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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

“Ten Years Later” by Katelynn Laird

Submitted to Contest #54

I hadn’t seen Jesse in about ten years. We met back in ninth grade and immediately had a lot in common. We could have been good friends. Instead, he professed his love and I dumped him, only to realize that was the dumbest mistake in my life. Not only had I hurt him and ruined everything between us, but I chose that moment to discover my strong feelings for him. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, he started dating my former best friend, Rebecca. When we graduated high school and went off to different colleges, com...

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“The Runaway.” by Patricia Green

Submitted to Contest #54

Graduation Day was coming up fast. Mary had been looking for the perfect outfit to wear under her robe. David would be there she knew, somewhere up the back, so she wanted to look perfect. Mary and David were High School sweethearts and were quite sure they would always be together. The big day arrived and Mary dressed in her new outfit and ran downstairs for breakfast, so happy she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. Mary was sitting at the table enjoying her scrambled eggs on toast when her Father burst into the kitchen. Mary’s Fath...

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“August Storms” by Paige Leppanen

Submitted to Contest #54

Every August, we get at least two days with rain. This, unfortunately, is one of those days. I’m grateful for the excuse to collect my thoughts in privacy, though. The radio is cranked up and I’m checking my bag for the fifth time today, ensuring I have the essentials: my laptop, folders, textbooks, notebooks, pens, highlighters, sticky notes, a stapler, staples, index cards...I love back-to-school shopping for my kids, but it was even more fun buying school supplies for myself. No minor breakdowns because I accidentally bought a pink glitte...

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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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“Auteur Filmmaking” by Mr Jingo

Submitted to Contest #54

When the solitary cloud moved past the sun, nothing obscured the piercing rays from firing down onto the Nevada desert, the merciless summer heat oppressing the film crew like ants under a magnifying glass. Perhaps if they had more common sense, one of them might have suggested rescheduling the shoot. However, “rational thought” and a “Rhapsa Pumpus film” weren’t phrases that went hand in hand.“No!” Rhapsa shouted in his bizarre, impossible-to-place accent, “Molly, come on! We’ve been over this!”She glared at him, something made much less th...

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“Baby Steps” by Kevin Schenk

Submitted to Contest #54

The train was packed but not so full that every seat was filled. I got the ticket from my uncle. He told me on the tracks "Remember, when you're in the village just ask for Peter. Everyone knows Peter, it's a small place." I hadn't been out of the city since I was a kid. Growing up we'd go out to one of the village's my uncle described but that stopped when ma and pa divorced. Since then I lived in Libertia. Sure it was a smelly city, full of shit, gangsters, and wannabe's, but it was my city, ya know? It was were I grew up. I moved in with ...

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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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“A Christmas Miracle” by Kasia Brie

Submitted to Contest #54

Josh, Faith, his wife of twelve years, and their two children, Grace and Luke, hiked with his parents, brothers and their families through the snow of the Christmas Star Farm in Owego, New York. They had driven up the day before from Chestnut Hill, a tony suburb of Philly to reconnect and make new memories. They were celebrating Christmas and his mother’s cancer remission. As was tradition, they went to the end of the field and spread out, searching fo...

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“The Ride Back” by Silver Fish

Submitted to Contest #54

I live far away from home now. It's been decades since I've seen Jenny. I have a big corporate job now. Time to think is a rarity, something I cherish amidst the chaos of my life. The work often feels like too much, like it’s stacking up against my chest and threatening to strangle me. My days are often filled with people yelling, misunderstandings and missed opportunities. Sometimes I wonder if the corporate life, with its gray interiors and fluorescent lights, is meant me for me at all. When the work gets to be too much and I feel myself u...

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“The atonement” by Juhi Garg

Submitted to Contest #54

Sukhlal stared at the cracked ceiling, as he lay motionless in his bed. The sunlight percolated and created a linear luminescent spot on his mattress. It was a hot sunny day, but the inside of his house, were comfortable. The thatched roof provided a soothing aplomb within the structure. The floor was washed daily before morning prayer, as was done in most households of the village. The floral incense burnt in the corner, maintained a calming serenity in the small house.Jayanti, his wife maintained the house with utmost dedication. She ensur...

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“A second to live again” by Tejas Chandna

Submitted to Contest #54

It's been twenty years since I founded 'Second Chances'. She was there with me when I started it. We were inquisitive to find where it goes. The journey today is coming to a beautiful end. Nostalgia giggles my nose when those memories of an eighteen-year-old nothing finds a second chance to bring a show called 'a second chance'. She told me that it will go well and it did. God bless the TC Productions that it had the courage to take this unpredictable show. It started when we met the first ghost. His name was Anthony. He died in a car a...

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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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“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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“Small Acts of Faith” by Vanessa Kilmer

Submitted to Contest #54

Bridget lit a candle in the church alcove, her 90-year-old knees aching in protest at kneeling before the Madonna. She ignored the unpleasantness, her lifelong response to things she couldn't control—no sense dwelling on spilled milk. She couldn't ignore the wrinkled hand with little liver spots dotted across the wrist that reached in front of her vision to light a candle of its own. The body landed on the hassock next to her and expelled a grunt and woof of air. The person came within inches of bumping into Bridget. She held up her right...

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“LOVE REMAINS ” by Vickie Culbertson

Submitted to Contest #54

LOVE REMAINS Looking out the window of the Pottery House Café and Deli I see my high school sweetheart loading a van with carefully packed boxes of functional and decorative pottery art. He has maintained his handsome physique, dressed casually in a white golf shirt and khaki shorts. Wearing sandals and his skin is tanned an attra...

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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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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