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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#259: The Elephant in the Room

Once in a while, we all have to calculate what is and isn't worth saying. Whether it's admitting our feelings to a crush, acknowledging the brewing tension in a friendship, or speaking up in the face of injustice, we sometimes have to carefully decide what to speak up about, and what is better left unsaid.


This week's prompts are about moments just like these, when the metaphorical "elephant in the room" becomes unbearably large, and we must choose whether to speak our minds, or to leave well enough alone...

This week's prompts

Write a story about two people who aren't admitting their true feelings for one another, despite it being obvious to outsiders.

Romance – 57 stories

Place your characters in a tough situation, where nobody wants to acknowledge the reality of what's happening.

Angst – 83 stories

Write a story that includes the line, "Is nobody going to say it?".

Dialogue – 83 stories

In a small town, a powerful family have a dark secret that nobody wants to discuss. One day, an outsider arrives, who's not happy to simply drop it.

Mystery – 47 stories

Set your story in a world where conversation about one particular topic is banned — but there are ways to get around the rule.

Dystopian – 25 stories

Stories

“A Deserved Ghosting” by Jeff Meade

Submitted to Contest #259

A Deserved Ghosting I had taken it a little too far. I always take it a little too far! And this time, I lost a potentially awesome connection with an old flame. But every fire dies out eventually. Sometimes they were never even lit. In the matter of just a few days, I both lit a flame and extinguished it.  One lazy Saturday afternoon, I told my 9th grade crush that I had, well…a crush. She was flattered by that, and we struck up an interesting conversation. But then my ADHD tendencies took over and I got carried away with excitement an...

2 comments 2
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“Sinkhole” by Lexi Harris

Submitted to Contest #259

I don’t know when the crack appeared in our living room floor, but I noticed it as I tidied up on a Tuesday evening. I shoved the coffee table into its rightful spot, its leg landed in a tear in the carpet, a fissure beneath. It wobbled in the unevenness until I repositioned it at an awkward angle. By Thursday morning, the crack had expanded into a sinkhole. It had already taken our loveseat and an end table, along with my knitting project and a stack of books my husband had set aside for his winter break from teaching. The couch teetered p...

4 comments 4
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“The Last Day of Summer” by Chloe' Noever

Submitted to Contest #259

Waves that lap against the shore tell the time. The ebb and flow, the push and pull, they pump one second in and one second out. The ocean is constant. It does not bend to circumstances and is infinite. In its infinity is an all-consuming awe if you choose to see it. The ocean is the same ocean that it was millions of years ago, yet it remembers nothing. The explorers that first stormed through this beach in Florida left footprints that were to be erased, and the ocean forgets them. There is too much to remember already. The ocean stays the ...

2 comments 2
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“Concealer” by Allie Garbini

Submitted to Contest #259

Trigger warning: Implied sexual violence and language Just close your eyes and wait. It can’t last long. It will be over just as soon as it started. Just keep reminding yourself of that. It will be over soon. Distract yourself from what is happening to you if you can. Think of anything else. But what? What could possibly distract you in this moment. It will stain you for the rest of your life. You will never escape the haunting lifelong trauma that you have become saddled with mere minutes. I crawled myself up in a ball on my bed. My fa...

1 comment 1
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“I am Torch” by Sierra Kingen

Submitted to Contest #259

Content warning: death, LGBTQ, racism, and swearing The name's Torch. As you can tell by my fiery hair, hot bod, and of course my charming personality, I am a FireBorn.  I was born in a quaint farming town to Kyrna and Lumina, two lesbian elves. They were very excited, but rather confused. At least that's what mother says. She says that her and Mom were surprised to see that I looked—well, like I was literally on fire. Turns out that down Mother's lineage; oh, Mother meaning Kyrna, someone banged a genie and well, guess I was the luck...

2 comments 2
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“Lockie's Late” by Jesse Michael Berryman

Submitted to Contest #259

She’d been gone longer than her parents expected. As soon as that damned creak in the door sounded, they were on her with their chittering jaws and reaching fingers. But as Lockie stepped fully through the doorway, moving past her mother and father as if they were strangers seeking to turn out her pockets of their precious metals, no questions assailed her ears. In lieu of questions came gasps. She took herself in a deliberate hurry over to the fire in the hearth at the heart of the room, as if another second of not doing so might’ve killed ...

2 comments 2
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“A Moth to the Flame” by Xiao Shan

Submitted to Contest #259

The light they followed so closely had been snuffed out. Whether this was due to outside forces, or simply because it “wanted” to, there had been no warning. Cast off into the cold, the siblings would need to see reality through a colored-lense. The world they’d been accustomed to often presented itself in gray hues. Alas, coming to acceptance wasn’t a guiding flame, but rather a fake sun. Artificially crafted to lure them in, there’d be nothing left except ashes. Who would want to admit the possibility of their father’s death?Four siblings ...

2 comments 2
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“Life With You Is A Miracle ” by Celsi Bash

Submitted to Contest #259

TW: violence, depression, gore, suicide ideology and suicide Trinity dropped the keys around her neck. They were those heavy, brass types lopped with a gold chain. The kind of weight you couldn’t ignore. The kind of weight you’d notice missing right away. “Trinity…” a rasped voice wailed, “I’m hungry…” “I’ll be back Miracle. I don’t wanna hear any complain’ from ya now.” She left that bright red door, heading down the stretching hallway into the kitchen, where her mother was heating up a can of pork and beans over the stove. A radio cracked...

1 comment 1
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“For Better or Worse” by Ian Unger

Submitted to Contest #259

*This story contains references to pedophilia. As a society, we collectively share this proverbial joke of a creepy-old-uncle who got divorced and married someone less than half his age. The thing about proverbs is that they’re so borderline mythological you don’t think they could actually happen, least of all to you. You don’t even have a creepy-old-uncle. Then the next thing you know, your dad is calling to tell you your aunt and uncle are separated a month after you were all riding bikes on the beach like one big happy family. Then at ...

1 comment 1
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“The Job Interview” by Bill Cusano

Submitted to Contest #259

Late. I hate being late. That man should squeeze in more, or the subway doors won’t close. Why does this have to happen to me? Come on.The conductor shouts, “Make room.”I think that’s what he said. Suddenly, the car jolts and starts to move. I may make it in time. Be the first to arrive. Let them see how eager you are.Great advice. Not this time. Why didn’t I leave earlier? I paced back and forth in the apartment, practicing my stupid elevator speech for hours. “Sorry I’m late.&nbsp...

3 comments 3
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“A Guest” by Timothy N

Submitted to Contest #259

Oliver Stone clutched the base of a robust green weed, pulling with all his might, his determination palpable.“Weeds shouldn’t be this formidable!” he growled, his voice bouncing with each pull. The weed finally gave in, snapping the roots with a satisfying crack. He threw the weed into a mound of others. His brother, Arthur, entered the outside.“Thank you for helping me with this. I don’t know how long I’d be here if I did it alone.”“Anything for my big bro. Just, do you know where the leather gloves are?” Arthur asked.“Under the sink ...

2 comments 2
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“Not A Match” by Tessa Terrill

Submitted to Contest #259

I'd been alone for so long that I felt like the characters on the TV shows I watched were my friends. But it's dangerous to start blending fantasy and reality, and I didn't want to become one of those people who spent all their time watching TV, so I downloaded a dating app. Then another one. Then another one. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Match. Soon, I was buried in profile pictures, one-liners, and so many first dates that the baristas at my local coffee shop tried to pretend they didn't already know my name when they wrote it on the cup. They did...

2 comments 2
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“The Flying Corpses ” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #259

Captain Hardy Messerschmidt and Rush Davenport are the last two pilots to enter the briefing room. The dull grey walls are lined with photographs of smiling dead pilots, and Hardy can’t help but notice there are more men on the walls than in the room. “The whole squad is here,” Hardy notes. “This can’t be good news.” Rush pats him on his broad back. “Don’t be so grim. Whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll pledge your blind loyalty. Maybe the brass has decided to throw a party for us.” Hardy gives Rush a disparaging look. Unlike his happy-go-lucky ...

2 comments 2
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“Ida Rose” by Kim Davis

Submitted to Contest #259

Kentucky winters are fickle.  A snowstorm can be followed by a sixty-degree day filled with sunshine.  On January 24, 1979 a snowstorm was heading toward the Ohio Valley.  It was a Wednesday and chatter filled the school bus as Ida Rose and her friends anticipated the foot of snow that was predicted.  Homework took a back seat as they planned their winter escapades fully planning that school would be cancelled the rest of the week. The snowflakes began falling as the bus exited the interstate and merge...

1 comment 1
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“The Graduation” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #259

Ethel sighed. The check-in line was moving at a glacial pace and she was getting more and more nervous. She had only agreed to fly because her niece Meghan had implored her to come to her graduation.“Auntie Ethel, please. You know it will be the first time Mom and Dad are in the same room since the divorce and the bimbo is coming too. Dad insisted on bringing her. I need an adult in the room.”Ethel hated to see her poor niece caught in the middle of all the drama. A shrill ringing interrupted her reverie. She glared around, muttering under h...

3 comments 3
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$250

Prize money

295

Contest entries

143

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 19, 2024 EST

Won by Christine Foy Jackson 🏆

Title: Getting Better

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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