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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

“Eartha's Performance” by Sarah Oakes

Submitted to Contest #50

Eartha wasn’t sure she could do it. She had never performed in front of a live audience before. It had always been just her and the music. The crowd on the other side of the curtain loomed large and massive, a thousand blurry faces. She fidgeted in the wings, a little anxious. What if her fingers turned into knots and she forgot all the notes? She did know them. She did remember where they were and in what order they went and what came next. She had practiced them enough in rehearsals. But on the stage, it was different. What if she couldn’t...

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“"Your Mom" and Other Things You Shouldn't Tell Strange Angry Giants” by Isabelle Jones

Submitted to Contest #50

There had been a number of split-second decisions that Alex had made over the years. Some of them had even turned out well for him. But as a whole he'd come to the conclusion that he needed to stop making them because he usually regretted it. "Stupid," he huffed, pumping his legs harder as he heard an echo of his own feet pounding at unforgiving pavement. The sound was getting louder and louder the more he ran, his tail gaining on him in a way he hadn't expected. His lungs were beginning to burn and his heart hammered against his chest. It ...

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“Fair Play or Vengeance” by Gilbert Were

Submitted to Contest #50

“Come on. Drive” I called out to the driver as soon as I jumped into the back of the pick-up. A policewoman aimed an AK at me from the court’s main entrance but missed, thanks to my driver’s acumen, instead finding the target’s alternative, the pick-up’s left-wing mirror. Every then court associate seemed to be occupied with the dying man, so when the driver slowed down to launch into the highway, I jumped down and joined him behind the dashboard. His name was Issa, he was part of my father’s gang. The only one that had given himself up in m...

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“Sought After” by Pearl Mabuela

Submitted to Contest #50

As the car turned onto the Boyd Boulevard, it screeched so hard that the people in the isolated suburb of Pennylane pulled their curtains closed while some ran into their homes. The black ford with tinted windows kept turning in and out of streets, avenues and clustered areas. “We’ll ditch the car once we got to a more clustered area with more activity” Brian said as he held onto his wounded leg “How will you make it out of here with an injury? That won’t work” Meghan said, anxiously looking back after every two minutes while planted in the ...

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“Bank Vaults and Fairy Lights” by Rinsha P

Submitted to Contest #50

Fairy lights. They really are quite pretty, aren’t they? Like fireflies trapped in tiny bottles. Except the lights, for one, don’t blink and moreover, are probably 100 times more luminescent than the light that comes a firefly. Probably being the key word. Robert quickly made a mental note to do more research on bioluminescence later. Right now, he had a case to tackle, though he, like everyone else in the room knew that it was nothing more than a waste of time and effort. If only they had a real-life Sherlock Holmes. Someone who could deduc...

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“Rhythm and Horn” by Kevin Leonard

Submitted to Contest #50

It is damnable hot, this scarf is sticking to my neck, and I cannot find her. She said I would find her here. At least I think it was here. Santo Domingo. Was this the bar from last night? Everything looks different in the light. Somewhere nearby, too close, a horn is being played. A giant stumbles past before I realize that it is a saint in effigy, hoisted on someone’s shoulders as they march through the parade. People cheer, and the horn breaks into a song that dips and bends in the way that all Spanish music does to my American ear. It is...

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“the leather bound maniscript to end all wars” by Derek Brown

Submitted to Contest #50

The wings flapped, as he rowed with his streamlined muscles. Identical in efficiency to his light weight personal wings structure he was wearing. There were only three left in pursuit. The status of the fourth pursuer was of no consequence. He was not even a slight bit concerned. If they had wanted him dead. This whole thing would already be over, and he would be having tea with the gods. They were now in between a, buoyant, kinetic carrier, and a steam juggernaut. The kinetic ship had fired off all its ornithopters, and was now positionin...

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“THE ORGANIZATION” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #50

THE ORGANIZATION By Andrew Paul Grell “Hey! Where is he going? He has all of our co-ords and we don’t have his! Somebody stop him!” Mike Crow’s team had followed leads, did their research, cut ethical corners, and eschewed non-team-related activity for weeks translating cryptic messages into geographical coordinates, at the center of which would be what they sought. It was true that the Organization had QR codes on stickers all over the city, from Orchard Beach in The Bronx to Tottenville on Staten Island. In princip...

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“Hunt for the rising sun” by RABI CHATTERJEE

Submitted to Contest #50

Imagine a scene where a person is being chased by someone/something but it’s not visible. The person who is being chased is running and running, gasping, shouting, “Hello, help me, hello. Why can’t I see anyone? Hello”. Then he stumbles on a rock. Now it’s another place, a bedroom. Suddenly, he wakes up on his bed. The person who was being chased is woken now. He was dreaming. It was kind of a nightmare to him. He is perspiring, gasping. It is 11 in the morning. The person speaks as he is speaking to the audience, “Life has been chasing me f...

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“Black Panamera” by Robin Owens

Submitted to Contest #50

2:53pm This HOV lane is about to end, and Adam is not going to make it out. Main-lane traffic is crawling up ahead. He is going to try to squeeze in between the cars like a pastry slipping into a toaster, but it’s not going to work. And if it’s not going to work for Adam, it won’t work for me because I’m right behind him. I have already calculated the time we have left before the exit based on our speed and distance. The exit is in 2.1 miles. I’m keeping up with his speed of 95 MPH. In 2.1--now 2 miles flat, we will both be forced to exit ...

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“Catch Me If You Can” by A. Arima

Submitted to Contest #50

I am running as fast as I can. The two of them, one girl and a man, are also running as fast as they can, following me and hurling abuses at me. I want to react but I know that would stop me from running fast. I can feel my worn-out shoes finally giving up on me but there is no way I can stop now. And just as I think so, my one shoe has come off. I can not waste time fastening it. I just let it go and in fact, kick away the other shoe from my foot too. I have to reach home. Mom must be waiting for me. But I am not sure if I would ever reach ...

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“Mud on white” by Clarys J.C.B.

Submitted to Contest #50

This should have been your chance. It was just a few more seconds and you would have tasted freedom. And yet, instead of sweet freedom, here you are, running for your life. It was the perfect opportunity. Her grip was slack, her head turned elsewhere, her eyes for once wasn’t watching your every move. Something had caught her attention. She was distracted. This was your chance, maybe your only chance. You take it. You dash through the grass. The feel of the grass and the dirt felt wonderful. It has been so long since you’ve felt this a...

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“Chasing Rubies ” by Rema Teller

Submitted to Contest #50

I could see myself again, the other version. The fake one. It was standing over my bed staring at me, it's eyes filled with worry. I watched as it turned it's head and crept towards the corridor. I followed it. It was turned away from me blocking the front door. I could tell by the way their shoulders were moving they were crying. They were always smiling, never crying. Why were they crying now? I crept closer to them but they opened the front door to run away. -----I ran after them but I found that the door didn't lead to my own street...

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“Bullet Seven” by Kevin DuPont

Submitted to Contest #50

The Winnebago whipped past a ‘Leaving Iowa’ sign that was quickly followed by ‘Welcome to Nebraska’. The 30-foot Winnebago Adventurer was screaming down the freeway at peak speed of 55 miles per hour (88 kph). It was supposed to be Jack Daniels deep in Tennessee.“Capaldi,” “You’re daft,” Dante countered, “The best Doctor is clearly Tennant.” “I like...

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“The Unknown Last” by Jason Cangemi

Submitted to Contest #50

Sometimes things happen in our lives for the last time, and we don't even know it. This is a story of one such event, which took place on a hot summer day in a tree house. Jimmy helped his father build it when he was 10, and it had served as the meeting place for him and his three best friends for over five years. His father was a carpenter by trade, and the tree house was a reflection of that. It was large enough that it protruded outward from the tree in such a way as to require two support posts embedded in the ground ...

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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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