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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

“Trinity, 1945” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #288

“Words can destroy, warp time and space in ways far greater than they were intended.” She wheezed, sucking in air with shallow breaths as she stared out the window. Arms, thin and frail, pulled the blanket up tight against her chest.“Let me help you.” Father Douglas said, adjusting the blanket to cover the woman. The storm outside rumbled, threatening to break through the glass into the small room.  “Those words, back at Carmadean’s Dance Camp, deep in the desert near Ruidoso, New Mexico in the summer of ‘45, they changed the ...

19 comments 19
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“Something In A Storm” by Brutus Clement

Submitted to Contest #288

Something in a Storm      It’s going to happen. I just know it. The air is electric, super charged, and sparking all around me. The breeze brushes up against my skin causing my arm hair to rise up. How strange. I’m looking in to the distance over the trees at the end of the meadow and there is a wall of blackness moving in while covering the grey misty sky.     If it’s cold, I can’t feel it. My senses are focused on the advancing cloud. Is that what it is? Not like any cloud I’ve ever seen b...

6 comments 6
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“The art in the storm” by Krissa Svavars

Submitted to Contest #288

Ann stood by the window and stared out over the lake. There was a storm brewing. One for the record books if the radio hadn’t been exaggerating. The greyness outside matched her mood but this was not what she needed right now. With a heavy sigh she turned away from those depressingly dark clouds and picked up her paints. The only thing she could do now was to pray that the electricity would hold up against the storm so she could finish her painting. She had to finish it. Not because of any pressing deadline but for her own sanity. That dam...

8 comments 8
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“Checkmate” by Martha Kowalski

Submitted to Contest #288

“Here are the rules,” Onyx folds her hands calmly behind her row of black chess pieces lined up on the board separating us.Against the lightning shattering through the cracked window behind her, illuminating her jet black hair and pale features while veiling her in the shadow from the blackout, punctured only by the flickering candlelight on our game table –  she looks absolutely sinister, demonic, wicked. I’m not sure if her appearance unnerves me more or the fact that she looks exactly like me. It’s like staring into a mirror. A ...

22 comments 22
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“Thomas Takes a Photo” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #288

He sets up the camera on top of a trash can. The lighting is questionable, but he can’t worry about that right now. He knows he can fix certain things with adjustment apps, but bad lighting is more difficult to repair than one might think. These are things he would probably know more about if he was a real photographer, but he’s not. He’s just a guy with a phone and a nice suit that he wants to document. There’s nobody around, because it’s so cold, but the cold is also creating a small window of time to snap the photo. He’s willing to suffer...

11 comments 11
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“The Sounds of Then” by Orwell King

Submitted to Contest #288

A crack of lightning flashes, paused in time as it illuminates the endless horizon until it's finally swallowed by the ocean below. Kylie sits silently on the patio, tears stream from her eyes as she breathes in the humidity in huffed, muffled breaths. She stares out to sea, her face emotionless except for the streaks of mascara tracing her cheeks. She watches the lightning crack in the distance, unaffected by the booming thunder that follows.She sits alone in silence. The voices of people she never knew rumble in her mind. Yet the...

6 comments 6
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“Recovery” by Susan O'REILLY

Submitted to Contest #288

Content warning: references to sexual themes'Blood spurted across the white laboratory floor as the crocodile ripped Geoff's calf muscle from his leg.'Wow, what a book there is only so much gore I can take in one sitting. I can read it again when I am brain dead, clinically bored in work. It is not a book I can curl up on the sofa with.I will get up, do a little bit of housework, not loads, obviously, I am sick after all, and then pick another book, a bit of chick lit should do the trick. I have yellow jaundice so on enforced leave from wor...

12 comments 12
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“The Pampero Wind of Buenos Aires 💨” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #288

The Pampero Wind of Buenos AiresProfessor Hu stood at his office window, watching dark clouds gather over Buenos Aires. Pampero winds sweep in at the end of every summer, bringing rain and relief from the scorching temperatures of summer. At 38, Hu was a renowned biologist at Buenos Aires University—wealthy, handsome, and respected—yet each morning he awoke feeling alone and empty.Despite his accolades and a successful career, he felt a profound discontent. So he did what everyone seeking human connection did, he turned to DeepSage.➡️ DeepSa...

16 comments 16
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“Soaked” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #288

Wearing his best suit, Bentley stood under Francine’s second story balcony. He hoped she would accept his apology. It began to rain. Though he had no umbrella, he didn’t care. Starting as a heavy mist, the drizzle soon became a steady shower. ‘Maybe it’ll help,’ he thought.If he’d blown it with Francine, nothing else mattered to him. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. ‘Stomped on her heart… for pride…? Ego…? Nothing so elevated…’ He didn’t know what to call it. He missed her.Bentley thought back to their argument a week ago. Francine ...

6 comments 6
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“The Self Fish” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #288

I wander the seas in search of interesting stories to add to my Collection of Tales with Scales. My name's Paul and I’m a Pencilfish. Us Pencilfish learn to write before we know how to swim. When I recently learned of a request for a story that takes place in a place where weather never changes, I figured all my stories fit that description. Weather, as you landlubbers know it, never changes down here.Every season’s just the same, from one day to the next.It never snows, it never rains, yet everything’s all wet.No autumn leaves for wind...

7 comments 7
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“Eerie Apartment: The Video Game (based on the Award-Winning Movie)” by Emma Parker

Submitted to Contest #288

TW- Contains mentions of miscarriage, disownment, and dark themes.You’re reclining on the couch, a blanket sitting on you, rubbing softly against your bare legs. The blue light of the TV is the only light in the room; it was the only bill you had thought of to pay. It’s hot, but you left a window open, so at least a little wind blows as rain paints your floor. A bag of chips lay at your side, crunching every time you move. Your hair is a mess, and your pajamas are a little too big, but it was the cheapest ones you could find.It’s been a week...

6 comments 6
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“Shades of Grey” by Rameen Waqar

Submitted to Contest #288

The world was grey. That was how she had always defined it — on a scale of white to black, how grey the world felt to her every time she remembered feeling. And for the past few years, it had usually been grey, reducing in brightness, silently inching towards black when no one noticed, sometimes even her. It was always people. The more people she met, the greyer she felt, as if they were drops of dark paint mixed together, their blackness only increasing in intensity as they joined each other. It was people that made the world cruel.On the r...

9 comments 9
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“Passage” by Angela Lawrence

Submitted to Contest #288

The blizzard was blinding.  Snow gusted in all directions, powdery in the air and icy underfoot. The kind of snow that caked deep in the treads of your shoes, and the kind of cold that left frost clinging to the tips of your eyelashes. At least, I think there would have been - between the snow and the starless night they were beyond my range vision.  The carefully worn path to the woodpile was usually easy to find, even in the dead of night. Tonight, that path was covered. Even my own footprints seemed to have been covered in the t...

13 comments 13
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“Where the Rain Falls” by J Christian Connett

Submitted to Contest #288

Where the Rain Falls The rain had not started yet.   Damian stood beneath the overhang outside the café, hands deep in his coat pockets, watching through the window as Lila played. Her violin sang in quiet conversation with the piano—another musician, someone unfamiliar, fingers dancing over the keys as if they had always belonged there.   The warmth inside contrasted sharply with the chill clinging to his skin. Inside, everything was golden, the café alive with murmurs, laughter, and the soft clatter of ceramic cups agai...

2 comments 2
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“In The Wake Of Love” by Scott Taylor

Submitted to Contest #288

In the silent depths of that fog-shrouded night, when the moon's pale light barely pierced the veil, I asked my beloved Lily the question that would change our lives forever. A month at sea, in a small boat tossed about by the merciless waves, would test the very limits of our endurance and love."Lily," I said, breaking the heavy silence, "are you sure you want to go on this journey with me?" The stars twinkled as if sharing in her anticipation.She turned to me, her eyes steady and unwavering as the stars above. "Jack," she replied, her voic...

11 comments 11
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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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