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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#57: Legacies

Everybody hopes they’ll be remembered. It’s a big part of why writers write, artists paint, and singers sing. It drives some to rise to great heights in politics or business. It’s part of why people have children.

But whether you hope to build a legacy through words, kind deeds, grand ambition, or a strong familial line, the truth is, we don’t always know how history will look back on us. All we can do is put our best selves forward, and hope that our integrity and values will resonate long after we’re gone.

This week’s prompts invite you to delve into people’s hopes for the future — and the legacies that may or may not be what they dreamed of.

This week's prompts

Write a humorous story about the descendant of someone remembered for an insignificant act.

Funny – 73 stories

Write a story about someone who’s famous for something they never actually did.

Character – 119 stories

Write a story about someone breaking a long family tradition.

Angst – 170 stories

Write a story about someone who travels to the future, and isn’t happy about how they’ve been remembered.

Science Fiction – 131 stories

Write a story that starts with someone writing their will — one they know people won’t like.

Dramatic – 183 stories

Stories

“Into the Future” by Rishab Gupta

Submitted to Contest #57

My name is Marlon K. And the winds blew harshly. The trees leaned. The cars creaked. And all that happened when I walked down a dark, gloomy street. I held on to my cloak as it tried to escape. It was a Friday night and instead of enjoying the night watching movies with my parents I was walking down the street. The emptiness made me shudder. I was a teen who had just came back from school. Our school was one of the best in the whole county but we had to stay there till night. I want to look at my future. The best thing I like to do is shop a...

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“Regrets ” by Emily Rose

Submitted to Contest #57

Lemming was a small town, remnants of a large port since abandoned. Well not really abandoned, just forgotten as time had progressed. Rederk stood on Fifth avenue, perpendicular from Herbert street, a name he still fumed at. He was an elderly man, bent and frail, his skin weather beaten, and worry lines written into his face. His face was ashen grey and his eyes were vague and glassy. Streetlamps shown dimly and people in muted colored coats shuffled hurriedly past. This is where it was. This is where it had all begun. The houses on th...

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“The Void's Justice” by Adrian Stolecki

Submitted to Contest #57

The oil ran out in July of 2083. Once there was nothing left to extract, Earth's governments stockpiled what they could, rationing out their precious reserves as needed, clinging to whatever they could. Coal mines began to dry up shortly afterwards. Solar, wind, and nuclear fission power generation efforts struggled to keep up with the energy demand of nearly ten billion people. As worldwide markets crashed, and food production began to slow, the riots began. In a desperate attempt to fuel humanity's growing energy needs, a team of Earth's m...

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“Future Fail, Future Fury” by Lindsey Starrberri

Submitted to Contest #57

Zizi Collar drummed her fingers on the glass dining table, strumming through the latest Magazine Online Weekly disk. The small, black portable disk looked like a small button, but projected a hazy blue light of typed slides Zizi scanned. She squinted at the photograph of Harley Edis, before shaking her head and swiping the visual away. The next slide was an article on model jet boots, with several photographs of the styles they came in, including one interesting video of a set of boots that changed into a pair of hot pink heels when you land...

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“A Mistaken Sign” by Claudio G. Henze

Submitted to Contest #57

Acclaimed scientist, researcher, and self-proclaimed mad genius, Professor Arthur von Turr was delivering his Noble Prize acceptance speech in his head when he made the most influential mistake in the history of mankind. If he had been focused on what he was doing, he would never have made such a simple, yet fatal error. He was so absorbed in his fantasy, that the three times he revised his work, he noticed nothing out of place. If there had been someone else that day, they might have said something. But no one knew where he was, or what he ...

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“They Got Your Nose Wrong” by J.M. Topp

Submitted to Contest #57

FPO password accepted. Access granted. Begin Plunge. *** Success! The warp-catch threw me against the wall of an empty sixteen by sixteen foot apartment. I landed with a thud and gasped as my breath was forced out of my lungs. The air was pungent with the smell of sewer and water dripped in from tiny holes in the ceiling. The place had been long abandoned. My cam-cloak was wrapped around my throat choking me. I pulled with all my might and nearly tore it. Through rapid breaths my eyes began to focus. Well, my right eye. The other eye was s...

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“What one Becomes” by Kali Larcom

Submitted to Contest #57

Just how I came to lying in the middle of a grassy field to this day I couldn’t figure out, but there I was staring up at the blue sky. I rolled to my side as I rubbed my eyes when I looked again, I saw my friend lying less than ten feet from me. “Tony?” I said, sitting up and scooting closer to him. “Tony wake up!” I said, giving him a little shake. “What?” Tony said in a groggy voice. He came to a sitting position and pushed his black hair from his eyes. I looked down at his fantasy adventure shirt and back at him. “Did one of your shows...

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“Forward In Time” by Brynn S

Submitted to Contest #57

Kelsey Rose Brown didn't like being around her crazy uncle, let alone him and her cousin Alex. Her parents were moving but they didn't want her to be in the way, so she was forced to go live with them. Alex was super annoying. He was a year older than her, making him 16. When she arrived at their house, no one answered the door. She knocked twice more and decided to just push open the door. “Hello Brown” groaned Alex. “Oh shut up” Kelsey replied. “Whatever. Your room is downstairs in the basement” he continued “Also, don't go into ...

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“In The Sands of Time” by Immanuel Mensah

Submitted to Contest #57

In the Sands of Time As the dawn gradually gives way for the penetrating light of the day, Cody kneels before what seems to be a tomb mounted in his memory. As the confusion of the situation he finds himself plunge his already weary mind; the eeriness of the wind and the ghostly silence of the place, he slowly makes out the words chiseled on the grave before him; In Memory of Cody Walker (1985 – 2019). His Guitar Played the Music of His Soul, Beloved Son and Brother. As if th...

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“You did good” by Milán S.S

Submitted to Contest #57

“I'm ready, Beetle, let’s go see how people remember me...us in a few decades” said Valmoda, the not-so-evil supervillain from TallHills Town. She was raised by a long line of normal, boring people. That kind that never gets in trouble, the bullies that teachers love and never apologise. Valmoda, who was named Valerie by her mom, was… not like them. Moving around all the time, having bad grades because she couldn't sit still, not many friends, and, according to her parents, she was “only good at being bad”. For years she felt like an o...

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“WHATEVER WILL WILLS (PART 2)” by Dolapo Omoleme

Submitted to Contest #57

Will maintained his position in the line as he was led down the path with the others. He didn’t know where they were headed, but he wasn’t eager to find out. He had heard stories about the life after death, but he never believed them. At a young age, he had frequented the neighborhood worship center with his mother and siblings, he remembered what the preacher said would happen to those who had no faith in the Supreme. If that was the fate he was being led to, he didn’t want anything to do with it. “Where are we going?” he whispered to the...

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“Ky-Thel of Mist” by Obsidian Eagle

Submitted to Contest #57

Kyle Theleon Misteron was his full name, but his good friends called him Ky (as in sky).A week ago, his East Indian girlfriend Gandhara had signed them both up to do a ‘Future Life Progression’ at the Center For The Alchemical Arts.Needless to say, Kyle wasn’t exactly excited. He’d attended spiritualist meetings of this nature in the past and they were typically filled with supermundane mumbo jumbo spoken by hackneyed Western gurus. Things would inevitably end in the purchase of books or expensive treatments such as chakra realignment therap...

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“What I Have Missed” by Ronald Rusianto

Submitted to Contest #57

He's doing it again, again and again. Today he is in a blue jumpsuit. There is no day without him observing the site. The scientist never misses even a single chance of keeping an eye on his masterpiece. Before going any further, the protagonist has the urge to introduce himself to the world, well... to his surrounding. It began in the summer 2007. Bob, how he is called, was spending his break with Hilary, his beautiful but stubbornly aggresive wife. The spouse was accompanied by their adorable daughters named Jennifer and Alice, who tur...

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“In Retrospect” by Yusuf Ahmed

Submitted to Contest #57

Thoughts in retro I Hey there honeybee, how do you think the future will be? That’s the question she would always ask me. No more war and no more pain, That’s how I’d answer, always the same. Then she would smile and reply “Me too dear”; Oh mother, I wonder how You would feel if You were here… The Journey I watched as he walked away, unable to follow. The glass column slowly began to descend until it surrounded me, trapping me so I could not change my mind and leave. I would no longer be able to step out into my world again. The thought ...

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“The Mark of Saint James” by Brandon Chavez

Submitted to Contest #57

Demarcus St. James was without a doubt the smartest man in the world. Underneath his impeccably full head of curly silver hair, there was a brain constantly chugging at one-hundred horsepower, stopping only for sleep and the occasional stoner comedy. When walking past a mirror, he would sometimes catch side glimpses of his head in profile, and take a moment to admire. He was not unlike the Persian rug that tied his library together; a foundation for all good things to settle upon. &...

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$50

Prize money

676

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 04, 2020 EST

Won by Iona Cottle 🏆

Title: Et Tu?

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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