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#63 Autumnal

It’s finally fall in the Northern Hemisphere. While the leaves are being slow to change out my window this year, the air is crisp and the pumpkin spice products are out in full force. Time to break out the sweaters!

 

Beyond all the colorful trappings, though, fall is by definition a season of change. So as you craft your stories this week, try to think about how the events you’re writing will change your characters' lives, whether fundamentally or just a little. After all, even a seemingly mundane afternoon can be the turning point of your entire life…

 

And if you want to drink some apple cider or a pumpkin spice latte while you write, more power to you!

🥇 Winner

come to atlanta!

Winner of Contest #63 🏆

   Irina lives alone now, which is ideal. Except last night, when she watched a psychological thriller, some dream-sequence cinema with melting wax heads and ants crawling from orifices and twisted whispering voices. She couldn’t tell you the plot. She couldn’t tell you what it all meant. But she couldn’t sleep after. The scary little movie scenes wormed into the backs of her eyelids. She regretted living so far from Jake then, but by morning, she doesn’t. It would have made her feel like a child, crying to him about a monster...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

The Wind Whispered Back

Shortlisted for Contest #63 ⭐️

“Aria?” Mrs. Moore called out in her friendliest sing-song voice. “Aria, can you unmute yourself and tell us what you’re thankful for today?”Aria hid in the corner of her screen so that one eye disappeared out the side of her box on the computer screen. Twenty-four popsicle sticks. There were twenty four sticks in Mrs. Moore’s jar that she used to call on students. Usually Aria could hide inside that jar. Aria had become an expert at hiding. Not today. “Come on, honey,” the teacher coaxed. “We want to see what your leaf says.”Aria held ...

103 likes 66 comments 66
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Miracle and Grace

Shortlisted for Contest #63 ⭐️

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The pre-dawn sky above Garnett Ridge flickered, casting an orange glow into the starless, smoke-filled night. I stood on dad's patio, embers racing past me like dancing pixies, hopping and twirling and twisting and pirouetting on the hot wind that whipped down the hillside into the canyon. It was oddly beautiful. Magical, even.I put out my hand for one of the larger ones, paper thin and aglow like a bioluminescent moth. It burned slightly as it settled on my palm and then went dark. I c...

38 likes 8 comments 8
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Language Barrier

Shortlisted for Contest #63 ⭐️

They drove mostly in silence. Day 2 of being married. Day 3 of having to communicate without an interpreter. The quiet seemed easier than trying to communicate; so she drove and he looked out the window at the orange, red, and gold covering the trees like a cloak.A few minutes from their destination, she tried, “Almost there!” She kept her tone bright. He turned his head to look at her, at first with a blank expression. Seeing the smile on her face, he mirrored it with his own forced smile. “Yes,” he said in his native tongue, but they both ...

31 likes 16 comments 16
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I Found Something in the Blue Hills

Shortlisted for Contest #63 ⭐️

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Soft grey smoke curled under my feet, and the cracks and pops of the catching flames covered the sound of my footsteps. Fire licked at my ankles, but did not burn. “It’s smoky, I know,” he said hastily. He shoved his hands in the deep, paint-stained pockets of his cardigan. “I tried to leave the smoke out, but —“ “Emiel,” I interrupted. “It’s beautiful. I mean it. The smoke doesn’t burn at all.” To demonstrate, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There was smoke, but it didn’t catc...

28 likes 9 comments 9
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In the Process of Dying

Shortlisted for Contest #63 ⭐️

“I couldn’t possibly die on a Tuesday,” Ruth announced, with the flourish of a seasoned stage actress. She raised her cannulated hand to her forehead in a mock swoon. With her other hand she clutched the Pumpkin Spice Latte that I’d bought for her, strictly against doctor’s orders.“It had better be a Friday,” she continued. “That way you can drop by the morgue after work if you need to identify the body, then go out and get drunk to celebrate. And still have the weekend to recuperate.” She released her hold on the still untasted drink and ad...

28 likes 8 comments 8
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This week's prompts

Set your story in a coffee shop that’s just introduced a new line of autumnal drinks.

Fall – 160 stories

Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)

Teens – 324 stories

Write about a character making fall decorations out of construction paper.

Kids – 45 stories

Write a story from the perspective of a bird migrating for the winter.

Winter – 128 stories

Write about two characters going apple picking.

Fall – 248 stories

Stories

come to atlanta!

Winner of Contest #63 🏆

   Irina lives alone now, which is ideal. Except last night, when she watched a psychological thriller, some dream-sequence cinema with melting wax heads and ants crawling from orifices and twisted whispering voices. She couldn’t tell you the plot. She couldn’t tell you what it all meant. But she couldn’t sleep after. The scary little movie scenes wormed into the backs of her eyelids. She regretted living so far from Jake then, but by morning, she doesn’t. It would have made her feel like a child, crying to him about a monster...

312 likes 80 comments 80
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The First Flight

Submitted to Contest #63

I lift my head from where it was tucked under my wing. The first chill wind of winter has hit. The force of its gust knocks the leaves out of the tree and I watch as the world momentarily swirls red, orange, and gold. Then everything settles again. I extend myself as I rise then jump and catch myself before I drop too low. The ground is sparse, far more than I’ve ever seen before. Granted, I’ve never experienced a winter. My greatest hope is that I never do. I’m going to fly south where it’s warmer and there will be more food to hunt.I retur...

133 likes 44 comments 44
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Drunk on Coffee

Submitted to Contest #63

By Caden Hill,   “Gimme the next one!” Tyler roared. He was on his fourth drink so far, and had vowed on #3 that he would get past seven.“Ok, I’ll give you this one, but ya gotta promise it’s the last one. Just quit the dare.” Louis was not so enthused about his friend’s caffeine high.“What are you talking about? Last one? I’m only just getting started!”Tyler snatched the latte from Louis’s hand and began pouring it into his mouth, promoting an “Eeeew!” from the third person at the table.“Who the heck names their fall-themed c...

113 likes 152 comments 152
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The Will of the Wind

Submitted to Contest #63

By Caden HillThe falcon peered downwards at his prey.He soared hundreds of feet in the air above a roiling Alaskan sea. The water steamed and bubbled, smashing against the dark rocks of the coast to produce titanic upthrusts of freezing liquid.But despite the turmoil below him, the old Peregrine was unfazed. He had braved winters cold enough that the blood began to still within him, and winds so strong that they reduced towering pines to little more than broken twigs.He flew through it all.For if he would not fly, he would not live.And today...

112 likes 138 comments 138
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Meg

Submitted to Contest #63

Dedicated to my magical parakeet, Meg, who passed October 12th. I hope you're happy soaring around in paradise, Meg.I'm flying.Mama, I'm flying again, so free! I feel so independent! The cage is gone!Mama?Where are you, Mama?Weren't you holding me in your warm hand just now?Weren't you looking at me and smiling?Why was there sadness in your eyes, even though you were smiling? Mama, what happened? Why did saltiness roll down your face and fall into my mouth? It didn't taste good, Mama. Please don't feed that to me again.Why was your face...

109 likes 1407 comments 1407
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The Wind Whispered Back

Shortlisted for Contest #63 ⭐️

“Aria?” Mrs. Moore called out in her friendliest sing-song voice. “Aria, can you unmute yourself and tell us what you’re thankful for today?”Aria hid in the corner of her screen so that one eye disappeared out the side of her box on the computer screen. Twenty-four popsicle sticks. There were twenty four sticks in Mrs. Moore’s jar that she used to call on students. Usually Aria could hide inside that jar. Aria had become an expert at hiding. Not today. “Come on, honey,” the teacher coaxed. “We want to see what your leaf says.”Aria held ...

103 likes 66 comments 66
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Perfect as it Gets

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I was too late.~~~~~~~~~~The day started when my alarm clock woke me up that morning. I got out of bed and went to go wake up my five-year-old daughter. I walked down the hallway and to the doorway of her room.“Good morning sleepyhead. It’s time to get up for school.”She sat up. Veronica stretched and yawned. I looked at her, looking at her light brown hair, which was a tangled mess. She started to get up and I went downstairs to make breakfast.A few minutes later, we were all sitting a...

101 likes 53 comments 53
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Rags to Riches

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I heard screams, but the echo was swallowed by the crackling of fire and screams. Horrified screams, but the source was unknown.  Fire was pouring out of me, immersing my entire body in flames. It quickly seared my thin clothing, burning the fabric with ease.  But it didn’t burn me. I didn’t even feel the warmth of the flames whose mission was to devour everything in sight.  The bright death-sentence transferred to the walls of the castle, eating them away, scorching them...

95 likes 351 comments 351
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Chicken Lips

Submitted to Contest #63

Hurry up!  It was Saturday morning and the chickens were arising, Feathers ruffled and beaks slapped with bright-  Croissant,  NO,  Crescent,  NO Cerulean? Certainly not,  Oh! the word is-  CRIMSON  red lipstick  Because these chickens were ready  And they were ready to party.  They had been planning this trip since the beginning of time, whether that meant they were first chickens or first eggs, mind you, and the day was finally, brilliantly and beautifully here. What good was sitting a...

90 likes 174 comments 174
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Mother Knows Best

Submitted to Contest #63

There is no point in coming.His hands burned with a nervous shake that couldn’t seem to leave his body. Such an insane urge to just grab the nearest chair and smash it into a million splinters, but that would get him kicked off the grounds. They would all look at him, judge him as he was forcefully pulled from his seat in the middle of the cafe.She isn’t here yet. There is time to run.His eyes scanned the different nurses and residents that passed by his table. Some had familiar faces, but never did he ask the name of any of them. He preferr...

88 likes 43 comments 43
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Leaves the Fire 🔥

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.The air was thick with smoke and clumps of ash seemed to be falling from the sky. Not that the sky could be seen. It looked like it was midnight. The sun had been blocked by the smoke, great swirls of grey and black and the eerie glow of red as the fire came closer.“Come on Abby, don’t just stand there!”, my dad cried as he ran past, the garden hose clutched in his hands.A trickle of water squirted out of the end as he aimed it at the leaves.The water supply was out.Swearing in frustrati...

87 likes 55 comments 55
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Among Us

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside of my house, the leaves were on fire. Literally. It was so, super hot. The whole reason I even had to step outside was to get a break from that stupid party of my sister’s.She got into Oxford. So what? It doesn’t mean that you should get a whole party! (Alright fine, maybe she does deserve it, but still!)Mark my words, I’m going to be even better than her. I’m going to be one of the first astronauts to get into The Skeld, the first spaceship to Mars. Humanity has been so careless of their surroundings. I remembe...

86 likes 85 comments 85
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"The journey mate"

Submitted to Contest #63

"The journey mate"By: Syed Nasim Aejaz AshkThey were about two hundred and fifty in number and constantly flying at high speeds towards the destination. The intensity of hunger and thirst had exhausted their body strength to a great extent, but ignoring their surroundings and fatigue they were flying at lightning speed. Though he was also tired, but in view of the fear that his companions might lose the courage, he was showing a little too much self-confidence, hence, he eventually increased his speed gradually, neglecting the intensity of h...

86 likes 77 comments 77
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Apart Together

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I step outside, the leaves are on fire. Coming outside was a good and bad idea at the same time, but my house is gone, and I didn’t have a choice. I run and curse into the air, but my words are jumbled up sentences that mean nothing to the thing that is devouring the world. People are screaming, screeching, and crying as they try to avoid the fire, often without success, and hoping not to fall into the endless abyss that is the monster’s mouth. Also without much success. But I don’t care. I only care about running. Running for my...

85 likes 27 comments 27
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The Lesson of the Daidai

Submitted to Contest #63

The afternoon came slowly, like a young blossom turning glory red in the dusk. The coffee shop was dark inside and time seemed to run slower, like the heat had taken time in hand and stretched it out. Outside the street was busy and chilled with cold rain, but inside it was gently warm, quiet, and peaceful. Avery finished pouring daidai batter into muffin tins, slid them into the oven, and pushed her short hair back from her face. She stood for a moment behind the counter with her hands on her hips. There were few people inside the Star...

84 likes 21 comments 21
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