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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

“No Time” by Paul McDermott

Submitted to Contest #234

No Time Coming off the ferry late on a Sunday evening, they’d run into traffic, which wasn’t the best possible start to a much-needed and eagerly anticipated holiday. On the other hand, it was immediately obvious that the Home team had won, and Dublin’s victory over Limerick in the Hurling finals looked as if it would be celebrated long into the night. The traffic all seemed to be moving west, the same direction they were travelling, and there really wasn’t any significant delay. “Can you imagine what it’d be like if we’d run into th...

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“Ever Northward” by J.B. Redel

Submitted to Contest #234

An endless expanse of white lay before me, the frozen horizon barely discernible from a monochromatic canvas that is the sky. No signs of life dot the landscape, no distant mirage of foliage. Only an endless slab of white marred by gusting winds carrying even more snow to coat the world around me. The sting of frostbite nips at my fingertips and toes, occasionally breaking me from the trance I’m lured into by my endless march. I don’t know how long I have been traveling. It could have been days, weeks, or even a month. Time h...

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“Lost in time” by Hannah Abrams

Submitted to Contest #234

“Ugh! Just ugh!” A teenage girl yelled and stormed out of her foster home, letting the screen door slam behind her. She was angry. She was mad at the world, mad at her foster parents, mad at everyone. She raced into the woods, tears rolling down her cheeks. After a while, while the teenage girl was wandering around in the woods, not entirely sure where she was going or where was, angrily muttering to herself, it began to rain. She kicked the ground and ...

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“A Matter of Time” by Bonnie Dubbs

Submitted to Contest #234

Something funny about time is how much people exaggerate it. We share pictures on social media of how we're having the best time with our friends at a bar, only to post two hours later about how we never want to see that group again for the rest of time. How much time you spent with a partner, only to throw it away in favor of a new beauty or beau that catches your eye in the moment. You sit and wonder and watch was time passes you by, and you watch your face grow old and your friends and family move on, that you never truly understand what ...

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“ROOT” by D.T. Ries

Submitted to Contest #234

(Trigger Warning: Mental Health, Suicide, Self Harm, Substance Abuse)Normal kids love summer break, but I dread it. This summer, anyway. Too much time alone and—well, I ought not to think about that. I blow out a long breath and flip open my locker, the last flakes of green paint cling to it in defiance. One last day of classes to distract me from my miserable life.My phone buzzes, the ten minute warning bell rings in five, and Reed’s not here yet. He insisted I wait for him by my locker this morning, so I pop open the small cubby above my m...

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“Before the Priest Arrives and After” by Antonio Simone

Submitted to Contest #234

It was 8:00 pm, there had been stew for dinner, and Tino –in his permanent place on the bed in the other room– had to be put in his night clothes. They always ate dinner with him. The nurse, Lina, sat at the bedside, his sister, Mariella, on the chair by the dresser. Mariella used to take care of him by herself, now her hands shook and Lina helped. Mariella dealt with the dinner things in the sink while the nurse prepared her brother for bed. “There was a Frenchman in the muck with him who brought the big silver pocket watch. M...

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“Remember What She Told You” by S.E. Tomlinson

Submitted to Contest #234

Dear Self, When she got her diagnosis, Grandma Harriet said, “I’ll always be with you, even when I’m gone.” You might not believe that at this moment—not with the wounds so fresh in your mind—but in time, you will find the strength to believe it again. Right now, you’re feeling lost in the aftermath of Grandma’s death. Right now, with the funeral done and the care-giving responsibilities having been lifted from your shoulders, it’s hard to imagine where to go next. Hopefully this letter finds you well enough that you’ll have the courage ...

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“Janine and Stacy” by Cassie Robbins

Submitted to Contest #234

“…So there’s no need to come in today. We have plumbers and water damage folks here so hopefully, by Monday morning, we’ll have everything dried out and we can all get back to work.” Janine could hardly believe her ears. Her office manager, Mamie, was on the phone explaining that an old water pipe had burst in the antiquated office building in which she worked as an accountant. The busted pipe had made a soggy mess of the entire floor. Mamie sounded equally frantic and exhausted as she expresse...

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“The Angel Mast” by Zavier M. Ames

Submitted to Contest #234

Jim was always fascinated with pirates. He was always infatuated with the rebellion, the adventures, and the hunger for endless riches. After decades of specializing in American and Caribbean history, his focus on Blackbeard and Long John Silver’s stories particularly fascinated him. In the bright and early seascape on the Caribbean Sea not too far from the Bermuda Triangle, Jim is on a trip to the Caribbean with a marine treasure search crew. He’s asked to go diving with Jerrod, the leader of the marine crew. He’s just as eccentric and dari...

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“Rafe the Racoon” by Janet Severn

Submitted to Contest #234

Sandy the Squirrel and Sam the Squirrel were sitting under an oak tree. Sandy was leaning her head on Sam as he fed her an acorn. Rafe the Racoon was watching them from behind a mulberry bush. His eyes were bloodshot. His heart was pounding. He rose on his hind legs to count how many acorns they had left, and winced as a searing pain flashed in his hind leg. He knelt back down. He had seen a few acorns - four, maybe five. Sandy's eyes were closed, and Sam kissed her on the forehead. Rafe sprinted at them. The pain flashed again in his h...

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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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