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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#85: City Living

There’s something deeply compelling about cities, isn’t there? Whether it’s the influencer-driven styles of LA, the laid-back sophistication of Athens, or the perfectly manicured greenery of Singapore, each one truly has its own unique soul. Those who visit are awed and at times overwhelmed, either falling in love or swearing them off forever — while lifelong residents take up a fierce loyalty that nothing can shake.

When writing, it’s often helpful to think of your setting almost like another character. Cities are an excellent way to explore this line of thinking, so for this week, pick a favorite and invite your readers in. What gives your city (whether real or imagined) its local “flavor”? And what impression do the people there give to the many tourists traipsing down their streets? Tap into your inner tour guide — it's time to travel the world!

This week's prompts

Set your story in a major city that your character has a love-hate relationship with.

Middle School – 153 stories

Write a story that takes place in the same building but in two very different time periods.

Historical Fiction – 154 stories

Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Adults – 283 stories

Write about someone fighting to change their city neighborhood for the better.

Teens – 44 stories

Write about someone fighting to keep their city neighborhood the same.

Teens – 34 stories

Stories

“City of The Cursed” by Pamela Carr

Submitted to Contest #85

That's the thing about this city, no one seems to even notice that the land it is built upon is cursed. Perhaps, being oblivious is part of the curse or maybe I am just a lunatic. Who knows? But what I do know is that Daytona Beach seems to be a hamster wheel in which everyone ends up going no where very fast. Except to maybe a jail cell or a coffin, which ever fate has in store for it's unsuspecting visitors and residents of the city. Daytona Beach has been the stalking grounds of serial killers, the sanctuary of addicts, the golden ticke...

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“The Legacy of Room 304” by Lennox Ducksworth

Submitted to Contest #85

The man entered the newly renovated Gentle Covert Hotel. It was a spacious circular lobby with golden pillars surrounding a lounge area that aimed towards the hard oak desks of the reception desks on both sides of the space. When the man walked in, all eyes were discrepantly on him. He felt the jolting energy in the room diminish to hush and weariness. Not the first time people stopped their daily routine to feel their safety shattered by just one reality-busting figure. Over time, he started to enjoy the attention. It wasn't often a “...

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“Charmed” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #85

In the cities they occupy, the homeless are as much a part of the community as any other group. They inhabit the wedge-space under every bridge and make nests behind fences near freeways; they establish tent cities beside train stations and turn playgrounds into drug spots. You don’t need to go downtown to see them. Even residents in wealthy neighborhoods catch glimpses of the homeless on random mornings when one pops up on the sidewalk outside of their homes. The transient ones always look confused, like they’ve just escaped abduction, and ...

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“Moonbeams” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #85

1821 This had been her family’s land since the moment they’d snuck aboard the boats for the new ground and hid away from the religious zealots. They had made friends with the Indigenous people since they were both outcasts from the colonizers. It was their place where mother earth spoke to them and where their magic was free. She’d come from a long line of hereditary witches and was proud to bring into the world one more. She rubbed her growing belly under her skirts and watched as the men she’d hired built the sweeping victorian h...

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“Dormant Anger” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #85

" That is the thing about this city, it doesn't sleep" Marcos said. "But, that's not a good sign, it's an indicator that all is not well" Eugene replied. " Of course, that is the situation we found ourselves in the country not just only in this city, even though here seems to be the worst" " How does those that wants to sleep do that, this is madness. Sleep fled from me when I started hearing noises everywhere. For sure, they must've been people like me that wanted to sleep but because of the noise could not" " That's true. But the situation...

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“The Breakup” by Ali Hamzah

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. It’s too noisy. From the moment that I wake up and bathe under the stinging water coming out of the showerhead, I can hear the flushing of the toilet above me and the sound of water falling through the shower drain. I get out of the shower and dress up in front of my mirror stuck to my cardboard and I can hear the thumping above me. I have no idea what it is. It’s probably the neighbour’s boy playing football. I stare at myself, my hands slowly doing the buttons on my long-sleeved shirt, one by one. It ...

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“A Matter Of Perspective” by Isabelle Saadatmand

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, nobody ever leaves. It’s not that people don’t want to, it’s that they can’t. Nearly everyone was tricked by some horrid thing into coming here, and now they’re stuck. Some think they’ve won a contest, others think they signed up for some college internship. My family had the misfortune of passing through on our way to a beach vacation. I consider myself lucky, as I was young when it happened. Have no memory of the outside world, no friends or family lost. I was...

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“Change on the horizon” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #85

The City Hall meeting had been long in preparation and short on funding. But there was no alternative once Zviko had thrown her hat into the ring, rallied by well-wishers, who were unsurprisingly mainly family members. She could make a difference, the township daughter who wanted to give back to her community.Zviko had won a bursary for further education in a prestigious college, away from the slums. The long commute to her new school in the upmarket northern suburbs became an issue, negotiating public transport in the unrelenting early morn...

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“Dislocation” by ROBERT Ellis

Submitted to Contest #85

“I’ve always wanted to go to Mardi Gras. You know, in New Orleans.” Jim looked hopeful, but I kept quiet. I was going to Mardi Gras, for the sixth time in the last twenty years, but I belonged. Plus, I’d earned it because of my bargain with Pat. After all, I’d lived in New Orleans for over ten years, first college, and then working at a bank downtown. Come winter up here, shut up in that small house with Pat, I really earn a trip to any place that makes me happy. After all, I have to live up here now. “Here” is Bangor, Maine, where I now...

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“FIVE BUCKS PROMISE” by Bui Buiii

Submitted to Contest #85

FIVE BUCKS PROMISE His head was too big for his body. His big hollow eyes stark and his cheekbones tight against his dusty pale skin. Crouched on the ground covered with yellow dust, this 10-year-old waited for the puppy to crawl out from under the low raised platform of his neighbor’s home. He smiled as he watched the puppy eat the gravel. How fun it would be to let it fight with the puppies of the other kids on the ground he thought. He was pretty sure his would wallop the daylight out of every other. “Looking for dust?” Bailey said. He l...

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“"A big rescue." by Ye Wint Aung” by Ye Wint Aung

Submitted to Contest #85

In a peaceful neighborhood, people walk in the park, go to cafe and chat with their friends. In the neighborhood, there is a river side path which brings the people together. The river side is a peaceful place where animals such as birds, ducks and other lives and they are all fed by people who goes there. When you visit the river side path at night, you can see the beautiful night skies with stars and the moon. It’s also clean and it’s very trending now. Seeing the green trees with birds chirping with waves of wate...

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“Monsters” by Caroline Burkey

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city,” I tell the young girl. “You don’t want to go out at night. Monsters lurk in the shadows, and who knows what they will do to you.” She looks up at me with fear in her eyes, and I know she’ll take my words to heart. “I just wish we didn’t have to go out and get her medicine,” I say, nodding toward the bundled up figure on the couch. “Me too,” she whispers, glancing at the motionless figure. “We’ll be back,” I call out to the figure. “We’ll be careful. Take care until we’re back.” The ...

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“Change is Consistent” by Steve McKenney

Submitted to Contest #85

A warm spring breeze, heavy with humidity, ushered its way down East Bay Street carrying the sounds and scents of the harbor with it. The day resembled a thousand spring days before it, yet was also unlike any previous day. It was its own original day, complete with its own sights, sounds and smells, none of them unique as individuals but on this day, they were. They were unique to this very moment of time and space. Never before and never again would these sounds and smells appear in the same way or in the same order. Cody Barnes was one ...

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“Abyss of Revenge: What was once Home” by David Abu Bonsrah

Submitted to Contest #85

Bernice's ride through the city was amazing. She hadn’t planned this but there was one particular place she wanted to visit. Her heart pushed her to that part of the city where she once lived. Her body resisted the temptation to go to that particular location but her mind was there already. The scenes she’d tried had to forget was going to come back one way or the other but she took the risk. She turned a junction to the mansion she once lived in and noticed how developed that part of the city had beco...

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“Thyme” by Charlotte Bedford

Submitted to Contest #85

2012: Sophie trod carefully on the aged, brittle floorboards of her late grandmother, Barbra’s cottage. Barbra was a sweet soul, she baked cakes for the neighbours and invited the shopping delivery man in for a cuppa every Saturday morning. It was an untimely death which had bestowed the family, shocking that such a pure soul could leave the earth so soon. The walls of the cottage had sunken in as if it were holding its breath. Sophie creeped up the large staircase at the end of the corridor which lead up to the master bedroom. The carpet w...

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Ended on 23:59 - Mar 19, 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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