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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.

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 – 200 stories

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

Romance – 170 stories

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

Halloween – 54 stories

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

Middle School – 20 stories

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

Winter – 54 stories

Stories

“Five Golden Rings” by Elise Volkman

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #73

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 glow. I glanced down at my phone. Less than fifteen minutes. I wasn’t even at the bus stop yet. I looked up, groaned, and stepped ou...

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“🌻Keep Me Steady🌻” by The Manticore

Submitted to Contest #73

I stand in the exterior wings of the stage, wishing I had wings myself. It’s so incredibly hot, this little tiny extra space behind the stage, and the outfit, too tight around the ankles and too loose in other places, doesn’t help. I wish I could fly away from all this. It's unbearably hot. I can’t wait -- literally, I feel like jumping away and escaping -- for this tour to be over. I shouldn’t be this nervous. I’ve been here a million times. I’ve worn the too-tight pants and the too-loose shirt and the bright white smile every night for mon...

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“Grace of the Bard (Part the First)” by Emmie Greensgate 🏗🔚🔚👫

Submitted to Contest #73

I wake up to my phone beeping a steady rhythm. I groan. I've been on tour with Rosaline Height for six days, and I'm so tired I could sleep for a week. It doesn't seem that hard to get out there and do a few dance steps, but if you do that for six hours to your least favorite songs (sorry, Rosaline) in the middle of the night, then it gets you pretty tired. I don't even sleep well anymore. Every morning we fly to a new location, and every night we perform. I don't even get my spotlight-- I'm a backup dancer. The alarm keeps going. And then I...

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“Lumpy and Rooster” by Kristin Neubauer

Submitted to Contest #73

Lumpy took the chain between his teeth and jiggled it. It clinked and jingled as chains do, but did not loosen. The horse pricked his ears forward and studied the contraption locking his stall door securely in place. He shifted his hooves and moved his body around to come at it for another approach. A furious jangling reverberated through the barn, drowning out the Christmas carols playing softly through the hidden speakers. The grooms, perched on hay bales outside the stall, leaned forward.“He’s getting it,” whispered Manny.“...

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“Rejection x 5 (Part 1)” by 🕊 🎀 𝒱𝒶𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒶 𝒱𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓁 🎀 🕊

Submitted to Contest #73

“What happened all those years ago, you left me cause ‘it wouldn’t work out’, I quoted him. “Look… Nessie.” “Vanessa,” I corrected, didn’t want my ex to use my nickname he’d used when we were together years ago. “Vanessa,” He pronounced shyly, keeping his head low. “I’ve changed, and so have you… it’s almost Christmas… why don’t we make it memorable?” “So am I just a toy you use whenever and throw?” I questioned, flickering my honey golden eyes to stare at his blank expression. “I…” “Stop Jared, we’re done… I’m sorry to disappoint you but I…...

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“Sophie” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #73

Some things happen so quickly that it's hard to figure out if it was a dream or reality. Case in point:After a long day at work, I was pulling carefully into the driveway at home. I just wanted to go inside, stretch out on the living room couch, and relax. I hadn't done the crossword puzzle in today's newspaper. That and a cup of hot chocolate would do me just fine.But moments later, I heard a car skidding on the street behind me. Looking in the rear-view mirror, I saw the car slewing this way and that. The street ended a few houses away in ...

118 comments 118

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“Love with the Loveman’s ” by W.W. Skybelle (Inactive)

Submitted to Contest #73

Everything was going great this year. My professors were teaching me a lot of piano, and I was getting a B+ average instead of a C-. I had entered a few piano competitions, won twenty dollars, and got a part-time job as a performer in a small symphony. I had quite a few boyfriends and girlfriends, broken up or got dumped on terrible terms, and was still clueless about my sexuality. My father was now conscious in the hospital after he had a stroke, although he still was at death’s doorway and there was about a 70% chance he ...

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“Henry, Harry, Harvey, Horace, and Harold. ” by Emmie Greensgate 🏗🔚🔚👫

Submitted to Contest #73

When you're the fifteenth princess in a royal family with twenty kids, you know that there isn't much chance of you getting the throne.Ever.So what my life is going to look like is this:Fourteen:Get a job, because even a princess must learn a trade before she comes of age. My trade will be art. Fifteen:Start looking for boys you like, or else you'll end up with an arranged marriage and sometimes that backfires and you get stuck with someone you don't like at all.Sixteen:Find a reliable man and get married.Seventeen-eighteen:Establish a house...

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“Cīsō and the Human with the Strange Google History” by <inactive> .

Submitted to Contest #73

You still remember the day your Google history changed forever, the Christmas where another being entered your perfectly messy home. As a writer, you needed to do a lot of research, you told yourself, as you Googled ‘how to make homemade bomb with febreze can’ and ‘febreze can explosion radius’ and other things the Secret Service would be concerned about. But this all changed, when your mother decided that you were living a disappointment of a life (you starkly disagreed), and got you a bird for Christmas. Writers aren’t meant to take care o...

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“Dreams” by Kylie Wallis

Submitted to Contest #73

Bianca Hawthorne loved music. Ever since she was a little girl, she always turned up the volume on either the radio or TV and danced along to whatever was playing. She wasn't all that fond of country songs, but there were a few exceptions. Her favorite type of music was pop rock.She could watch programs like MTV for hours. She scribbled lyrics on paper. Melodies were always churning around in her head. For her 15th birthday, her parents bought her a drum kit. From then onwards, she was hooked. She had enthusiasm and even took lessons, which ...

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“The Mouse With Five Wives” by Svara Narasiah

Submitted to Contest #73

There was once a young mouse lad. He was a very handsome mouse, with carefully brushed whiskers and shiny black eyes that reflected everything before them. His coat was the color of whipped cream, making him stand out against the night sky. It so happened that this mouse, whose name was Tiddler, was getting his little mouse-hole ready for Christmas. He shoved his messes into corners to make room for decorations, and snuck into the human's kitchen to steal uncooked rice and threaded them onto string to use as holiday lights. He set up a li...

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“Hark, the Harold” by Julie Ward

Submitted to Contest #73

Dear Friends and Family,I’m a little late with the annual Holiday letter, but I think we can all agree that this has been a very interesting year, and that nothing has gone as planned. When the virus that-shall-not-be named grounded us for life, we did what any other family would do. We laid around in our PJs and ate bread. As it turns out, Jim is a pretty good baker. I think he missed his calling, although my waistline likes him better as an accountant.Jim is still with Skillerod, Actins and Croy, and I’m your neighborhood broker;...

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“The Christmas Love Bird” by Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #73

Ben walked very intently down the isles of his favorite local pet shop looking at all of the pets for sale. This was his favorite usual routine that he enjoyed doing about every month or so. He lived in an apartment that had very strict rules against having pets. So as far as Ben was concerned this was as close as he could get to having that feeling of being a pet owner. As a child, Ben had grown up with several different pets ranging from cats, dogs, fish, and even chickens. He grew up on a farm in Northern West Virginia and was no strange...

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“Faded” by Aman Fatima

Submitted to Contest #73

Alex, Noah, Nathan and Daniel stood in the middle of their hotel room around the center table where their invitation lay untouched. They hadn’t planned to go to the party since they would be leaving the city in 5 hours but their flight got canceled at the last moment. Now all four of them were stuck here in their hotel, nowhere to go and nothing to go. Alex grabbed the invitation and headed to the nearest sofa to take a seat. “THE 20TH ANNUAL RED NOTES GALA and Christmas party, requests the pleasure of your company at Blah blah balh” Alex re...

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“The Assignment” by Bianka Nova

Submitted to Contest #73

(Warning: some strong language.)It was the third day before Christmas and my true love send to me… a grumpy guy making a delivery.Actually, my true love didn’t send me anything. I just thought it made for a nice rhyme. Who am I kidding? It was a shitty rhyme! Also, I don’t have a girlfriend. I don’t have anyone. To be fair, that’s what happens when you’re a contract killer. Not a lot of people lining outside your door to apply for the best friend position.And, well, the delivery part was actually true. The guy made such a sour face while dro...

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$50

Prize money

498

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 25, 2020 EST

Won by Shawn Forno 🏆

Title: Burt Brain

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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