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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

“Gallows Humor” by Blisters Wournos

Submitted to Contest #49

They call it Gallows Humor.What do you call a man with minutes left to live?Condemned.What do you call a man with a rope around his neck and nothing under his feet?Executed.What do you call traitors awaiting execution in a small cell?In those last moments, friends.“Do you think we’ll win the war?” “Do you think reinforcements ever came?”How little the answers to these questions matter when nobody asking them will live to see the final battle.It is odd and feels insincere how one can mourn somebody who was a stranger only hours ago, but ...

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“Secret cuts” by Anuradha Dev

Submitted to Contest #49

I don't understand why these adults don't mind their own business. I mean, I know I should not have let a stupid kid pull me into an outrageous bet. But at the end of the day, it is my life that is on line, not theirs. Why do they care? Now I have been dragged to the school Headmistress office. As if she would magically fix everything wrong in my mind. Sometimes I think, why is it so difficult for me to deal with these people, talk to them, let them speak to me as if I am retarded? Other kids do it just fine. And in the end, you ha...

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“Tiny Dancer” by Bruce Charles

Submitted to Contest #49

"Do you have what I told you to bring?" the magician asked. I nodded and handed him my phone. Playing on the device was a video of a little boy, laughing and smiling like he was having the time of his life. After all, it was his very own birthday party, and what can be more exciting as a kid? The magician nodded and handed the phone back to me. He closed his eyes and began muttering something under his breath, what I assumed was incantations. When he was done, his eyes suddenly opened, and I saw that they were glowing. As the glow faded,...

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“Arriving” by Shawn Bills

Submitted to Contest #49

Susan suddenly opened her eyes and drew a deep breath. She quickly sat up and looked around. Nothing was familiar to her. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Her palms were clammy. She felt like it was the first time in a long time that she had inhaled, almost like it felt after diving into the deep end of a swim pool, then finally coming up for air. ‘When did I fall asleep? Where am I now? Why do I feel like I'm moving?’ her thoughts came in a quick succession. She was panicked. Her brain wanted answers now! She inhaled deeply....

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“The Girl with the Silver Bracelet” by Arie Toro

Submitted to Contest #49

I have two tongues, I always wear my heart on my sleeve, and I’m always right behind you. If you find out who I am and see me, I would like to know if we could go out for a coffee sometime. If not, thank you for indulging me and my letters to you anyway! :) I crumple the paper in my hand ever so slightly. Despite not wanting to be here, I didn’t want to hurt the feelings of whoever wrote these letters. Still, it is infuriating that whoever this person is, they didn’t even have the decency to list any physical characteristics of theirs ...

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“Waiting Conversation” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #49

Atticus Joyner check the small watch he wore around his wrist. Seven fifteen o’clock, he’d already been here an hour. It didn’t seem like anyone was coming anytime soon so he sat back in his chair and fidgeted his hands impatiently. What was supposed to be a simple trip to the ATM before a lonely dinner had become a temporary imprisonment. The storm had come without warning. Arriving one minute then disappearing as quickly ...

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“Waiting on a Dream” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #49

Waiting on a Dream I The old house on the outskirts of the tiny town of Eagle, Vermont was a dream come true for Sabella Laaksonen. The seventy-year-old newly retired long-term care nurse had spent most of her life assisting others. She was now ready to take time for herself. Although the house had not been lived in since 1960, it had been kept in good condition by the family of the previous owner. The attic was full of wonderful old things, including books, dolls, and record albums. “You should take this crap over to that doll hospital and ...

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“Bus-Stop Acquaintance ” by Jazz Minnelli

Submitted to Contest #49

The bus-station this particular morning was deserted save for a few people dotting the concrete seats built into the walls of the station. I knew that I had to take the 4.30 bus to Kandy, but I didn’t know which exact bus to take. I was in the mystical foreign land of Sri Lanka that my ancestors had under their grasp a few decades short of a century; however, people that could converse well in English (and not send you on the wrong route, speaking from personal experience) were almost nowhere to be found. Undeterred yet, I decided to ask the...

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“The Green Pin” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #49

The Green Pin It was a blistering hot day on the beach. The place was packed with sun worshippers from the youngest toddler running amok trying to keep their swimming trunks on to grandmothers with burnt elbows toting large, multi-coloured bags. There were bronze beauties some bathing with a friend or some hunky guy or alone. The gulls floated back and forth waiting for someone to drop the tiniest morsel of food to be scooped up. Their cries filled the bright sunny day with as much noise as the waves crashing ...

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“THE ROAD TO NOWHERE” by David D'EttoreUser

Submitted to Contest #49

1 The holding cell in the 45th Precinct was cluttered with the day’s trash who didn’t make bail. Being rudely deposited in the space was not unusual but tonight Pete Tomasso and Larry Alessi felt like they had been tossed into a dumpster behind a store that specialized in dead animals. One of the denizens, covered with a ratty gray overcoat, lay in the fetal position on one of the three benches lining the cell, his head propped on a bedpan. The other, a bearded, older man smiled a toothless grin in welc...

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“Before and After” by Beth Van Der Pol

Submitted to Contest #49

‘Welcome to the waiting room. One of our instructors will be with you shortly. Thank you for your patience.’ Thomas sprang up from the couch at the sound of the robotic female voice. It sounded like it came through speakers, but after examining the room for the source he found nothing. No sign of speakers, no cameras either, but that didn’t stop him from feeling watched. Thomas stood up and wandered around the room, trying to settle his nervous stomach and figure out where he was. There wasn’t much to look at. There was a door, which ...

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“Strangers” by Hannah .

Submitted to Contest #49

Millions of small interactions are happening at any given moment in any given place. Like the beginning of a good romantic comedy. As some would call it fate, destiny, being at the exact right place at the right time. I personally am still pondering what I would like to call it. I've always considered myself a realist, rational, not necessarily a hopeless romantic either. So today I have decided to tell you a story. The story that changed my mind. It was a Thursday morning I had to be at work at 9. I work for a Non-profit whose main f...

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“Wait for it. ” by I Have An Ongoing BTS Bias Crisis Send Halp

Submitted to Contest #49

I'm in this waiting room. Itching for it to be my turn. I hope nobody talks to me. Instead I observe. There's a pregnant woman sitting beside me. She looks dejected. Like something terrible has happened. Across from me is a man. He looks like he's around his early thirties. And sitting next to him is a little girl. She could be his daughter or niece. The little girl looks full of joy. I hope she's having a nice day. I look down at my phone to check the time. It hasn't even been ten minutes, yet this wait feels like an eternity. I take o...

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“Waiting On The Fourth Wish” by Gene Gryniewicz

Submitted to Contest #49

1. The Green Bottle The last lighthouse keeper keeps his hand as close to the green bottle as possible ... without actually touching it. Touching it would complete the circuit ... grant the wish ... it would grant the final wish - And he didn't want to do that. That would close the great doors, and seal them. Turn out the lights. Are the windows all shut? Make sure the alarms have been set. And catch that last bus home. After that? 2. Does the Night Crew Come In? I wonder. Do they wash the f...

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“Time's up” by Millie Spence

Submitted to Contest #49

The waiting room was a cold, clinical place. The sounds of doctors shouting and the faint beeping of medical equipment was all that broke the tense silence between the people in the room. No one dared say a word in fear that they might alter the outcome. Finnley was tapping anxiously on the arm of the uncomfortable, plastic chair he had been sitting on for hours. The ticking clock served only to make him more stressed and uncomfortable than he already is. He wanted to strike up a conversation between him and Xander’s parents, maybe about the...

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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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