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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#288: A Perfect Storm

Whenever I look out my window these days, it always seems like the weather won’t get any better. Blustery winds, heavy rain, thick fog, the occasional snowfall… When the temperature has dropped this low, the last thing I want to do is step into the freezing outdoors. But during the moments when I can stay home and wrap myself up in a warm, thick blanket, there’s nothing better than reading a book or working on a story as the sound of rain keeps me company… 


This week’s prompts are inspired by chilly weather. Whether it’s the haunting stillness of a snowy evening, the whisper of wind through ancient willows, or the gentle pitter-patter of perpetual rainfall, let the cold seep into your writing, and see where it takes you.

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with a breeze brushing against someone’s skin.

Short Story – 70 stories

Set your story during — or just before — a storm.

Dramatic – 144 stories

Write a story where the weather mirrors a character’s emotions.

Dramatic – 61 stories

Start or end your story with someone standing in the rain.

Dramatic – 93 stories

Set your story in a place where the weather never changes.

Short Story – 48 stories

Stories

“To Be Great” by Jylo Mylo

Submitted to Contest #288

Years and years ago, in a lesser city somewhere beneath the eternal rain and amidst the blue plant life of Rainland, is a young man, only five years old at the time, and with Rai blood flowing through his veins. His name is Windel Rai, and his dream is to become the next General Rai. An ambitious goal for a child his age. Women thought him cute, the way he’d follow his father around, training with him as if doing so would make him a general by the time that he was a teenager. No one took him seriously, no one had to, he was just a toddler af...

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“The Hero Of One Hope” by Helen Murat

Submitted to Contest #288

Grunting and pulling, Ajani invested all his strength attempting to turn the wheel. Many had tried, but it never budged. The Suok desert had not seen rain for so long, no one remembered a time when such a thing existed. In fact, there had been no storms in all that time, no rain, wind, or even sandstorms. Throughout the years, life had slowly been dying off. There were no more cacti growing out of the ground, no lizards roaming the scorching sand, not even birds had been seen flying up near the clouds—there were no clouds. Now the final dro...

8 comments 8
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“Bones” by Anne Athena Dura

Submitted to Contest #288

The sky is an ocean of black, looming, nimbus clouds. I’m returning home from working in the fields. A rumbling thunder shakes the earth beneath me. It isn’t an earthquake. This region experiences constant tremors due to unstable ground. I’m worried heavy rain could saturate the ground and cause a collapse. Then, the whole state will cease to exist. This desolate region of the kingdom will face oblivion.For centuries, the skies have rumbled, and still they do. Not a single drop of rain falls. Fifteen years of my life have been marked by a st...

1 comment 1
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“Is that a TRAIN” by Deb Dobbins

Submitted to Contest #288

With extreme speed the wind brushed against my face, blew my hair into my eyes, and tangled it around my head and neck. I clawed at the long red strands as I watched clouds begin to swirl, moving into a large circular motion.  Twelve O'clock, noon and the skies were as dark as night. The few clouds that showed up against the dark sky, were as huge grayish white pillows running across the sky. The wind became swifter and colder in a matter of seconds. I ran towards the house for shelter as fast as my legs could carry me. Then the rain ca...

2 comments 2
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“Where the Waves Take You” by Benjamin Jay

Submitted to Contest #288

The wind was always a bad sign. The air around him was never truly still. It either moved with aggression, purpose, or it slinked around corners reminding him it was still there, still lurking, cunning, powerful.  On this particular night, it started with an argument and the opening of a door. Papers fell off the small table next to the entrance as he whipped the door shut behind him. It came as a whisper at the back of his neck, barely enough to notice, as he walked outside rolling a cigarette between his fingers.  It followed wit...

1 comment 1
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“Old Fruit Stains” by Mai Bo

Submitted to Contest #288

Alma, with everything she ever owned shuffling and bouncing in the back of her truck, chewed on the already sore part of her lip. Going 90 on the back road straight towards Texas where her ma and pa were waiting for her, probably sitting on the porch overlooking their family plot. Her daddy always had the idea they would fix their ranch up real nice but due to the limp in his left leg, he couldn’t tend to the land. Alma couldn’t have cared less about the land full of grass tall enough to tickle your elbows, or the old farm equipment so ruste...

5 comments 5
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“Fallacious Tranquillity” by Annie Chibesakunda

Submitted to Contest #288

The Countryside  The countryside belies the notion that in its embrace, tranquillity reveals her purest essence. She is often envisioned as flawless, serene, and undeniably righteous, drawing both the inspired writer and the retired elder into her gentle fold. Silent in her ways, she possesses a nurturing spirit, knowing precisely how to mend a wounded lamb back to health. With tender care, she feeds it, and in return, the price of her attention is revealed. The Writer  In pursuit of motivation amidst silence, a writer fi...

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“Stormy Thoughts” by Christine LW

Submitted to Contest #288

                                       Stormy Thoughts    Mother sat watching the rain on the window pane, has it come down in torrents. The sky cast a grey shadow.  The British weather could be so unpredictable? All the finery of the May Day parade had been ruined, all those eager young faces in dressed in bright costumes al...

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“Through the Storm” by Karen Croft

Submitted to Contest #288

Kali was terrified. For all the same reasons as usual, but also for some additional ones that she wasn't sure how to express or reveal. She paced the living room she shared with Ryan anxiously. Just like she did every time they were not out on a mission together. She tried not to, but couldn't help thinking the worst. Would this be the time he didn't come back? Would something happen and she'd never even know? They were fighters. Unable to sit back and do nothing when they could possibly make a difference in the war. Though it didn't much fe...

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“Beyond the Rising Waters” by Carryn W. Kerr

Submitted to Contest #288

The farmhouse creaked and groaned, battered by the torrential rain. My heart pounded certain the kitchen walls were about to come down—the only room with four walls—not that the homes in the tropical town of Pemba needed many walls. Drool dripped from the mouths of five gargantuan dogs, while I waited for their chicken to cook. The night steadily closed in around us and, along with the plummeting rain, it swallowed the land. Time was ticking, and only one road exited this out-of-the-way farm—one road that skirted the lake. With the...

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“Sister Breda of the Carmelites” by Ian Craine

Submitted to Contest #288

     SISTER BREDA OF THE CARMELITES That afternoon I drove south. At lunchtime I had touched base with that windy desolate coast, and I saw the great white ball that is Sizewell B. It was a dismal day. The air was full of threat and portent. By three the sky was a bruise of blue and green and purple, and the darkness was closing in on it. Leaving the shore I saw a last church white against the sky and there was a corposant adhering to its steeple. This alone may I save, said some Lord. The wind got up. A strand of po...

2 comments 2
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“They Came with the Storm” by JLynn Rose

Submitted to Contest #288

The wind had been whispering warnings all day. At first, it was just a restless breeze, rustling the brittle leaves that clung stubbornly to their branches. By afternoon, the sky had darkened into a moody shade of gray, and the air smelled thick—like damp earth and something electric, something waiting.Inside the small house on the edge of the marsh, Eliza moved through the rooms, securing windows and lighting candles. The power always flickered during storms out here, and she wasn’t about to be caught unprepared. The old place groaned again...

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“The Great Space Coffee Caper” by Daniel P. Douglas

Submitted to Contest #288

The Federation designed the FDV Perfect Blend Mediator-class diplomatic vessel for complex negotiations and first contact scenarios. This ship, commanded by Captain Penumbra Luna, and others like it, had a reputation throughout the galaxy for their extensive conference facilities, cultural exchange centers, and ability to host and serve multiple diplomatic delegations with only the best roasted coffees. Their motto: “Where Differences Dissolve Like Sugar in a Well-Stirred Cup.” An annoying klaxon on the Perfect Blend’s bridge announced a thr...

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“Cobb's Landing” by Ross Williams

Submitted to Contest #288

The hair on the back of Gareth’s neck stood up moments before a crackling arc of green light struck the nearby streetlight. He swerved the car to the right, his instinct for preservation taking control. Jerking the steering wheel back to the left, he heard the groan of the wheels as they spun clods of dirt over the nearby fence bordering a field of corn days away from harvest. Teresa screamed from the back of the car, flinging herself over Matthew, secure in his car seat. The car bumped awkwardly back onto the tarmac before finally stea...

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“Diwali, 2022” by Akhilesh Mehra

Submitted to Contest #288

When you’re young and world is still full of wonder and things to explore and places to be, and the prospect of a job has no relation to the drudgery of a nine to five…you expect your life will turn out remarkably well. Life, untouched by life. Preserved in resin. A marvel. One day, you’re playing with a teddy bear and having a tea party with all your dolls, and the next thing you know, you’re thirty-two. Divorced. Cities away from your parents’ home, looking at a skyline with no hope on the horizon, thirty thousand feet in the air. Wonderi...

2 comments 2
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$250

Prize money

416

Contest entries

164

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 07, 2025 EST

Won by Christina Marie 🏆

Title: Motherhood

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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