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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#244: Oh Snap!

Photography is the art of capturing light, and moments; a way to freeze time and observe the ever-changing nature of life, if only in a small way. Pictures serve as a testament to our experience, helping us remember, understand, and share it. From cherished childhood snapshots to historical photographs, artistic compositions, and even selfies, some pictures truly are worth a thousand words.

This week’s prompts are all about photographs and the stories and meanings behind them — just remember that, in this case, a picture is worth between 1 and 3 thousand words.

🥇 Winner

“The Party” by K.A. Murray

🏆 Winner of Contest #244

My phone buzzed. I rolled over to look at the text my cousin Maya had just sent. Can you send photo you took of all the girls in costume last night? xoxo My head was throbbing. Hanging out with Maya was fun, but she was eight years younger than me and she and her friends loved to do shots. I needed to stick with beer only if I didn’t want the hangover. That’s what I'd do next time. I opened my photos app to find the picture Maya had requested. It was a group shot I had no memory of taking. It wasn’t everyone who’d been at the party - just th...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Safe and Sound Safe and Sound” by Katharine Widdows

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

Trigger warning - psychological abuse.7.15am - go downstairs. Phone fully charged, remove cable. Stare at phone wallpaper – not familiar – photo of huge oak in West Park at end of my street – where Rich proposed. Maybe took it yesterday – maybe not. Not sure. Stare more. Check for messages. Mum, Sarah, Rich. Rich? Not heard from him in ages. Is he ok? Oh, he’s replying to me. I didn’t message him. I must have, yes, look. Asked if he had a good weekend, sent 23.03 yesterday. Was in bed by 10. Must have got up - come downstairs - forgotten. Sl...

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“The selfie of Dorian Gray” by Fox Ferguson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

[Content note: substance misuse, suicide, transphobia]Picture this: Dorian Gray, 25, gorgeous bachelor of the Brighton gay scene #handsomeAF #queen #slay. Picture his blazing blue eyes set above aquiline nose and a rosebud pout of a mouth. Cheeks ready to blush under the lick of glitter from a make-up brush. Deep gold locks styled to perfection. Forehead wide and empty as a summer sky #beautynotbrains #imageiseverything #skindeep.Picture this: Dorian perched on the sleek leather and chrome of a barstool in the Poison Ivy, margarita in one ha...

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“The Coraline Factor” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

As Vikky walked down the paths leading to the school’s quadrangle, other students moved aside or stopped what they were doing to look at her. Her black hair bobbed, her skirt swished, but her footsteps seemed to glide. Laura and Faye trotted behind her.As they approached where the blood-nosed boys wrestled each other with the ferocity of alligator lizards, Vikky let out a loud wolf whistle, making everyone else turn around. She raised her hands together and widened them out in a gesture demanding that the spectators move aside. They parted l...

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“Poor Box Suprise” by Luca King Greek

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

New York Patrolman, James O’Donnell, spread the pale-yellow powder along the metal tray and closed the wooden lid of the box. The mechanism clicked.“Most ingenious” said Deacon Cassidy, thrilling at the prospect of pyrotechnics.” It is a mix of potassium chlorate, aluminum, and sulfur,” said officer O’Donnell, “known as flash powder in the trade.”“The modern invades our lives”, said old Father Morris with a sigh, “and the lord moves in mysterious ways.”“As do the Sunday offerings”, said Deacon Cassidy, for whom the pilfered Poor Box was a th...

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“Butterflies” by Sophie Fawley

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

With both fingers I repeatedly zoomed in and out of the photo. Then I zoomed and un-zoomed even faster, until my screen was just a nauseating blur. I wasn’t sure whether I was trying to make myself feel sick, or if I was hoping that when I finally stopped – when the photo eventually came to a standstill – it would rearrange itself completely into something that made sense. But when I did stop, I was just as confused. Once more, I added up the constituent parts: dark hair splayed on the pillow, shiny skin dappled with bruise-like smudges of m...

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This week's prompts

Center your story around a photo that goes viral.

Funny – 29 stories

Start your story with a character staring at a picture they don’t remember taking.

Mystery – 73 stories

Write a story about a character who risks their life to take a photo.

Adventure – 39 stories

Write about a character who sees a photo they shouldn’t have seen.

Dramatic – 66 stories

Begin or end your story with a character taking a selfie.

Fluff – 33 stories

Stories

“The Party” by K.A. Murray

🏆 Winner of Contest #244

My phone buzzed. I rolled over to look at the text my cousin Maya had just sent. Can you send photo you took of all the girls in costume last night? xoxo My head was throbbing. Hanging out with Maya was fun, but she was eight years younger than me and she and her friends loved to do shots. I needed to stick with beer only if I didn’t want the hangover. That’s what I'd do next time. I opened my photos app to find the picture Maya had requested. It was a group shot I had no memory of taking. It wasn’t everyone who’d been at the party - just th...

111 comments 111

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“Photographs and Memories” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #244

Saturday, 30 March 2024To: ericaclark-steele@gmail.comFrom: david.steele@gmail.comSUBJECT: Photos in Google DriveHi, Honey,I hope you’re doing all right there. Oh goodness I miss you already.I know; I know. You’re going to say I’m being sappy again. If you were here, you’d roll those beautiful sapphire eyes and shake your head at me sighing as I stare at the 20x24 shot mounted in our bedroom of our first dance as a married couple whilst Jim Croce’s “Photographs and Memories” --- the song you always love to hum whilst you work -- plays i...

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“Wall Street Wiseguys” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #244

Not for nuthin’ but this stugots had it comin’. If you are gonna treat your subordinates like fuckin’ dogshit, maybe one of them might push back a little. You know what I mean or no? A few minutes earlier, I was doing something very uncharacteristic and taking a selfie for my dating profile. I was that hard up. It was either that or I could start paying for it. After all, I was an accountant. We had the dubious distinction of being over-represented in the percentage of our ignoble profession to become CEO and the percentage that were still v...

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“Creatures of Habit” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #244

For over ten years, we hosted the Sorell, Hogg and Hartley Christmas Eve party at our house in Arkley Village. Tom organised the guest list, and I received and entertained his work colleagues and their spouses. It was a wonderful opportunity to socialise, put faces to names and impress the firm’s influential partners. “Susan makes it all look so effortless, Tom.” “She always insists on doing the catering.” “Really? Then you’re a lucky fellow.” “There’s nothing le...

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“Because He Lives” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #244

Because He LivesMarch 31, 2024I received a picture today. I immediately shared it with all my relatives and contacts on my social media page. It had already been recognized as a viral photograph. If any photo qualified to deserve to be repeated enough times to be considered viral this one most certainly does. It sends a vital and timeless message.Simple and understated the scene speaks volumes. The mostly sepia colored photo depicts a view from inside a cave-like entrance looking back out towards the early morning sunrise. To the lower left ...

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“The Last Ceaseless” by Isabel Jewell

Submitted to Contest #244

California, 2160 Theo’s eyes shifted uneasily to the body beside him. He’s not dead, he tried to reassure himself. Well, he’s not alive either, his conscience retorted. Guilt ate at him like a zombie. But how was this his fault? He never asked to be a dead man’s babysitter . . . Well, not dead. And he’s 700 and some years older than you. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to be frozen, asleep in a tank, even as Theo pressed his finger pads against the frosty glass. Not when the earth was burning. Dry. How bad could a pr...

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“Safe and Sound Safe and Sound” by Katharine Widdows

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

Trigger warning - psychological abuse.7.15am - go downstairs. Phone fully charged, remove cable. Stare at phone wallpaper – not familiar – photo of huge oak in West Park at end of my street – where Rich proposed. Maybe took it yesterday – maybe not. Not sure. Stare more. Check for messages. Mum, Sarah, Rich. Rich? Not heard from him in ages. Is he ok? Oh, he’s replying to me. I didn’t message him. I must have, yes, look. Asked if he had a good weekend, sent 23.03 yesterday. Was in bed by 10. Must have got up - come downstairs - forgotten. Sl...

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“Eagles Flying Above the Storm ” by Kristi Gott

Submitted to Contest #244

Eagles ride updrafts,On airy sky trails,Over the clouds,Beyond rain and gales." Elijah saw the storm squall whipping the waves. The wind howled. The ocean darkened. The clouds burst open.A pair of eagles spread their wings and rode updrafts into the sky.Gliding through low clouds, the eagles soared. Elijah knew they were flying to heights beyond his sight, above the rain and wind.A sense of wonder and beauty filled Elijah. He felt as if he soared along with the eagles.Sitting in the ground floor of the lighthouse, Elijah leaned toward the op...

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“In the picture ” by Helen A Smith

Submitted to Contest #244

Even without a date, you can usually tell the age of a photo from its condition, the print, and style of paper used. This one has a blurred at the edges sun-faded look about it.“That’s strange. I really don’t remember taking that photo. And would you believe it, I’ve gone and left my specs at home?”“You should have got that cataract fixed when you got the chance, Yvonne.”“I dare say.”The out of focus picture in question is of three women: one young, the other two middle-aged. It’s taken from a distance; you’d have to squint to see the three ...

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“Shelby” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #244

Feeling nostalgic, Melissa decided to go through the old shoe box of pictures from when she was a teen that was sitting in the top of her closet. It had been years, decades, since she opened that box. It’s an old Eastland’s shoe box, wrapped in purple construction paper and bejeweled with fake gems and glitter – very nineties.She popped open the lid and sitting on top was a ticket stub to the movie ‘Titanic’ that her and her friends went to see six times at the theater. She laughed at the memory of them crying their eyes out in the theater a...

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“Danke Schon” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #244

Grandmother - never granny or grandma, always grandmother - passed away two weeks ago. Emily had accepted condolences and casseroles from a handful of people. People she didn't know since she had never really lived here. Grandmother had sent her to the best boarding schools money could buy, while telling Emily that she was lucky to have this opportunity to make so many friends from all over the world, to get such a wonderful education.With a sigh, she settles at grandmother's desk. She knows it's time, can't put off sorting through her grand...

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“Alone Time” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #244

She let him know that he needed to come home right after work. Some nights, he’d stop at the Chili’s on the side of the highway and get himself a margarita. This was something he did alone, and she knew about it. They’d joke about how much time he spends alone. Given the choice, Mark would spend his entire life alone. It seemed like a fluke that he ended up married, but Rene also enjoyed her alone time. Just not as much as her husband did. While she sat on one of the highchairs in their kitchen, she asked herself if she would have preferred ...

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“Seeds of Doubt” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #244

MARK – APRIL 1, 2024 The logo on the envelope caught his eye and put an instant knot in his stomach. Another bill for another visit? He thought they were paid in full. Fed up with the exorbitant fees and procedures, the empty promises, they decided to go back to the natural way. Holding the envelope, it felt heavier than the weight of paperwork should feel, more like the weight of the world. Should he open it? He could toss it out or bury it back under the pile where he found it. Either choice would be bett...

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“The selfie of Dorian Gray” by Fox Ferguson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

[Content note: substance misuse, suicide, transphobia]Picture this: Dorian Gray, 25, gorgeous bachelor of the Brighton gay scene #handsomeAF #queen #slay. Picture his blazing blue eyes set above aquiline nose and a rosebud pout of a mouth. Cheeks ready to blush under the lick of glitter from a make-up brush. Deep gold locks styled to perfection. Forehead wide and empty as a summer sky #beautynotbrains #imageiseverything #skindeep.Picture this: Dorian perched on the sleek leather and chrome of a barstool in the Poison Ivy, margarita in one ha...

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“There were way too many flies for an empty house” by Florencia Lazcano

Submitted to Contest #244

Schizophrenia is a bitch, and I don't usually curse when I'm writing; I like the classic style of Stephen Crane and the refined worlds of Oscar Wilde, and I know things have changed a lot since this kind of gentleman went extinct, but still... there is something about correct writing that turns everything into poetry... even these stories. I continue now; schizophrenia is a bitch, medicated or unmedicated; dealing with not knowing what is real or not can still be challenging day by day. From the happy little bunnies hopping out of an un...

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$250

Prize money

239

Contest entries

91

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 05, 2024 EST

Won by K.A. Murray 🏆

Title: The Party

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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