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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 – 257 stories

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

Thriller and Suspense – 174 stories

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

Nonfiction – 325 stories

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

Romance – 109 stories

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

Dialogue – 197 stories

Stories

“Grandma's Cardinal” by BeInspiredAbstracts/Etsy SarahGreenwood

“When I die I’m going to come back as a Cardinal,” my Grandmother told me one Saturday afternoon as we sat at her kitchen table watching the birds and squirrels frolic on her patio. The Cardinal was her favorite, she named him ‘Peep.” He would stare at us through the screen door, his plump little chest heaving as he sang his melodious mating song, waiting for us to feed him stale peanuts and sunflower seeds.Every Saturday I walked down the street to Grandma’s house, picking my neighbors’ Black-eyed Susans along the way to...

35 comments 35
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“ROAD to REVENGE ” by ADHI DAS

 The nastiest lies are often told in silence. Revenge is a tart notion born not only in a criminal’s mind even in a common man’s mind after all it is said it is due to circumstances. Are you ready to hear a real story on Revenge? Then let’s see where this road to revenge leads to… The sky was weary carrying...

18 comments 18
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“Mattress or Box? ” by Rhondalise Mitza

“Would you rather live in a box or sleep on a bed with no mattress?” Afra asked the stranger next to her on the bus, being careful not to lean too close to them. She had just eaten her lunch and the onions were pretty strong, so she didn’t want to knock the poor kid out. He didn’t answer her and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. What a prick. He was probably up in the clouds somewhere, bugging out on ham and c...

42 comments 42
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“Seventeen Saints” by Emily Nghiem

"A Message from the Universe"by Sister Helena St. Martin"Behind the Iron Curtain,Beyond the Fall of Rome,There's hope in the uncertain,And truth in the unknown.”My last conversation with Helena was a one-sided argument, which I recall too vividly. How can you forget the joy of yelling furiously at someone who refuses to speak.Sister Helena knew how to torment me. As a Pulitzer-nominated poet and political...

16 comments 16
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“Hope” by Lata B

Days run past. Weeks fly by. She looks forward to the day when she will have a reason to smile. A radiant glow will appear in her eyes, and all the tears she had once wept will sink in an ocean full of happiness. The sun will once again rise in her life.   She stares out the window watching a mindless breeze wake up the trees. She sits there until the sun starts to hide under the horizon. Every day the sky is a different color. The grass sways to a different song every hour.   She spends her day...

38 comments 38
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“Juliet and Romeo” by Amith Shaju

Juliet French glanced at the clock tower as she frantically paced up and down the empty platform. It was half past one. The train was late. Or perhaps she was early? She didn't know. It didn't matter. Oh Romeo! How much longer must I wait?She nervously looked around the deserted station. Not a single soul in sight. Was that good or bad? She did not know. She had only one thing in mind. Soon he will be here.A ...

62 comments 62
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“Can't Get Enough of What You Don't Need” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“Stop that. It’s disgusting.” I rolled down the car window for some fresh air. As if the smells emanating from my son’s laundry bag weren’t nauseating enough. “Mom, it’s not my fault,” laughed my 19-year-old son, secretly proud of his foul emissions. “The dining hall serves only three types of food: fried, deep fried, and grease fire.” “How about eating more fruits and vegetables?” I suggested, in my overly-helpful-mom tone, the one that even annoyed me. “Surely the university has a salad bar somewhere on ...

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“Death Has Had the Most Tears” by Alby Carter

I can see her smiling, her two front teeth still growing in, her laughter filling the air. We plucked grapes from their vines, our mouths twisting from the sour taste. It doesn't take away her smile, though. Not many things can take away her smile. The day is still warm in my memory, pestering my thoughts like a ringing doorbell. An image of her uneven hair burns in my memory. I cut it with safety scissors, because she asked me to. For hours, she didn't say a word about her choppy hair, until I felt so bad that I took us out for ice cream...

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“The Man at the Station” by Nandan Prasad

12:49 a.m.13th October, 1947Karachi, PakistanThe streets were deserted. The riots due to the India-Pakistan Partition had taken their toll on the citizens. No one dared to come out for fear of being caught and beaten or burnt to death by a crazed, fanatical mob.That is, no one, but my husband, my son and I. We were hurrying along to the train station; there was a train leaving to Jodhpur, India, in fifteen minutes. We would have gone earlier, bu...

75 comments 75
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“Drowning On Land” by Amany Sayed

I was sitting cross legged on a soft surface. My eyes were closed. I tried to take a deep breath, but instead water filled my lungs. I opened my eyes and I was sitting on a carpeted floor somewhere. But every time I tried to breathe, water entered my nose from some unknown source. I was drowning, sinking through the floor. With a start, I woke up. My mom came in to wake me up for school. “Come on sweetheart, time for school!”“Yeah, yeah.”I grumbled, throwing the blan...

15 comments 15
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“Trapped” by Monica G

I have no idea how long I’ve been here.Long enough that I’m freezing cold, starving and exhausted. I never expected to wait for this long, but I haven’t got long left to wait. That’s good, right?Waiting can be good too. Especially when you don’t have a crosswords book or a needle and some yarn to keep you distracted. It sounds bad but it actually makes your mind wander. I have remembered things I haven’t thought about in so long, it’s hard to believe I actually lived them. And I have planned all the trips I’m going to take f...

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“The Most Important Question of All” by Amany Sayed

Logan The cool breeze sweeps past us. My heart beats faster, and faster. Every inhale feels like it takes years, and every exhale decades. I can feel the stares as people file in and out of the movie theater. Thump Thump Thump Though I don't dare break my gaze from her beautiful face, I can see in my peripheral vision a couple stopping to watch the show. This ...

9 comments 9
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“The Room Where it Happens” by Avery G.

Oh great. This is my 2nd time that I’ve been sent to the principal's office today, and it’s only eleven o’clock! Okay, to be honest, it wasn’t me. I mean, Chris was passing the note to me! It was in plain sight!I sigh.“Matthew, principal's office. Now.” My teacher, Mr. Kinsy says to me.“Yes sir!” I salute and head out the door.I walk to the office waiting room. The office is only a few doors down, but it feels like a long ...

19 comments 19
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“Inside The Room With The Grey Walls” by 🎀 Ɪᴍᴀᴀɴ ᴋʜᴀᴋɪ 🎀

The room is silent, save for the rhythmic tick-tock of the round, analog clock hanging from the smooth, pale grey walls. I tap my foot in time with the sound as I wait for my therapist to call me in. I’m the only one in the waiting room, but that comforts me. Being around other people is unnerving—I always feel like it becomes something of a competition, even if the only thing I’m doing ...

42 comments 42
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“ It Gets Dark First” by Yvette Connie Achieng

Anxiety. I do not remember a time when I am not anxious. Disparity. My mind's enthroned in the seventh circle of despair. There she sits, on her wheelchair, rolling her eyes in wonder wearing a wistful of questioning. Questions she had no answers to and questions she trusted no one to answer them for her.  But sometimes the answers are not worth the hustle especially when the an...

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$50

Prize money

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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.

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