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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#50: A Moment Like This

Throughout this contest, we’ve read wonderful entries that provide sweeping overviews of characters' lives (such as "The Tree"), as well as submissions that offer glimpses into distinct life-phases (like "Time Bomb"). We’ve also been captured by stories book-ended by the start and end of one particular moment in time: such as "The Price of a Nice Guy" (a woman gets a flat tire and parks on the side of the road), "Who Speaks to Death" (a story told through a single text conversation), and "To You" (a 50th birthday party).

In the spirit of those last three examples, this week's prompts challenge you to embrace the short story's ability to really dive into and explore one single scene.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a proposal.

Valentine's Day – 211 stories

Write a story about an argument that seems to be about one thing, but is actually about another.

Dialogue – 121 stories

Write a story about a person experiencing pre-performance jitters.

High School – 162 stories

Write a story told entirely through one chase scene.

Thriller and Suspense – 143 stories

Write a story about a summer afternoon spent in a treehouse.

Summer – 303 stories

Stories

“Alive” by Hamadryad 77

Submitted to Contest #50

I've never been in a tree house before."Really? That's odd—well, I guess...there's not much soil on Saturn?"That's right. Trees are downright beautiful. Best things about Earth."That's only because you're new here. There's lots of great things."Emma settled her hands in her lap and looked out the window of the tree house. Her parents had made it for themselves when they'd gotten married. They were nature lovers and the tree house had a telescope and a bird feeder and a camera to watch them eat. Those things were still there but Emma was the ...

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“The comedian” by Bianca Hails

Submitted to Contest #50

The carpet lightly crunched when she nervously paced up and down the room in her heels. She had done this so many times, had been on that stage every week for years, but tonight - tonight was different! It was the first time ever that someone she really cared about was in the audience. Up until tonight, her comedy had only been for strangers. Occasionally she would try some of her jokes out on her students, but they only laughed because they had to. Most of her material wasn’t suitable for teenagers anyway. They didn’t need to know about her...

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“" My sky high hope"” by Pamela Porter

Submitted to Contest #50

The brightness of the dazzling sunlight on this warm and cozy day causes my mind to drift back to the days of old with the smell of bluebonnets flowers in the air, as a light dizzy of rain beat softly against my window pane. It causes me to lone for the day when I could return to my castle of hope. As a twelve -year- old. I was a very quiet and introverted child. There were a few that even called me a proper child and one with an old soul. I felt more comfortable in the company of older people. It was the young people my age that scared me a...

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“Who Would want to Meet Them?” by Sarah Phillips

Submitted to Contest #50

"I'm just nervous Terry, is that OK for you? Everything fine and dandy?" "Well yeah, but there's no need to be a dick about... jesus." "I have to be a dick though, cos' otherwise nothing gets through to you Terry, that's the fucking problem, you can be so anal about shit." "Sorry John, you know I only do it to try and help you out, I don't mean anything by it, I just know you can do better, you were made for this Tel." "Ok, well yeah, but sometimes you just need to chill out a bit." "So going forward, I just...shut up or...?" "No, well, you ...

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“A PHOTO AND A PROPOSAL” by Barbara Bessiris

Submitted to Contest #50

My father looked skeptically at the printer as it slowly began to spit out the sheet of photo paper. He was an old man and had no patience for technological machines that he could not understand. Nevertheless, he quietly held his breath. “This machine, it take a long time,” he finally said; mostly to himself than to anyone else. It was the new millennium. It had come and gone, yet his advancing years had served him adequately. He could not complain. My father had reached the venerable age of eighty one. The paper in question, the one co...

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“The Challenger” by Ken Coomes

Submitted to Contest #50

Sherry sat in the center lane of three, waiting for the traffic light to turn green, tapping her fingernails on the steering wheel of her 2020 Shelby GT500, Hermes. She named all her vehicles. Hermes, the Olympian God of many things including speed, was aptly named. She wasn’t about to call her car Nike, after the Greek Goddess of Speed, Strength, and Victory. The name fit, but Sherry couldn’t bear thinking of her car being named after a shoe, or a company that made shoes. Looking to her left she saw a Toyota Prius-C, driven by an...

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“Powder Keg” by Ed Vela

Submitted to Contest #50

“So, are you planning on proposing to my Mom?” Uh-oh! The question Ron Hapgood had been dreading since his current significant other, Laurel Treviot, introduced him to her extremely precocious daughter Salisa. Salisa, the asker of this dreaded question, had just turned eleven, had a recorded IQ of 161, and did not suffer fools well. She was also an absolute zealot where her Mom's rights were concerned and never wanted them to be trampled on in any fashion, in short she was a pre-teen powder keg. In an attempt to keep her from exploding a...

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“A Coward's Way Out.” by Jayne Morgan

Submitted to Contest #50

I should never have agreed to this date. Truth is, I should never have agreed to the last few dates. I should have cancelled them all. I should have told him the truth a long time ago, but I am a coward. I stare down at the ring. “Oh Liam, it’s beautiful.” I choke on the words, emotion clasping a vice like grip around my throat. Tears prick my eyes; not tears of happiness as Liam thinks, but tears of sadness, of regret. I can’t say yes but I don’t know how to say no either. I love Liam, I truly do, but I’m ...

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“A Proposal to Forget” by Cheryl H

Submitted to Contest #50

It was the night of our next date. I was wearing a red, tight, body-fitting dress and my red, high heel Louis Vuitton shoes. My hair was neatly pulled up into an up-do, and my makeup was of a natural look with a shade of fire red on the lip. In my hands, I held a small red and black clutch. Before I got up from my vanity to leave, my 4-year old son ran over to me and said "Mom, you look pretty! You look like a princess!" I smiled and gave him the biggest hug ever. Feeling super confident now, I got up, walked downstairs, and then walked outs...

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“THE BIG STEP” by Baffour Owusu-Ansah

Submitted to Contest #50

It was a regular Thursday at the office. Messengers running around, clerks typing letters and sales reps trying to seal deals over the telephone. Aside from an unannounced visit by the CEO to the 2nd floor, the day seemed ordinary for everyone else. I sat at my desk, deep in thought, and totally oblivious as to what was going on around me. I was about to make an important decision that will have future implications on his life. I was going to propose to the love of my life that very evening. Everything was ready but there was still the fear ...

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“Love fillings ” by Adhena Madhu

Submitted to Contest #50

"Ugh I hate dentists." I told my mother as I pushed open the glass door and walked into the waiting room. The usual smell of antiseptics washed over me, making my nose twitch. There were two people waiting patiently in front of the endodontist's door. I was the third. "That is a big irony since you yourself are one." She pursed her lips and glared at me. "Aren't you least ashamed on confessing this to me?" I shrugged. "It's just you. And it's still a truth." We sat down on the plush sofa and waited. I looked around, observing the dif...

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“𝓦𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭?” by 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕖. 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘

Submitted to Contest #50

Standing in the centre of the stage, I could hear the crowd snickering as soon as they heard I was one of the participants. If it had not been our principal, I doubt if they would have stopped.Is it my fault that I have a speech impediment? Then why am I the one who keeps being bullied and outcasted? What the old woman said, is it true?I met her on a spring afternoon around a week or so ago. I was sitting on the banks of the river Thames, my trembling hands covering my eyes as big heavy tears rolled down my pale, sweat-soaked face. " What is...

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“Phone Venom” by Daisy Bazeley

Submitted to Contest #50

"I'm sorry, where is this all coming from?!" I hated arguing. Hated arguing on the phone. Hated arguing in public. So arguing on the phone in public was worst case scenario for me. My blood was beginning to boil, and I didn't have a face to focus my anger on. Instead I started pacing the train platform, sucking on my cigarette and ignoring the judgmental faces of the other commuters. "This is hardly coming out of the blue for you; last week you told me you were planning on loaning it to your sister and now..." "It's my car I can sell it if I...

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“All in Your Head” by Manu B <3

Submitted to Contest #50

Bring! Brrring! bRInGGG! The alarm clock jolts me awake. I stare at the framed calendar hanging above the footboard of my bed. Today's date is circled in red. I sigh. Guess today’s the day. Slowly, I roll out of bed and push back the covers. I make my way to the bathroom and give myself a long, hard look in the mirror. I take a deep breath. Ok Beth. Today’s the day. You can do this, ok? Like Mom always says, it’s all in your head. It’s all in your head- It’s all in your- It’s all in- ...

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“Memories of Wood” by Nemo Doe

Submitted to Contest #50

Well here I am folks. The kid whose teachers "expect great things from". Sitting in a treehouse he built with his dad at eleven years old. Nothing to be done about it I suppose, my mom kicked me out while I was researching. There are so many places I can go, but I can only attend one college. I look around myself and take in everything. The handles on the ladder that long since broke off, resulting in a broken arm. The fence, falling apart. The tree which splits in two, resulting in two holes in the ceiling. I've spent countless hours starin...

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$50

Prize money

940

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 17, 2020 EST

Won by Emily Hemmings 🏆

Title: Life in the Trees

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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