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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

“Tomorrow is the Greatest Trap” by Matthew J

Submitted to Contest #49

What the hell was Rodney doing now? Sydney opened her eyes to find Rodney dancing and talking to his Full Throttle energy drink. He was just beyond the freshly mulched palm stand where Sydney, Boz, Lorette, and Michah took their respite from the sweltering Florida sun. “Rodney, you look like a goddamn tweaker!” Sydney shouted, “Get your ass back over here before somebody calls the cops.” Of course, he wasn’t tweaking. They hadn’t been able to score enough ice for that lately - just enough to get by. The little bit in her backpack and t...

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“The Lady in the Waiting Room” by Jessica Bell

Submitted to Contest #49

I keep checking my watch every few seconds it seems, getting more impatient by the second that time doesn’t seem to be going any faster. I keep tapping my foot on the floor and shifting in my chair. This is the worst. I look around the waiting room and I see other people sitting around, each with their own panorama of emotions. I touched the tender spot on my temple again, the fresh stitches tingling, and the pain meds seemed to have worked their magic. I can’t help but swing my body forward and back and when I stop for a second, my body sti...

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“Waiting for you to come home” by Julienne Wakefield

Submitted to Contest #49

For God’s sake, how long am I going to have to be here? I’m tired, cold, and my butt is starting to hurt from how long I’ve been sitting. Damn it, why are they taking so long? I look around where I am sitting. The rain makes a nice pitter-patter on the windows and the street.I’ve always loved the rain, how it’s soothing yet violent and frightening all at once. I can hear the cars on the road nearby, which- in a way- is also peaceful. The rainwater is trickling along the road, creating small streams on the side of the road. It also...

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“That two years long meeting” by Soha Shaer

Submitted to Contest #49

Sometimes it is the sad events and all the frustration that you go through and all the trash life throws at you that makes you realize just what you are doing wrong, what to do right, when to do the right thing and finally when to let go. No matter how hard it is sometimes you are just left with no choice but to let go and live the way you think is right, make more mistakes learn from it and keep making those precious mistakes and wait till you eventually stumble on the right thing one day and all the mistakes you have made become just memor...

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“Lisa Black ” by Amariah Chachere

Submitted to Contest #49

Lisa laid on her bed, watching the uncanny dancing shadows casted by the moon light, that moved about the dusk covered ceiling. It was these shadows that dredge the recesses of her mind disturbing the delicate sheet of calm that shielded her psyche from her subconscious. The memories that floated beneath the surface were like a festering corpus polluting the shores of her mind. Time passed slowly as she waited for her biyogen activation. She could not stop the toxic thoughts, because she was beyond depression,“This is my fault, some ...

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“The Waiting” by Natty Cassyendra [KesshiKyōshi]

Submitted to Contest #49

I still walk in the dark, searching for a light to guide me to find the exit door. Nobody is here, the place where I stay. Only me with my empty world, filled with loneliness. Sometimes I feel like I do not exist at all, and sometimes I feel like it just my dream - a dream from my long deep sleep in the middle of the night. No daytime, but no sleep. I keep walking to find an end. I cry for help, but no one is listening. I pray for guidance, but no one is answering. No food and no water. No time to eat and drink. ‘Listen! Listen! I am here be...

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“Waiting” by Jenna Jackowski

Submitted to Contest #49

She sat there on the edge of the tub staring at the purple shampoo bottle that she hadn’t bothered to throw out last night when it ran out. He was pacing the length of the small bathroom, biting at the skin of his nails, since he had already bitten them all off. Neither one was ready for the results. “How much longer must we wait?” he said, as he recovered from tripping over the frayed edge of the small old blue rug. She knew that it was only a few minutes more, b...

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“Forced to wait ” by Emmy Kandelas

Submitted to Contest #49

Staring down at my phone. Voices passing by, as people walked in front of me. The seat was hard below my backside. And elderly lady sat beside and smiled at me. “Have you been waiting long dear?” she asks, leaning towards me. “Almost twenty minutes now” I responded looking up from my phone and smiling back at her. The clouds were just about to break over the top of us. With only a seat there was nothing to shelter the old lady and myself from the rain. As the minutes continued more and more people approached the seat. These were people fro...

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“A to Z” by Annie Ruhangakiza

Submitted to Contest #49

She was born Aretha four months earlier than usual. She was small, delicate and inferior her dad had said compared to her siblings. She doesn't know if it was her parents fault for trying to conceive her when they were already old. Her mother had died the same day she was born. The doctors had said one of them would survive. Her mother so decisive on letting her child live sacrificed herself because she was going to meet her maker anyway. She'd been diagnosed with cancer and she knew she would survive the treatment. She had told her husband ...

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“Starshine” by Cal Carson

Submitted to Contest #49

The moon glowed with red tendrils of soupy light. Wind purred as it slunk around their feet and shyly tousled the flaps of their jackets. The two tall figures sat on a park bench in the midst of a forest trail, alone in the cackling din of the ravens nesting in the oak and maple trees. “How much longer, Elize?” The younger whispered to his companion. His voice was hoarse and papery, like something had crushed his vocal cords underfoot like a tin can. He wore a long coat the color of sand and a baseba...

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“Time is a Fickle Lover” by Carol Pascuzzi

Submitted to Contest #49

Mabel glanced at the large white-faced clock hanging high on the wall across the narrow hallway. Twenty past. The clock reminded her of the ones that hung high above the door in every classroom in her secondary school. Those clocks seemed to bend time, the large black hands decelerating as soon as the teachers would begin their lessons, the red second hand ticking agonizingly slow, taunting her above the exit door she so desperately wanted to run through. Forty minutes. Her pulse quickened briefly. Deep breaths.&nb...

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“In an hour” by Nithan S

Submitted to Contest #49

My temporo-mandibular joint would soon dislocate from its place letting my jaw drop from my face if I continue yawning this way. Damn, that was a good sleep. Why is my mouth dry anyway, as if I never drank water the whole day? Wait, what time is it now? What happened yesterday night? Did I pass out without drinking any water? Why can't I remember anything? What did I do yesterday? Oh yes, Jim took me to the doctor. Damn yes. But his face was awful. I meant the doctor's face. Jim is an extremely pleasant person. Love is all he is sows, love i...

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“Longing” by M K

Submitted to Contest #49

He shuddered, sitting solemnly on the floor.Shuffling his weight against the wall, the cold slabs did little to comfort him as he found his breath through the tedious solitude he began to loathe.Why was it taking so long?Then again, he wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had heard the clatter of the dishes falling, shattering into tiny pieces around the table. Nor the thumping of his heart that echoed throughout the lonesome silence of the kitchen as he sat there, waiting.He let out a sigh and slapped his forehead, dragging it across t...

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“ Looking the sky” by Suely Dias

Submitted to Contest #49

I am looking to the sky while it does not happen. It is magnificent! How can the blue to be so deep? How can the stars shine out inside my soul? The moon seems to be hugging the earth with her eyes. I hear a song, I just cannot describe the feeling it gives me. A pure sing of the angels, it comes to the right side. The street was supposed to be calm and deserted, but no, it is not. There is a party in outside, it is not a little party; there is a lot of joy in their faces. The beautiful song comes from there I can feel it. I w...

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“Is it really worth the wait?” by Hailey Smith

Submitted to Contest #49

Here I am, waiting. Palms are sweaty, pits are sweaty, heart is racing. Thoughts keep running around in my head and I don't know how much longer I can wait. With each passing second my heart grows unsure. Unsure if I'm making the right decision, unsure if this whole thing will work out, unsure if I'm ready. Everyone around me seems so happy, so sure about things. They're eyes are full of awe. We're all waiting but I seem to be the only one aware that we are. The sun seems to be shining extra bright today. Like it's shining a natural spotligh...

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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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