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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#73: My True Love Gave to Me

In years past, we’ve themed our seasonal prompts around a favorite Christmas movie… This year, we’re going to mix things up and base them off a Christmas song! And since this week’s contest runs through December 25th, what better song to pick than The 12 Days of Christmas?

 

If you need a little inspiration to get you in the holiday spirit, check out the Christmas and Holiday sections in our Stories directory to see what members of your community have come up with! With all these marvelously festive tales to choose from, we know you’ll find something to get you feeling jolly in no time.

 

And despite the Christmas origins, our prompts work for any holiday, so feel free to celebrate in a way that's true to you! We can't wait to see your character's traditions.

🥇 Winner

“Burt Brain” by Shawn Forno

There’s no sound on earth quite like a bird flying into a sliding glass door. Unlike the white noise of mass extinctions and vanishing rainforests, the singular thud of delicate avian bones against shatter-resistant Duraplex glass is impossible to ignore. It's the sound of the natural and man-made worlds colliding, like the off-key fervor of a bronze temple gong struck by a fresh-faced initiate. ...

105 comments 105
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“A Fitness Center Christmas” by H.k. Slade

Rex had worked so hard to get on the show. The weeks of practice, the grueling auditions, the utterly convincing look of interest he’d developed and maintained during the director’s lengthy anecdotes: all for naught.  The tour didn’t even have the decency to die someplace interesting. New York, Chicago… even Baltimore would have at least been closer to home. But no, they called it quits in Cary, North Carolina of all places. Most of the cast left town on the bus that afternoon, but Rex had s...

13 comments 13
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“Five Golden Rings” by Elise Volkman

I took two more steps on the snowy sidewalk and somehow felt like I hadn’t moved at all. I’d been in line for at least fifteen minutes. I was out of time. I craned my neck and glared down the line at the bright windows of the chocolate shop. Christmas lights glittered behind the glass. The long line of people ahead of me, all spaced six feet apart, were transfixed, at the chocolate delights under the twinkling g...

16 comments 16
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“The Christmas Proposal ” by Carrie Sheldrake

It was Christmas morning and Nancy was woken up by her boyfriend. She rubbed her eyes and looked into his, wide with excitement as though he had been awake for hours.  “It’s going to be a beautiful day today.” “Is today a special day?” Nancy teased. “Yes, it’s Saturday. The best day of the week. Football is on, full English in a bit, some drinks later.” “Anything else?” Jude looked c...

17 comments 17
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This week's prompts:

Write about someone who is given a bird for the holidays but doesn’t know how to take care of it.

Holiday – 226 stories

Write about someone who gets proposed to five times on Christmas Eve.

Romance – 189 stories

Write about a drummer going to a holiday party for musicians.

Holiday – 60 stories

Write about a young nobleman whose greatest wish is to become an Olympic long jumper.

General – 22 stories

Write about a backup dancer who’s on tour and just wants some peace and quiet for the holidays.

Holiday – 60 stories

Stories

“Burt Brain” by Shawn Forno

There’s no sound on earth quite like a bird flying into a sliding glass door. Unlike the white noise of mass extinctions and vanishing rainforests, the singular thud of delicate avian bones against shatter-resistant Duraplex glass is impossible to ignore. It's the sound of the natural and man-made worlds colliding, like the off-key fervor of a bronze temple gong struck by a fresh-faced initiate. ...

105 comments 105
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“'M' is for Monday” by 𝕜𝐞𝕟𝐝𝕣𝐚 𝕤𝐭𝕠𝐧𝕖

***NOT part 2 for “The Unofficial Student.”***Judie gazes at the mirroring glass, having pity and sorrow for the divine creature nearby. Its body tilts to the direction of the right, so Judie could see the drooping arctic wing that reminds her of a shriveling, single petal of a blue rose. She wishes to help the bird soar in the air, high above the thickening forests belonging to the sky. The bird hangs its head, entwining the guilt in Judie’s warm fingers.Her mother had died two days b...

43 comments 43
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“Delilah” by Zilla Babbitt

December 2018 “Marry me, Delilah!” a voice screams over the crowd as I close the front door behind me. I act like I didn’t hear and make a beeline for the kitchen, where I see Patrice serving punch into crystal cups.  “Hi,” I say, as I take off my winter coat. “You look shot.” She looks dru...

24 comments 24
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“The Dove” by Zilla Babbitt

The plane lifted off smoothly and Toronto began to disappear beneath the wind blown clouds. Kyrie rested her forehead against the greasy plastic window and watched the patchwork of fields, the ribbons of rivers, the buttons of moors, blur beneath the jet. It was a quiet Christmas Eve flight with little turbulence, but for Kyrie it seemed to last forever. The desire to get quickly home surp...

51 comments 51
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“sticky notes” by Amany Eland

Sticky notes littered his bedroom wall. Yellow, green, blue, and the hot pink that used to be yours. He kept a pen in his pocket, a black ball point, and a notepad in the other one.  He forgot a lot of things. Simple things, like what he ate for breakfast, and important things too, like doctor appointments. He remembered the day you two met though. One of the only long-term things he remembere...

195 comments 195
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“Fly Me To The Moon” by Bill Cipher

It was a quiet day when Fauna came to visit. The snow was starting to fall and Frank Sinatra's 'Fly Me To The Moon' was playing on the old radio. The atmosphere was perfect, like something out of a movie. The fairy lights were twinkling and the sweet smell of gingerbread came drifting from the kitchen. I was rocking back and forth in my chair, swaying to the music when I heard her call out to me.She stood by the fire, looking ever youthful. Her sleek, silky hair fell just shy of her waist, glinting bronze in the...

131 comments 131
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“The Identical Performer ” by Aarshia Ray

 Somehow, last year, I hadn’t been quite keen to attend the Christmas Party for Musicians. Maybe, I wanted it to be a quiet Christmas, just with my family. Maybe I wanted to call some old friends over. Maybe I wanted to go to a holiday to some tropical region. Point was, I didn’t want to attend the party, and there was no specific reason for it. My brain told me to deny and that was what I decided. When Frank had calle...

29 comments 29
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“The Love Quadrangle (Ft. Raquel Rodriguez)” by Litlover 🗡🎖🕊

RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ AND I COLLABBED ON THIS, CHECK HER PART OUT WHEN IT COMES OUT!!!!!! ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Christmas Eve was always my favorite time of year. The holiday smells, the anticipation. All my friends hung out together, eating cookies and drinking eggnog spiked with scotch. The fire crackled below the cobblestones, warming everyone’s hearts. Now here it was again, rounding the bend...

600 comments 600
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“The Bass Drummer” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Title: The Bass Drummer Author: Haripriya Author's Note: Hello everyone! I wish you all a happy Sunday! In this story, I didn't really have many things to include, so it is kind of short. But I felt that this prompt was also really interesting because I was pondering about why they only chose a drummer to be the main character in the prompt, so that got me...

123 comments 123
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“The King of Carrion ” by Deidra Lovegren

Although he loved her from afar, she sized him up fairly quickly, determined him to be reliable, then volunteered him to watch her cockatoo for the holiday break. “I’ll be back next week. Its food is in the plastic bag. If you could, give it some fruit once or twice a day,” she said breezily over her shoulder, as if parenting parrots came naturally. “What type of fruit—” he tried to ask her. As the door slammed on her way out, the parrot gave an ear-splitting chirp. He looked at the bird, waiting for it to stop. Bu...

39 comments 39
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“A Christmas Resolution” by Mango Molly 🥭

I’m that girl that every girl is jealous of and every boy likes. I mean, it’s not exactly surprising. I have delicate, soft brown curls that tumbles down to my slim waist. My smooth, olive skin serves as a canvas for my gorgeous emerald green eyes with flecks of peacock blue. All my life, I have been told that I was beautiful. Strangers would stop just to gape at my looks, as my eye color was rather rare. I have always ...

157 comments 157
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“Betrayal” by Benjamin Xie [student]

“Mr. Nicholas, you have been caught for breaking and entering every house in the world once a year for as long as anyone can remember.” That was what the judge said. “Anything to say in your defence?”  “Y-your honour, I was delivering presents! For children they were happy.” Stuttered Santa. “Liar, you gave me a toy doll when I was twelve years old!” Yelled an adult. “Well I thought you wanted one.” ...

29 comments 29
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“To Raise a Mockingbird” by 𝔸𝗆𝕓ᴇ𝗋 𝔼ᴠ𝕒𝗇𝕤

Step One: Get a cage and some bird food from a pet store.Maybe she found it funny that I was an English teacher. Maybe, she was like one of those elderly ladies who, instead of 200 cats, had 200 birds sitting in her basement. Either way, the bird didn’t come with an instruction manual, or in a wrapped box. It was sold online by Bitmouse, on Holiday Realty. My townhouse had been abandoned for months before I inherited it from some long-lost uncle, the townhouse residing in a stra...

22 comments 22
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“Sour and Sweet” by 𝕜𝐞𝕟𝐝𝕣𝐚 𝕤𝐭𝕠𝐧𝕖

Just to be clear, Gena and Mike aren’t married.So why do they share the same house?Because he rented the apartment to her so they live together, but in different rooms.Gena trailed her eyes at the snow globe on a desk next to her, trying not to pull away as Mike curled his fingers in her hand. She didn’t want any more to do with men, after the incident that happened several weeks before.“Why are you here in San Fran...

52 comments 52
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“I'm Just a "backup" ” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Title: I'm Just a "backup"Author: HaripriyaAuthor's Note: Hello everyone! This story wasn't one of my best ones because I included the prompt at the end of the story, so it might be a little disappointing to many of you. But either way, I just wanted to post this story to get some feedback and suggestions for this story. Other than those quick words, I hope you kind of enjoy what I've written, and please feel free to comment down below on what you think about thi...

42 comments 42
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$50

Prize money

606

Submissions

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 25, 2020 EST

Won by Shawn Forno 🏆

Title: Burt Brain

Winning stories will be featured on our website and in our weekly newsletter. For more information, please consult our terms of use.

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