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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#83: Tropical Getaway

Sometimes we all need a break from our current circumstances. When the world feels gray and lifeless, thoughts of warm beaches and sunny skies can sound more appealing than ever.

Travel has been hard to come by for a while now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make an escape through our imaginations. So this week, let’s slather on the sunscreen, steal what daylight we can, and take our characters to the crystal beaches most of us can only imagine.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who goes to extreme lengths to get themselves to a tropical island.

Adventure – 91 stories

Start your story with someone emerging from the sea, and end it with them looking up at the stars.

Fantasy – 277 stories

Write about someone who’s lived on a tropical island their whole life and is leaving it for the very first time.

Dystopian – 83 stories

Write about someone who books a bargain vacation, only to be told when they arrive that they need to share a hotel suite with a stranger.

Dramatic – 148 stories

Write a fantasy story about water gods or spirits.

Fantasy – 227 stories

Stories

“One night only” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #83

CW: mentions of abuse, substance abuse At the thirty-minute mark, I grabbed the snack bag ziplock from the glovebox and dumped the eighth of mushrooms into my mouth. Their dryness and rubbery texture sucked the salvia from my cheeks and under-tongue so that I had to chew considerably more than I would have liked to. I had my eyes on the road, my hands gripped the steering wheel, but the sensory organ playing captain was my tongue. My taste buds acted like driver ants collecting each part of the mushrooms’ earthiness. A faintly fecal n...

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“The Tsunami” by Roger Crane

Submitted to Contest #83

Note, wrote this between 5:15 pm and now (about 6:30) today, just to keep my hand in here. Hope you like it, although there is only a little dialogue in this one.It had only taken a short time for the tidal wave to cover the island. It was seen offshore on its way in and ten minutes later it arrived. No one was prepared—how could they be? A massive wall of water three-hundred feet high does not take much time to cross many miles of ocean—on the other side of which a volcano had split off one side, sliding it into the ocean with a giant “kerp...

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“The Tanabe” by Zion Hintay

Submitted to Contest #83

Hayubei... Hayubei... Come here."A small leafboat floated down stream, racing down what she believed to be white water rapids. Bouncing over small stones. She turned to her father with an eager smile on her lips and stumbled her way to him.With one arm he lifted her, and brought her deeper into the glade, brushing aside some foliage to clearing their view to the rest of the lands of her people. The Tanabes."Far across our plains lays a creek so large that it spans as far as the eye can see. It is called the ocean Bei Bei. And one day, I wil...

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“Mystical Misery” by You'd Think A Writer Would Have A More Creative Name .

Submitted to Contest #83

1615 wordsRated PG: violence, bloodPrompt: write a fantasy story about water gods or water spirits.You can’t know someone when they’re dead. It’s grammatically incorrect. When one dies, their world is erased from existence on this plane. I know longer know him, because he no longer has the universe he exists in. He belongs to another. I knew him, and those centuries together were amazing.Eubh is staring at me from across the bubble. Her slithering arms are stiff at her sides. Her tail floats graciously in the water. Even her hair defies scie...

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“ Of Falsehoods” by Kas Reidva

Submitted to Contest #83

She is all too familiar with what the legends make of her, with the heinous slander that monstrous men spewed to cover up their own rot. A shrewd and jealous temptress who loves nothing but power or, on the contrary, a guileless and powerless victim of the lustful old fool Merlin’s advances are her main depictions. Sometimes there is even the occasional casting of her as a motherly figure to Lancelot, the White Knight. Glaucia could bear being associated with the aforementioned lies, but she could find no shred of forgiveness for those paint...

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“I am in trouble! ” by Madhumitha D J

Submitted to Contest #83

I am in trouble! I am caught up with her in this unavoidable situation. Though she is calm, her dark eyes are scary as hell that she would burn me with her fiery sight! I must confront her with confidence and make her believe that it wasn’t intentional and I have no idea about this circumstance which is not pre planned.How am I supposed to do that when she is not even giving any reaction? She is sitting in that couch for an hour without moving like a statue with her eyes fixed firmly on me!I feel awkward to move around freely or to just sit ...

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“Land ahoy!” by Vanessa Queens

Submitted to Contest #83

- Land ahoy! shouted the watch from the crow’s nest of the main mast. That was good news for the crew; they had been at sea for such a long time that they were almost running out of both supplies and patience. They all ran to the poop deck laughing and squinted in the distance, or used their hands to block the scorching sun. An island was visible in the distance. The men felt lucky. It definitely wasn’t the first island they explored, but it had been such a long time since the last one. Captain...

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“A totally normal story” by Nadir Davis

Submitted to Contest #83

I woke up and said to myself “I am going to get a vacation!” hoping that saying it allowed would help it become true. I excitedly went to work hoping to in the time I don’t have work to do research vacations. Once I got there my coworkers and I exchanged the usual “hellos”, “how are yous”, and “I'm fines” and went about our days. I didn’t have much work to do as I'd already done my work knowing what I planned to do today. I looked for a while and then found a vacation with all paid expenses trip to Hawaii for 1,000 dollars! I didn’t h...

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“Lin Chau: A Trip To Sunny Spain” by Johan Rosenblad

Submitted to Contest #83

“Why do we call them wirelesses?”, Sarah asked one evening when she and her flatmate, Lin Chau were discussing whether to buy one or not. It was a cool and moist evening with a fog that wrapped everything in impenetrable cotton, and the fire in the fireplace smelled of kerosene. “Long ago”, Lin explained, emptying her second glass of whiskey, “carts were connected to animals by wires. The animals pulled the carts through the streets like… well, things that pull other things. Then they invented the copper mesh cooling system, and sudde...

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“A Chance of Hope” by Jacob Rainey

Submitted to Contest #83

"Let's see here, 8,072 days... That's a little over 22 years that I've lived on this island." A darkly skinned man counted out loud. "I know, my baby boy. I know that you want to see the world beyond our home. I just wish that you wouldn't leave with them. In fact, I encourage you not to." An elderly woman spoke, as she sat down on a roughly cut conifer bench. “Lano, our family has ...

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“A New Beginning” by Amanda Kelly

Submitted to Contest #83

The merciless sun beat down on The Merukiyo as it gently bobbed on the calm, glassy surface of the Pacific Ocean. Aurelia Salvador relaxed in a reed-woven hammock with her hat across her eyes and her head propped on her elbows. “This is the life, ain’t it, Milo?” she murmured, stroking the loyal German shepherd by her side. Milo whined and licked her hand energetically. Suddenly, an unwelcome, oily voice sliced the peace like a knife through butter. “Cap’n?” ...

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“Tear Trials” by Carole Cobos

Submitted to Contest #83

Eliza was warned that getting through to Callis, head of the Twilight Wanderers, was a fool’s errand. Callis was notorious for hating all born without magic. Soldiers especially. But this...was completely unexpected. The fear pounding in her chest. The pain and grief making every breath heavier and more labored. The anger lit the pit of her stomach. None of these emotions made sense. She stared at the well-built house. At least 3 stories high and strangely empty-looking. Haunted. “Be warned, little warrior, that coven is well-known...

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“BENEATH THE STARS OF EMRYSEL” by Bree Pearman

Submitted to Contest #83

A final burst of warm air breaks the icy surface, escaping as a cascade of misty droplets soon lost to the ocean breeze. One last breath in this all too familiar form. With the coast so near now it is time to return at last. Time to rid himself of this size, these fins, and to feel once again the earth beneath his feet.The sea sits still and silent, an unseen transformation taking place within. When the surface next breaks this night, it is not by air, or the wide arch of a whale’s hump, but a calm, ever so slightly unsteady human taking his...

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“The Blue Lady of Fallam Lake” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #83

She’s evil, she’s holy, she’s bad, she’s good, she’s a monster, she’s a hero… there are nearly as many descriptions of her as there are people who claim to have seen her. I’m talking, of course, about the Blue Lady of Fallam Lake. It’s said that she lives on the bottom of the lake, or maybe in a cave beneath the water where her hearth is warm and dry. How would that even work? I’m on day eleven of a fourteen-day assignment to try catch the Blue Lady on camera. It’s all a bunch of nonsense, of course, but that’s what they pay me to do. Despi...

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“Being” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #83

Born of primordial chaos, It stepped out of the ancient sea and onto the primitive land. The Being looked around, confused at the sights and sounds that assaulted its new senses. The ground beneath Its feet felt course and was a clean, crisp tan in color. The water was warm, crystal clear blue, and full of prehistoric single-celled organisms. The air smelled sweet of flowers and salty water. Being stumbled inland towards two tall omnipotent beings. One had dark skin with black hair that curled down to its feet, and the other had transpa...

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$50

Prize money

826

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 05, 2021 EST

Won by Madalyn Meyers 🏆

Title: Burn Damage

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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