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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

“This IS the Unimaginable Future” by Laurie Rice

Submitted to Contest #234

This IS the Unimaginable Future For my birthday last year I had a friends and family get together and, together, we created a 365 link, colorful, paper chain. On the day the last link is torn, I will start my retirement after 43 years as an RN. Given that I never intended to become an RN, or do anything in medicine, it is somewhat shocking to think how fast the time has gone and how far off course from my original goal I have strayed. Oh well, still time for a second run at the first goal but, before I sign off from nursing, ...

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“The Season of Aries” by Eleftherios Konstantinidis

Submitted to Contest #234

The only source of light in this eerie background, in a glade lost deep into a forest on the top of the holy mountain, came from the twelve torches held by the young warriors, who formed a wide circle. In the middle of the circle stood the “Wise” as everyone knew them; a group of elders, supporters of the old religion; men and women who had gone through a long and painful journey to preserve the ultimate truth. Through the centuries, they were believed to be merely a legend among the public. Blasphemous, pagan monsters in the eyes of the fol...

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“Final Confession” by Elli Price

Submitted to Contest #234

Father O’Reilly made the sign of the cross over the bed. He had given the last rights a hundred times, but every time felt like the first. There is a strange emotional tension around those who know they are dying and are at peace with it. The priest had found a good gulp of whiskey before entering helped him get through. For medicinal purposes of course, or at least that’s what he told himself.Sister Olga had lived a good life, more than 60 years of it as a nun. He had always liked her feisty spirit, although it got her into trouble with her...

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“Being on Time” by Mary Cryns

Submitted to Contest #234

I woke up this morning to the sounds of screaming kids and a blaring television set. Groaning, I looked at my alarm clock which said five minutes to seven. Why hadn’t the kids gotten up yet? I mused, noticing we had exactly 50 minutes to get out the door so I could be at work on time and get the kids to school. As I dashed into the bathroom to get ready, I wondered if the daily hassles of life were worthwhile. I had three kids to raise alone and a career and education to juggle all at the same time. I still remember that first year when ...

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“Good Fence” by V Lauria

Submitted to Contest #234

The endless bing bing BING bing bing BING wakes me. I see her. I know she hears Puppy. I watch her connecting her hose to the front porch water spout. She is muttering under her breath. Same worn out construction boots. Same neon muscle shirt, same seasonally inappropriate cut off jeans. Everything is the same. The dangling cigarette. The emaciated frame. I nod off for a bit. Puppy startles me awake with his warning. His paws even hit the narrow glass panel surrounding the front door as she detaches her hose and sways back t...

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“Riding the waves” by Gilbert Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #234

My shoulder blades clenched together; for a split-second things were calm. Then it was the abdomen’s turn to tense up, and the ocean water came rushing from my mouth. Immediately startled by the peculiar colour of my purge, I let out a horrified yelp. Looking around I noticed that I was on the floor of a moving ship, with nothing but glimmering water in sight. A distant chuckle guided me to land my eyes on a pair standing a few feet away. The taller one of the two, a well-built man around his late 20s, was leaning...

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“If I could turn back the hands of time” by Deloise Gambrell

Submitted to Contest #234

“If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time” The body of the man I loved and married just a few hours ago was lying on the floor in front of me, lying on his side, clutching the wound that was now seeping blood through his fingers and onto the floor. There was a look of pain and shock on his face. Moving closer to the body, I willed him to get up! Suddenly, there were voices and loud banging at the door! Shoving the gun in my pocket, I ran out the side door and into the street. It was New Year's Eve. The streets of Manhatten were full of liv...

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“Homecoming” by Chris Holland

Submitted to Contest #234

I gaze out of the window and see people, some in white coats coming and going through the large double glass doors. A blue uniformed attendant wheels a chair under the shady oaks, pausing next to a flower bed to allow the occupant of the chair to admire the blooms. I see the attendant bending down so as to hear what is being said and then carefully picking a large Chrysanthemum bloom and handing it, like a newly discovered treasure, to the person in the chair. Others stroll to the edge of the small lake, some alone, others with a blue unifor...

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“The Devil's Time” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Submitted to Contest #234

George was sweating and it was 11:30 on Christmas Eve. The Devil was coming for him at midnight thanks to a difficult deal he cut early in the year. His sweet, beloved daughter was dying of an incurable form of cancer. A desperate man, George begged the Devil to save his daughter’s life and the Devil agreed—on one condition. George would kill one other person to take his daughter’s place by Christmas Day. The Devil thought that was quite fair as he was giving George almost a year to pay his debt. “Quite fair,” said the Devil. The problem ...

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“Hopeless” by Kat J

Submitted to Contest #234

Warning: the below story contains graphic imagery, suicide, alcohol abuse, death, mental health issues, and is overall very dark in content. Beware."Hope! Wait- no no no no... please!" Selina sprints toward Hope, whose concrete-encased feet are dangling from the pier's edge. An empty vodka bottle in her lover's hand. Of course, Selina hadn't meant to disappear for 5 years. But intent doesn't mean much. It's impact that matters. And Hope, poor codependent Hope, had been struggling all alone for five years genuinely believing that the lov...

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“RUN TO THE END” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #234

Mama said there'll be days like this There'll be days like this mama said (Mama said, mama said) Mama said there'll be days like this There'll be days like this my mama said (Mama said, mama said) This song kept playing in my head from the moment I woke up. Why today? Well, it was going to be a day like no other. I grabbed my running gear which was the same stuff I wore yesterday. On my own now living in a different flat was like night and day. I could see the ocean and knew that days spent in a swill hole were over. The story had its moment...

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“Born To Love” by Christine LW

Submitted to Contest #234

BORN TO LOVE. Old Joby Senior looked at the grey walls of the hospice, while the oak tree blew its fine green leaves against the window pane. Quite a colourful display for late Summer. A smile came to his lips. Thinking about his early love of opera and good classical music. It had started way back as a boy listening to Mozart on the old school radio just a frame it was with a screen plugged into the wall....

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“I Should've Been There” by Asa Conroy

Submitted to Contest #234

“What?” Reilly barked. Mossy green eyes narrowed and burning, glowered directly into Kiran’s. “I should’ve been there, Reilly.” He repeated weakly, failing to ignore the shiver that trailed down his spine. Their gaze was cold. It hadn’t been like that before. After two months, the deep, ugly bruise hadn’t faded from their right eye. He felt sick every time he looked at them.“What would you have even done?” Reilly demanded, “What the fuck would you have even done that we didn’t already try?” Their voice faltered, either from anger or fro...

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“Ball Pressure” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #234

There was silence in his classroom, then, as Jimmy allowed the enormity of what Kay-Kay was suggesting engulf him like a mid-summer Sahara sandstorm. Was there a way back? She had suggested as much. Jimmy didn’t believe in time travel or parallel universes. He also didn’t believe in the physics theory that he had heard from one of the Barton School’s science teachers that all situational possib...

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“You” by Aneesa Shamsee

Submitted to Contest #234

The funeral finally came around. Black was everywhere, emerging from corners, seeping through doors. People mumbling apologies, but I’m still not quite sure why. ‘Sorry for your loss,’ they say, but it only confuses me more. What did I lose?I don’t remember how it happened. Some say it was an accident, and others say it was planned. No one really knows, so they could be making it up. But that doesn’t seem likely.They look stupid. With their oversized hats and black veils. You would say they look like zombies or vampires. Using their hat...

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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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