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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

“Clue” by Taryn Holmes

Submitted to Contest #49

Carla hated Mondays. As a general rule, she preferred to keep all negative feelings to one day of the week. But the circumstances of that Monday certainly weren't helping the day’s case. As she sat in the stuffy room, surrounded by a group of strangers, she tried to listen to the presentation. But the speaker just kept going on and on about some newfangled home security system that could only be disarmed by fingerprints or something. The whole thing was too much technology for Carla to really understand. She stifled a yawn, carefully glancin...

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“Goodbye Questioning” by Ella Kinnett

Submitted to Contest #49

“Okay listen, they are going to take you back one by one so you will be alone when they question you, but while you wait for your turn you will be in the waiting room. When you go back, be confident and stand tall, be sure of yourself and speak clearly. Also do not talk to anyone unless you are spoken to. Not even people in the waiting room because they can get you into some big trouble. Look at me Hazel, you can’t mess up with this, it’s life or death.” I just look at him. No words are able to come out of my mouth. I am terrified but I can’...

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“Things worth waiting for” by Ben K

Submitted to Contest #49

Bursting through the front door of the emergency waiting room. Jack makes his way past the security guards and metal detector. Pushing his way through the people crowding the front desk. Placing both hands firmly around the edge of the desks wooden frame, he leans forward asking. “Excuse me, my wife arrived here not too long ago. I was hoping you might be able to help me find her room?” Without looking up from his computer, the desk assistant sifts the mouse around a few times. Matched with a few clicks, the assistant ignores Jack and start...

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“Heavy Words and Unanswered Questions!” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #49

(Write a story about a person waiting for an answer to a question.) If I may, I’d like to share with you, as I can’t share with any others, my thoughts, my dreams, my conundrums! Each and every day begins the same, it has been this way for more than a decade! I wish way back then, I had had the courage to jump left or right. If my night was restful, on waking I think….”maybe today is the answer day”. And I smile for a moment. If my night was unsettled and I wake tang...

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“The Waiting Area” by Ivy Moonlit

Submitted to Contest #49

I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for the announcement to board my plane. It was the first time I was traveling alone, and I never realized how long the wait was. I was nervous, but bored at the same time. Focusing on the curl that kept falling out of my braids, I started twirling it around my finger. Looking up ever so often, I noticed a girl who was making her way to the seats near me, she looked oddly familiar. She had the same dark hair as mine, but the rest of her face was covered by her hat and sunglasses. I went back to mindles...

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“Keep Calm and Wait” by Kate Le Roux

Submitted to Contest #49

My little blue car chugs along through the morning traffic. (Traffic! A fact of life quite detrimental to calm!) and I watch her temperature gauge nervously. Sometimes she overheats, and the last thing I need is to be stuck at the side of the road with a steaming car. I need to be calm. I am so tense that I feel ill, and of course I know that’s not going to help. I need to be well and strong or it will all come to nothing. Work helps to distract me. I am busy, and the relentless school day doesn't care two pins about my own private r...

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“"Door"” by Gerri Bain

Submitted to Contest #49

“Door” by Gerri Bain Suddenly, the large metal, industrial-sized door slammed. It was morning and the jolting sound of it caused her to startle reflexively. It happened every time someone came or went, slamming incessantly. It cracked and shuddered in bursts. The floor seemed to quake. Something shifted inside her and it was about that door. she just couldn’t explain. Some one thing that she knew she couldn’t remember. Candace racked her brain but couldn’t quite grasp it. It wa...

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“The Weaver Comes Out at Night” by Christine Calhoun

Submitted to Contest #49

His mother whispered her last words to him. She was half way through when they pulled her away, a great wrenching swipe that left heat burns on his hands and his chin where it pressed into her cloak. She was ready to go, bonnet and gloves the color of unripe mulberries. His aunt didn’t let him go the next day, had locked him and his cousins inside until night fell and she came back with a drained face and red eyes. When he was older he built a cottage on the edge of town, and even though he didn’t want to he made several ...

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“Welcome to England ” by Phil Manders

Submitted to Contest #49

The heavy old oak doors swung open violently, crippling the peace, crashing against the four hundred year old walnut panelling. It had been many years since they’d been treated with such disrespect, but they had seen worse in their long life, and they would, no doubt, see worse again. “HEY! Excuse me! Can I get a little service round here?” bellowed Hal, he dragged his suitcase over the highly polished brass threshold and onto the plush carpet. Its tiny wheels sinking into the deep, burgundy shag pile, refusing to budge any furthe...

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“The Perpetual Hiccups” by Parvathy Sabapathy

Submitted to Contest #49

After driving for two hours, navigating through the rush hour traffic, I reach my destination. My back is sore from riding my Kawasaki Bajaj, weaving through heavy traffic, dodging people jaywalking, as well as bumping into sudden potholes and speed breakers that took me by surprise.I climb up the stairs, and after sensing my presence, the automatic glass doors slide apart. I see her in the waiting area, talking empathetically to a sobbing lady. Empathy is the quality that she always carries like a diamond studded crown on her head. She noti...

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“The Sword.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #49

The bitch couldn’t take a joke. She ran me through with a damn sword. Not a nice shiny stainless steel sword, but an old-fashioned rust pitted sod, no doubt harbouring bloody germs from the sixteenth century to boot. You can imagine the sort of shit I had to put up with at the local asylum they call a hospital. “Fallen on your sword, have yer pal? Did you get the dragon, or what? Did you rescue the damsel?” Bastards! The irony of the situation was that I was trying to help a damsel in distress, except it obviously wasn’t a damsel at all. It ...

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“Late Again ” by Ivy Moonlit

Submitted to Contest #49

Alex My alarm rang at precisely Five am on this lovely Monday morning. I rolled out of bed and after brushing my teeth I went straight into the kitchen ready to make myself a nice cup of tea. I made my way back to my room, grabbed my laptop and walked over to my makeshift office room. I sat down at my desk and began writing. I wrote for about an hour, finishing my tea, I changed and went to the gym. After an hour and a half, I drove to work, I reached 15 minutes earlier so I could prepare for the meeting before my shift. All...

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“The Answer” by R L Brewer

Submitted to Contest #49

"What! He expects me to wait? The hide of him, he'll regret this!" "My liege, please, His Majesty had no idea when to expect you, I am sure there is no offense meant," the guard said softly, seeking to calm his prince. "That stupid excuse for a royal advisor in the hall...what was he supposed to be?" "I am pretty sure he is the prime minister." "What a fawning nuisance of a man!" "Yes, yes, sir. Your patience and mercy are legendary, as everyone can plainly see." Prince Ivar sat thoughtfully on the chair in the corner of the gues...

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“EBB Tide” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #49

Lavinia was sitting in the back of A Tertulia, the little bar that was still being remodeled. It was dark now, almost time to leave, but she found herself looking at another handwritten page. She had yet to figure out how the contents of the box seemed to be increasing, and in a sense she didn’t really want to know.Even people who never read poetry, as well as those who say immediately that they don’t understand it if they hear the word poem, have heard the first line of what Lavinia knew was a sonnet, if for no other reason than the fa...

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“Silence” by N. Thorne

Submitted to Contest #49

Snow falls like an unwelcome blanket, covering the surrounding landscape, billowing over trees and rock outcroppings. Biting wind Frigid chill Shallow breaths Almost there. Hopefully. Gazing up at the bleak motionless sky, blinking away the minuscule icy daggers leaving pin pricks on my skin I try once again to determine which way the sun is setting. But the phantom glare only leaves me in confusion, tirelessly disoriented. Then I see it, the rock that looks like the face of a man. This is ...

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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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