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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#86: Springtime Flowers

March 21st may be considered the first day of Spring by many, but Mother Nature doesn't always agree. Depending on where you live, the daffodils could be showing their sunny faces or still hibernating under frozen soil.

For me, it’s usually a mix. Here you can be wearing shorts one day and shoveling snow the next, but one thing is consistent: as soon as the weather warms up, I’m bursting outside to gulp down that fresh air and watch the world come back to life. This week, regardless of what the weather actually holds, let’s celebrate the season of rebirth and renewal. After all, in our imaginations the sun can always be shining and the birds can always be chirping!

This week's prompts

Set your story at a park during a spring festival.

Spring – 82 stories

Write about a character coming out of a long hibernation (either literal or metaphorical).

Spring – 158 stories

Write a fairy tale about someone who can communicate with woodland creatures.

Kids – 168 stories

Start your story with one character pointing out the first sign of spring to another.

Spring – 107 stories

Write a story where flowers play a central role.

Spring – 278 stories

Stories

“Clockwork” by Diana Quill

Submitted to Contest #86

“Drizzie, hex nut.” Clever paws shifted through the droors accompanied by the gentle clinks and tinks of small metal pieces. A near unintelligible, silvery clack alerted me of his deliverance. I stifled a grin, glad for trained ears and trained animals. He’d set the nut in the silver tray, and as I reached for it with gloved hands three sets of feet grasped the edge of it. Fea, Thea, and Res, a well-oiled machine in themselves, waited in a feathery que, an hour, minute or second hand in each beak as naturally as if it were material for...

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“Disorient” by Typewriter Clicks

Submitted to Contest #86

When Amesha was five years old, and her mother wasn’t looking, she trotted her way into the woods behind her family’s Midwestern home. There wasn’t much distance between her backyard and the first line of deciduous trees — especially for an energetic toddler in the early morning. Some minutes into her trek, Amesha had found settled under a dead tree that her father used to bring her to as an infant — though, at the time she didn’t know this. Her tiny legs were strained and the darkness of the woods grew more intimidating by the second. ...

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“In the Spring” by Alex Carmen

Submitted to Contest #86

cw: discussions of death"That tree is blooming, it's a sign of Spring." She said, pointing a finger at the cherry blossoms bursting with life.A little boy sat next to her, his legs crossed and his head leaning on her shoulder. "Mommy, what does Spring mean?""Spring is a season of life and everything comes out and lives after the mean Winter chased her out." She poked him in the shoulder."Why would Winter do that?" The little boy asked. "Why would Winter be so mean?""Well, my darling, Winter was jealous of the other seasons because he felt ex...

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“Is It Rude To Call You Kitty?” by Ellasyn Carpenter

Submitted to Contest #86

There once was a girl. She was an adventurous girl who lived on a farm in Illinois. She would always get into trouble and always talked to the animals."Look Kitty! Is it rude to call you Kitty? The first spring flower!" She pointed at a small blossom dwindling through the ground. The flower stretched it's small petals out to the sun. The cat just sat down and didn't answer. "Well sure it's just a flower, but isn't that just simply wonderful?""You see Kitty. Is it rude to call you Kitty? The flower started as another flower far away. Then the...

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“Cherry Blossoms” by Lisa Wentworth

Submitted to Contest #86

Start your story with one character pointing out the first sign of spring to another. “Look at those amazing cherry blossoms!” Rachel remarked to her daughter, Emily. It was only early February in Seattle, so it was quite a surprise to find them and a bit of sun on this auspicious moving day. This day was special to both of them; Emily was starting college, and she was the only one of her three children that Rachel was able to enjoy this milestone with. Custody battles, parental interference [aka kidnapping] and moves back and forth acro...

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“What Was, and What May Never Be” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #86

The two walked in the meadow behind the Lovac’s pasture as they had done on countless occasions for the last twelve years, yet now their feet dragged in the tall grass and the boy looked anxiously at the girl, who herself was avoiding his gaze. Occasionally, they would see a bee in the distance and stop automatically in their tracks - the boy was deathly afraid of bees, and the girl had been so conditioned to protect him from them that even in this bittersweet moment she put her arm in front of him the moment one buzzed from a nearby flower....

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“Winter's dilemma” by Tanya Stingley

Submitted to Contest #86

Look ! shouted Winter, pointing to the meadow I told you the daffodils would be blooming! Winter tugged at Jacks leash and began jogging toward the field of freshly blooming flowers, the chill in the air seemed to have reinvigorated her senses, the sadness of the last three months seemed to fall away with every step she took closer to those beautiful yellow promises of spring, of renewal, of life. Winter, the season had not been kind to Winter the person, the pandemic had caused a major disruption in her social and romantic life. So ma...

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“Heartbreaks of a Lifetime” by AddieD ❤️❤️

Submitted to Contest #86

“There they are,” Stella murmured. “The first baby robins of the year.” “Prettier than last year’s,” Ethan added, listening to the baby birds’ cheerful chirping. As Stella gazed at the bird's nest high in the tree, Ethan crouched down and picked a few mayflowers that were growing on the forest floor. “Well, we should probably be getting back home now,” Stella mused after a minute or two. When she turned around, Ethan was down on one knee, flowers in one hand, a sparkly diamond ring in the other. Stella gasped and put her hands ov...

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“A rose by any other name” by Pamela Berglund

Submitted to Contest #86

It is 5:47 in the morning and I awaken to the sweet silence of the morning. There is the peek of sun shining through a small window and its brightness bounces off the glass in front of me. It takes me a moment to understand why I am feeling so alive. And then I realize today is March 20, 2021 and the date and time remind me that it is the first day of spring. Spring is when everyone comes alive again. They want to forget the long cold days of winter; the massive snow storms in the north, the tornadoes and torr...

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“April Eviction Brings May Affliction” by Atychi Phobia

Submitted to Contest #86

!!!!! TRIGGER WARNING !!!!! - Gore, brief mentions of emotional/verbal abuse, death, depression.-----------------------------------------------------------It wasn't sure how long it had been like this. Weeks... months, maybe. It wished it didn't know how to feel emotion. Though it was crumbling into nothingness, it could feel every stab of heartbreak and rejection as though they were new. It was in agony.A vivid memory possessed its mind of roses and a heartfelt letter. Once upon a time, it brought those roses to the person it yearned for. H...

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“The Terrace” by Ravi Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #86

As she stepped out on the terrace, the cool breeze of an early March morning caressed her face. She and Amit loved this part of the year; the winter was gone but the severe summer was still some way off. She breathed long the fresh air and turned to look at her flowers. The winter this year had been very severe and so the arrival of spring was eagerly awaited. She wondered how these tender flowers and herbs that she had so fondly planted on the terrace of her new apartment had survived this harsh winter. She had many flower pots on her terra...

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“A Bee's Eyes” by Ashley Slaughter

Submitted to Contest #86

The ostentatious orange petals catch your eye, and soon you’re rocketing toward the flower with a new sense of purpose: collect pollen. Feed the family.Your wings, paper-like but strong as scales, carry you through the viridian field of wildflowers, and you are naturally one to get easily distracted. That sun-yellow coreopsis smells nice as you pass by, so you take a short detour and rest your velvety body onto the collection of wide petals at your feet. You frantically stuff whatever pollen you can into your pollen baskets, or “corbiculae” ...

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“The Fourteen Flowers” by Carlie Shaw

Submitted to Contest #86

It all started when Madeline Scott opened her door on the first sunday in march. She had been noticing odd things like doors being open when she swore she had closed them, objects being moved about her home without her so much as laying a finger on them, but for some reason, the rose that lay staring back at her on her front doorstep that morning, scared her more than anything else. She had no idea how that one flower had managed to make its way to her house, but what she did know, the pit forming in her stomach was making her un...

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“Order of the Iris” by Gracie Davies

Submitted to Contest #86

Lindsey likes to talk in code. She sets the vase of irises down onto the overbed table. The mushroom cloud of purples block my view of the hospital room except for the visitor space on my right where an anaemic-pink armchair sags against the wall. She takes a seat on the edge of the cushion. A nurse attends to her routine of adjusting the pipes, tubes, and bleepers that keep me fed, watered, and alive. Soon it will be just Lindsey and me. ‘Your brother’s a fighter, he is’ I watch the brunette nurse from my paralysed perspective; her ...

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“Marigold” by Joss S

Submitted to Contest #86

Elaine descended the stairs and rounded the corner to the kitchen. She washed her hands in the kitchen sink. Where is Richard now? She wondered. She was often losing track of that old man. For a man of almost ninety years, he was still very spry. But he was awfully forgetful, which of course was why she was hired to be his caretaker. Elaine knew exactly where to look for the man though.The door to the garden creaked open as she stepped out into the moist spring air. The garden was the type of place that could make even the coldest of h...

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$50

Prize money

797

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 26, 2021 EST

Won by Scott Skinner 🏆

Title: Flowering Walrus

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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