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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#255: The Five Stages

It's a commonly held belief that, when we grieve a loss, we go through five emotional phases: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Science tends to disagree; there's no actual evidence that we go through these stages, or at least not in a neat, linear fashion. But despite this, the model remains a part of our popular consciousness, and is frequently referenced in art, literature, and day-to-day conversation — perhaps because the idea of having a map to our grief, a way to organize and compartmentalize our most complicated feelings, is so alluring.

This week's contest is inspired by the model, and by the feelings described within it. Your characters don't have to be grieving a loss of some kind; they may simply be navigating the challenges of life in general. Whichever route you choose, begin with one of the five stages.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a someone who's in denial.

Character – 68 stories

Write a story about anger.

Angst – 64 stories

Center your story around a character bargaining for something that's important to them.

Dramatic – 43 stories

Start your story with a character in despair.

Dark – 91 stories

Write a story about someone finding acceptance.

Character – 99 stories

Stories

“Dirty Lens” by Diane Sintich

Submitted to Contest #255

“GET UP.”My eyes slammed open to the hulking silhouette of my father looming over me, my big brother’s hand in his vice grip. I held my breath as he recklessly dragged us from my room, tripping down the stairs, skidding on the foyer. With sleep in my eyes I searched for my mother, craning my neck, desperately seeking her out as the pale morning light threatened to escape through the kitchen blinds. He whipped us around to the second set of stairs, the tops of my feet burning against the berber carpeting as they scraped the steps, our bodies ...

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“Why Are You Here?” by Kristy Schnabel

Submitted to Contest #255

Week 1:As Neal entered the room, she said, "Please sit wherever you are most comfortable. The chair or the sofa." He chose the chair. "Why are you here?"Neal responded with an attitude. "You tell me." "That's not my role. Answer the question, please.""The City put me on leave.""For…""They say I need," he made air quotes, 'anger management.' I had a bad moment."She got up and walked to the desk. She grabbed an envelope with the return address 'City of Springfield, Department of Human Resources.' According to this, you threw coffee a...

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“Nearly Friendless at Nereson” by Erika Kappes

Submitted to Contest #255

Callie Sommers walked meekly down the hallway of Harrison Hall on her way to her first class as a freshman at Nereson College. Her light blonde curls bounced as she made her way down what seemed to be a never-ending corridor. The hallway was quiet as students filed into their classrooms, removing their AirPods while settling into the nearest open seat. Callie didn’t have AirPods. Her parents never had the money to keep up with the latest trends, so her headphones were still attached to her phone by a cord. Therefore, she didn’t listen to mu...

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“Me and My Uncle” by Joseph Hawke

Submitted to Contest #255

The fortnight had come to its final day: The day to begin my journey back home, to life as it really is, had arrived. Though known and anticipated, it arrived abruptly. Eid-al-Azha had begun the prior day. Sacrificial animals, populating street corners, grassy medians, and parking lots, had left already, gone as suddenly as they arrived ten days prior. On the evening of the first day of Eid, while Uncle Ramiz and I went on a walk, the streets ran with blood, down driveways of suburban Islamabad homes, looking surprisingly like red paint...

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“If God was real.” by Remmef .

Submitted to Contest #255

Note: Sexual violence, mental health, physical violence, abuse, suicide and self harm.(Also: english is not my native language so have that in mind.) “Do you feel nervous?” “You’re the one that should feel more nervous than me though.” She laughed at that. “Maybe,” she said. He felt along her middle. Felt the thing inside kicking. He couldn’t help but smile. And he saw her smiling back at him. He was going to be a father. That thought still made his stomach roll. Whether from nerves or excitement, or both, he didn’t know. ...

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“A Man Loved and Lost” by Sofia Peralta

Submitted to Contest #255

“I can’t do this anymore, Ivy. I can’t handle you.” The words struck her straight in the heart. Those words–such wretched, harmful words–were eerily similar to the last ones her dead soulmate had said almost three years ago. All except for the last one, “you”. James had said “it”, instead. “I can’t do this anymore, Ivy. I can’t handle it.” “It,” as if that was enough of a clue. “It” could mean anything and everything, how was she supposed to know what he couldn’t handle? Was it her love? Her devotion? Was it the world? Those were the l...

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“A Walk In The Garden” by Donald Mazzella

Submitted to Contest #255

Copenhagen was sweltering in an unfamiliar heatwave as Carlo Spoto walked out the side door to the hotel gardens. As he expected, his boss was sitting on the closest bench. In their years together, he knew Hurst Dansk would not keep him waiting. Even with the unusually hot weather, the Danish company’s patriarch was always dressed in a heavy, woolen, dark business suit. Behind him, similarly dressed and mere yards away, the old man’s guard stood quietly attentive. In 20 years as head of American operations, Carlo had...

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“On The Day” by James Beach

Submitted to Contest #255

A swallow flitted by just overhead and snatched me up from the daze I had fallen into. I sat on the balcony of my apartment and worked on the last of a fiction story for a serial job in the paper about a man who had shot himself and lived, the true account of which I had come across in an old medical journal, and I was having a dreadful time with the ending. That the whole damn piece was a load of rot and no ending in the world could make it hold water crept persistently into mind, and I knew it was time to put it up for the day, deadli...

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“Real Actual Words” by Ashlyn Riddle

Submitted to Contest #255

SESSION ONE Dr. McKinney has too round of a face, Vada decides. His smile is a touch too wide, his teeth a touch too white. Both sides of his face have dimples. His eyes are the bright, hypnotizing blue that sirens must envy. Vada watches him sit at the metal table, his hands clasped in front of him. A wedding ring adorns his finger. It’s simple and gold and glints in the harsh light of the room, as if accompanied by a billboard with the words, NOTICE ME! It makes up for the fact that the rest of him is perpetually unremarkable; h...

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“A Different Kind Of View” by Prodigy Mouse

Submitted to Contest #255

The air hung heavy on the platform, thick with the metallic tang of exhaust fumes & the greasy aroma of stale hot dogs from a nearby vendor. Neon signs advertising fast food flickered erratically, casting the bustling crowd in a strobing light show that made Hannah’s stomach churnHer friends, a vibrant collage against the grimy backdrop, chatted excitedly. Hannah tried to focus, to join in the conversation, but a growing unease gnawed at her. She clutched her backpack straps, the familiar pressure a grounding force amidst the growing sen...

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“journey to self-acceptance” by VICTORIA HALTON

Submitted to Contest #255

In the labyrinthine streets of Whimsicality, where every shadow seemed to harbor a secret and every word danced on the tip of a tongue, lived Jack. Jack was a man of few words but countless thoughts, perpetually standing on the cusp of understanding an inside joke—the punchline of which was his very existence. Whimsicality was no ordinary town. It was a place spun from the threads of linguistic creativity, where metaphors bloomed in gardens and similes whispered from the wings of butterflies. The townsfolk conversed in puns, and double enten...

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“Top 5 Pick” by Joey Madden

Submitted to Contest #255

"Projected top 5 pick in the NBA draft." All my life I have strived for this. My dream, and it was all coming to fruition. Teams salivated over my skillset. A 38-inch vertical, an elite three-point stroke, and quick feet laterally, I was something of a dream prospect. All those years I spent playing basketball with my father. Waking up early for practice. Standing around waiting for a game on the local courts, well, at least I used to. Now when I show up, everybody clears the court. This isn't football, nobody is wearing a helmet on the cou...

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“Fake Plastic Tree” by Nekesa Sepiwe

Submitted to Contest #255

In those times when we try to hold onto a relationship long past their usefulness, we become like archeologists digging through old ruins, unearthing treasures which held some value at one time, a ring, a sentiment, a look… toys… clothing, or anything symbolizing a once thriving source of significance. Sometimes we get lucky and find the treasure once lost to us; we bring these riches to the light and hold them even tighter. Yet, there are times in our excavations, no matter how deep we go into the core of our being, we come up empty ha...

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“Juice” by Fatima Aladdin

Submitted to Contest #255

“Are you coming tonight?” I try to keep my voice from shaking as I speak after the beep. It’s the only sound on the other end no matter what time I call him. “It’s… it’s been so long,” I sigh, “too long… I think you should come home tonight.” My breath comes out in desperate puffs as I search for something else to say, but there’s nothing else to say. I hang up the phone and stare at it, waiting for him to hear my message and call me back, but he doesn’t and I drift to sleep. “You haven’t been taking your meds.” His voice startles me a...

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“Acceptance ” by Neha Dinesh

Submitted to Contest #255

It's been three years, three years and still nothing has changed. I am still the same little girl selling matches on the streets to afford a living, trying to get away from my psychotic relatives Auntie Lydia, Uncle Bernado, Milo, and Amira who live in a small village in Syria surrounded by a forest. Trying to escape the horrors of the day our house was attacked by thieves who were armed with guns, trying to believe that they're still there snuggled up on the couch just the three of us, that they’ll be waiting at home. Every single day ...

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$250

Prize money

365

Contest entries

142

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 21, 2024 EST

Won by Phoebe Barr 🏆

Title: Some Peace and Quiet

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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