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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#77: Snow Day

It’s deep into winter where I live and here that means one thing: snow, and plenty of it.

While I’m not the biggest fan, even I will admit that it makes great writing weather. There’s just something cozy about curling up with a blanket and a cup of tea, and losing yourself in the world of your imagination as flakes drift slowly past your window.

We won’t all be writing under those conditions this week, but we can still evoke that feeling. So grab yourself a mug of something warm, snuggle up with your laptop, and dream of the bite of winter wind on your cheeks…

This week's prompts

Write about two people going sledding for the first time in many years.

Fluff – 130 stories

Start your story with someone looking out at the snow, and end it with them stepping tentatively onto a frozen surface.

Winter – 233 stories

Write about someone who gets stuck in their workplace during a blizzard and decides to explore rooms they aren’t normally allowed in.

Winter – 162 stories

Write a story set in the summer, when suddenly it starts to snow.

Summer – 159 stories

Set your story in a remote winter cabin with no electricity, internet, or phone service.

Winter – 246 stories

Stories

“The First Date” by Amanda Fox

Submitted to Contest #77

“Ow! Son of a bitch!” Ava swore as she stabbed herself in the eye with the mascara wand. She planted her feet as the earthquake shook the apartment and rattled the items on her bathroom counter. Tremors were common in the area, she was learning, but most were too weak to notice without equipment. “I’m nervous enough,” she grumbled. Ava took a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s just a drink. If we don’t hit it off, I can leave.” First dates always gave Ava butterflies. The plan was to check out the ...

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“Me, Them And Her” by Rose Cartwright

Submitted to Contest #77

Flake by flake it's falling. I cannot help but always be in awe of snow. Not simply because of the cloak of calm it covers the winter days with, but because of the courage each tiny flake carries in itself, not a fear in the world. Happy to fall. Sometimes I wish I were like that. Happy to just let go of my worries and daily stresses, let life become what it wants instead of what society says it should be. I came here to escape those thoughts for a day or two, the ever-evolving sometimes crushing expect...

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“A Winter Wonder” by Tamili Sanjiv

Submitted to Contest #77

I stared out the glass window. Snowflakes tumbled down in a flurry. Winter’s slavering fangs had devoured the last leaves from trees, leaving dark skeletal branches edged in white. Snow weighed down pine boughs. White layered the cars and buildings and icicles hung from eaves. I touched the cold window, as a thin sliver of sunshine pierced through the thick clouds and sparkled the snow. Snowmen were built in everyone’s backyards. Winter’s whining winds didn’t rid the people of the neighborhood from their joviality. The kids laughing and play...

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“288 Hours” by Louise Muller

Submitted to Contest #77

"Go to Austria," my sister had said, "it'll be good for you to be by yourself, away from technology, people, and especially that ass, Rob." Now that I find myself in Austria, alone, with no means to contact the outside world, I fear I didn't think this through. My sister, Debs has four children under the age of four years old. Silence must be something she treasures. For me, however, I find the silence that surrounds me here to be crushing, like an invisible force that engulfs and consumes. She was right, though. I needed to get away. Rob...

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“The River” by Caitlin Biggs

Submitted to Contest #77

The woods that were once full of emerald-green life were now seemingly dead and covered in a heavy layer of snow. Not a single leaf remained untouched. The moss, the ferns, every little rock had disappeared underneath the frozen precipitation. There was no sign of any animal, any life hidden from the winter’s wrath. I stood staring out at those woods, the only thing separating me from them a narrow river that ran perhaps infinitely on either side of me. Despite the cold, all I wore was a thrifted cardigan and stolen jeans that sagged ...

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“To the Top of the Hill We Go” by CM Jewell

Submitted to Contest #77

“How much further are we going?” the old lady asked her husband.“All the way to the top, my dear,” the old man replied as he pulled the sled behind him. “Just like when we were kids.”“I’m not sure I can go much farther. I feel like my legs are about to give,” she said, her hands on her weak knees.“Don’t worry, my dear, I’ll carry you. I’ll pull you up on the sled.”“But Henry you’ll wear yourself to death doing that! Let’s just head back down and go home, we don’t—”“No,” Henry said firmly. “You wanted to do this… to come here. We’re not leavi...

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“Fresh As Snow” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #77

Irma and Justin McEntire, after fifty years of marriage, found themselves falling into a daily routine. Every morning at 6:00 AM, Irma would get up and go into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for Justin while he shaved and showered. They would sit together at 6:30 AM to eat a meal that usually consisted of boiled eggs, toast, and a bowl of oatmeal. Following breakfast, Justin would retrieve the newspaper from t...

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“Snow Stopped Play” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #77

My Dad, Gordon Meredith Merchant, was a great cricketer. But I doubt you’ll have heard of him. Oh, I know there are hundreds, probably millions, come to think of it, of people who say that either they or some relation of theirs could have been a megastar at some sport if only the fates hadn’t conspired against them. But in Dad’s case, there’s some truth in it, and quite apart from the fact that I know he was a deeply truthful person. He was one of the youngest people ever to captain his school eleven, and there are still some precious old ye...

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“Snowy Ash” by Sunshine (:

Submitted to Contest #77

My sleepful silence was suddenly interrupted with the dreaded screech of what sounded like a very aggravated little brother. I woke with a start, rubbing my eyes, and widening my mouth into a serene yawn, my mind playing with the thought of going back to bed. I sat up and my shoulders bolted upwards in surprise when I saw my brother sitting at the end of the mattress. “What is it?” His eyes fill with tears, “I-I,” he sniffles and stutters, “I wanted to play on my bike, but it’s snowing! Now I can’t play!” He cries. “There, there,” I sa...

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“Confessions” by Ace Llewellyn

Submitted to Contest #77

Silence is a fragile thing, but right then, silence seemed to be an insurmountable beast that had its claws around the car. Even the howling wind that was blowing snow outside was banished from the vacuum surrounding them. If it weren’t for her heater, which was working overtime because of the howling January snow, she would have sworn that she had lost her hearing. Even that wasn't fully penetrating this silence though. Ella had offered to drive her nephew to the airport. How could she not with him going away to boarding school? He had beco...

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“Through Snowfall,far beyond” by Lerato Moeketsi

Submitted to Contest #77

From where she stood at the window, Susan could see how the flakes of Snow slowly but gradually fell and covered the superb landscape of the Adventure Farm, with it’s gentle hills and wide sweeps of green . For the past two years Susan haven’t had the time to visit her grandparents. The pain of losing Howard became so unbearable and she thought one visit to the Adventure Farm would help clear her mind and find closure. Now, deep in thoughts, she stared through the window expecting to frame Howard’s features. But they didn’t materialize. Try ...

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“Rain Dance” by Cindy Pereira

Submitted to Contest #77

I don’t live in a climate that snows; but the rain can catch you off guard. Here's my story: About 15 years ago, in the heat of summer, my two older brothers, a cousin, a close friend, who was later to become my husband, and a sister-in-law, went out on a one night’s camp to the Cauvery River, just over the hill from my Nan’s farm in Sivasamudram. It was my first camp out in the wilderness, and after a lot of deliberation to go here and go there, and climb this hill, and scale that fort, we all said that it would be a great idea to camp o...

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“A friend for each snowflake” by L M

Submitted to Contest #77

She had been here for five days and hadn't yet set foot outside. She wasn't scared she assured herself, just cautious recalling her first night as she made her way from the car to the door dragging her luggage and almost slipped. Surely this snow, practically frozen rain, was dangerous.They had no snow where she came from. It was all sun and heat and drenching rain all year long. But she had needed a better life, a brighter future, so to speak and when the opportunity had presented itself, there had been no hesitation of packing her off and ...

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“Coulrophobia Cabin” by Chris Herron

Submitted to Contest #77

Content warning: murder, mutilation, mentions of child abuse The cabin was a small, wooden structure, dark and dingy, dusty and cobwebbed. A skylight let in the faintest hint of opalescent moonlight and it bathed the contents of the upperfloor loft in a cold metallic glow; a wardrobe, a dressing table with a large mirror, and boxes of junk piled two or three high. Outside snow fell ceaselessly, dreamlike and surreal, the hibernal bluish-white frost juxtaposed by the comforting warmth of the logfire inside the ramshackle hut. A tall, s...

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“First Christmas Snow” by Cather Meldr

Submitted to Contest #77

On Christmas Eve morning Jenny mouse woke to the sounds of great excitement from her children. Dressing as quickly as she could she rushed downstairs to see what was happening. Every pane of glass in the kitchen window was covered by a head looking out at the big white things falling down from the sky. When the children saw Jenny, they rushed toward her, all talking all at the same time. “One at a time,” she smiled, as she looked down at little Pip, who was jumping up and down in her usual excited way. "The bi...

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$50

Prize money

930

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 22, 2021 EST

Won by K. Antonio 🏆

Title: Burying David

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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