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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

“Urmila” by J.S Quail

Submitted to Contest #49

“Why am I here?”The girl with the pale face does not look up as she asks, but she is waiting all the same. For an answer. Her fingers are buried in atta, and she kneads the dough as if it were her life’s work. Outside the shade of the banyan tree, her sister is following Ram, who is Ram only because he is the chief’s son; and Laxman, who is Laxman only because he could not be Ram.Her sister is Sita, because she is the most beautiful girl in the village.The girl watches her uncle watch the game. He is the man who does their books in the ...

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“What are you doing here?” by Catherine Franklin

Submitted to Contest #49

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked as the mysterious figure in the distance assumed the form of my mother. She was standing on the pavement outside my house, a hundred miles from home. I was on my way back from the Chinese restaurant, clutching a white takeaway bag. Heat rose from the freshly prepared tupperware containers, thawing my fingertips which had gone numb minutes earlier. It was a Friday evening, nine days before Christmas. I’d had my last lectures of the semester that day, and was eager to spend the festive weeks in familiar ter...

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“A Sweatshirt and All It Implies” by Emily Baskin

Submitted to Contest #49

“I’m tired of waiting, Angela. It’s been months.” “You know I’m scared, Jack! I can’t help it.” “I can’t keep doing this. The glances in the hallway, meeting in the lunch line, everything. I want a real relationship, not a secret, 5th grade one.” “Tell me how you really feel, then.” “Angela. Angela, look at me.” I lift my eyes to meet his stormy blue ones that once resembled the sky on a sunny day. “I don’t want this to end.” “Me neither! I-” “But I also can’t keep hiding.” “We don’t have to hide, per say. We can just not be public,” I sugge...

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“Creators' Rating ” by Rema Teller

Submitted to Contest #49

She wasn’t the first human to meet one of them and she wouldn’t be the last. Billions of them, and other beings, had passed through but—no matter where they came from—many asked similar questions iterated in different forms. ‘Are we the only other beings?’ ‘Are we special?’ ‘What was the point of it all?’ ‘Why did you create us?’ They—the creators—sometimes sighed but they were fairly patient and answered the question in the best way they could, through showing the beings rather than just telling. They sat apart b...

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“The Wait” by A S

Submitted to Contest #49

I am Suzanne Hills, former news reporter for New York Times and I was in the hallway of a building with no name. The building was made of brick and had no context of what was inside. The hallway wasn't anymore exciting with only a few doors and cream colored walls. They only thing remotely interesting was the few of New York City. The floor I was on had the most breathtaking view of the city. I bet it was gorgeous at night. I had no idea how I got here with no memory what so ever. I do know that I was supposed to walk into the first door on ...

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“Waiting For Life” by Heather Cash

Submitted to Contest #49

I opened my eyes to the sun shining gloriously melting the last of the frost on the night’s cold ground. The wood stove held nothing but gray coals from the fire that burned all night. I made my way to the coffee pot to prepare my morning ritual, as the first words spoken of the day are held until the first sip. The French vanilla creamer perfectly mixed in coffee closed my eyes again with heavenly appreciation as I try to wake up to begin the day. Milling over coffee for an hour and basking in silence, the fog in my mind begins to dissipate...

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“24 HOURS ” by Rishi Go

Submitted to Contest #49

Drip. Drip. Drip. Bing! The water splashes down from the roof onto the garbage can, constantly making noise. I didn’t close my umbrella yet, because it might start to rain again. I pull up my beige trench coat sleeve and take a glance at my plain white watch. 12:03. It’s pitch black around me, not another person on the street. “Where is she?” I find myself thinking. Suddenly, I’m having second thoughts about coming here. Maybe Amara forgot again. But out of the corner of my eye, I catch a neon orange blob approaching. I turn to find Amara...

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“Deception” by Kaitlyn Flaherty

Submitted to Contest #49

Friday. 2pm. Museum of Natural History. $25,000 in cash. William reads the ransom letter again as he stands on the corner of 77th street and Columbus ave. His hands are sweaty as he shuffles from one foot to the other, readjusting his grip on his suitcase that holds the ransom money. He stares up at the museum unsure if he is making the right decision. Laela, his girlfriend has been missing for 3 days. He thinks back to just earlier this week when they were laid up in bed before the early morning alarms went off. He remembers her laying on h...

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“Today is the day. By Robin Leonard” by Robin Leonard

Submitted to Contest #49

My alarm clock rings and I open my eyes one at a time, squinting against the light that is filtering through the blinds on my bedroom window. Today is the day! Carefully, I try to extricate my legs from under the covers without disturbing my sleeping cat, but I fail, and the cat stands up, stretches, and yawns at me before flopping back down and rolling over to have his tummy rubbed. I oblige him, thinking that I probably enjoy giving him his tummy rubs almost as much as he enjoys receiving them. I feel his soft purring beneath hi...

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“Mail Order at Silver Dollar Crossing” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #49

Two brothers were waiting at the Silver Dollar Crossing Train Depot for a three o’clock mail order arrival from Denver. Brothers Isaiah and Hamilton Jessup had come all the way out to the desolate boom-town of Silver Dollar Crossing in August 1866 after being discharged from the Army of the Potomac after serving for eighteen months in some of the biggest engagements of the War Between the States. They were also twin brothers now aged twenty two and filled with hope and promise of striking it rich at a new silver mine just north o...

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“The Distraction Man” by Kathryn P

Submitted to Contest #49

I anxiously fidgeted with the clasp on my bag. That was the best I could do, as my nails were already bitten to the skin and my toes were tired of tapping. I had been sitting here for an hour, waiting. Nervousness had crawled from my toes and reached my heart, which was beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. I watched trains pass by over and over again, trying hard to push my anxiety down to my feet. I checked my watch for what seemed like the hundredth time, noticing that I was not early, but what I was waiting for was simply late. If it...

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“Why Am I Waiting?” by Jamie Grosso

Submitted to Contest #49

You sit in a room waiting, the clock feeling like the ticks are killing you. You don’t have anywhere else to be, but yet you’re here sitting waiting to hear something. You know nothing will change, but you still wait, you wait there like there's still hope, is there? You wait like you haven’t given up, maybe deep down you truly didn’t. But why did you care? You could be doing a million things and you can name them off one by one. But yet you don't, you just sit and let the ticks of the clock bother you. The person waiting next to you who kee...

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“After the Run” by A.J. Brown

Submitted to Contest #49

He watched her putting her sock on her soft foot with the shiny blue toenail polish on it. He had been waiting for a while but he was going to have to wait longer. She secured the sock on her foot and now both of her feet had socks on them. Her socks were very white except for around the toes because they were Gold Toe. Somehow she always managed to keep her socks extremely white to the point where they looked brand new out of the package. He didn’t know how she did it. He knew they weren’t brand new, though, be...

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“Blocked” by Kay O'connell

Submitted to Contest #49

Nothing. That’s what he was getting. Nothing. The screen was mocking him. The room was hot. No, it was stifling. There was a difference. Everything was going wrong and it was a personal affront. The clock was loud- why was it so loud? An incessant ticking (just ticking and ticking and ticking- was keeping time really so necessary that the noise was required so constantly?) that interrupted his workspace. His silence. His peace. It cut through the heat. It cut through the nothing, the white space that he was drifting in. Everything was...

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“Grandfather” by Dani Ó Conaill

Submitted to Contest #49

Pain. I'm counting the seconds until the pain stops. Of course, it's pretty much useless because I'm counting up, not down, since I have no idea how long this is going to take. When I was training for a boxing competition, and I was sore and aching, my grandfather always said, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." If this were the kind of pain he meant, I would be the biggest weakling on the planet. I'm pretty sure this is the kind of pain that just hurts, rather than the kind that makes me strong. Knowing what was coming, I could barely ...

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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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