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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

“And As For My Glass Eye Collection” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #57

“...But she always liked that necklace, and so I’m happy to leave it to her. While her neck may not be anything worth drawing attention to, I would argue that anything covering the neck has been sorely needed for quite some time. Well, now that my daughter’s inheritance is accounted for, let’s move onto the one asset I know everyone in my family is clamoring for-- My glass eye collection. It’s value, when last I checked, was somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. Who knows? It could be millions now. Billions, perhaps. I tried not ...

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“Lost time 🧭” by Ari Berri

Submitted to Contest #57

3 2 1 You have landed 5 years into the future. Stella unbuckled her seatbelt, and crawled out of her seat. The time machine was small, and she was not enjoying it. She kicked the door, and after a few tries, it swung open. She tumbled out, hitting cold concrete. She groaned, and sat up. She looked around, confused. The science lab was...empty? But that couldn't be possible. They said they would be waiting. Nobody was there. She stood, streached her legs, and looked around. There was nothing in the room except some broken parts of random thin...

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“The Annual Late-Summer Dessert Bake-Off ” by Lori Colt

Submitted to Contest #57

“Rita, I’m sorry to call you so late, but you’re the only person I knew I could phone who would answer this time of night,” my neighbor Alice says to my one-word question of hello?“It’s okay. I’m definitely up. I’m waiting for a pie I just made to bring to work tomorrow to finish cooking. What’s wrong?” I ask her.“I have to leave town, family emergency, and I need someone to take care of Jackson while I’m gone. Can you help me?” she asks.Jackson is Alice’s 13-year-old cat who will snuggle into your lap for a nap but will alternately bite you...

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“Bernard's Bench” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #57

Bernard’s Bench. That’s what everyone calls it. Everyone who was born in the town was brought up calling it Bernard’s Bench and newcomers soon get into the habit. There’s no plaque or little commemorative plate, or even any lettering carved into it. At least none to do with it being Bernard’s bench. It’s not an especially decorative one – its metal is rusty and its paint is flaking – and it’s not especially comfortable either. It comes so close to it – if the seat were just a little higher, if the slats on ...

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“The Will Reading.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #57

The Will Reading. “Welcome relatives, I use the term loosely, more along the lines of the welcome of the emptying of one’s bladder in the morning after having stayed in bed too long. I hope I’m able to look down upon this gathering from on high as a ghostly presence, but I doubt it, hence I’ve used this video format to communicate with you. “I’ve witnessed, or I should say more truthfully become aware of the obsequious attitudes of, I’m guessing, most of you assembled here, the toadying and of imploring the ‘invisible man in the s...

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“The Path of Destruction” by Natalie Dafoe

Submitted to Contest #57

Iva Kline knew she wasn’t supposed to use her father’s time machine, but like most teenage girls, she went against his will. She would pay for it later, she knew, as she fiddled with the controls of the aluminum box. But the lure of adventure just around the corner was irresistible, and so she decided to go.The metal was cold against her delicate fingers, and she couldn’t help but allow her lips to curve into a mysterious grin. Her father doubted her academic abilities, never believed she would be capable of working the machine. Of course, t...

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“Trying to bow out.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #57

Trying to bow out. “Dad, Dad, Dad. I don’t want to do this anymore. I mean, you’ve had me and my brothers doing this for millennia. You rested after 7 days. Yeah, yeah, I’m kidding. You never rest. Is your Dad still creating worlds? There must be a trillion by now. He must really be ‘old school’ just doesn’t need rest.” “Well, son, number 34, if he keeps creating them, then we have to keep populating them. It’s our tradition.” “But I’d like to just hang out in that world of talking animals and birds with beautiful girls without sexua...

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“The most chaotic Will !!!” by Utkarsh Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #57

“After me, Beatrice Samuel and her older kid - which is mine will inherit half of my property. My café will belong to my first son Harry and my real wife, Lucy.” “What the fuck…?” Harry shouted, and he was utterly shocked, and the Will letter slept out of his hand. “Daddy’s kid? He was having a relationship with Beatrice,” he asked his mother, and the nebulous electrifying cloud of surprise covered his eyes. Mother Lucy had fallen on the ground; her languid muscles were quaking under the shock of the truth. The tears were pou...

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“A Will to Remember” by Jan H

Submitted to Contest #57

Harold T. Goodman gave a maniacal laugh as he finished the revision of his will. He had made changes to it over the years, but this would be the last. He scrawled his name across the envelope and tucked it into his mahogany desk.Turning to the family portrait that hung above the fireplace, he raised his glass of Macallan in a toast. “Let the greedy blood-suckers try to contest that,” he said.***********************There was Uncle Harry, larger than life, waving from the deck of his yacht. He’d been dead for over six months, and it was time t...

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“What am I?” by Ari Berri

Submitted to Contest #57

Bella kinda hated her mom.She had ways she wanted Bella to do things, and most she couldn't do. Like cooking, or art, or technology things.She couldn't do that stuff. But what she loved to do, was to sing. Of course, her mother didn't let her. She didn't think music was a worthy skill, and told Bella not to do it, but she had different ways to make time to sing.First, Ms. L, the music teacher, let Bella practice every morning. She asked Bella if she could help, and Bella was overjoyed.She walked to and from school by herself, and hardly anyb...

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“The Feline Family” by Inkstained Introvert

Submitted to Contest #57

Lizzy knocked on the front door and pushed it open quietly. “Hello?” “Come in,” her mother called unenthusiastically. Lizzy set down the carrying case she was holding, out of view in the foyer, hung up her jacket on the coat rack, and stepped into the living room, where everyone was sitting silently on couches, drinking tea. She stopped for a moment and surveyed the room, deciding who to sit next to. Her mother and father were a no-go; they were the only two on their couch, but there was a space in between them, and only an amueter...

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“Elemental Forces” by Kylie Wallis

Submitted to Contest #57

Nicole Morgan really didn't want to be at this party. But Melanie Porter kept on insisting. She gave in and told her friend she'd make an appearance, but only intended to say until just after midnight. So that's how she found herself at Rihanna's house, surrounded by groups of people. Some were familiar faces. She had no idea who the others were or where they could have come from.Nicole stood at the bar with a drink in her hand, all set to toast the New Year. What she really wanted was to be in bed sleeping. But as she knew all too well, nob...

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“My Descendant” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #57

I’m thinking to myself what is a descendant. I found out that it’s a person, a plant animal or cartoon character that is descended from a particular ancestor. Knowing that vital information and the understanding where I was descendant from of all people my real biological cartoon grandmother could have slept with the squinty eye Popeye the Sailor Man. Now I would have never thought that he was a make belief cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar on January 17, 1929. My granddaddy Popeye the Sailor man was based on a real man.ly rea...

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“A Checkered Past” by PK Spice

Submitted to Contest #57

‘If one more person congratulates me, or makes a joke, I cannot be held accountable for my actions. This cannot be my life. Let it go … deep breaths … LET … IT … GO,’ Phoebe Fardink mumbled to herself. ‘I should have moved away from this godforsaken place years ago.’ She tried to stay calm and suppress her anger as she made her way across the town square to her antique store called ‘The Checkered Past’.Why did she live in such a small, backward town? How could that one insignificant incident from her grandmother’s life be immortalized by a t...

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“The False King” by Bruce Charles

Submitted to Contest #57

“I think there’s been a mistake,” I said.“I’m afraid there’s no mistake, my friend,” he replied, shaking his head sadly. “I know it’s hard to accept, but you really are dead. From what I’ve heard, you put up a great fight. 4 years. That’s a long battle.”“No, that’s not what I meant.” I pointed at the door in front of us. “You said that this is where kings go after they die.”He nodded.“But...I’m not a king.”“Oh, really?” he said doubtfully. “So they just let anyone dress like that nowadays?”He was referring to the costume- and it was only a c...

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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.

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