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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#49: Worth the Wait

Mrs. Dalloway follows a woman running errands in preparation for a party she's hosting that evening. A Single Man depicts a day-in-the-life of a professor. Molly Fox’s Birthday features one friend housesitting for another.

Of course, these novels are actually about much more than their mundane premises may imply. That's the wonderful thing about fiction: something as ordinary as running errands can turn into wildly different stories at the hands of different authors.

This week, we're working with a similarly mundane premise (on the surface, anyway): waiting. It's up to you to dig beneath the surface of banality to reveal the interesting story happening underneath!

This week's prompts

Write a story that takes place in a waiting room.

Thriller and Suspense – 256 stories

Write a story about a person waiting for an answer to a question.

Thriller and Suspense – 171 stories

Write a story about waiting — but don't reveal what's being waited for until the very end.

Nonfiction – 323 stories

Write a story about a relationship where one person is always running late and the other is constantly kept waiting.

Romance – 108 stories

Write a story about two strangers chatting while waiting for something.

Dialogue – 196 stories

Stories

“Doctor's Office Zone” by Gary Crawford

Submitted to Contest #49

Consider, if you will, a study of human nature. A study of a group of older women, together in a physician’s waiting room, with little to do while awaiting their turn to see the doctor. Interesting turns of events happen as they each consider the complaints and ailments of the others, all the while, patiently, if that’s the word, waiting for their turn, in the Doctor’s Office Zone. * Oh, I’m so glad the doctor can see me today. My hands hurt. They ache so much from my arthritis. Ache? At least you can use your hands. I’m almost cr...

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“Will you ever forgive me?” by Thistle Arellano

Submitted to Contest #49

The clicking of the pen was starting to annoy him. He could only imagine what the other people must be thinking, though he didn’t have to. He could see the annoyed glances and the glares from the corner of his eye. But it was either this or pacing, so he stuck with the pen. Brian checked his watch again. It had felt like the better part of a year had passed since he last checked, but it had merely been a minute. The minute hand must be broken, he supposed, for such little time to have passed. Or maybe time didn’t work here. But he kn...

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“Change in Plans” by Saranglogy R

Submitted to Contest #49

Sandra was nervously fidgeting her fingers in her sweater. The sweat was forming on her forehead though the air con was on. It was her first time to be here, and the smell around the room didn't help her either. She was feeling nauseous but controlled it. Her feet were tapping on the white marble floor, and that sound echoed throughout the room. She was the only person sitting there, waiting for her turn to come. She suddenly jerked up a little when the sound of the opening door. She saw a beautiful woman in her twenties, with blonde wavy ha...

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“Stan” by Luke Casswell

Submitted to Contest #49

Stomp, Stomp, Stomp. Stan's footsteps fall heavy upon the concrete, brow furrowed and sheening with sweat, each step seemed to carry surprising weight. He walks with slumped shoulders and a lowered head, his gaze never leaving the tarmac, much like a turtle within its shell, he only sees what’s directly in front. It was a particularly hot day, perhaps the hottest of the year, at least that’s what Stan felt. He pauses in front of a two story, red bricked building housing his local doctors’ surgery before continuing to enter. The inside i...

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“Train ” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #49

- Good afternoon, old man , but by any chance do you know where the train station is ? - a blond and broad – shouldered young man showed up, just in front of the newsstand, where the old man was reading a newspaper, comfortably ssitting on a patch worked pillow over a bench seat. - are you , young man, a foreigner ? It looks like, because I only the tourists or the foreigners visiting the country do not know where the train station is – moving his removable and plastic teeth from.one side to the other of his mo...

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“Waiting for a Bus” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #49

Waiting for a Bus Two people, a woman, and a man are sitting together at a bar. They were a few seats away from each other up until a few minutes before, but she moved over to talk to him. “Hi, my name is Jody. I’m new in town. I have a story about what happened today while I was waiting for a bus. I really need to tell someone about it, and I don’t know anyone. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to tell you the story. I’ll buy your next beer.” The man nodded his head, and said, “Go ahead and tell it. I...

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“The Awaited Waiting Room” by Lavanya Saxena

Submitted to Contest #49

It’s a waiting room like any other, that standard doctor’s surgery set up with the mismatching furniture and a pithy offering of well-thumbed women’s magazines. It greets you with an encompassing, inexplicable hush, perhaps the result of those awful hard-backed chairs that make everyone sit up so straight and formal, and the guests mutter to their companions in whispers and haste to mute their squabbling children or stab at their bleating mobile phones. Except it’s not an ordinary doctor’s surgery and today’s visitors know that. Their head...

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“Full Circle” by Ben K

Submitted to Contest #49

Opening his eyes, Charlie feels alert and awake as he steps through the entrance of an all white tile room. Stumbling through past the threshold the door slams shut behind him. Wiping around he pulls at the door handle. Standing on the door ripping at the handle, Charlie grunts and yells. “Ah. Come on. Just budge a little...bit. Fuck” “It won't open.” Says a sweet voice from behind. Letting go of the door handle, Charlie falls to the floor landing hard on his shoulder. Startled he screams and scoots himself up against the door. “Where the fu...

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“Worth the Wait...” by Tracie Jekel

Submitted to Contest #49

Why am I going to pick this girl up? She’s always been so nasty to me! Always telling me my clothes are bad, I need to wear makeup. You're fat, you're ugly...but I'm also the only one who ever shows up to help her... Why do I keep doing this? My conscious tells me, “You’re doing it because you don’t want anyone to feel alone. You know the feeling, and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” Dammit, conscious…you’re right again. I know she's going to be nasty to me, but she needs someone with her right now. Even if she won't admit it. I pick her ...

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“The Noisy Silence” by Shefali Seetharam

Submitted to Contest #49

Hello. Passengers of British Airways, flight 17 bound for Bengaluru, we regret to announce that there will be a slight delay in departure due to inclement weather. British Airways regrets for the inconvenience caused. "Such an unpleasant news," I muttered to myself and looked at the sky outside. The view outside the window was poetically beautiful. The sky was tar-black, and the large clouds were moving towards me. My eyes were fixed on the window, watching aeroplanes and the rain. I was lost in thoughts. Suddenly, I realized that somet...

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“THE ULTIMATE REWARD,” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #49

(Write a story about waiting but don’t reveal what you are waiting for until the end) I’m never sure why I have called this a vision, as there was no visual manifestation of any sort, I saw nothing, just the filling of my mind and my being with sound or knowledge that could not be denied! And so I will continue….. The vision said: “Have faith and wait, you will be rewarded!” “Follow the unspoken but unerring directions exactly!” “You will feel massively compelled, do not...

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“MY DARLING! MY DARLING! WHERE ARE YOU?” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #49

(Write a story about a relationship where one person is always running late and the other is constantly kept waiting.) My Darling! My Darling! Where are you? I’m waiting! We will be late! This question or these questions have been asked over and over through the years and here we are again, me dressed to the nines and waiting, and him among the missing! ~~~~~ In the early years it precipitated some lively arguments as I interpreted his behavior as a “power play” of sorts. He wanted to pr...

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“THE SMELL OF SIN” by Tammy Pieterson

Submitted to Contest #49

THE SMELL OF SIN by Tammy Pieterson I've learned to love the smell of sin on a warm summer's evening. Laced with notes of rustic ambience and cheap cigarette smoke that hangs thick and heavy in the already stale air. Where, for the next few hours, you can become whoever you want to be, where everyone is the star in their own movie, and reality is left at the door. Where you really can afford the car you drive and your business really is a success and you are as confident as everyone thinks you are and you really do love your wife and she's...

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“Dusk and Dust” by Raven Quill

Submitted to Contest #49

Hazy light filters in through the thick forest trees into the dirt-spotted, westward-facing glass pane. Cracks project shadows on the peeling brown paint of the walls. The heat that stumbles into the small room is gentle, and a black tomcat with specks of gray fur basks in the dying glow. Cushions next to the window were once a verdant green, but now their color has faded, softened as time has them worn down. Threads stick out in wayward places, trying to escape the net that holds them trapped together. Goldenrod pillows that rest at...

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“A New Year's Wish” by April Summers

Submitted to Contest #49

I hated this place. It was loud, crowded, and it smelled of death...Well, it smelled more of a combination of cleaning products and antiseptic. Nonetheless, it was a suffocating smell. Like someone was trying to cover up the smell of blood, sweat, tears and vomit by spraying on far too much perfume, but even after layering up on all that artificial scent, you could still smell the things it was trying to cover up. That’s what it smells like in here. In the waiting room of St. Marina’s Hospital. I glanced up from the book I was reading and sc...

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$50

Prize money

1054

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 10, 2020 EST

Won by Courtney Stuart 🏆

Title: When The Northern Lights Finally Reach You

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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