacies of the worlds that I visit. Moments, rapid blasts really. I pop into a world, wreak havoc and leave. No need to learn or understand the beings of which I meet. Until today. Until this world. Dropped into this place, no information or understanding of where I am. With just a mission at hand. Although this time the mission is unknown. No meet and greets needed. Until today. Until humans. And humanity. And time. And a sudden...

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“Pumpkin and Fig” by Danielle Zhao

Submitted to Contest #234

Pumpkin and Fig“We have all the time in the world!” looking at his vigorous roots, says Mr. Pumpkin to his young friend, Fig.“Do we?” Miss. Fig doubts, for she knows how quickly figs can get dried in this arid land.“Yes! Look at my big big green leaves! We are still in July but I am already in bud!” says Pumpkin thoughtfully.“But what if a drought suddenly occurs to us, such as…the rain stops coming?” Fig knows that she can never boast about herself.“Well…that is a tough question, Miss! I guess…we would probably...

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“Glory Under Pressure” by Nathaniel Stiles

Submitted to Contest #234

Glory Under Pressure By: Nathaniel Stiles “We have all the time in the world.” “What was that sir?” The youth’s face was marred with scars and cuts, some freshly bleeding. “We have all the time in the world,” Dersite repeated slowly, staring out over the carnage beneath him. Funny, how, when a person lives their life to the fulfillment of greatness, one overstep topples their reign like an ax to a sapling. To his eyes, the land itself bled from a gaping wound. To his ears, the land broke apart. To his body, the world stilled, holding its...

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“"Timeless Echoes of Beela" ” by Brian Hastie

Submitted to Contest #234

"Timeless Echoes of Beela" In the small town of Beela in Western Australia, Australia, nestled between rolling hills and meandering streams, time seemed to move at its own pace. The residents were accustomed to the unhurried rhythm of life, where the ticking of the clock was drowned out by the rustling of leaves and the occasional song of a distant bird. In this tranquil haven, the phrase "We have all the time in the world" was more than just a saying; it was a way of life. The story begins on a lazy Sunday afternoon when the town's fol...

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“The Sky Is Falling” by Sean Elwood

Submitted to Contest #234

“Get it over with!” Mr. Franklin shrieked at the clear blue sky. His voice cracked beneath the spring sun in the otherwise cloudless expanse. “Just…” he fell to his knees, and cried.Maggie watched from her second story bedroom window facing west toward the mountains. Her five year old mind could see that Mr. Franklin was sad, yet she wasn’t sure she understood why.Everyone around her was acting so strange.There was Mr. Franklin, the next door neighbor who she’d seen ride out on his loud motorcycle every weekend, dressed in leather, aviator s...

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“Going Home” by Kathleen Spencer

Submitted to Contest #234

A black crow sat on the roof of an old Victorian house. The wind was blowing, while snow was drifting across the rooftop, and still the crow did not move. The old bird sensed someone, or something inside the house was still there, if not in body, but in spirit moving about, restless, refusing to leave. Angie sighed, “I cannot find it. The box… where is it?” George’s present to her. She had misplaced it years ago. She longed to touch the necklace. It was the one thing he had left her when he had walked out the door, vowing never to retur...

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“A Late Night at My Grandfather's House” by Erin Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #234

My movements were mechanical as I stepped into the too-quiet house. Keys in the dish on the counter. Shoes wiped on the door mat and kicked off onto the place on the boot tray that has always been mine. Jacket shrugged off, hung from the hook that once read my full name in bubble stickers. Only three letters are left, now: S_m__t__. Simple, automatic, routine. Nothing has changed at Grandpa’s house in twenty-five years. Nothing until tonight. &nbsp...

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“Tableau” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

Submitted to Contest #234

He comes to her room after Charmed. At 9 PM, the grungy theme song floats up the stairs on a candela of liquid crystal light emitting from the new flat screen, the most expensive thing in the house. We’re not allowed to watch Charmed because it promotes witchcraft and demon worship. Neither can his wife. Only he can, because God told him to “study the lies of the secular world”. You know how that goes. Alyssa Milano says her final line, soft guitar outro, then the stairs are creaking under his weight, the smells of Man–starch, aftershave, wh...

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“Forever Locked” by Karalee Ratliff

Submitted to Contest #234

Warning: Mental health and death The cove like reading inlet was quaintly nestled in the west wall near the woods. The snow covered the grounds and the trees glistened amidst the drizzles of frozen beauty falling from the sky. A fire popped in the adjacent family room creating a harmoniously calming white noise, perfect for the evening. Needing to reflect on his day at work, a practice that he did instinctively every night, Josh prepared his tea and set out his evening clothing. Ever since the accident, Josh found that nightly reflection t...

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“Poppers” by Bruce Callahan

Submitted to Contest #234

“Stay in the house at night and lock the door behind you” he said. Good advice any parent would give their child. Don’t talk to strangers and don’t hitchhike were a couple others my dad used to say.That was a long time ago….Before the virusBefore the changeBefore humans were an endangered speciesThe year was 2056. Over the past thirty years, one virus after another has ravaged the earth’s population. Nipah virus took twenty million to their graves in the 2030’s. They said it was fruit bats that were the source of the...

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“The Day I Longed for Snow” by Ciara McGuinness

Submitted to Contest #234

The Day I Longed for Snow by Ciara McGuinness In the dimly lit room, shadows dance on the walls as the solitary flame flickers against the canvas of my hand. Everything fades except for the radiating heat as the orange blaze inches closer and closer until - ouch, reality stings. I hastily wave my hand to dismiss the fire. If only it were that easy to extinguish every burning sensation. Undeterred, I open the matchbox again, another match ignited until the flames connect with my delicate skin. Why can’t I do this? Perhaps it’s the fa...

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$250

Prize money

340

Contest entries

132

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 26, 2024 EST

Won by David Pampu 🏆

Title: 6:47 PST

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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