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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

“The Grassatik Order ” by ANDILE Dubz

Submitted to Contest #50

An eerie silence ricocheted across the floor boards as Antu took centre stage. “We the termites of Logamound lay claim upon this flat log. We are the ones that discovered it soon after the small giants left,” said Antu with a shiver in his horsy voice. A fiendish rumble erupted in the audience soon after Antu’s remarks. This was the first meeting of The Grassatik Order since the felling of the trees a hundred sunsets ago. For most of the creatures in attendance, this was their first and probably their last meeting. “Silence!” shouted Mant...

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“Sam’s place” by Phil Manders

Submitted to Contest #50

Bright, warm sunlight, peeked in to the sleeping bedroom, illuminating a half empty wine glass on the bedside table. Lucy, delicately stretched out an arm and pawed around an empty bed. Opening one eye, she squinted at the alarm clock, the previous night’s argument, a dreamy, thumping muddle in her head. She lay still trying to piece together the fragments of her memory, as they slowly returned. Marcus, hugged his coffee cup. Lost in his thoughts, he watched a small, white butterfly beating desperately at the shed window. He closed his eye...

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“My Old Treehouse” by Vaughn Collar

Submitted to Contest #50

The light of the early June sun was waning as it slanted through the old, weather-beaten boards of my old treehouse. Sitting inside it, I was overcome with emotion that I had long buried. Yet, this old place was also a place of comfort, and I drew on that to keep from totally losing control. My old treehouse…wow. I had recently come back to an old neighborhood of mine. I had spent the majority of my childhood there, along with some of my teen years. We...

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“Yesterdays” by Heather Gallacher

Submitted to Contest #50

Pigtails, giggles, whispered confessions, and the endless possibilities of two young hearts. That is what brought her to the tree house before her on this sunny afternoon in July. She was hesitant at first to come here, to see the place they had grown up in together. It had seemed like such an easy thing to do all those years ago. Now was much harder but she had made that promise and she would keep that promise no matter what. With resolve she moved forward and started her accent up the now wobbly ladder to the treehouse above. The smooth ...

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“Old Friends ” by Serena Barile

Submitted to Contest #50

My eyes gaze upon the last thing standing that represents my childhood with old friends. These friends have come and gone, ones that I thought cared for me, but that treehouse always stayed the same. It holds memories that I will cherish forever, even if some weren’t always good. All of my friends in those memories left and that was the saddest part to me. Over time I’ve learned that friends are temporary I know it isn’t good to think that way but I can‘t help but have trust issues after all my friends at the treehouse left me. This treehous...

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“Oliver's Tree House and the Alien Attack” by Dylan Arnold

Submitted to Contest #50

Oliver was completely alone inside his treehouse, imagining the world just going by and thinking of his friends, James and Mia. The two of them were out at the park, without him, and as a thirteen-year-old boy, Oliver would have loved going to see his friends, although he couldn't. After he accidentally broke his parent's precious china vase, he was grounded for two weeks. He watched the clouds pass over above him through the treehouse window in the roof. Suddenly, Oliver had seen something, something he had imagined inside his marvellous ...

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“The Timberton” by Shawn Bills

Submitted to Contest #50

Zanth sniffled, trying to stifle back the tears he could feel welling up in the bottom of each eye. If he blinked, the tears would roll down his cheeks and he didn’t want Chomp or Lit to see him cry. He ran his left arm across his face, trying to play it off as if he were wiping sweat from his forehead. It was the end of June, after all, and the summer heat had made its way to their small town of Minuton. Coming from the park where they had been playing catch with Chomp’s new Flinger, they had just arrived to Zanth’s home -- “The Tim...

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“Way Up Above” by Shawn O'Connor

Submitted to Contest #50

It became a ritual; tradition. Every summer when school finally released us back into the wild, we would spend the majority of our days high above the rest of the world, looking down upon the peasants of Collier County from our tree house in the sky. And today was no different. I finished eating breakfast with my parents and practically flew out the back letting the screen door slam behind me. I could faintly hear my mother’s warnings about slamming doors come from inside but I couldn’t possibly concern myself with that right now as there w...

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“The Journal” by Henry Herrera

Submitted to Contest #50

“I knew you will forget about the markers and colour pencils”“I’m so so sorry” your awkward face projected into my eyes.I turned away from you and looked out the star-carved window. “I should get it” the wood creaked rapidly and the grass rustled. You left me, forever.--------------------------------------“Turn right and your destination would be on your left”I make the turn and see the house. It is painted in light orange with a hint of wooden planks nailed beside the black door. The windows are opened, a gateway for light to brighten ...

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“Invincible, Not Invisible” by Fawn Collins

Submitted to Contest #50

Defending and hitting; this was what I was doing on a humid Saturday afternoon in summer. “Take that, you insolent monster. You dare to fight the army of the most ferocious queen, who has conquered enormous territories?” I brought my sword down in a vast arc, slicing the demon in half. Yes, the soldier I pretended triumphantly thought. She had defeated the most powerful demon, who had been overwhelming the kingdom ever since she could remember. Believing the monster would utter honeyed words out of its mouth to sway her from her mission,...

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“The Tree” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #50

THE TREE Oh how I love this tree. The pungent smell of leaves and wood and sun dried flowers all mixed together, and with each inhalation it gently swirls around inside of me, warming my bones and my soul. I lay on my back feeling the soft rug spread out beneath me, warmed by the summer sun and giving off a perfume left from a previous user. I remembered the green tartan rug that we would all sit or lie on, and drop food onto. It would be taken into the house to be washed, smelling fresh and clean when spread out for the next tree house ad...

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“The Wooden Cocoon” by Cody Mitchell

Submitted to Contest #50

She spent three days climbing the massive maple tree. She climbed in the rain, in the sun, and even at night, narrowly avoiding enormous cardinals and crows, hiding within the folds of the bark whenever the enemy loomed. Gusts of wind threatened to throw her from the tree a time or two, but she held tightly and persevered. After the long, tiring journey, she could finally rest. She perched herself on a high branch with plenty of wooded crevices in case the birds should return. The winged beasts would not likely be a problem, however, as th...

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“The tree house” by Arathi Raghuveer

Submitted to Contest #50

The Sun was playing a hide and seek with the trees, the tiny droplets of the morning mist shone like twinkling stars on the leaves. It was a bright morning and Keath woke up a bit late today. Barring her daily morning schedule, wakeup call at 5:00 AM, finish her daily routine and jog for an hour, then starts the busy schedule. Prepare breakfast for the family and get ready to venture out for a busy day. Keath is a costume designer, she has a boutique with designer outfits and it was a very flourishing business. “Hey, Keath, why did you wake...

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“Etta” by Cyndy Reads

Submitted to Contest #50

“You are grounded for tonight.” “But-!” “You are forbidden from going to the festival.” “Elvina!” ...

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“Treehouse Healing” by Talia Vander

Submitted to Contest #50

“I had a feeling I’d find you up here.” As soon as I heard his voice, I knew who was coming up: Mark Bradley, my childhood best friend. It may have been a while since I last saw him, but I feel like I would recognize him anywhere. At one point in time, I knew him like the back of my hand, maybe better. “Look at that, you’re right,” I reply with an attitude I know my mother would’ve hated. She would’ve said that’s not the girl she raised, and ...

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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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