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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

“The Protagonist” by Amy Utami

Submitted to Contest #83

I was the protagonist of my own story. Lived my whole life like I, the one special. Believing that just like Harry Potter, I am special. Grieves a thousand pain and bruised my heart to then raised like a Phoenix. But grew up taught you, it was just a thing called desire. The desire to be special and important. The desire that made me point my finger out to the crowd and then shouted, ‘I am not Alien, you are!’My lung filled with trapped air. Bubbling over my throat emerged to be released. It sneaks out of my mouth and forms unformed shapes a...

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“The Sea Daughter” by Izabel C

Submitted to Contest #83

They say she was born from the sea, with not a father’s, nor a mother’s blood flowing through her veins. There was never a clue to her existence, just a story, a legacy. Mia, like every other young daughter who eventuated Suli, was aware of the story, more so the burden it came with. The sea was sacred, treated by its subjects as a god. The Suli people built temples and monuments, branding their foreheads with her symbol. Mia had never quite understood it, unlike the other daughters, she had never felt the imperceptible pull, but the girl wh...

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“Captain's Rest” by Amanda Fox

Submitted to Contest #83

His head shatters the water’s surface. The water is unfathomably cold, and it seeps into his body like the fangs of death scraping at his bones. The fall from the ship was too quick for him to take in a proper breath. Ben gasps for air to quell his screaming lungs and the rising panic in his heart. Waves sweep over him as he struggles to right himself and gain his bearings. He orients himself with The Kraken’s Revenge to his back and faces his destination. The island is almost too far for a man to swim, and Ben knows ...

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“Mukato Water Gods” by وداد أكرم

Submitted to Contest #83

Makato finished preparing herself for her coronation as the local sun goddess of Kunio City, after reaching legal age. This is her heavenly dress made of small clouds shimmering with Crystal Ice and what about her diamond necklace shimmering with stars while mediated by a bright crimson star and the small crown that will decorate Makato's head is different this time with its bright golden color decorated with remnants of lightning mediated by a medium-sized star in a unique crystal color. "Here you are my love, the day of your coronation...

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“KOLOHE KU” by Cole Lane

Submitted to Contest #83

You know that sinking feeling you get the moment you’ve done something bad? I don’t mean bad like you left your kids with a random convenience store circus clown. I mean universally impending doom bad. That is what I felt when I chuckled at the elderly woman selling handmade trinkets. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk she seemed nice, but my flight was long and I just want to get my suitcase. The baggage claim was already jam-packed when I arrived, which left me standing near the vendors selling to tourists. This woman stares at me from behind ...

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“The Siren's Ballad” by Jamila M

Submitted to Contest #83

They say the siren’s song lures you under the waves to your demise. That they seduce sailors with their charms and illusions. The oceans' harbingers of death. They say that sirens are ravenous, savage creatures. Who only desire destruction, and will stop at nothing to achieve it. They’re wrong. Lightning came, a brilliant shock of hot white light pierced the sky. I felt my breath hitch in my throat and it became difficult to breathe. Saltwater sprayed up, the ocean mist blinding me. Shaking my head, I took a deep breath in a ...

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“Just Breathe, John. ” by Adanna Aitken

Submitted to Contest #83

The water seemed endless, but I breached the surface after what felt like an eternity of struggle. The air eases the ache in my lungs as each breath reminded me that I was alive and I was going to be okay. Almost every moment up until now felt like a fever dream, the dancing, the alcohol, and the lights. The water bit my skin causing shaking that I felt in my bones. I saw no signs of the people I was with, although I barely remembered their faces in all fairness. I had no idea where I was or how I got he...

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“A Desert Island” by Maggie Hanes

Submitted to Contest #83

I swam hard against the currents. My lungs screamed for air, but my head was unable to surface. My arms and legs felt like the blood had been replaced with quicksilver, the bones with lead. I kept pushing though, knowing that it was this or a darkness that I would never wake from. I surfaced for just a moment, long enough to take a deep breath. The air was polluted with the sharp taste of metal, thick with smoke, scented with salt. Another wave pushed me down, too soon. I struggled again and again. My eyes were blurred under the water, but w...

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“Are the stars more beautiful than me?” by Amarah Friedman

Submitted to Contest #83

A woman emerged from the sea on a wave cresting toward shore. She was pulled from the sand in a riptide bound for the open ocean. She had no name and did not know what a name was. As she reclined against a fizzing bed of sea foam, all she knew was being. The woman drifted for a while, idly playing with the bubbles that surrounded her and the jumping fish that practically leapt into her lap to squirm around and wriggle. This is how she learned about death. It looked uncomfortab...

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“Adrift ” by Phoebe DeNeve

Submitted to Contest #83

Why couldn't I breathe?No matter how hard I try, I can't breathe. My body feels like it's floating and it's pitch black. Why? That's the question I keep asking myself.My eyes jolt open, but they are suddenly filled with a stinging sensation, so I close them again. I finally feel my body coming back to life, and I am able to move my limbs. Slowly opening my eyes once more, I see a faint, white light above me, and start swimming for it.I broke the surface, and cold, chilling air hits my wet face. Without a second thought, I take in a sharp bre...

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“Human Fears” by Miruthulla Vaani

Submitted to Contest #83

A wood frame setting on a concrete block foundation. I have been living here for about 13 years but I had trouble falling asleep that night , my bed room was the entire top floor of our house. I promise sincearly that this has scared me for life and although I have looked into psychological explanations for what I heard and natural explanations for what occurred , the remain unsatisfactory. A Ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person , my Grandfather told me about how. One time he was sitting in a chair in front of the house , he heard hi...

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“Gentle Waves of Love” by Katie Ingold

Submitted to Contest #83

Some adult content The gentle sway of the waves pushed me further inland as I floated along the surface of the water. My nerves threatened to overtake me the closer I got. Why did I hesitate? We’d met many times before. Since the day I found him floating on debris of his wrecked vessel, I couldn’t stay away. At first, I hid beneath the water and watched him walk along the pale sand, looking out towards me as if he searched for something. When he discovered the rocky coastline further down the beach, he would sit upon a c...

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“Big Eyes, Beauty of the Sky” by Aisa M

Submitted to Contest #83

You come back to the surface face up, and even before you could clear the water on your face, you throw a sea cucumber on me. Its soft texture hit me and the slimy insides splatter on my face. I scream. You laugh. You like to tease me. I chase you but you swim faster than me. You look back at me and stick out your tongue. We race towards the jetty and jump into the water over and over again.We grow up together. Barefoot, salty, and sun-kissed. With sleepy eyes, we go with your father for early morning fishing trips. We bother our mothers as ...

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“Easy solution” by Chloe Faure

Submitted to Contest #83

I am unique. I shined all my life through my uniqueness. Some called me a prodigy child. I join the Beaux-Arts School in Paris at 16; I was the youngest of my promotion. Shapes are everything for me. I nourish myself from them. The imperfectness of a hip, the wild movement of curly hairs, the inclination of a cheetah's foot ready to jump on its prey. Musicians express themselves through sound, photographs and painters through sight, noses through smell, cooks through taste. I, as a sculptor, express myself through touch. I like to feel shape...

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“The Girl From The Sea” by Luna Wood

Submitted to Contest #83

We pull her out of the sea as soon as we find her. She looks like she was about to go under. I stare at her as one of the crew members pulls her aboard. They bring her below deck and lay her down in one of the extra beds. The nurse sat in the bed next to her. After a little bit, the nurse shooed me out. I came back the next day. She was sleeping and shivering in her bed. The nurse had left. I threw a blanket over her. She calmed down a little bit. I left to go eat lunch and she was awake when I came back. "Hi." "Hi... where am I?" "You're o...

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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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