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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

“Control Z” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #234

She had barely made it through the day. The experience of training another new employee was still bitter in her throat, making it difficult to swallow. She procrastinated the start of dinner despite the growling hunger pains beginning to announce themselves. The girl was sweet, she couldn’t take out the mounting frustrations on her. Trying to keep herself detached from the situation, she had repeated the same instructions that she had over the years as the sea of new employees flowed past her. Would this one follo...

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“Vita Retro” by HC Edwards

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #234

12:01am The girl opened her eyes, the sound of a train whistle lingering in her ears. 12:00am The oncoming train blared at him, a bellowing trumpet like an angry elephant. He could see the conductor behind the glass, lit up from the instrument panels. There was a panicked expression on his face, and for that, Sarat was sorry. He tried to smil...

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“Anton Perfume” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #234

For a few moments in the lobby of the Viking Hotel, Anton Perfume forgot that it was winter. While he was not a busy man in the colder months, he made it a point to vibrate a few times a week. It consisted of drinking a nice scotch at the bar of a hotel like the Viking. Something with character that remains mostly empty until the summer tourists return. As he sips his scotch, he sends a pulse throughout his body. Nobody would be able to see what he was doing, but he could feel it. Across the globe, an old woman grabs her heart. She feels as ...

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“Before tomorrow starts but after today ends. ” by Waaa Intresting

Submitted to Contest #234

As the noises of the afternoon began to unfold, a diverse collection of humanity converged upon this urban canvas. A multitude of souls that could never be counted for their worth. Several scents wafted through the air: the tantalizing aroma of freshly brewed coffee and delicate fragrance being sold of roadside flowers mingled with underlying bitterness that every city seemed to have. Perhaps it's because of the quiet cafes tucked away in cobblestone where patrons find solace amongst moments of reflection, accompanied by the wisp of smoke cu...

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“Tomorrow, the Sun will Rise” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #234

Journal 6, Entry 23, 6/13/2018 Today we stood in front of an open grave in black suits, black dresses, and with white handkerchiefs. Everyone huddled close under a ceiling of umbrellas as God’s tears poured down on us over the life of a courageous and thoughtless young man. I watched the stars and stripes soak up the drizzle as it lay there on the perfectly polished mahogany casket suspended above its final resting spot. Standing before the gravestone, the priest gave his benediction before the flag was folded up and presented to my wife a...

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“Is Chering Caring?” by Kate Winchester

Submitted to Contest #234

*Trigger warning: this story contains sex and cursing.* Regina’s suspicions and reality collided with loud banging. Two bodies, in pure form, were committing an impure act. Both were equally caught up in their carnality; the intruder had gone temporarily unnoticed. The bang of the slamming door finally caught their attention. Julian scrambled to disentangle himself from his paramour. She flew out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door using only the sheet for coverage. He threw on a pair of pants and l...

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“Not like anything on TV” by Ashley Quinn

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #234

It’s not like what we see on TV. There’s no abundance of family crying together as they watch their loved one die. Those words that have gone unspoken for years usually remain unspoken. There’s no glamour in dying, no glamour in caring for the dying. And that’s all I could think about as I watched my mom lay there, helpless, on her bed in the memory care unit. How she’d be alone when she finally passed, how she may not even be aware she’s dying. “Help!” she screamed, shaken out of a brief moment of rest that wasn’t really rest. Her rec...

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“Time was Precious” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #234

Twelve hours to go...I should be thinking about all the meaningful things in my life. I should be revisiting the well-thumbed memories in my mind’s catalogue of experience. I should be itching to see all the people I haven’t had a chance to catch up with. I doubt they’ll come. Would I, in their position? I should be making atonement for my past errors. I should be writing letters of apology. I should be doing all the things that you’re meant to take care of. All I can think of is my own body. All I can feel is the duvet wrapped around my mot...

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“He's not really in there” by Claire Trbovic

Submitted to Contest #234

I watched the back of his head from across the street. Salt and pepper. I hadn’t seen his face in years, always just the back of his head. I’d know it anywhere. It’s shape, the way he held it, the shoulders it sat on, the clothes he wore; today it happened to be the same jacket as that weekend away we had in Scotland. His hair was always the first thing I recognised. Like a flea bitten grey horse, except nothing like the way that sounds. My brain immediately worked to refile that memory, dragging it forward to view like a folder from a ...

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“TIME ON HER HANDS” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #234

***After 8 months hiatus from writing, 3 of the 5 prompts brought me back to Reedsy. Yay!*** ‘Scuse me ma’am. Would you mind if I ask you one simple question? Well, that depends on the question, doesn’t it? If I give you an answer, then I guess I don’t mind, but I don’t have a lot of time, young man. So what is your question? Well, actually, “time” is exactly what I wanted to ask you about. I just wondered if you’re obsessed with time? Now, why would you ask me that? Because I have so many wrinkles and grey hair? Of course I thi...

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“A Table For Two” by Andrew K Langley

Submitted to Contest #234

A fake floral arrangement and low-burning stubby candle at the table’s center awaited their only patrons of the night. The Bradleys took their seats across from one another, placed the table napkins on their laps, and exchanged warm smiles. “Not bad, eh?” Charlie asked his wife. “Not bad at all,” Mary agreed, “and what do we have here?” She picked up the wine bottle by its neck and spun it around, holding it at arm’s length by the candle’s waning flame for further inspection. “Cabernet sauvignon, from Chile,” she read, “Ooh la la!” “Vintage...

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“Flowers for Omnomnom” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #234

The plant occupied most of Nell Turnbulle’s greenhouse.Nell stood and smiled at her with a mother’s love. ‘Let’s see what he makes of you, then.’The plant—all eight feet, thirty teeth, eight tentacles of her—quivered in response. Her pretty blue flowers shook and danced.Nell smiled. Audrey listened to her mother. Audrey was a good girl. And she would show Grayson that her plant-breeding hobby wasn’t ‘nonsense’ and ‘money down the tubes’. It was a viable business, and it made her happy. It was her own. Of course, even now, Nell noticed that s...

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“In Limbo” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #234

It was a bloodbath. All hands on deck trying to save my life as blood spilled out splashing in puddles on the floor. The pregnancy had been high risk; that was discovered during the first trip to the ER with bleeding even before my little baby bump was obvious. The months of bedrest at home almost got us to the finish line until the dreaded bleeding began again. “Three strikes you’re in,” I was told by the admitting nurse after showing up at the ER for the third time. The doctors explained the risks and comp...

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“The Henchman” by James Lane

Submitted to Contest #234

I land hard on cold cement and something in me cracks. A rib, I think.Shit. That clown is not far behind. He crashes through the ceiling and I roll away before he crushes me. Pain shoots from my chest, around my shoulders and up my neck. Yup, it’s a broken rib, maybe a couple. The clown staggers to his feet. He lets out a howl, and falls to his knees - probably broke his ankle. He’s dressed head-to-toe in blue leather, like Batman, if Batman was a deluded asshole. Calls himself the Bookworm, and he’s got an orange grub etched into his h...

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“The Wisdom Loop” by Franco Lopez

Submitted to Contest #234

I still remember that first time I was at an airport getting ready to board a flight. I was six years old, wearing a new striped polo and a paper crown, and was enjoying a strawberry starfish popsicle while holding a red balloon. It was my birthday. I had a pin that showed it off to everyone, and everyone was so kind all day. We were heading to Florida for the weekend to visit amusement parks, and I did not have a single worry running through my mind. Just before boarding the flight, I bumped into an elderly gentleman sitting just outside th...

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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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