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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#268: Reap What You Sow

It’s that time of year again — days are getting shorter, leaves are beginning to change their colors, and birds are starting to head south. While farmers across the world look to reap the rewards of their hard work, destiny too has its own harvest in mind…


The winds of fate are blowing over our short story contest this week, with prompts centered on getting what you deserve. What goes around comes around, as many like to say — so, whether your story is about someone reckoning with the skeletons in their closet or finally getting their just desserts, embrace the season of change and spin a tale where actions have consequences.

This week's prompts

Your character gets everything they ever wanted — only to realize the true cost.

Short Story – 73 stories

Write a story about someone seeking forgiveness for their past actions.

Short Story – 93 stories

A character’s life of deceit unravels as their past catches up with their present. What are the consequences?

Short Story – 40 stories

Start a story with someone receiving a message from their past self, warning them of the consequences of their actions.

Short Story – 33 stories

Center your story around a character’s attempt to escape a bad situation that inadvertently leads them back to the source of their problems.

Short Story – 47 stories

Stories

“The Life Of A Sexual Assault Victim ” by Ruth Vaneiken

Submitted to Contest #268

Not long ago, I was sexually assaulted by someone I thought was a friend. Everyday I would blame myself as that's how they made me feel. I would try everyday when I passed the person to forget about it. The constant questions in my head, "did I say the wrong thing? Was my shirt too low cut? Were my pants too tight fitting? Did I give off the wrong impression?" I would always wonder if it was my fault in any way. I remember my instructor, when I told him the look on his face. I remember the exact words he said to me that made me want to break...

6 comments 6
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“Autumn under the Maples” by James Spurlock

Submitted to Contest #268

English 1010 might have been a very boring course for a physics major if not for an exceptional instructor named Raymond Walker. He was determined to make it interesting for all of his students. The Composition I class that he taught was generally about writing a variety of essays. He wanted to take it further than that. He hoped it would be a challenge. “This is an opportunity for extra credit,” he told them during the first week. “I’ll add points to your final grade if you do it. Just write a short story. The only requirement is that it is...

6 comments 6
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“Abasement” by Thomas Wetzel

Submitted to Contest #268

Patient: James Thomas Jordan, 22 years oldDate: September 23, 2013Status: 1st stay at New Life Recovery (voluntary)Comments shared at first group thereapy session: “Hello, my name is James Thomas Jordan and apparently I am a drug addict, although I don’t really feel like I am. And I know I look like some over-privileged country club kid, and that’s basically because I am, and I also have three first names so if anyone wants to trade a last name for one of mine just let me know. I can throw in a pack of smokes if you have a good one.“Anyway, ...

11 comments 11
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“Did You Hear About Bianca Wheeler?” by LC Reid

Submitted to Contest #268

Content warning: mentions of suicide and inappropriate relationships between a teacher and a student * What’s the worst rumour you’ve ever started about someone? I’ll go first: in grade twelve, I told Ellie Jensen that Bianca Wheeler was sleeping with our AP English teacher in exchange for better grades. Ellie, being Ellie, made sure that the story spread like wildfire before the last period bell had rung, and by the time classes resumed the next morning, Bianca and Mr. Keller were the talk of the school. Maybe it’s wrong, but I didn’t e...

13 comments 13
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“The Khar D’ashia” by William Richards

Submitted to Contest #268

I sat with my mother-in-law in silence. My wife's idea and I would do anything to make her happy: to have brunch with her mother and her mother’s friends in the rest home dining hall, waited upon by nurses. If I told you it was the happiest moment in my life, I would be lying. We sat at a drab table-clothed table, four of us having the privilege of spending time together. There was a faint damp smell in the air like the carpets had been specially cleaned for the occasion. One diner at our table was an old man, maybe from India, who didn't s...

8 comments 8
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“When the moon shines brightest” by Renate Buchner

Submitted to Contest #268

There is a disturbing mumbling, the words unintelligible; he presses his hands against his ears; his upper body moves up and down. A woman's scream echoes through the night sky covered with bright stars.He took his hands away from his ears and slowly sat up. People from the village rushed up to him, some storming into the barely furnished house. Shortly after, he heard a high-pitched scream—but not from the woman before. The screaming turned into crying and lamenting.The man turned around, his eyes empty, his face pale; as if in a trance, he...

6 comments 6
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“The Longest Run” by Jennifer Luckett

Submitted to Contest #268

(This story deals with family violence and mental health issues.)Erin hated everything about Summer, especially the bugs, the storms, and the furnace of humidity when she stepped outside her front door. That morning, she reached inside the mailbox and grabbed a bundle of envelopes. She spotted the fallen postcard near the potted ivy when she dashed out the door for her run. She received one from Aunt Linda when she visited Paris, a trip Erin missed due to her diagnosis three years before.Erin flipped the card and read the message twice. Her...

2 comments 2
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“Devil Always Collects” by Dan Coglianese

Submitted to Contest #268

Jareth’s heart swelled as his newborn son, Caius, wrapped his tiny little fingers around his pinkie. He gently caressed the soft hairs on his son’s head as Alessia held him in her arms.            The nurse came in and asked, “How are we doing?”           Alessia beamed as she looked up and said, “He’s perfect.”           Grabbing his arm, the nurse asked Jareth, “And how about y...

4 comments 4
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“Mirror She-Me” by Kate Simkins

Submitted to Contest #268

I first saw her in the mirror.Me, but not-me.Same, but not-same.Beginning, flashes, something caught in the corner of my eye. Turning and then just seeing. Myself. Normal. Shrugging. The woman in the mirror responding as she should.But then, stopping. Her own movements. No denying her presence.There were differences; hair length and colour, not-same.And similarities; eyes, same. Expression when scared witless, same.She can’t talk to me. She is frustrated. She can’t hear me. More frustration.I write a note, scribbled on the back of a supermar...

5 comments 5
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“All that Glitters” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #268

At the church that day, I had the strangest sense of déjà vu, like I had surely been there before although I don’t remember exactly when. I almost felt like I was in a dream, or as if I had been teleported there, time traveling or something. Everything felt surreal. I could hear the organ playing the bridal chorus. Here comes the Bride, all dressed in white. And the bride was me. I was there to get married. I could picture everyone sitting in the pews, bride's side on the left, groom’s side on the right. Everyone was expectantly waiting...

4 comments 4
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“The Price of Everything” by Stevie Burges

Submitted to Contest #268

Dolly was one of life’s moaners, although coming from a well-to-do family that was semi-famous. Despite living in a large, comfortable home and being sent to good schools and colleges, she had grown into a lazy bully of a girl. She felt she deserved very high regard from all and to be admired for whatever she turned her hands to. Without a doubt, all men should be mesmerised by her face, which had regularly been under the surgeon's knife, as well as her liposuctioned waist and thighs that were expected to be lusted after by al...

3 comments 3
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“The Confession of the First” by Katy Lindsey

Submitted to Contest #268

"You look like him," the woman with the quiet voice spoke through the mesh of the confessional window. “All men do."Father Giardino was twenty-five. He was new to this life spent in service to the Lord. This was his first time hearing a confession as an ordained priest, and she was his first penitent. The curse of inexperience weighed heavily on him, and, well...he wished the woman would speak up.“Whom did you say I resemble? You're speaking a bit too softly. I didn’t hear you.”She was silent for such a long moment that the priest thought sh...

6 comments 6
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“Confession” by Kellasandra Ferrara

Submitted to Contest #268

I should have looked around one more time. You never think of these things of course until it’s too late. I parked the car in the garage as usual, stepped out of the car with bag in hand, putting it down next to the door, a seamless gesture that is done automatically, daily, so many times before. I turn around and walk up the driveway towards the mailbox, waving at a neighbor in a passing car. Should I have looked up at the sky to see the approaching sunset? Should I have noticed the people walking their dogs or the kids playing all around. ...

4 comments 4
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“Double Betrayal” by Kristy Schnabel

Submitted to Contest #268

Tap. Tap. Tap. Maggie heard the rapping on the front door of her apartment. She glanced at her nightstand clock and saw 7:25 a.m. What day is it? Saturday. Not wanting the knocking to disturb the neighbors, she arose quickly, grabbed her robe for warmth and coverage, and darted for the door. Maggie stood on her tip-toes to look through the peephole. Uh oh. Billy. She cracked open the door. Billy had disheveled hair and beard stubble as if he just rolled out of bed. “I came to apologize, babe.”  Maggie hadn’t opened the door wide enough ...

3 comments 3
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“The Price Tag” by Cecilia Gray

Submitted to Contest #268

Lyra Lyra twirled her ballpoint pen. The lecturer drilled on about lipids and amino acids, but her mind was already elsewhere. Wasn’t it strange, she thought, that despite Friday being the day she expected the most, it was the time restlessness had always managed to creep up on her. None of her classmates were as unfocused as she was, but then they probably needed the lecture more than she did. Lyra was three chapters ahead of her classmates, and her worries, at the moment, were minimal. The bell rang, and Lyra sighed with relief. She was t...

8 comments 8
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$250

Prize money

286

Contest entries

128

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 20, 2024 EST

Won by D Gorman 🏆

Title: An Apology to Mankind, Two Days After First Contact

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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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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