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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#54: Second Chances

"Third time's the charm."

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

"Rome wasn't built in a day."

The English language is full of aphorisms that get at a universal truth: human beings aren't perfect, and oftentimes we need to keep trying (and trying again) in order to get something right.

This week's prompts all revolve around the theme of second chances. Whether your characters are circling back to something from their past, getting a start on something they put off for a long time, or simply in the process of learning after a swing and a miss, we're looking forward to the 'second acts' you come up with!

And speaking of layered characters, on August 12th, bestselling novelists Caroline Leavitt and Gina Sorell are hosting a free webinar on creating believable characters. RSVP here!

This week's prompts

Write a story about high school sweethearts coming across one another after many, many years apart.

Romance – 283 stories

Write a story about someone going back to school as a mature student.

High School – 88 stories

Write a story about someone looking to make amends for a mistake.

Adults – 223 stories

Write a story about someone struggling to learn a skill that in no way comes naturally to them.

Funny – 154 stories

Write a story about a TV show called "Second Chances."

Novel – 108 stories

Stories

“Finding my voice” by Maurice Mullen

Submitted to Contest #54

Sam O’Brien stood staring at the flyer hanging on the bulletin board in front of the school office. The flyer read: Public Speaking Contest To be held Friday April 23rd in the auditorium of Washington High School Competition will begin at 12:00 pm Winner to receive a full ride scholarship to Northern University Sign up by April 10th with the University counselor’s office “A full ride scholarship,” thought Sam. He wanted nothing more in the whole wide world. “I am going to do it. I am going to win that contest if it is...

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“Truth” by Ana V

Submitted to Contest #54

Jane’s Perspective I start walking home from school. The trees sway to the wind, dancing. I hear a sound, coming from my backpack. Ding I open my backpack and grab my phone, under all the necessities I need for school. Pressing the home button, I get a message. (302)-586-2323. Of course, this number was not in my contacts, and it had sent a calendar emoji with “march 17” on it. It must be a scam, I think to myself. I put my phone in my backpack, and then quietly admire my new Nike branded tennis shoes, while I walk home fro...

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“The Pilgrimage” by Iam Danger

Submitted to Contest #54

“Sir, let me refill your wine sir. Can I get you anything else sir?” The wine glass was full. I wasn’t drinking it. had been offered so many times, I said yes to be left alone. It did not work. There was always one or two hotel staff hovering, in the event we needed something. I was uncomfortable with the attention, having grown up poor in South Philly. I was uncomfortable with complaining, as I had no doubt the man needed the job and he would be beaten or discharged if I said a word. I wondered if I farted if the young Et...

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“Paid in Advance” by James Shortridge

Submitted to Contest #54

Inside of the cave, there was no movement aside from the water cascading from the moss-lined alcove where it poured. No sound except for the echo of the cascade and the slow drip of unseen water. Below, a sickly green light crept from the bottom of a naturally formed basin and cast shimmering light along the glistening rock walls. Dense gravel, with small to large size rocks packed and trapped within, lined the cave floor as far as the eye could see. Only a small opening far from the waterfall, just wide enough for an average human, let in a...

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“Always Well-Meaning.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #54

Always Well-Meaning. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. What more can I say? You can’t say that you didn’t know I was a prick of the first order in the first place. I even told you, do you remember? I said like David Niven said of Errol Flynn, ‘You can always rely on Errol, he’ll always let you down.’” You may have thought it cute at the time and quite endearing, but you’ve had plenty of demonstrations over the years that I spoke sooth.” “Yes, that’s true, Willie, but this is not something that saying sorry will make right. I want you...

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“Broken promises” by LeTitia Williams

Submitted to Contest #54

The smell of Old Bay seasoning assaulted my nose as I entered Collie's Crab Shack. It was filled with people. I never could truly understand the craze for seafood. But that's certainly not why I'm here. My heart is pounding in my chest like I've been running for my life. This is it...Oh my she's beautiful, I mean really gorgeous. She's a natural beauty. She's tall like her father with my mother's face. Those are my eyes, well my father's eyes and my caramel complexion. I wonder what she sounds like? She's doing such a great job greeting cust...

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“Killer Love” by D. Alfonso

Submitted to Contest #54

Honestly, in all my years of working for the New York Police Department, I had arrested quite a few baddies. Yep, at least one person was serving a life sentence because I had caught them. This one, though, was going to be my crowning glory. I, Detective Alexander, was going to bring in the greatest serial killer of the decade. No, the century. The killer, who everyone nicknamed Thanatos, was responsible for more than a dozen murders in New York alone. There were a few from all over the United States that people thought he’d done as ...

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“Confiserie” by Daniel Brown

Submitted to Contest #54

What are the odds of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic? One idiot doesn’t wait to text his mother and rear-ends a muscle car. I was supposed to make a christening, but these car horns surround me instead. I scramble to answer my buzzy phone before someone rear-ends me. My lane shifts forward three inches when I answer. “Elena, traffic is sluggish at best right now”, I explain, “Does shrimp fettuccine work for you?” “If it is served on a square plate with arugula, save it”, Elena replies. She is uptight but square pl...

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“Bailing” by Mackenzie Littledale

Submitted to Contest #54

Bailing A short accompaniment to This Darkness is Mine By Mackenzie Littledale 8/7/2020 Michelle downed the last of her Chianti and paced Joe’s living room. “It’s time for me to apologize to your friend and his wife,” she said, racked with guilt. Joe put down his highball of whiskey on the wood and glass coffee table. “I was wondering when you’d come around to that,” he said, rolling his ‘R’ in his heavy Cuban accent. She let out a heavy breath, wishing for more alcohol, but it was almost bedtime, time to take her medication. “I couldn...

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“Cherry Popsicle Day, sequel, A Second Chance” by Ali Anthony Bell

Submitted to Contest #54

Ashley put away her phone, wiping her tears off the screen. Johnny’s last letter and the poem he had wrote for her was bringing on a flood of memories and emotion. Johnny had asked her to remember only the good times and she was there now…at 15 years in the past…Wednesday, August 26, 2000, the day they met.It was a hot Florida afternoon, and she was working behind the sales counter of a 7-eleven, listening to the radio. The song “I Think I'm in Love With You” by Jessica Simpson was playing when he strolled in, plain white t-shirt, red surfer...

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“The Man Who Sold the World” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #54

There was pain in his eyes as he descended the mountain, so sharply divergent from his ecclesiastical nature that it was shared by all who looked on him. The crowd had gathered. For fifteen weeks they sat under the grim peak which pierced the steely clouds and waited for him, the herd thinning as time marched on and the weather worsened. Finally, three days into the New Year, he emerged as a black speck upon the snowy mountainside, and the onlookers rejoiced at his meager form making its way down out of the clouds. Yet when they saw him more...

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“Boy” by Tammy Pieterson

Submitted to Contest #54

They say charity begins at home. What about anger? Anger that never sleeps, never leaves, never dies. Anger that tears families apart. Well, for young Keisha, anger did begin at home, and it was eating her alive. "I hate you!!" The harsh words were dragged out from the pits of her soul. "Why did you bring me into this world only to make my life miserable? I wish you were dead! No scratch that...I wish I was dead!" Keisha was clearly not enthused by the "great" news. Dad got a promotion, but the post is at a different ...

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“Escape” by Blake Hogen

Submitted to Contest #54

“So I guess that was my mistake...leaving you alive!”“Boring! Everyone always says that. Can’t you think of something more original?” John’s face smiled; his mouth smiled, but his eyes glared with a coldness Michael hadn’t known since that one winter when he was a kid, when he had destroyed his ankle chasing Donny through the woods just off the lot, that root seeming to spring from the snow, grasping his foot and twisting it, mercilessly, way passed anywhere it should have gone.He had screamed, screamed forever, but Donny was gone, booking i...

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“The Rhythm of Life” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #54

I’m someone who has made clumsiness an art form. Dance was never really a part of my life. Despite growing up in the 1970s, disco passed me by. My parents were God-fearing Methodists who attended a tiny church with a congregation that barely made it into double figures and consisted mainly of old ladies in hats. Due to the advanced age of the latter, strenuous social activities were out – with the result that my weekends were spent not at dances but at Beetle drives. Even someone with my total lack of co-ordination could manage to shake a...

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“Second Chances” by LeighAnne Ferreol

Submitted to Contest #54

[Opening Applause] Hello, everyone! Welcome to Second Chances, the game show that never knows when to quit. As always, I'm your host Charon! [Audience Cheering] Thank you, thank you! For those of you new to the program: why so late to the party? [Audience Laughing] Just kidding, of course. Now, in this game, contestants are taken through some of the biggest moments of their lives and given the option: if you could do it again, what would you do? Based on their responses, we will see the results of what could have been. At the end,...

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$50

Prize money

856

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 14, 2020 EST

Won by Mollie Rodgers 🏆

Title: Where the Water Meets the Sand

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.

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