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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

“T.A.C.P. ( Jazeira )” by Rahnyah Stormyst

Submitted to Contest #80

September 11, 2001, 6:30 am," Jazeira, wake up!" Her mother said as she picked up the basket of laundry that was on the floor. " How many times do I have to tell everyone to put the clothes in the basket and not on the floor? I have a big meeting today at 9 am. This will really be the start of my charity or it won't but either way I am going to blow this out of the park." Jazeira peeked over her blanket and said," Yay Mom! I think I am supposed to go to the fire station after school. Grandpa and uncle Henry said aunt Theresa was taking us Ic...

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“Pacific war ” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #80

In February 1878, Bolivia established a new tax on the Chilean company “Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarriles de Antofagasta (CSFA), violating the 1874 treaty that prohibited the application of new taxes, generating protests in Chile. On your side. The Bolivian government of Hilarion Daza, considered the matter as internal, to which Chile sent a warning saying that it was no longer subject to the 1874 treaty. Exactly on February 13, the Bolivian army was installing itself in its battalions and regiments. This cause...

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“The Big Bang” by Mike Burgess

Submitted to Contest #80

It was the loudest noise I’d ever heard. If Uncle John hadn’t kicked his ball away, at that very moment, I would have been right outside the shop with the others. I was running after the football. I reached it, picked it up, and, just as I did, there it was behind me. Boom! And straightaway, we were in darkness, apart from the streetlights outside. The ball was brown leather, with white shoelaces holding it together. It was in my hands when I heard the bang. I can still picture it there. Sometimes, I even feel myself holding o...

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“A Fading Childhood” by (Renee Chen) 陳宣穎

Submitted to Contest #80

When we were kids, Hayato and I used to pretend that we are ninjas. We would dress ourselves in pitch-black kimonos and climb onto the cherry blossoms in the yard of his father’s abode, surveying the village. We made boomerangs out of construction paper and flung them into the laundry bags of the neighbours, chuckling, smiling playfully. Sometimes, late at night when my mind becomes fidgety and I toss around my bunk agitatedly, I can still see Hayato on the tree, the pink petals rattling as he leans against the interlacing branches, his vigo...

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“Simon/e” by Emma Suzik

Submitted to Contest #80

Marlene Dietrich was a female icon of the 1930s through 1950s, who spent most of her career performing. She had many small acting roles in her early career, until she began thriving off of her performance in The Blue Angel. Marlene became a famous actress, starring in many Hollywood roles. Eventually, she travelled to Europe as a part of the USO (United Service Organization) performing to the frontliners of World War 2. She is known as a strong female icon due to her courage to perform so closely to the front lines, as well as her statement ...

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“June was the Cruelest Month” by Book Worm

Submitted to Contest #80

In the scorching heat of June when the hot gusts of loo blind those who dare to step out the house in the afternoons, Lyallpur was set ablaze by the radio broadcast of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India. Dhaniram and Karunanand had switched on the radio and were intently listening to the broadcast on June 3 1947. For more than a hundred years, 400,000,000 of you have lived together, and this country has been administered as a single entity. This has resulted in unified communications, defence, postal services and curre...

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“The Diary of Anna (Rahab's Niece)” by Chris Culpepper

Submitted to Contest #80

The Countdown- Day 8 I started my day as she always had, drawing water from the communal well to help my mother prepare the morning meal. The two buckets seem heavier today. I could feel them pulling down on the opposite ends of the beam that was balanced on my shoulders. Why do I always have to get the water? I'm thirteen now, I've got my whole life in front of me. But little did I know at the time, that my young life was about to change. I hurry past the other girls hauling water. There was no time for chit chat today. I can he...

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“Sitting with the Mayday Tribe” by Ali Anthony Bell

Submitted to Contest #80

“Hello, Smithsonian American Art Museum, office of the curator, how may I help you?”“Hello, this is Anthony Bannister with NPR, may I speak with Mr. Grayson D. Stoke please?”“Let me see if he’s available, may I ask you the object of your call?”“I’d like to schedule an interview for a radio show.”“Hold on please.”The music isn’t bad for once, I recognize the saxophone, must be ‘Why Don’t you do Right?’ I’m just starting to enjoy it when…“Thank you for waiting Mr. Bannister, I’ll put you through.”“Hello Mr. Bannister, Grayson Stoke here, my as...

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“Massacre in Sugarland” by Beth Shelton

Submitted to Contest #80

Iberville Parish, Louisiana 1905 The steam-powered engine rumbled loudly as a young farmhand raked sugar cane from a plantation railcar onto the cane carrier feeder outside a sugar mill. The new machine, a back-saver called Walsh’s Rake, was the latest improvement on the sugar cane farms in Iberville Parish. “Hello!” Dutch, a high school senior, shouted to be heard over the engine noise. The farmhand gave a quick nod in Dutch’s direction, not wanting to take his eyes off the moving rake in case it got hung up or detached from the cables...

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“Onesimus and Philemon” by Tamsin Geach

Submitted to Contest #80

The old bishop coughed red blood into the rag held by the bright-eyed deacon. ‘Not long now’ he croaked. ‘I guess I won’t be a martyr after all. Not like Philemon. But he always did win, every way, every time’The deacon who was nursing him sighed inwardly. Here it came again – that old story of the favoured younger brother, the legitimate one, the beloved child, the one who had called Onesimus…‘Do you know what he called me when we were boys? ‘Dusosmos’. ‘Smelly’. He said my real name, Onesi...

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“Standing Together” by Aburrow Marsh

Submitted to Contest #80

Xavier Matthews entered the room with the dignity afforded royalty, which, in a way, he was. Though slightly stooped with age, he stood tall and proud, with defiance in his eye. He was escorted by a coterie of adult children and grandchildren. I stood to show my respect; even visiting journalists are permitted to show humanity.We shook hands all around. Xavier clasped my hand firmly, a smile tugging on his lips. I did not shake hard, conscious of delicate bones, but Xavier had no such frailties. This man, who had once faced down the Ku Klux ...

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“The King's Trek” by Johan Rosenblad

Submitted to Contest #80

You call this run The King’s Trek. It’s not as if it’s ever been visited by a King, nor is it because it’s particularly scenic or grandiose. It’s just a name, a name you remember from a story you read when you were young about a man, trekking in the mountains and slowly discovering suppressed and disturbing memories. The name of the story was The King’s Trek. The first time you drove through these mountains, they reminded you of things you thought you had forgotten. They reminded you of someone you loved. You are a courier. You drive hundre...

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“Freeing the Beautiful Black Woman” by Trishie Chikerema

Submitted to Contest #80

The letter was in a red envelope leaning against the China vase on the white table next to the staircase, too bright for her to ignore its presence or briefly wonder what it was about and who it was from. She mentally went through a list of her friends who could actually sit down to write a letter instead of phoning or badging into her home and came up with a few names. With a thousand thoughts whirling in her head, Tamisa briefly forgot about the letter and instead looked right through it debating whether a shower or just slouching on the s...

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“Visionary” by Morgana Le Fae

Submitted to Contest #80

In my nineteen years of living, I had spent a good amount of time daydreaming about making history. Changing the world. Doing something that mattered. I never thought it would actually happen. But there I was, standing in front of millions of people, about to give a speech that would make history. The cameras were all pointed directly at me, livestreaming what would be written in history books years from now. My years of fantasies were finally coming to fruition, and it was terrifying. I always had stage fright. Back when I was in juni...

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“Isolated ” by Joane Unknown

Submitted to Contest #80

It was raining outside; I came back from a sleepover. My mother was doing her nails while my father was looking at the football match. It was such a beautiful evening until the breaking news started... “Today, all the presidents on the Planted had a meeting, that will decide the future for all the people except for them. This project will be put into practice on Friday. This is all we have for now! This was Mirnada Vurella!” I thought it was weird. After my family and I heard that, we switched channels. All the prog...

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Ended on 23:59 - Feb 12, 2021 EST

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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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