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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

“Different Methods” by Alex Meyer

Submitted to Contest #68

“It’s quiet today.” “It is.” The sun’s rays framed two silhouettes sitting next to the lake, their blanket spread beneath them and their picnic basket at their side. She reached over and passed him the pomegranate. He was always better at taking the seeds out, coaxing each individual morsel with a gentle touch. The plinking of the pomegranate seeds falling into the bowl was cradled by whispers of a peaceful breeze. “When is your flight?” His voice is carefully soft. “In three hours.” “I suppose you had better start getting ready then. I kn...

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“Quarter Pounder” by ℤ ℍ☮️

Submitted to Contest #68

I don't even know what the big deal about sunrise is. The sky is all red and smudged, and the clouds look like curdled milk. Disgusting curdled milk. There's also a big yellow dot in the middle. And everybody seems to make such a big deal about it."Tracy." I turn and look at him, he starts to play with his fingers."Yeah?" I nod sarcastically."I didn't mean to," he says genuinely."Didn't mean to what? Tell me that you're getting married? To some brunette in all the way Greece? That you are taking a boat in two sunsets? That your parents from ...

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“What Would the Grandchildren Say?” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #68

Okay, let’s get this straight. You’re never going to rob a bank without it scaring people, and if you have any modicum of decency, you’re never going to feel right about that. The minute I walked into the Eastern Counties branch on a quiet market square on a rainy Thursday afternoon, wearing a mask bearing the image of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and I said, “Nobody needs to be worried if you do as I say,” I knew that of course they’d be worried. Frankly in their position I’d have been scared stiff and a cowering whining wre...

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“This Is A Robbery” by Leya Newi

Submitted to Contest #68

“This is a robbery.” I said calmly, pushing my golden hair behind my shoulder. “Bring me everything.”“Ma’am, I-”“Just do it.” I told the bank teller firmly, giving him a look. It wasn’t a glare exactly, more like one of those looks your mom gives you do something wrong. I wasn’t threatening him, I didn’t even carry a weapon with me. But he was going to do what I say.I stared into his gold-green eyes with my baby blue ones, telling, insisting, he did what I asked. See, I didn’t give orders. I never had to. People, especially men, just listene...

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“Falling Apart” by Kate Winchester

Submitted to Contest #68

**Author’s note: This can be read as a stand- alone story, but if you read Falling Forward first, you’ll appreciate this one more. The sun was starting to wake and so was Jenny. She wiped the sleep from her eyes because she could no longer contain her excitement. Next to her, Ethan began to stir. “It’s too early, babe.” He said. “No it’s not. We have a long drive ahead. We should start moving." He grunted, but sat up in response. “I’ll go make some coffee.” She left the room and padded into the ki...

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“Peaches and “Honey”” by Lauren Sarney

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #68

“I once ate a grasshopper in a restaurant in France.” It’s a still day and we’re lying on the grass in Shepard’s Park. It’s not quite spring so it's not all green yet and I’m certain when we get up brown splotches will stain our backs from the drying mud. She forgot our blanket but I’m still in my work clothes so to hell with it. The sky is getting softer around the edges as night begins to fall, and on the horizon I can just barely make out gentle ribbons of apricot and coral. It’s romantic, to say the least, this date of ours. Somehow,...

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“The Wedding That Started it All” by AntMan 🐜

Submitted to Contest #68

My brother, Alexander, and I sat in the woods huddling close together for warmth. We watched the sun rise with all its colorful glory in silence, knowing that we might not see each other for a long time afterwards.Alex and I knew that the time was drawing nearer, and he would have to go soon, but still we sat, hugging each other not wanting to let go. I could tell he was stressed, by the tension and tightness in which he was moving.“What’s wrong, Elsie?” He looked at me with concerned eyes. That was his nickname for me.“Nothing”, I said, bec...

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“Past Recovery” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since I'd last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Except that now I was in my forties and wearing my police uniform.Parking along the street, I expected to see my mother's mailbox. But it wasn't there anymore. Instead, a new rustic mailbox stood near where the driveway met the street. It read: The Campbells. It was shut and a red flag was lying horizontally beside it.I looked both ways before crossing the street, then walked up to the front door and knocked on it.It opened and an unfamiliar woman wi...

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“Just Another Nameless Victim” by Mishty Bansal

Submitted to Contest #68

"I just spent the entire evening in the library reading romance books with him, wanting nothing more but to feel his lips against mine." In shock, I quickly turned my head to face her. Her black hair was flowing with the wind, as she leaned against the bridge, staring out at the ocean. It was beyond beautiful. "Wh-what?" I managed to get out. "Yep. It was you the entire time." She turned her head slightly, meeting her alluring hazel eyes with mine. We've been best friends for over three years now. We've gone from rivals to classmates...

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“Sand Witch Sandwich” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #68

As the last stars faded from the sky, the sun broke over the horizon into a new day, and Grigori roared in pain. The sun’s rays touched his skin with the inevitability of daybreak; the light tore through his fur and flesh, unwrapping him like a greedy child, feverishly unwrapping a gift. The sun stripped Grigori of his werewolf form and left behind a human, innocent in his nakedness, yet burdened with guilt. He shook in the cold of the morning, surrounded by mists rising from the lake, spurred by the sun. “So, you finally came,” a fami...

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“all that mattered” by Hibah Youssef (Inactive)

Submitted to Contest #68

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it but the place looked exactly the same. Her childhood home. It stood there abandoned, alone, lost. Its foundation was crumbling. The siding was beyond repair, paint stripped, shattered front porch, swaying front door. And then she said her first word. It was a whisper. An utter. Its echo fighting against the wind, rain. She blinked back her tears. “Home” But she was there. And that was all that mattered. The woods had taken in it to become part of the forest, welcomed it, and en...

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“When I Cracked” by Antonio Jimenez

Submitted to Contest #68

I cracked. After twenty-seven hours of near non-stop torture, I cracked, and the biggest secret of my life slowly slipped from between my lips. I was strapped to a chair in the middle of an empty, windowless room. A single lightbulb dangled from the ceiling and shed its harsh light upon me and my torturer who was preparing to rip the fingernail off of my right index finger. “Are you a member of the CIA?” Screamed the wild-eyed, bearded jihadist as the pliers he was clenching in his right hand began to rock back-and-forth, loosening the n...

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“Aanya and Tamanna” by Mel Shield

Submitted to Contest #68

Silhouetted by amber beams stretching with the waking January sun, the teeth of the world arose, jagged and uneven, out of the lifting blanket of night. Ablaze with radiant crown the mountains regained their majesty, decreeing a promise of grief to any unwary, or weary, traveller.Aanya, who had wandered half the night across the wintry mountainside, welcomed the delivering orb of warmth and light; her broad ursine head lifted in greeting. Shattered frost rained from her thick brown coat as she shook off the weighted memories of night.'Not mu...

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“Better to Lie” by L M

Submitted to Contest #68

I clasped the stranger’s hands over the wooden table, and I sat across from him. His face fell immediately, no longer smiling. Most people reacted the same way when I didn't pull out the crystal ball, the tarot cards, or try to read their palms. I have never been one for gimmicks. I was the modern day prophet sent to this Earth to shed the light and show the truth. Such people did not experiment with schemes and tricks. I did not lie.His chubby hands were hot and sweaty in mine. His excitement dimmed, as he realized his visit to the psychic ...

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“Fishing” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #68

- Well, considering this gorgeous lake we are looking at , and also the fact that we are renting a hut in this resort belonging to the lake, , we have to go fishing . You see, due to our age, It may be our last fishing in our lives, so, in order to take a big advantage of it, we are going to the lake harbour before sunrise – I told my dear old friend, taking his dentures in and out of his mouth, making such an awful noise that I started to take my hat in the same rythm of the noise of the denture : in-and-out, in-and-out , in-and-out,...

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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!

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