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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#31: The Ordinary

The very last line of the NBC sitcom The Office is spoken by former receptionist Pam Beasley. She says: "There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?"

This week's writing prompts embrace that sentiment, and challenge you to write stories that take ordinary, everyday tasks and turn them into meaningful pieces of short fiction.

🥇 Winner

“The Memory Garden” by Ariel Kalati

Submitted on 03/04/2020

In sixteen years, she will leave the garden. She will tell the buyers of the house how to tend each patch and plant, carefully, and they’ll do it for a while and then the garden will fall apart, because they have other concerns. The soil remembers, though. The soil always remembers. In eleven years, her firstborn child will pick unripe blueberries in mid-spring, try to taste them and recoil from the sour. She will ...

70 comments 70 WINNER 🏆

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Practice of Half Memories” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted on 03/01/2020

She puts a pot on the stove and watches as the flames burn their orange and blue flames through it. She has a half-empty cup of tea beside the kitchen table. Tea, already cold and tasteless as it struggles being caged in the unwashed cup. She puts it in her lips again and lets the brown liquid slip into her sore throat. The flames keep flaring up as the empty pot sits calmly on it. She stares at the smoke already rising up from the pot. In her mind, she tells herself she isn't ready to do this yet and then she pours water into...

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“The Laundry Room ” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted on 03/02/2020

Your mother is in there - in the laundry room - washing your clothes right now. She’s sorting out the darks from the lights, and she’s making neat piles on the floor of your dirty clothes. Let’s face it - they’re more than dirty,

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“ A PARTNERSHIP WITHIN THE GARDEN” by Shirley Medhurst

Submitted on 03/05/2020

A modest little house stands alone, surrounded by a disorderly sea of green. Not that its garden is completely unkempt, but it is hardly a neatly regimented English garden, nor is it a beautifully manicured Mediterranean oasis. It is chaotic, colourful and cheerful. Behind the house, small square paving stones lead upwards past a pergola which leans over t...

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“Adelaide” by Jess Errington

Submitted on 03/07/2020

The blouse in my hands is a fresh white. It’s simple, plain but for the flowers embroidered on the cuffs. It was strange to find it again, this shadow of my youth; it doesn’t fit me any more, which is hardly a surprise, but I can’t quite bring myself to throw it away. I remember buying it, in town with Adelaide. She said it was one of the most beautiful shirts she’d ever seen as I stood, side-on, before the changing room mirror.&...

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“The Errand” by Kay Santa cruz

Submitted on 03/07/2020

It takes all of her strength and might to push the obstinate door open wide enough to slip out of the faded, dingy apartment building. The heavy glass immediately thunks closed behind her, sealing the building’s interior and occupants away from the outside world. This had once been a grand entrance with a canopy and a doorman. Now the canopy is only rusting iron ribs and the doorman has been gone for decades. The glass window next to the door appears to be decoratively etched. Upon closer inspection though, it is a spiderweb of cracks rad...

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“Super Market” by Amy Dematt

Submitted on 02/29/2020

Chicken. That was the reason I’d had to stop. It seemed that there was always an item or two missing from the inventory we’d gathered from the good old Handi-Mart that weekend, and now, Thursday night after work, I thought I’d better pick up the chicken. To that list, I’d added shampoo, milk, cornmeal and two packages of gummy bears, a special request from the kids. The list always grew when we had one item to pick up. Joe’s...

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“Gift” by Kelsey Marlett

Submitted on 03/01/2020

I saw an exorcism on T.V. once. I think I was seven or eight, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, and I was bathed in the shivery blue light of the television screen. The girl on the screen writhed and screamed. Her hands clawed at nothing, her spine arched and unlatched, and her eyes were black and draining, unspooling, emptying out as she screamed. I suppose this was like an exorcism.

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This week's prompts:

Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

General – 102 stories

Write a short story about someone tending to their garden.

General – 83 stories

Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.

General – 61 stories

Write a short story about someone going to the corner store to buy an everyday item.

General – 73 stories

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

General – 89 stories

Stories

“The Memory Garden” by Ariel Kalati

Submitted on 03/04/2020

In sixteen years, she will leave the garden. She will tell the buyers of the house how to tend each patch and plant, carefully, and they’ll do it for a while and then the garden will fall apart, because they have other concerns. The soil remembers, though. The soil always remembers. In eleven years, her firstborn child will pick unripe blueberries in mid-spring, try to taste them and recoil from the sour. She will ...

70 comments 70 WINNER 🏆

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“Susannah's” by 𝕂𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖

Submitted on 03/03/2020

Susannah. She was quite old, indeed, a delicate woman that blows on her warm coffee, not once, not twice, and not three times. It was four, big blows, and still sometimes is too hot on her tongue. She blew this time, exactly five deep ones. She took a sip — then started to fan her mouth immediately. She burned her tongue, her tongue that was more fragile than a lizard’s. She steadied herself. I mustn’t be in shame in front of my children, she thought.Susannah walked gracefully toward her cottage with three children....

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“The Wood's Voice” by 𝕂𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖

Submitted on 03/02/2020

“Out of milk again?” Madeline sighed as she opened the refrigerator door. Tanya smirked. “It’s right behind you.”Madeline turned around, embarrassed. But the milk wasn’t behind her. “Just kidding,” Tanya said, laughing. “If you want milk, get it from the corner store. The… what’s it called? The Corner Shop?”Madeline dropped her jaw. “The Corner Shop? That place was alive for over for like a thousand years! The whole place is like nothing but trash and wood! The milk there is always expired! I’m very surprised t...

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“Voice” by 𝕂𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖

Submitted on 02/29/2020

Lightning. The lightning. That’s the only thing that mattered. The loud, clashing storms headed toward her. The lightning was about to strike her; screaming for help didn’t matter now. No one would care. No one would rescue her. She would die, alone.“…Wake upppp!!” my younger step-sister Rose whined. “Wake upppp!” She continued shaking the bed like it was her package she needed to open.“Geezy geez, get off first!” I said, irritated but relieved. “I’ll get changed! Jesus!”Rose beamed. “Mommy! I did what you ...

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“A Night Without Dinner” by 𝕂𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖

Submitted on 03/01/2020

“Nathan, Lana, dinnertime,” their mother called. The sweet smell of cooked salmon, rice, and dumplings filled the summer air.“Five more minutes!” Nathan exclaimed. The little six year old held tight to his remote control, his heart pumping from the intensity. “I’m almost done with this one!”Their mother, Eun-Jung (also familiar with the name Grace), sighed wearily. “Nathan, you need to eat. You need enough strength to prepare for his division test!”Lana groaned. “Eomeoni (

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“The Practice of Half Memories” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted on 03/01/2020

She puts a pot on the stove and watches as the flames burn their orange and blue flames through it. She has a half-empty cup of tea beside the kitchen table. Tea, already cold and tasteless as it struggles being caged in the unwashed cup. She puts it in her lips again and lets the brown liquid slip into her sore throat. The flames keep flaring up as the empty pot sits calmly on it. She stares at the smoke already rising up from the pot. In her mind, she tells herself she isn't ready to do this yet and then she pours water into...

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“Choose your adventure” by Miles Gatling

Submitted on 03/01/2020

"Hey buddy, got a light?":( "Shut up and let's do business!":) "Sorry, I don't smoke."

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“I, Chocolate” by Naveena Srinivas

Submitted on 02/29/2020

I was neatly packaged and sent to this hideous supermarket in a very non-public atmosphere. I sat in the second row of the first column in the chocolate aisle. I was happy that I wasn’t placed in the back, along with the unfortunate few others, which was probably covered in cobwebs. Perhaps the deadly ants might even find a chance to creep through the neat packet we were covered in. The h...

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“Ljúfur and the Singer” by Zilla Babbitt

Submitted on 02/29/2020

Ljúfur was a fierce Icelandic woman with big bones who took no giggling from anyone. She lived in New York in a large flimsy apartment building with a half-thousand other degenerate human beings. She hated all of them and would tell the plant on the windowsill that they were all stupid and the people in Iceland were a hundred times better.Ljúfur talked to plants. She had no family, no friends, no one ...

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“Use Cold Water” by Phoebe Barr

Submitted on 03/05/2020

When my sister left, I thought my first text to her would be something sweet. Something like I miss you or the neighbors ask how you’re doing. Or at least something coherent like

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“The Laundry Room ” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted on 03/02/2020

Your mother is in there - in the laundry room - washing your clothes right now. She’s sorting out the darks from the lights, and she’s making neat piles on the floor of your dirty clothes. Let’s face it - they’re more than dirty,

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“It’s All Worth It In The End” by Roshna Rusiniya

Submitted on 03/06/2020

After glancing longingly at the beach wallpaper on the screen one more time, I shut down my laptop. As I leaned back in the chair, sipping the lukewarm coffee-my eyes grew heavy with exhaustion. I stared at the half-organized clutter on my desk, reminding me of my action-packed day. What a day it was!It started off normally, just like any other Monday morning- answering phone ...

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“Taking Orders” by Riley Cross

Submitted on 02/29/2020

My first cup of the day is ready. It’s a decaf skinny vanilla latte drowning in milk with a dusting of cinnamon. I glance at the door while trying to create a mocha-colored heart against the backdrop of milky foam.She smiles at my artistic attempts. Every morning at 5:45, she strolls into the lobby and stops at the Coffee Express counter, waiting with a sense of urgency that rivals my most caffeine-crazed customers. Even on the days when she is in a rush for her elevator ride, she never skips her latte ritual...

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“The Butler” by Anthony Neal

Submitted on 03/05/2020

Cast your eye over the Ragged Sea, where the blinding light of the sun could peel the colour from your eyes and cook your brains from the inside out (but give you a wonderous tan if you know what you’re doing!). Don’t look at that desolate land, Ilios. Don’t give that place more than a second glance, the once powerful seat of the powerful magisters, who ruled righteously and piously, coldly content in placing the blood of the few above the safety of the many. No – don’t look at I...

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“Roast Beef and Antifreeze ” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted on 03/02/2020

I don’t even like roast - I feel the need to stress that. I hate it, actually. I hate the way it smells. I hate the way the meat tastes after cooking in its own juices for hours. I hate the vegetables - the carrots get soggy and the potatoes turn into mush. I hate that it takes all day to cook a good roast. I hate the way people turn...

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$50

Prize money

501

Submissions

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 06, 2020 EST

Won by Ariel Kalati 🏆

Title: The Memory Garden

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Please keep your submission between 1,000 - 3,000 words.

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