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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

“My Dad's Best Friend” by Nicholas Thomas

Submitted to Contest #234

It’s been a long drive so far. I was pretty excited when I was told my dad was taking me on a trip to see my Aunt Lindsey; I hadn’t seen her in a few years. My dad was excited too at first, but as we get closer to Aunt Lindsey’s I can see that he’s getting more and more… I don’t know, sad? I don’t think that’s the right word for it, but there’s definitely something there that’s growing with every passing mile. &...

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“Layover” by Crystal Farmer

Submitted to Contest #234

Canceled. Ray stared at the marquee and clenched his fists. He'd run all the way from terminal C to A to catch this flight to Denver, only to find out the weather made it impossible for him to get home before noon tomorrow. He looked at his watch: just past two East Coast time, and the thoughts of relaxing in his warm and comfortable home were slipping away. He sat at the deserted gate and made a dozen phone calls. Hotels were booked–something about a basketball championship–and he was seriously considering the four hour drive to Atlanta t...

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“The Death of Appearances” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #234

“We have all the time in the world,” Zelda said, reaching across the space betwixt herself and her fiancé. She lovingly caressed his forearm in an attempt to assure that his despondency was due to nothing more than the gloomy weather that filled the streets of Paris that rainy day.“We have all the time in the world to go all the places and see all the things your heart desires, Jacques. In a month we’ll be married and living together right here in this lovely Parisian apartment. Life is young. We are on the precipice of so many possibilities...

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“First Time” by Shawn Putnam

Submitted to Contest #234

I turned sixteen today, and Mom and Dad woke me up for a special surprise. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. I’ve never been one to care about gifts. Well, maybe I did when I was a kid, but since I got into high school, I stopped worrying so much about what kind of things my parents would buy me. Mandy says I’m nuts, considering how much money Mom brings in, but Judy disagrees. She says I should be happy Mom and Dad are still happily married after all these years. She’s right, I think –...

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“TIMED OUT” by Bruce Woodloe

Submitted to Contest #234

This is it then. This is how it ends. Id always thought tat the stories of life passing before one’s eyes were just that. Stories. Now mine was flashing in surprising detail. My eighth birthday party, my first kiss at nine. My best friend for the first twelve years of my life, my dog Champ. Losing my virginity at fourteen. Getting my driver’s license at sixteen. My high school prom, summers down the shore, my mom’s passing, seeing my dad cry for the first time at her funeral, my proposal to my now fiancé. Yeah, the stories are true. I’m...

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“When Time Stood Still ” by Melony Beard

Submitted to Contest #234

Not long ago, in the Land of Fairy Tales, Hayward Pig lived in a brick house with his older brothers, Stickerton and Brickerton.One day Hayward walked through the North Woods searching for firewood. Little did he know anyone else was around but Sly Fox hid behind a tree and watched Hayward's every move. Hayword studied the trees and tried to decide which one was the best. Some were too small, and some were too large, but right in the center of North Woods stood one perfect tree. With a smile, Hayward raised his axe to chop it down."Put the a...

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“Airport Poetry” by Philip Coxon

Submitted to Contest #234

Absolutely classic. It just had to be today. Peter was watching the departure board as the hopeful, encouraging ‘Gate Information Expected Soon’ in cheery white script flicked over letter by letter to that most ominous of words in a bold red: ‘DELAYED’. Groaning audibly, and shrugging his backpack crammed with all the things too heavy to go in the hold off his shoulder, Peter cast his eyes around the bustling airport despairingly, hoping for some contrite saviour with an explanation. No-one immediately rushing forward explaining away the del...

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“Lo Svedese” by Hollie Newton Wilkes

Submitted to Contest #234

He was there again.It had snowed the night before. A ‘shooting snow’. That took farm workers from their beds to light torches amongst the vines, and hunters from their duvets early, in search of the fresh tracks of warm bodies looking for berries in the early morning light. And now the hunters were in, propping up the bar and testing her reserves of cherry wine and her patience with their bellowed “saluti”s and worn tales of Mario Pepe, the fabled wild boar the size of a Fiat, “eyes like the hottest place in hell,” and Lorenzo’s brush with d...

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“Mirror Image” by Karen Hope

Submitted to Contest #234

Hope felt good in her sensible blank pumps. Their 2-inch heel gave her a graceful lift without torturing her feet. Her slim-fitting black pants showed off her shapely legs, while her blue flared shirt hid the slight bulge in her middle-aged belly. She pushed aside the discarded dresses and tops that were strewn across her bed. She had practically emptied her whole closet searching for the perfect outfit. But doesn’t every woman scour their closet before she goes out for ...

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“Purple Fringed Purse” by David Winfield

Submitted to Contest #234

"Mom! I'm a grown man," I said, strangling my cell phone. "I don't need any help scheduling my life.""I know, son. I'm just trying to suggest maybe you don't have enough time to go fishing today. You're flying out to visit your sister in three hours. She'll be very disappointed if you miss your flight.""I'm not going fishing. I’m just going to go down to the river and test out this new lure I bought to make sure it works like it should. It will only take me fifteen minutes, thirty tops.""Son, you live fifteen minutes from the river. It'll ta...

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“Dragons and Roses and Bridges and Atoms: A Mike Dodge Mystery” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #234

January 1/Pasadena“The great illusion…”The problem with being the scientist’s granddaughter. Out close to $2,000 to bring in 2024 with aged beef and not-so-well-aged strangers and an oldies DJ somewhere in age between the prime rib and the Boomer-Plussers in a Claremont Double Tree conference room with a cash bar and a 9 p.m. Times Square ball drop so we could pull it together at 5 a.m. for the Pasadena bus.Not that I minded. It was probably Grandma’s last New Year, and she cashed in her Make-a-Wish on a parade. Grandma had never had much us...

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“Blast From The Past” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #234

The first time I heard it, I knew. But that knowing was the deep down sort that we have a habit of pushing away and dismissing when it suits us to do so. We do whatever we can to pretend it’s not there, or that what we’re experiencing is of no consequence. We kid ourselves and repeat over and over that it’s going to be OK, when we know nothing could be further from the truth. We have been warned, and there will be consequences. The oldest part of us. The part that saved our bacon when times were violent and dogs ate dogs just to ...

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“Clear Sky, Dark Clouds” by Cecilia Baker

Submitted to Contest #234

“We have all the time in the world.” Emma looked at the screen, Earth spinning helplessly, months fleeting by like seconds. Its beautiful blues and rolling greens were no match for the small, rocky planet on the screen beside it. The sunlight reflected meetly off the ashen surface. Its small hills traded colors from brown to black. It was a stark difference from inside the outpost, where the fluorescent lights were blinding and bounced harshly off the plastic white walls. The constant tug of the black hole nearby was deep in her chest.&nbsp...

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“Skunk Cabbage” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #234

Cooper Conell groans as he rolls on his side. Grabbing the bedpost, he pulls himself up, coughing until he’s a wheezing breathless wreck. The sad part is this is as good as he’s going to feel all day. He blows a kiss at his late wife’s photo. Cooper grimaces, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his hip as he wobbles to a standing position. He pats his ever-expanding belly, running his hand over his bald pate where his rich black hair used to be. “…The golden years…,” he mutters to himself. Dressed and ready for work. Cooper searches the ...

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“It's Getting Dark” by Evy Holmes

Submitted to Contest #234

It’s getting dark. We have to get home. Lexi spun in a slow circle, peering into the shadowed trees through the dark curls of her bangs. Their grandmother would lose her mind if they didn’t make it back to the house before sunset. They had been warned endlessly about staying in the woods after dark. Not that Lexi believed in her grandmother’s superstitions, but her brother did. Ohhh, my brother! “James!” she called. “James, come on! I didn’t mean it!” The volume of her voice scared the nearby birds into silence, and her ears strain...

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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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