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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 treehouse ” by Jess Smith

Submitted to Contest #50

I looked down from my treehouse and the rain fell hard. This would be the last time I would stand in this treehouse. Tomorrow I would be off to college and I was going to spend today in my favorite place, my safe space. I looked around and each spot was a reminder of my childhood. The pirate map I had drawn with Peter Watson that one summer day was still hanging up and I picked it up. As kids we had pretended to be pirates searching for lost treasures on deserted islands, my dad had even left an “X” spot below the treehouse that w...

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“The Treehouse” by Lydia Richter

Submitted to Contest #50

“Jeffrey! What the fuck?” I screamed at my brother as I felt the icy water drip down the back of my shirt. I turned to smack him, but he was already halfway down the ladder of our treehouse. I felt the anger bubbling inside my chest and I let out a shriek to rival any banshee. I immediately flung myself down the ladder, skipping rungs left and right, and ready to pounce the moment my feet hit the ground. I could hear him laughing below me, and that only fueled my anger. &...

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“The Lessons We Learn” by Maria Makeever

Submitted to Contest #50

At every step, I was scared. Ma told me that the little, wooden steps were safe but my knobby knees wouldn’t stop shaking on the way up. She told me that the tree was solid but my eyes could see the ground too far down for my liking. She told me that the wind wasn’t strong enough to knock us over, and I screamed into her chest for an hour. At every step, she was patient. We sat in the tiny house in our backyard, hiding from who knows what. I told her I was hiding from the darkness outside, and I asked her what she was hiding from. Sh...

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“The Treehouse” by Charles Wasilausky

Submitted to Contest #50

One nice summer day in July, three friends, Nick, Caleb, and Aaron were going to have a play day at the treehouse, complete with a picnic lunch. Each boy was bringing something to contribute. Aaron was bringing the chips and drinks, Caleb was providing the sandwiches, and Nick was providing the cookies for dessert. The boys were meeting up at Nick's house for a day at the treehouse, and a sleepover. Once Caleb and Aaron arrived at Nick's the next morning, they packed up their lunches, games and snacks and left to go to the treehouse. After t...

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“An Afternoon in the Tree house” by Heather Cash

Submitted to Contest #50

Climbing the rope ladder up the tall oak tree seemed as though it would take forever to reach the top. A beautifully, proud, vast oak with years of embedded roots just behind the house in a quiet area of woods embossed with nothing but the sounds of tweeting birds and chirping squirrels that scurry for the acorns at the base of the tree. Rays of sunlight bead through the trees to warm the wooded floor bottom. As I excitedly climb the ladder to reach my favorite place, I cannot help but imagine what will come to life today. Imagination is fre...

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“Canned Drowning” by Blisters Wournos

Submitted to Contest #50

Lilly brings the nozzle of the spray can to her mouth and takes in a long rip from the can of computer duster. The sky shatters into fractals and she sees the summer sun as a kaleidoscope. Nothing matters on afternoons like this. Dad built the treehouse for her tenth birthday. It was painted pink and spotted with lines of Christmas lights. The paint had mostly chipped off by now and none of the bulbs still lit up. Childhood had been magical, afternoons spent in search of faeries and refusing to walk through ri...

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“The Roots of Our Tree” by Linda Berry

Submitted to Contest #50

When I was little, my grandpa moved us into a house in this small town, just outside of Western Toronto. I remember driving into the town for the first time- It was so different from what I knew, but then again, I was only in kindergarten and I had never been anywhere but the city before. I remember the drive there. Looking out the window and seeing that most of the houses were bright blues and reds, with lots of happy old couples on their porches in their rocking chairs, listening to static on the radio. I remember seeing parts of the town ...

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“My Summer of Soul” by Georgia Perlah

Submitted to Contest #50

As I ascend the rickety stairs, I can’t help but remember my countless days spent here with you. My hands stroke the chipped railing and with every splinter, every woodchip comes another memory of six summers ago, or as I like to call it, The Summer of Soul. I shift my eyes downward and rake my gaze up along the stairs one at a time, my eyes traversing the stairs before my feet even reach the top. I pause at the 12th step, noticing the inscribed writing “If you weren't around, I'd probably be someplace way the hell off. In the woods or some ...

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“Dandelion Queens” by Phoenix Satz

Submitted to Contest #50

I watched her as she picked through the sunny flowers spread out before her on the rain warped wood. Her fingers caressed the individual petals of one flower head before moving onto the next. She had the most beautiful, dark skin. Her black hair, twisting and curling, had a halo of light around it from the sun. Her name was Daisy Williams, after Daisy Bates, and she wore sleeveless dresses in summer. I wanted to wear sleeveless dresses in the summer too. She lifted a flower to her face, twirling its stem as she did. Bright yellow glow li...

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“Letting Go” by Lisa Sedley

Submitted to Contest #50

Independence Day has always been an important day for my family. Every year, we’d pile in the car and head to my grandparents’ house at the lake. The day before would be spent packing, planning, and anticipating the moment when we would arrive and be surrounded by our family. It was like this for every holiday, almost, but there was something special about 4th of July. There was a feeling of unity. We all came together for the same reason on that day: freedom. When I was a child I didn’t understand this as much. I had never known oppression ...

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“Tea with elephants” by Chris Holland

Submitted to Contest #50

We unpacked the wicker basket containing our thermos flasks, one held our hot drink and the other our own homemade ice cold lemonade, we placed the flasks and our mugs onto the tabletop of the small rustic table of uneven planks set against the wall at the end of the hide. Next to it was a long bench, crudely made but adequately serving the purpose for which it was intended. The long bench extended the full length of the hide facing an expansive open window which also ran the full length of the bench. The window was shoulder height so when s...

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“Change” by Joanne Raymond

Submitted to Contest #50

Jordan peered through the knot hole at the house. It was all quiet. The sky was blue with a few white, puffy clouds floating silently above the rooftops. The sun was warm without being too hot and a soft breeze was blowing, making the leaves of the trees sway. Jordan sighed and turned away from the knot hole. Who would ever know that life would never be the same, looking at that quiet and peaceful looking house? She signed again and slumped against the rough wood wall of her treehouse. Her sanctuary. H...

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“Buchner” by Rishab Gupta

Submitted to Contest #50

It was a moment never like this! How could it be when I, Pequo Minchin had thrown a ball at my worst enemy Nix Manchow. Nix tried to jump as high as he could. At first, it felt like time had stopped; but then I just found out that Nix couldn’t jump with that 132 lbs. weight of his. I live on the lower street of Buchner Street. Nix lived on the higher part of Buchner Street. Our rivalries had started when Nix had skateboarded down the hill while listening to songs. Unfortunately, he didn’t see my best friend, John Scar. And that had happene...

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“A Rediscovered Treehouse” by Meg Lacy

Submitted to Contest #50

It was hot outside. Scary hot. And in true Midwestern fashion, not only was it hot, but it was humid. This would have been fine to April, if she was inside the house. With the air conditioning. And ice water. And the television so she could distract herself from her thoughts. Alas, April was not inside. She had been kicked out of her house for the day after she told her mom she shouldn’t have over-committed herself this weekend, which was completely true, and her mom disagreed and told her not to tell her what to do, and Apri...

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“Magic Mirror ” by Candy Kent

Submitted to Contest #50

With a heavy heart, the day has come to pack away my dear grandmother's belongings.Her beloved Imbuia wood dressing table with winged mirrors,Where she spent every morning sitting in front of, Flawlessly applying her makeup and perfectly styling her silver hair, and finishing up by adding her pearl earrings and matching necklace before leaving the house.She always said as long as she had her earrings in and lipstick on she didn't need anything else to feel fully dressed.After putting away all her trinkets and silver jewelry box my fingers tr...

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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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