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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#68: Meet in the Middle

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that the internet loves to argue. Perhaps one of the stranger fights I’ve seen is what constitutes a “sandwich” — you’d think the definition would be universal… and you’d be very wrong.

 

But whether you classify hot dogs, pitas, and burritos as sandwiches or not, one thing we can agree on is this: no matter how similar the components, there’s endless variety to be found when you combine the ingredients in different ways.

 

With that in mind, this week we’re celebrating the infinite diversity of fillings. To do so, we’re going to provide you with the beginning and ending of your story — and it will be up to you to fill these two slices of literary bread with whatever you can imagine!

This week's prompts

Start your story with two characters watching a sunrise and end it with one of them seeing the moon reflecting off a lake.

Adults – 301 stories

Start your story with someone admitting a secret and end it with someone telling a lie.

Dramatic – 180 stories

Start your story with someone robbing a bank and end it with two people driving on an interstate.

Dramatic – 86 stories

Start your story with the line, “This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives,” and end it with, “By then it was too late.”

Sad – 132 stories

Start your story with the line, “It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same,” and end it with, “[…] and that was all that mattered.”

Adults – 178 stories

Stories

“Sestra” by Authoring Studio

Submitted to Contest #68

(NOTE: This story has Russian characters. So... there are two unfamiliar words used. Their meanings have been given in the comments below!) It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Natalya was found shuffling uncertainly along the edge of the mansion. Would she be able to do it? Her feet carried her away back to the main gate. She absolutely couldn’t do it. Never in her life did she even dream of doing it. Then what was she doing here now? Her rare, green eyes hovered tensely for a mom...

3 comments 3
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“Tropical To Some, Prison To Others” by Monica D

Submitted to Contest #68

“Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t this place beautiful?” Daneille says in awe. “You could say that, but it’s just a sunrise…” I say trying to sound bored, but that sunrise was extraordinarily beautiful, even through the hotel’s window. “I have a question...Who am I? Who are we?” I ask? “You should know who you are Ivory...Like you know I'm Daneille,” Daneille says quirky and curious why I asked. “Yeah but...that’s our names not who we are…” I say again. Why doesn’t she get my question?“Oh Ivory, chill out we don’t need to know...

15 comments 15
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“The Letter Man” by Molly Leasure

Submitted to Contest #68

Atkin,An accident. A mistake. I struggle to find the difference. And so, what does that make an accidental mistake? Is it redundant, or does it take on a new meaning? As I'm about to give you a chance to discern for yourself… I suppose I'll leave it to you. Because by accidental mistake,I love you.A bent elder unfolds the letter, flattens it to a journal page, and then paper clips it in place. Below it, he writes:Number forty-two, to Atkin Arthur. Too Shakespearean for him to take notice.With the letter stowed, he reaches for another en...

33 comments 33
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“Graduation” by Jasey Lovegood

Submitted to Contest #68

GraduationThis was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, but somehow, it was the complete opposite.“We’re graduating today, Es! Isn’t that exciting?!”“I mean… I guess? I’m just glad we’re done with exams, and I don’t have to stay up all night to study. If you think it’s exciting then-” “You’re all gloom and doom, Esme. Just try and enjoy today, okay?”“Easy enough for you to say, Mila. You like school, unlike me. So of course, you’re going to be ecstatic for the last day of high school, we’re going to uni after this. I’m not ex...

41 comments 41
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“They Called It Home” by Joshua G. J. Insole

Submitted to Contest #68

Phillip backed away from the counter into one of the kitchen chairs. “Um, honey, there’s something you should know.” The tone of his voice made Donna glance up from the box she’d begun to unpack. Styrofoam and newspapers scattered across the floor. She held a mug in each hand. One with a cartoon dog on it, another with the phrase ‘FEW HAVE SPOKEN TO ME BEFORE COFFEE AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE’.“What?” Images flashed in her mind. Infidelities. Murder. A criminal past. A horde of secret lovers. Drug smuggling. Gangsters and mafiosos. Kingpins,...

7 comments 7
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“Hum” by Kanden Lang

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #68

The sky is positively glowing with first light. The purplish snow clouds blur into the horizon and sunlight bleeds through them, lighting them ablaze with gold. A shiver courses through me as a stir comes from behind me.I turn to find that she’s already up. She pulls on her robe and joins me at our massive bay window. She tousles my mop of black curls and chuckles. “Look at yourself!”I look back at the window and find my expressionless face staring back at me, my hair in a frizzy pile on top of my head. Then, I see her reflection as she rest...

10 comments 10
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“After the Smoke Clears” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #68

After waking up next to Merlin in that flower patch that day was refreshing. I didn't want to wake him up but Tessa and Alwyn's yelling could wake the dead. Looked at me with this drowsy smirk as they coddled me like old friends that haven't seen me in a long time. I had to protest my well being many times before Merlin pushed them away. I barely knew him a week and there I was sitting in his embrace, watching the sunrise, and loving every single moment. I closed my eyes, letting every fuzzy memory of last night fade into the sound of his h...

0 comments 0
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“In my heart” by Aisha H.

Submitted to Contest #68

The sunrise casts brilliant colours across the horizon, and the view really warms me from the inside. The Orange and Red come together to make an alluring landscape. My best friend, Cree, sits next to me on the luscious green grass, his knees tucked up towards his chin. I smile at him, and he smiles back through his drooping brown eyes. My back to the beautiful Maple tree from behind me, I continue to gaze at the fleeting colours smeared over the sky. Moments like these, I realize, are the ones I love the most. I care about Cree so much, and...

21 comments 21
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“From Rags to Redemption” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #68

I assumed the mask was for keeping the dust out of his lungs. Here in Alva, Oklahoma it was pretty normal at the time. I hated those hideous-looking things. They always ruined my makeup and made me question what the point was. They made it hard to breathe anyway, so how was that any better than the dust? We were all sick and tired of wearing them, fed up with the economy, and desperate for any kind of change just to break the monotony of the Hoover years.The fine, beige particles bellowed through the door of the bank in a small cloud as the ...

11 comments 11
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“Stitching Pinned Marrow” by Molly Leasure

Submitted to Contest #68

(Author's note: this piece is experimental. Enjoy it as a story-length poem.)No one loves Caeshin Blithe more than I do. “Sunrise to sunset, or suh they say.”“For forever, not just a day."From sunrise to sunset, my love will never dwindle. But in the darkness of night, That’s when it’s most brittle.And so I became Mrs. Caeshin Blithe.Enjoying hollow love and midnight’s alone.It’s not much of a life.If only that naive little girl had known.“Nice, eh? The oranges, the reds.”“Certainly starts the morning ri—” “—Reminds me uh...

30 comments 30
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“sunrise, sunset” by Natalie Strawbridge

Submitted to Contest #68

“Have you ever pulled an all-nighter?” Riley asked, turning over her shoulder to look at Emma. It was a strange question, Emma thought, considering they were sitting on a rocky outcrop watching the sun come up on the horizon. Riley sat on a precarious ledge, legs dangling into empty air, face tipped up to the rising sun, the sun Emma had woken up for at 5:30 AM, and she was already thinking about night?A few feet behind Riley, Emma sat with her legs safely tucked underneath her. The view was just as good from her vantage, if not better, beca...

4 comments 4
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“Mi Casa, Su Casa (the sequel to "Where There's Smoke There's Fire")” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #68

SUNNY: I wake up in an unfamiliar bed. My youngest daughter is lying next to me, still asleep. At first, I wonder how in the world we'd ended up here, and then I remember what happened yesterday. We're in Quentin and Cat's house. They're letting my children and I live here until our house is repaired and we can move back into it.Lying on my side, I look out the bedroom window. A tall leafless tree stands in the yard outside. Through its branches, I watch the sky slowly change colors. From black to light grey to pink, yellow, and orange, and ...

3 comments 3
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“The Soccer Tryout: Akiva And Katie” by Monica D

Submitted to Contest #68

"This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives," Dill starts the story."Two friends Akiva and Katie where the bests of friends. they did everything together, but their lives were gonna take a sharp turn.""I'm so excited for soccer tryouts, TOMORROW!" Akiva says in her purest grin. Akiva has the best soccer skills in their school! She is one of those athletic people that actually like what they're doing."Don't get to excited Akiva, you might not make it," Katie says grimly. Although her name makes her sounds cheerful like Akiva, Kat...

3 comments 3
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“Carnations and a Coffee Pot” by Clarice Shepherd

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same, save for the moth-bitten taffeta curtains and the dust resting on the bookshelves and piano. The particles hovered in the air like pixies and tickled the woman’s nose. Her cool, withered hands quivered from age and memory as she brushed away the delicate grime from the instrument’s expansive cover. The tintinnabulation of the front porch wind chimes carried on like a fairy choir with bass bamboo tubes and chipper crystal bells. Dozens of them hung...

12 comments 12
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“ Mother ” by Kashish Chaturvedi

Submitted to Contest #68

“This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives,” This refers to one day before my birthday. Let me take you back in time where it started, how it started! A white color tent is placed in the corner of the drawing-room which is sparkling with fairy lights, inside is sitting a 14-year-old girl surrounded with various kinds of soft toys out of which she is holding a cute little off-white teddy bear. That girl is me.. Allen. Let me describe myself to you, I am a teenager with a single parent, my mother left us when I was 7 years old si...

27 comments 27
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$50

Prize money

877

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 20, 2020 EST

Won by FJC Montenegro 🏆

Title: Silence

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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

Join our weekly contest

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