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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#80: Living History

It's an important truth that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves living through historical moments whether we’ve prepared for them or not.

This week, we’re going to examine all the ways that people live through — and shape — history. Whether that’s an important activist organizer, a daring political leader, or just someone trying to educate people on the past so they can avoid previous mistakes, history is made up the actions of each and every one of us. How will your characters change the course of their world?

This week's prompts

Write about someone who never planned to make history but is now about to deliver a speech in front of millions.

Teens – 104 stories

Write about a child witnessing a major historical event.

Dramatic – 236 stories

Start your story with someone entering a museum, and end it with them settling down to join a sit-in.

High School – 41 stories

Write about an elderly character who was part of a historic movement years ago.

Historical Fiction – 134 stories

Start your story with a major news event breaking — one that will change the world forever.

Dystopian – 156 stories

Stories

“Remembering History” by Scott Paranada-Fried

Submitted to Contest #80

Eric had long assumed it was a story he would take to his grave. But as he neared his eightieth birthday, the memories were strengthening, getting more vivid. He could barely remember what he did the day before or when to take his blood pressure and cholesterol-fighting medications, but what transpired on a warm June night in New York became crystal clear, though it was six decades ago. For the first time in his married life, he yearned to tell his dutiful, faithful wife what had happened. He had participated in the ...

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“BACK IN MY DAY...” by Ronald Gagnon

Submitted to Contest #80

"What are you thinking about, Granpaw? All I can see of you across the fire.. is your bent head... I can't even see your face... That silly old hat covers it like that..." "Donnie, This silly old hat... as you call it, is probably one of the reasons this old grandpaw is still alive... So don't you go making light of it... That crazy green thing that covers your head ain't no prize, either... But don't you ever stop wearing it." "Yeah, mom tells me every day... Something about the way the sun shines through that atmosphere stuff that...

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“Phases” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #80

Surrounded by twenty or thirty thousand souls on the Polo Fields of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, I was eighteen when I took my first hit of LSD. The San Francisco Oracle, a hippie newspaper distributed in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, announced the event, ‘A new concept of celebrations beneath the human underground must emerge, become conscious, and be shared, so a revolution can be formed with a renaissance of compassion, awareness, and love, and the revelation of unity for all mankind.’ The allure of unity for all humanki...

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“The End of Our World” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #80

Emergency sirens were thirteen minutes too late to warn us of our fate. Our sky twisted into a swirl of gray clouds with a blood red sunset, thunder and cracks of explosions indistinguishable in the distance. Even the air that surrounded us peaked with electricity as I pulled my sister’s hand, feet pounded the earth eager to grab each step. It was the tiny details that seemed so memorable: the smell of smoke, the sweat of Isabelle’s small hand fighting against our grip, the burning air in my lungs, and the nausea that forced me to finally st...

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“Dara(Goodness)” by Dolapo Akanni

Submitted to Contest #80

The winner for the under- 18 race competition for the South-western Nigeria competition is Dara Akin, the master of ceremony announced over the microphone again. She was sure she heard it the first time but her mind was fixed somewhere. In between the drifted moments, Dara tugged her mother, gazing at her with a puzzled look. Mum, I won the race showing off her set of beautiful teeth. She heard in her hand the golden trophy. The trophy gleamed in the hot afternoon sun with red and blue ribbons adornment. It was indeed a sight to b...

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“The City That Never Sleeps” by Annabel T

Submitted to Contest #80

Spring is the season when Winter blows it’s last kiss, it’s ashes of snow turning into fine drops of rain, rebirth coming in it’s finest form. The deadness that we had sat through all Winter long becomes so alive, so nourishing. Mom always said, when I had the Winter blues, “Just you wait my dear. When Spring comes, so does joy. Hold on, my love. Life will get warmer.” And so this year, like all years, I waited. I watched from the window seat, everyday, watching the flowers slowly bloom and the sky slowly lighten with each passing day.&...

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“42 - 1” by Brad Morris

Submitted to Contest #80

James Buster Douglas would be facing 42 - 1 odds. Mike Tyson was on the top of his game. I knew I'd get the result tomorrow; South Africa wasn't getting the fight and the only question was which round would Tyson starch Douglas in. But that was an ocean away in the United States; we were in Hillbrow, South Africa. Hillbrow, city in the sky - Johannesburg's answer to NCY's Greenwich Village. It was Sunday, 11th February 1990 and an even more seismic event would be taking place about an hour from now; one that would change the trajectory of So...

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“Selfish” by Joohee Yoon

Submitted to Contest #80

(This does not follow any specific timeline) Name: Lyria Askoff, the paper reads. Parents: Isaac Askoff (presumed dead) and Nyla Askoff (dead) Hometown: Cliffwood Township (destroyed during the Fourth Bombing) Other Affiliations/Relatives: Unknown The man sighs, flipping the page over to skim over the first few categories.Age: 5 (Birthday: 5/11/2081)Height: 3'11 Weight: 58 lbs Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Brown He clicks his tongue, shaking his head.What a shame. The rich and powerful start these wars, and the poor and weak have to pay the ...

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“The Extinction of Materiality” by James Holgate

Submitted to Contest #80

Today was yet another day filled with the monotony that is life. Awakening to the everlasting cawing of the crows outside his house, Wyatt arose from his elongated slumber to the stabbing light reflecting inwards from his window, immediately going over to shut the blinds, avoiding contact with the outside world at all costs, due to the distinct lack of anything it had given him throughout his depressing monologue of life for 24 years. Expecting nothing but despondency, he began his daily doomscrolling through the news, upon performing this r...

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“Skulduggery” by Tony Milligan

Submitted to Contest #80

Skulduggery Belfast 1976 In the target, I waited. The shallow curtained alcove concealing me was claustrophobic. My nostrils itched from the dust in the air, but I resisted the urge to scratch. The curtain was a scant two inches from my chest; I couldn’t risk moving it. They would be watching. ‘Get there an hour or so before their team arrive, Jack, that should be time enough. I suggest covert entry from the rear, the back door has only an old mortice lock.’ Frank had started briefing me in his laid-back, understated manner, ...

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“The Stars Told Me Congratulations” by Auspicious Echo

Submitted to Contest #80

“T-2 minutes. Crew members, close and lock your visors.” The robotic voice boomed throughout the space shuttle. My stomach was sick. The scientists had told me that everything would be okay. They had evidence to back that up. Even so, the things that might go wrong plagued my mind. The engine could fail. The shuttle could run out of fuel. Communications could — “T-10 seconds. Activating the main engine hydrogen burnoff system.” The space shuttle rumbled as it came to life. My stomach did not feel any better, and I felt as if I wa...

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“We Have Stolen Bodies” by Tatiana Olin

Submitted to Contest #80

We Have Stolen Bodies Tatiana Fox, Feb 2021 I went to the history museum for the exhibit on the era of colonial and Native American conflict during the settlement and expansion into the Mid-Atlantic. It was supposed to focus on first-hand accounts of the time period of kidnappings and micro-treatises between small settlements of both European settlers and the local tribal villages, including peoples like the Shawnee and the Delaware. As an archaeologist who works in the Mid-Atlantic region, this period we call the Proto-Historic, or Contac...

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“A Memory Best Forgotten” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #80

Content warning: holocaust, abuse Laying in his hospital bed awaiting the angel of death to visit, Stanislaw Kowalski held onto the hand of his grandson, Sherman, and shared a story about a time gone by but not forgotten. Warsaw, Poland: 1942. Fourteen-year-old, Stanislaw was out in front of his family’s four-story apartment complex. He and his friends were playing a game of kick-the-can when a loud rumbl...

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“Overthrown” by M C

Submitted to Contest #80

Overthrown By Maci Currey I hear the loud beeping sound and see the horrifying red bar sliding across the screen. The horrible beeping sound, the sound of destruction, the sound that haunts me in my nightmares. It reads the word “Breaking” in big bold letters that will never leave your head. A newsperson pops up on the screen, they have a bland expression and voice to match. We gather around to watch, me my mother, my father, and four brothers. “The government is being overthrown, please stay inside, be careful. There have already been man...

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“Battleground Earth” by Victoria Lucas

Submitted to Contest #80

With two minutes left in the round I was smashing through what had to have been my best game of ‘Battleground Earth’ yet when the breaking news bulletin flashed across the headset in a seizure inducing kaleidoscope of insanity. Ripping the VR goggles from my face I did everything I could to prevent myself from ralphing up Kraft dinner all over my mom’s brand new braided rug. It really tied the room together. Finally regaining my balance I slammed on the teleset and watched as the horror brandished across the screen. Fire rained down from the...

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Ended on 23:59 - Feb 12, 2021 EST

A winner will be announced soon.

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.

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