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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#35: Spring in Your Step

In the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of spring began on March 19th. The changing of seasons often brings about a renewed sense of motivation (hence "spring cleaning") and creativity. Indeed, many poems have been written about spring — such as Emily Dickinson's "A Light Exists in Spring" — and authors have long been inspired by the season:

"That is one good thing about this world... There are always sure to be more springs." — L.M. Montgomery

This week, we're also inspired by spring, and so are our prompts.

This week's prompts

Before bed, you put your clock ahead one hour for daylight saving time. When you wake up, you realize you've gone forward a lot more than one hour.

Fantasy – 81 stories

Write a story that takes place at a spring dance.

Spring – 89 stories

You made a promise to yourself you'd finally do it on the first day of spring. Today was the day.

Spring – 145 stories

Write a story about someone who finds something interesting peeking out from a melting snowbank.

Winter – 88 stories

Write a story about someone walking through a park on a spring evening, told only through internal monologue.

Character – 141 stories

Stories

“What You Missed” by Daisy Naisbitt

Submitted to Contest #35

Gone are the days of 7am rises. I have long forgotten the jarring sirens reminding me that in order to make my parents proud I have to get up and begin the treacherous commute to my 9-5. These days, my alarm clock is the morning (...or afternoon) sun flirting with my eyelids and the harmonious cry of the dog next door begging to be let inside. I turn over onto my back. I sigh when I look at my phone screen. 6 missed calls from her. I open the voicemail, cringing as she speaks, the drunken tone of her voice mirroring the audible clu...

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“Forward” by Lilly Blossom

Submitted to Contest #35

“Whoosh!” A brush of fresh air awoke Starla to her senses. She jumped up in a panic as she watched some kind of aircraft zoom past her. Her heart rate increased when she looked around. Where am I?! Hovercrafts flew past and people wearing matching outfits zoomed by. She stepped on the edge of a platform and looked over. It was a long way down to nothing. Glass buildings shot high into the sky. Little robots scurried by her on a mission. “Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?” “Well, you are on Planetopia of course.” “Planewho?” I need...

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“My date.” by Saranglogy R

Submitted to Contest #35

I heard people says that time runs fast, but I never believed it. Because it's been only two months after Jack left me, but it looks like it's been several years. He was a good guy, who always cared for me before his own self. And maybe that's the reason he left me without taking care of himself.He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and when we found, he was on last stage. We were so happy and never thought something like this would occur, and turned our lives upside down. Last few months were difficult for both of us but we tried to be h...

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“The Third Item on the News” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #35

Ashley couldn’t make up her mind if she thought that people who made a point of being awake when the digital clocks changed of their own volition were deeply sad, or if she was really determined that this year she would witness it too. It was proof, if minor, of that famous Sod’s Law. She was a light and fitful sleeper, and often was awake when two turned to three or the other way round anyway. But never, so far, on the relevant day. She had toyed with the idea of setting an alarm (on an analogue clock, of course!) j...

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“"Writing a letter to my old self in the future"” by Tyra Johnson

Submitted to Contest #35

Amanda Brown.234 Coven JohnGuyana, Georgetown.17th June 2016.Dear, 'Amanda'It's your younger self writing to you. I don't know if you may have trouble with memory problems like most old people; so I want to remind you that I wrote this letter to you when you were 16 years old teenager girl sitting on your bed in the bedroom.I want to give you a reminder of your young self; you love to eat bake macaroni and cheesecake, favourite colour is pink, you attended the Western high school, you love singing in the church choir, you enjoy dancing, you ...

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“Songbird Sally” by Tim Law

Submitted to Contest #35

It was finally here, the first day of the season of Spring. Four, almost five years of Sally’s childhood life had been waiting for this special day. For this would be the day she would lose her thick head of wavy chestnut hair and help raise desperately needed funds for the Cancer Council’s hunt for a still illusive cure. Since the tender age of eight Sally had truly hated cancer. She had watched her dad’s own battle with the dreaded disease attacking his lung. An adoring daughter, Sally took it hard as she witnessed her father losing his ow...

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“Find of the Century” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #35

Find of the CenturySuzanne Marsh“Hey, Brendan how about a walk along this ocean this morning, it should be nice andbracing.”Brendan Reid, was not a man to tumble out of bed readily, his wife Julia was the early riser.The mean temperature this morning was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit. He thought:'where does she get these ideas from? She wanted to move here from Toronto because it is quieter. Quieter, is an understatement. Well, I guess I might as well get up, and go for that walk. When I get home, I am going to have a huge cup of coffee, and si...

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“A Million Scrapbook Moments” by Paige Leppanen

Submitted to Contest #35

Kennedy hated dances. No, that wasn’t true. She hated that her friends hated dances. None of her friends were very interested in getting together beforehand to do their makeup or curl their hair. Nobody wanted to dance, unless it was a slow dance, and those were always uncomfortable. Where were you supposed to look during that? Were you supposed to talk or stare into each other’s eyes? What if you didn’t even like your dance partner all that much?Senior prom would be different, though. Kennedy could feel it. For the first time since the fres...

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“Fairies and Diamonds” by Marilyn Carter

Submitted to Contest #35

I love the Spring. When everything is so fresh and starting to sprout. By this time, even the dirty snow left on the side of the roads and gathered dirty and black on the flower beds, brings joy when you see a little green sprout poking its' little head out through the obstacles in its' path reaching for the sunshine that it knows is there, just out of sight. Faith, has it growing and pushing against the hardened blackened snow as it stretches to feel that glorious sunshine upon its' tiny little leaves. Stretching, stretching unt...

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“i'm sorry” by Masha Kurbatova

Submitted to Contest #35

I’m sorry. I was never one to jump on impulse. I lag, my brain moves slower than my body, emotions paralyze me, words get caught somewhere between the larynx and the uvula. Never action, only thoughts, and if action, then stale action, no emotion behind it, for the emotion has already burnt up, fizzled out, evaporated, dripped from my pores, and only its hollow momentum is left behind. Oh yes, I’ve kissed people before, and one was good. I’ve fucked people before too, though none of them had been very good yet. I followed impulse t...

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“The mind is deceitful above all things” by Bruno Lowagie

Submitted to Contest #35

All the places I know from my youth seem to have gotten smaller now that I revisit them forty years later. When I was a child, I thought my hometown Ypres, Belgium, was a big city, although it counted only a couple of ten thousand souls.Once I was old enough to go to college, I went to Ghent University, also in Belgium. Now that was something else! Ghent had a population of a couple of hundred thousand people with more than 160 different nationalities. A completely new world opened up for me. There were three movie theaters instead of only t...

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“One Last Time” by Emili Silvi

Submitted to Contest #35

Remember that friend that you ate ice cream with? That friend that was there when you learned to ride a bike? That friend that helped you with math and sneaked you candy and went through the trouble of sending actual paper letters through the mail when your phone got taken away and you couldn't text them? Remember? Well, I had that friend. I had that friend who would always push me to do greater things, who inspired me, who made me feel good about myself in my darkest days. And remember how you made promises to each other? I do. Our promise ...

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“Like magic” by Marte Van Der Linden

Submitted to Contest #35

You think the world is dull, but that’s because you have never peered into the nooks and crannies where magic still lingers.Look hard enough, and you can see the cracks where it bleeds through into our world. You might hear the steady drip-drip-drip as it seeps into the foundation of reality. Close your eyes and you might even feel it swirling behind your mind. It’s everywhere, hovering just out of sight, like a shadow in a bright beam of sunlight. All it needs to become visible is a slight shift in perspective.Consider something as mundane ...

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“Enemies No Longer” by Kate Strong

Submitted to Contest #35

The day had dawned with a vengeance, not to be forgotten by any of the blue-coated soldiers as they arose in the early morning.Corporal Elias W. Killough stretched the small of his back as he stood in line for the weak coffee that was being offered along with the paltry portions of what the cook called breakfast. Half-warmed watery porridge and some leathery strips of bacon, when what he craved was a steaming plateful of flapjacks and sausages, perhaps even with a side of a corn muffin or something of the sort.“Here you go, Corporal,” smiled...

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“Spring Love” by Randi W

Submitted to Contest #35

1960 Jane groaned as her friend threw an armful of dresses onto the bed, she sat and watched as Alice began to sort the dresses in order of color before turning towards her a look of excitement lit her face. “Alice, I told you that I have no intention whatsoever in going to the spring dance!” pouted Jane crossing her arms over her chest “Jane this is...

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$50

Prize money

544

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 03, 2020 EST

Won by Naomi Coffman 🏆

Title: Spring Queen

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!

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