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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 Performer” by Roopa Gayathri K

Submitted to Contest #50

" Wow! That has been the most entertaining seven minutes of my life! Ladies and Gentlemen, an applause is a must! Thanks Jamie for such an amazing show! We hope you grow to great heights with this beautiful talent of yours....." The host cheerfully exclaimed, making the audience brightly applaud and cheer for the aforementioned performer. Audience. What a word. A simple word that can bring chills all over my body. I stood backstage, watching the host as she read her scripts expressively with nothing but confidence and grace. Oh how I wis...

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“Super-Maniacs” by Prakhar Mishra

Submitted to Contest #50

“He’s headed our way! Hurry!” Ariel said with bated breath, holding a large tablet in her hand. The air grew colder by the second. “Don’t worry, we have contingencies in place,” Colt assured. The decryption was easy enough, but the data transfer was taking too long. “Contingencies will only slow them down for so long, they’re super-heroes!” “I know!” He let out a short chuckle. “Besides, I wouldn’t call ‘em that.” “Whatever. Just do it quick. He’s almost here.” He continued to stare at the screen in front of him. Four percent left... Ev...

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“what could be worse” by Masha Kurbatova

Submitted to Contest #50

My aunt died. It happens. I liked her though. She was a bizarre lady -- some days you couldn’t get a word out of her, some days she jabbered on like a parrot, eyes to the ceiling, hands waving at her sides. She always had some new Thing, some schtick she was working on. She was going back to school, she got a new job, she was trying out some new diet, some new boyfriend, something different with her eye makeup. She was into shawls around one Thanksgiving, then it was those Adidas tracksuits. She shaved her head, grew it bac...

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“A tree house, with many memories.” by Mara C

Submitted to Contest #50

I sit next to him, on his right, my knees pulled up to my chest. I stare out into the room we sit in, the tree house we sit in. My eyelids feel heavy as they sag down, with my long, dark lashes flitting about. I still can't quite get over what happened yesterday, how the world is forever changed. How my life and everyone else's will never be quite the same after what happened. After the rebellion. The resistance. ''Hey, you okay?'' his voice pulls me back down to reality as my mind begins to wonder into a void I know I wouldn't manage to ...

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“Pop the Bubble” by Pepper Mint

Submitted to Contest #50

It was an odd view; two grown-ups standing below a small tree house. Did they come to cut down the tree? No, they were just staring at something between the abundant leaves; the tree house. “Wow, we are here again, mate,” whispered Cat with her eyes full of excitement and glee. “Yeah……” uttered Matt with his jaw dropped. Cat pulled her twin brother to the rope ladder. “Let’s go up to the tree house! I want to see if it’s the same as before.” “Are you serious? It will break! We are not 9-year-old kids anymore!”...

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“Methuselah” by Catherine Stevens

Submitted to Contest #50

Snow swirls in front of the windshield of her small plane; white is all she can see. The plane is bouncing like a wild bronco. The altimeter is spinning around so much it’s difficult to read. She glances at the oil temperature, it’s rising. Something isn’t right; the craft is taking too much of a beating. When she had left earlier they said she’d have clear skies, but once she climbed to fly over the Mountain peaks it all changed. How can it be snowing in July?She kept telling herself to be calm and remember her...

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“ Broken” by Adah M.M

Submitted to Contest #50

Breathe in , breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. This was the technique Mama taught her, she told her it would help whenever she felt nervous.For the first time, Mama had been wrong. She wasn't feeling better. She felt like she was going to throw up and faint. She needed to leave the house.The only place that seemed quiet enough was the treehouse, James had built it for their daughter when she got into middle school but now it seemed like she was too busy jumping in and out of trouble with her friends to use it. She closed her eyes, she ju...

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“The Nitro Queen” by Skyler Woods

Submitted to Contest #50

Chad could feel butterflies in his stomach. He was sitting across from his girlfriend at a dinner table. The young man waited for the right time to propose to his girlfriend, whose name was Veronica. "You okay, baby?" Veronica asked her boyfriend while stretching her petite hand across the table toward him."Yeah, I'm cool." Chad smiled at his girlfriend while taking hold of her hand. He cleared his throat while sitting up straight. "I was just thinking about something." Chad played with his girlfriend's hand with his gentle eyes studyin...

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“The Angel of Yggdrasil” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #50

Yggdrasil (from Old Norse Yggdrasill) is an immense mythical tree that plays a central role in Norse cosmology, where it connects the different worlds. Officer Nicholas Freeman wakes up in an expansive chamber that seems to go on forever. The dirt floors appear to be fashioned into tiles and the wooden walls curl up to the ceiling coming together like tendrils. The most disconcerting feature of the wooden palace is the parade of doors on either side of the hallway. There has to be a hundred in his line of sight, but he figures ther...

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“Confessions in the treehouse ” by Lenny Kovani

Submitted to Contest #50

Everything palls in the summer. Palsy figures , serene minds , rapture! Only the piecemeal crumble of thought will perish that feeling of relief ,oozing your body from every possible hole.And What is truth ,for a somnambulist it’s the dream for the. cynical.But we live our dream in the summer, up in the treehouse that we built ,where we are alone and we feel alive , lying down gazing into the deep oblivion. Our consolidated consciousness resides in a strange yet quite familiar room whose floor shifts when a shaft of light enters and all...

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“Ants on a hot tin roof” by Alwyn McNamara

Submitted to Contest #50

Weed filled cracks snaked through the concrete paths that wound their way though the sparse garden beds that surrounded the sterile nursing home. Resting quietly out in the garden, a wheelchair bound old lady sat staring up at the grey clouds. Her frail body slumped uncomfortably in the chair. Her light grey, almost white hair had been fluffed up to cover her exposed scalp and her skin hung lose and wrinkled. Beside her sat a nurse, massaging her hands. The nurse was young and had a kind face. Soft auburn curls had begun to fall out of her t...

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“Not It, Say Her.” by Tvisha Yerra

Submitted to Contest #50

I watch as you sit still in my lab, your hands and legs bound by your personalized cuffs.One you can’t run away from.“Astra! You can’t keep doing this. You know you can’t,” You say, choking on your own sobs. One of my androids reaches to give you water, and you accept begrudgingly. Because at this point, food and water is a favor from my end. At least, I made you think that. But you, and everyone else in this world know that teleporters are dangerous. After Trix, the world famous teleporter… Well, let’s just say that she caused more damage t...

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“Michael's Treehouse” by S. P. Franco

Submitted to Contest #50

Our summer holidays started today and my friends and I agreed to meet at Michael's Tree house to spend the afternoon telling horror stories and throwing slingshots at crows. The tree house was built by the five of us and Michael's father, who provided the materials and took care of the stairs and the roof. Basically, he took care of everything. But it doesn't really matter. When I got to Michael's house, the smell of Mrs. Carmichael's cupcakes made my belly growl. "You can take as many cupcakes as you want, Jonathan," said Mrs. Ca...

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“Iacopo's Coin” by Dustin Softman

Submitted to Contest #50

There was a thump of a napkin holder and heads turned in the café. His coin hit the box of sugar sachets and finished spinning. “Hey!” Clicking his fingers. “Hey, how long do I have to wait for service?” No answer. He shuffled further forward on his chair, shoulders thrown back, scowling towards the bar. “Is that yours?” he gestured towards a nearby table. The man began to laugh. “The ashtray or the magpie?” &nb...

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“A River of Flowers” by Aqsa Malik

Submitted to Contest #50

He had flowers growing out of his lungs now. The same ones growing in our garden; spray carnations, daisies, lilies, orchids. The whole lot, really. I didn’t have the heart to leave any out, not when his own had gone into them both in life and death. So I added as much variety as I could on the 24 by 36 inch canvas, which was slowly but surely filling up with the vibrant colours of petals.“You okay up here?” Jared's deep voice floats through the wooden room, reaching me before his warm hands do. He’s been baking, because they smell of fresh ...

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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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