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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

“Kindness of Strangers” by Gracie C. McKeever

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city. People are so rude,” Keisha Martin grumbled at the guy shoulder surfing behind her. At least she was only reading on her Kindle and not taking care of any bank transaction or anything else involving a password. Still, she didn’t exactly want him seeing what she was reading either. Not that she was ashamed of it, but she was in the middle of a raunchy sex scene and that was nobody’s business except hers and her book boyfriend. Homeboy didn’t get the message or evidently thought her criticism wasn’t mean...

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“A face of change” by Collins Jerry

Submitted to Contest #85

Her body trembles as the soft voice of the speaker calls the letters of her name.She fights the fear that rises with each applaud.when the lady next to her stands,she realizes that she is expected up the stage,she forces a smile and heads towards the red carpeted small stairs.The applause gets stronger,now mixed with olulation and a chant from somewhere it catches on.On the final step she feels the grasp of an embrace,this startles a little,the embrace is from Stellah Mwaniki,the director of inua dada, an organization that advocates for wom...

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“Tempo ” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #85

Ok. So see you later – said the man in black , hanging out his phone, methodically. That man took his briefcase, and left the office he was working in, at exactly six o’clock of the dying day still immersed in the sun rays that were stubborn to fade. He went to the corridor, and stopped in front of the elevator. I still can not go - hitting his knuckles on the marble wall. But it us just a meeting, he said again to himself.He took a look at the round and silver watch above the elevator ...

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“Town Girl and Country Girl” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #85

Even though she would never have thought of referring to herself as a “girl” in other contexts, because she thought it was a bit silly when she was theoretically old enough to be a grandmother, though she doubted that would never happen, given that you had to be a mother first, Marsha Pendleton still happily and proudly referred to herself as a country girl. Often adding riders like a country girl at heart, or a country girl born and bred. Those who were more pedantic (a trait Marsha herself was prone to) could have pointed out that the born...

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“The Portrait ” by Mehreen Ahmed

Submitted to Contest #85

The Portrait by Mehreen Ahmed On the crossing of Victoria and Harriet Street, stood a building of a massive block of grey apartments. Up in the front of each flat, balconies jutted out like open matchboxes, creating a blind spot for the incoming traffic. It posed an undeniable threat to the traffic on the road. Notwithstanding, the building had much to offer in the way of charm. It would have looked quite stark, had it not been for the indoor plants. Some balconies had synthetic black chairs placed around a white table of six. Co...

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“I See You” by Jessie Winterspring

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, it comes to life at night. Lights and vibrant colors dominate the city filled with tourists spending every minute with smiles and office workers drinking the stress of the day. But as daytime break the cheerfulness dulls, replace with rush hour and glum faces of people stuck in traffic and workers who were tired of doing jobs they never dream of doing. Many are stuck with it. Every person is busy to care that one person among them doesn’t belong to the crowd. A girl with pearly white skin, splash pink hair, ...

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“Alamo Again” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #85

In the early nineteenth century, a group of less than two hundred volunteers, led by Colonel William Travis, Davy Crockett, and James Bowie, occupied and defended the Alamo for nearly two weeks against an army of Mexican soldiers over ten times their number led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna. These brave Texan patriots died on March 6, 1836. It was a very wise Mark Twain, born just three months prior to the historic conflict, who would later quip, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Several centuries later, the hymn o...

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“25, 10 or 5” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city,” said the driver as he parked the limousine. “No one ever really gets away from it.”“Oh, yeah?” I looked at my watch. All I had to do now was wait in the parking lot, pick up a package, and then let this guy take me back to the airport. Only problem was I wasn’t sure how long I would be there. I knew that we had to be there at noon, but after that…“You think that people want to get away from this place?”“Sorry?”“What I said before about the city. You think people really hate the place that mu...

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“The City of Shadows” by Darya Silman

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city; the more you look into the shadows the more shadows look at you.The noise of an alarm clock was too annoying to ignore. Melissa could turn it off without looking, her eyes still closed, and her mind still processing the dream. It was something nice, she was sure, but she already couldn’t remember what it was. Her second move, so comforting in the past, was to put on her glasses. The quick glance through the glasses made Melissa shake in disgust. Cheap brown plastic arms were helplessly trying to find a famil...

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“This is Our Block” by HC Edwards

Submitted to Contest #85

His name is Croker. No one knows much about him, not even with the internet at our fingertips. I heard Mr. Chang who owns the dry cleaners down the block even sicced a halfway decent private investigator on his ass, but the guy turned up with the check in hand a few days later, claiming that he’d changed his mind. It was said he had a pretty good shiner and a busted lip but nobody could corroborate that besides Mr. Chang, and no one was asking him any more questions since his acc...

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“Rock-a-Bye Baby” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #85

TW: infant death As soon as I see the antique cradle, I know I have to have it. “Look, honey,” I say excitedly to my husband, pointing to the laptop screen. “Won’t this be perfect for the baby?” “Local estate sales,” he reads out loud. “Sweetheart, I thought we agreed we were going to go with a bassinet. My mom’s already picked out one she wants to buy for us.” “But this one’s so pretty,” I argue. “It’s solid oak and it dates back to the 1880s. And think how much the baby will love the rocking motion.” I can tell by his face that he’s not co...

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“City of Change” by Kat Sencen

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city,” I tell Nina, gesturing towards the tall cranes and excavators that are hard at work building comfy apartments and towering skyscrapers. Soon those buildings will be finished, and the machines will start on new ones. “It never stops changing.” We sit under a tree in the western side of Central Park, looking over the inviting blue-gray river where we can see towering beige structures like the Beresford, the Turin, the Dakota and the San Remo, shaping the sapphire sky with a hint of tourmaline sunrise above t...

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“San Pedro” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #85

INTRODUCTIONI have to write a paper for my Communications 201 class. The first part of the paper is supposed to be about someone who is fighting to change their city neighborhood for the better. The second part is about a person who is trying to keep the neighborhood from changing.Nothing in the professor's instructions indicates whether the paper should study two separate neighborhoods or whether it could be the same one, and residents are clashing over the proposals. "Just write what you know," his instructions tell me, but that'...

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“Interior Blessing” by Jonathan K

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. You would die if you go outside. The nuclear war took place twenty years ago. And since then, families have been living in cower, hiding in the deep dark caves of our former cities’ shadow. We used to carry banners for sports teams, yelling with glee as our favourite player took home the game. Now, we carry banners to symbolise the dead, their empty homes ripe for the taking. We used to go across the street with our friends for a cup of hot chocolate in the cold winters. Now, ...

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“The Title” by Zach Knight

Submitted to Contest #85

The title.That was all I ever wanted.I grew up seeking it.I grew up training for it.Everyone depended on that title.I just so happened to be chosen to seek it.This title.The title of the king.The king of boxing.I had to achieve it.Growing up in the slums, all I ever saw were beggars and those who lost their path on life.I've seen it all.The good.The bad.The poor.The abusers.I grew up in this wretched neighborhood filled with drug addicts and low lives.But ever since I was a kid, I knew I would change this neighborhood forever.My dad was a pr...

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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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