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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#67: The Great Escape

There are times when the world feels so chaotic and out of our control that a break from reality is called for. And what better way to leave everything behind than jumping headfirst into the escapism of stories?

Whether it’s a larger-than-life situation, a comforting old trope, or a genre that’s literally out of this world, stories have been providing people with a way to retreat from their troubles ever since humanity first started telling them around a fire.

To truly keep in the spirit of escapism, make sure you fully immerse both yourself and the reader in the world you’re creating. Use sensory details to really pull us in — make us see, smell, and taste every detail of your story, so that we fully believe we’re standing alongside the characters. After all, the real world will still be here when the story’s over.

This week's prompts

Write about a pirate captain obsessed with finding a mythical treasure.

Adventure – 144 stories

Write a thriller about someone who witnesses a murder… except there’s no evidence that a murder took place.

Thriller and Suspense – 218 stories

Write a romance where the characters pretend to be dating each other in order to win a reality show.

Romance – 70 stories

Write a story where one character needs to betray the other, but isn’t sure if they can.

Dark – 171 stories

Write a space adventure story that features a visit to an alien marketplace.

Science Fiction – 123 stories

Stories

“Served” by Lina Oz

Submitted to Contest #67

My eyes flutter open.I’m panting. My arms are shaking. The covers are soaked and sticky and pungent.I sit up, terrified to look down at the sheets.I do anyways.No stains. Just…water. Sweat. My sweat.I squeeze my eyes shut.The memory flashes behind my eyelids. I see his own dark green eyes, narrowed into slits, staring into mine with anger and shock and horror. I watch my hand sail through the air; it cuts through the space smoothly and gracefully. I see the blade of the knife as it sinks into his chest. I hear his hiss of pain. It wasn’t dif...

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“The Gunmar Civilization” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #67

Title: The Gunmar Civilization By: Haripriya Authors Note: Hello everyone!! Today I will be writing an alien marketplace story that will be featuring the planet Mars. This will be a science-fiction/adventure story! I hope you enjoy reading it! Long long ago, Mars had water, running across the entire planet. During those times, there used to live an ancient civilization named the Gunmars. They were the richest and wealthiest civilizations of all. Their crops would get a surplus all the time. They used to thrive. Gunmarians were excellent ...

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“A Merry Crissness on Planet Miniscus” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #67

Starstruck hopped out of the car, jumping up and down. “Come on, Mom!”Jupiter laughed and wrapped her trunk around her daughter's tusk. It had been so long since she'd seen Starstruck so excited, ever since the bullying started up....Jupiter shook her head. Only her daughter's happiness mattered today.Starstruck started dragging Jupiter toward the marketplace (a tough feat seeing that Jupiter resembled a large, black elephant, except for the waving antenna and three trunks instead of one).Extraterrestrial Market occupied all of Planet Minisc...

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“Agora`s Deceit” by ~ Rookiewriting ~

Submitted to Contest #67

A strand of silver-blue hair rebelled, escaping from underneath her hood, waving in the unforgiving wind like a raindrop in an ocean storm. Lanaia curled one barefoot over the other, sitting on the fence, dangling her feet over the edge of the board ship. Craggy land, filled with barren gravel and scrappy boulders opened up as they emerged from the silky clouds. Dusty storms, ceaselessly raging below, sang their sharp, sunken song, blurring the horizon and the orange dawning sun in the distance. The breeze of wind brushed be...

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“♠ Dead Man`s Wisdom ♠” by ~ Rookiewriting ~

Submitted to Contest #67

Iron heels thundered on the craggy stones, echoing in the hallway in the depths of the Spirit temple. Distant, desperate voices tore apart the calm breeze of morning wind, brushing against my knees. Screams, that worked their way through your ears into your body, sending shivers and chills, that would stay there, roaming around long after the sound would fade. Scream did fade, moving aside for cold, deep silence to fill the burrowed hall again. I squinted my eyes towards the heavy fog, waiting for a blur, shadow in the mist. There was...

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“Every time” by Ari Berri

Submitted to Contest #67

“We meet back here in thirty minutes, understand?” Mom says. We all nod. This happens everytime we come here. “Everyone has their watches?” She asks. We hold up our wrists so she can see the identical glowing watches. “What happens if Bluecoat stops you?” She asks. We all groan. We’re wasting time. "Tell them we're looking for our parents." Lily says. Royal leans over to me. "Are we gonna go, or not?" "In a minute. She'll run out of things to worry about soon." I tell him. Sure enough, she sighs in defeat. "You can go." We cheer,...

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“Iago's Choice” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #67

The television shows a car's flaming wreckage. On screen, the anchorman announces, "This was one of two similar scenes, thirty minutes ago. Both the candidate for president and their running mate were killed by coordinated rocket attacks. The assailants remained unseen. Police are asking anyone..."You tune out the rest. You know what happened- she did. Your boss took you under her wing seventeen years ago. You know her like you know your own family. Nothing is too low for her. Vipers disown her for being too low a snake. There she comes, int...

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“girls who eat caterpillars on the playground” by Masha Kurbatova

Submitted to Contest #67

I. It was halfway through LIT 201: INTRO TO AMERICAN LITERATURE that I realized I hated American literature. Every book we read ended the same way: our plucky main character gets on a train and thinks wistfully to the past, then brightly to the future. It’s a cheap metaphor, the train, a symbol for progress, forward movement, Westward expansion, rfonwards & upwards, etc. And American stories are just like that, straight lines, like train tracks, flat, giving the illusion that you ended up somewhere different, further ahead, than when you...

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“Bird Watching” by Amiable Sorceress

Submitted to Contest #67

OneMedina gazed out the open window into their new starlit world, Lillian at her side, waiting impatiently. Sighing, Medina closed the window and attended to Lillian’s cluttered papers strewn all over their shared room. “I never asked you to pick up my papers,” Lillian murmured, still tapping her toe impatiently. “I asked you to take me on the main deck!” Lillian spoke a little louder, arms crossed in defiance. Medina placed the messy papers on her desk and slipped on her shoes as slowly as she could muster. Then, she took Lillian’s han...

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“Family” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #67

“I love you. Do you love me?”“Uh – yeah. Yeah, I do love you.”“How much?”“Too much.”******“You are getting distracted, Henry.”“I know Dad. But I – I can’t help it.”“You must. Stop being sentimental or I’ll have to do it myself. You know how I feel about getting my hands dirty.”“Forget about her. Or I’ll make you.”******I walk across the lawn and reach the door.Gently knocking, I look around, taking in my surroundings and committing them to memory.A plant next to the door giving off a sweet fragrance, the freshly wet grass in the lawn, the we...

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“For him🌊” by Ari Berri

Submitted to Contest #67

"Cap.." I sigh. He’s doing it again. He glances from his map. “Yes, Nami?” “You know it’s not real, right?” I say, leaning on the doorframe of his room. He frowns. “It is. I know it is.” “It could be something else.” I point out. He shakes his head and turns back to the map. His long, curly black hair is falling out of it’s bun, and into his green eyes. I have brown hair I put in a short ponytail. I sigh, shut the door, and go stand beside him. Cap, or Captain, has been my best friend for years. He’s called Capt...

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“The Ladies of the Lake” by Yolanda Wu

Submitted to Contest #67

Our bones lie at the bottom of the lake; covered with mud, worn down with age. Sometimes the current pushes the mud back, exposing our gleaming bones. Our spirits ripple with the current. We rise each morning with the breaking of the dawn, And then we sleep with the glistening of moonshine across the surface. But we do not rest. For our ghostly lungs are still filled with water, and our ghostly hearts are still trembling and breaking Each time another lady joins us Here at the bottom of the lake. “Are you sure this is it?” Jamieson asks,...

128 comments 128

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“Outliving the Constellations” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #67

New MoonTaran taught me to interpret the stars when I was only five. He tickled my elbows and matched my fingers to the loose stitches of the sky like puzzle pieces. I laughed when he traced Ursa Major, the wingless creature following his hand in circles. He even let me swing from his limbs like a twisting vine and dig my heels into his angled shoulder blades. I got the best view and covered his cratered eyes, pretending we weren’t parentless. He is not my brother—we are not related—but he holds my hand until I fall asleep. It’s no...

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“Cracked Corporations: Cracked Cases Part 6” by Meggy House

Submitted to Contest #67

Alma hopped off the subway and sucked in the city air. Gaseous, slightly grimy, cigarettes-and-alcohol, and completely real. It wasn’t some fake pastoral purified scent everybody seemed obsessed with in the country. New York smelled like what air was supposed to be. She had run away, she had run away, she really did it! &nbsp...

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“What you give comes back to you” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #67

Title: What you give comes back to youBy: HaripriyaAuthors Note: Hello everyone! I hope you are having a good day! So, in this story, you might find a lot of words/phrases that may seem weird or doesn't make sense... but those words/phrases are pirate lingo. I tried to make it sound like an actual pirate is talking, to make the story a bit more engaging and fun for the readers. Again, thank you for checking out my story and I hope you have a blast reading it!"Ahoy, Me Hearties! Avast Ye! Blimey! For I see... something golden and shiny, waiti...

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$50

Prize money

726

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 13, 2020 EST

Won by Deidra Whitt Lovegren 🏆

Title: Your Poor Rick

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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