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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

“A Love of Nature” by Selene Noel

Submitted to Contest #50

Ever since I could talk, I had constantly begged my father for a treehouse. I would spend hours in the backyard, in the middle of our grove of oak trees. They were thick, sturdy; their long trunks stretching upwards towards the sky for miles. Lengthy round branches stuck out so that all their branches intertwined with their neighbors, no matter how far apart the trunks lay from one another the branches were all intermingled. It was my favorite place to be, even as a toddler. I would cry incessantly if I was taken inside, the only remedy was ...

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“The Wonders of Love” by Adyson Jacobs

Submitted to Contest #50

I tilted my mirror and looked right into his eyes. Wyatt Roud, at least I think that is his name. My mom's new best friend's son. I have never met him, I only have a printed picture behind my mirror that I found online. "What are you doing!" Startled, I almost punched him, my brother, Daniel. "What the heck! You're supposed to knock! I could've been naked! Your ten years old, you need to follow the rules!" He ran out of my room and glared back at me. The next thing I heard was mom yelling, "Jocelyn Gracewood! Get your butt down h...

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“Empty Days” by Eleanor McLoughlin

Submitted to Contest #50

Hazel arrives last. We hear clattering at the base of the treehouse and David, closest to the entrance, turns. “She’s here.” He tries to keep his tone light but there’s a certain strain in it. I hear Hazel’s bike dropping hard onto the ground next and I wince. What the hell would her mam do to her if she broke it? Why can’t she just take a bit more care of things? She climbs up and I try to act normal as I see her looking round. It’s all dark here with only a small dirty window, and disgusting spiders in several places. It’s really small, t...

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“Take Me Back; Maybe I’ll Let Me Stay This Time” by Natalie Rarick

Submitted to Contest #50

His name would eventually fade like old jeans. We grasp at memories, squeeze our brains until they hurt, but the details, the faces, the moments all eventually slip through our fingers like water. But I will try, for your sake but mostly for mine, to remember. Our parents decided to organize our “date” mostly because they thought it was adorable. “He’s like your little boyfriend,” Mom teased as she tied my sneakers. But I knew what we had was real. We held hands at recess, sat next to each other during storytime, sharing the co...

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“The Magic Maker” by Miranda Bruss

Submitted to Contest #50

On the last afternoon of summer vacation, she sat in the grass with her legs crossed in front of her and looked at the small treehouse that was awkwardly shoved into the junction of two gnarled branches and the towering trunk to which several thin boards were nailed for use as a ladder. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she looked up to the doorway of the treehouse and watched the curtain that hung in place of a door flap wildly in the wind. As she stared, she remembered how it used to be red and neat, but the sun had faded most of it to a du...

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“The girl in the tree house” by Jamyang Ugyen Tshomo

Submitted to Contest #50

No one was ready for it. No one wanted to be isolated. As the number of people who became victims to novel coronavirus COVID-19 soared each day, the world which was once booming with life remained in deafening silence. The whole world is in lock down. The city of Thimphu wasn’t any different. In the outskirts of the city, there are few traditional houses. The houses are still and silent as a graveyard. Right beside one of the houses, there is a huge oak tree. It has large, weathered stem and the roots beautifully curved like the ...

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“Leaves, Trees, and High-Seas” by Meghan Trimpop

Submitted to Contest #50

Edwin climbed the ladder of his treehouse with his little sister, Liliana, fresh on his heels. Her head barreled into his legs as he climbed and his fingers slipped, just for a moment, as he reached the top rung. “Lil, not so close. I need space to open the door.” They wore the wood from countless trips to the treehouse, but his hand fit perfectly as he regained his grip. The rung had become contoured to his hand and grew as he grew, the surface smooth, weathered, and well-loved. Edwin, at the ripe age the ten years and four months, could n...

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“Humid Humours” by Rachael Wu

Submitted to Contest #50

[10:08 AM] “Move, you livid heap of laundry,” Juniper growls. Her feet dangle uselessly while her arms struggle, half-wedged against and half-clinging to the wood. Her dress strains against her armpits, shoulders bunching fabric in cutting creases and billowing in parachute-like excess below. Seams press against her arms with too-tight ardor, clamoring for the release that will cast her down as a heap of tumbled bones. Dust, she eulogizes, to dust. Her chest shudders with ragged gasps as trembling arms slip her lower, gradually giving in...

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“Tales of Peter Pan and Cheap Trick” by Art U

Submitted to Contest #50

He reminded her gently that she shouldn’t forget to keep her appointments with Dr Solomon. The appointments had been a source or support, of motivation and a supply of pills. Happy pills that helped her cope with the mundane eccentricities of everyday life. She was a little irked that her brother kept reminding her about this. As an adult with a budding career and a steady relationship, with two Master’s degrees, Nora was a far cry from the troubled child he made her seem like. From afar, one might envy her life, and many aspects were rightl...

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“Moments at Fairy Falls” by Lori Svensen

Submitted to Contest #50

Logan’s hand felt warm around Jill’s as they started up the Fairy Falls trail. As they walked, memories flooded back to the beginning of May – four months ago – when she had finally suggested they go for a hike together. They had been talking about it at work throughout the wet and windy winter, all the places they’d hiked separately. Each boasting over something they had found while on one of the trails. But this one was special because it was the first one they’d done together. Not a particularly strenuous walk, but one of outstand...

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“What a proposal ?” by Syeda Iram

Submitted to Contest #50

It was around 1’o clock in the night and I was winding up my household chores. After winding up everything I went to my son’s room to check whether he is sleeping or still playing games. After that I took a glass of milk for my husband. But when I entered in the room I found that he already slept. So I came downstairs again to keep that milk back in refrigerator. Then I slept by 2. Then a new day awakes me with tons of responsibilities of my family as well as my office, and giving best in every field is my habit. After sending my...

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“Romeo and Juliette ” by Story Teller

Submitted to Contest #50

(Party ) (DJ sounds) Woahhhhhhhhhhh Ohhoooooooooo. The party which I attend every Saturday. There is this DJ which is so loud and people around me so cheerful dancing so happily. And here it's me, who is waiting for that one person to enter the party. (searching) But why didn't he come till now? I'm Juliette waiting for his Romeo. I always attend these Saturday parties just to see him. It's like my every Saturday thing. It's been 21 Saturdays. I didn't have the courage to go up and talk to him. The first time when I saw him was in the p...

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“Deadly Proposal ” by Daniella Idogho

Submitted to Contest #50

I knew that my woman will love me. I had to find a wonderful way to propose to her. But seeing her come out of My father’s mansion into the court yard to where our wedding was to take place, made me feel complete. Her blonde hair blew in the wind, her blue eyes set like the sky. Now there was an art in everything I do. I was a play boy and could get any thing I wanted as easy as ABC. But love was an enigma. Alice would be the one for me the partner in a law firm, alumni of Yale, play boy and a member of richest families in America...

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“Last Forever ” by AJ Preclaro

Submitted to Contest #50

Twenty-six year old Rachel King-Freedman nervously paces behind closed curtains. Between each back and forth, she anxiously readjusts her hair bun. Tonight is the night she and her family have been anticipating. Her stage debut; wherein she and her boyfriend, Henry Montgomery will be telling the story of a marriage that crumbles at the five year mark. The Last Five Years is told in the alternating voices of aspiring actress, Cathy Hiatt and wide eyed, equally ambitious writer, Jamie Wellerstein. The plot device dictates that Cathy’s pe...

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“Flowers of Loyalty ” by Fionn Phelan

Submitted to Contest #50

‘Ah buddy, I’m sorry...’ whispered Larry. He spoke softly, for fear a passer-by would notice a forbidden intimate moment between two Irish men. Seosamh stayed silent. He was sunk into a graffiti riddled wooden bench. The impact of such heart-breaking news triggered an emotional reflex of his – inappropriate humour. He looked to his right and examined the boorish and hurried markings on the wooden slats of the bench. He pointed to a swastika made of crudely drawn penis’ adjacent to a phone number, with ‘txt 4 gay sex’ written below it. ‘L...

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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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