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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#87: Fool Me Once

From trickster gods to office pranks, humans have long been fascinated by mischief and mayhem. There’s just something about breaking free of the rules of polite society and causing a bit of chaos that appeals deeply to our psyche.

This week, let’s embrace that playful spirit. Whether it’s someone being pranked or doing the pranking, there’s plenty of opportunity to dive deep into your characters’ motives and reactions. No joke — it’s time to break out the (metaphorical) cream pies and throw some anarchy at your protagonists.

This week's prompts

Write about a mischievous pixie or trickster god.

Kids – 206 stories

Write about someone who’s spent a whole year planning a big prank, and now they’re finally ready to pull it off.

Middle School – 75 stories

Write about someone who hates pranks and spends April Fools’ Day doing good deeds instead.

Holiday – 69 stories

Start your story with a big company pulling an April Fools’ prank that ends up going horribly wrong.

Holiday – 82 stories

Write about someone who goes to great lengths to avoid being pranked on April 1st, only to realize they had the date wrong and it’s already April 2nd.

Holiday – 60 stories

Stories

“The Art of the Prank” by Susan Joy Clark

Submitted to Contest #87

“They somehow look more impressive on canvas,” said my roommate, Ryan, standing beside me and staring at the three easels and what was propped on them. “And in frames,” he added. “As opposed to the prototypes?” I asked. I sipped my black Gevalia coffee. Ryan scratched his head, fluffing his sandy blond hair. “I don't think it's called a prototype in regard to painting.” “Preliminary drawings then?” “I think they're called 'studies,'” said Ryan. “I think you're right,” I said. “I don't think the artist studied too much, do you?” “...

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“The Secret Keeper's Sister.” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #87

. “ There is no fool like an April fool “ and so Chrissy decided to wait till after lunch to be born on April 1st. Her decision to enter the planet had begun nine months previously, sometime in late summer. She soon forgot her original contract and some of the conditions to which she, in spirit form, had agreed. Within days she assumed the guise of a normal human being, an adorable baby, quickly forgetting her predestined intentions. She entered into a family that enfolded her into the bosom of their love. True, her birth was a bit of a ...

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“The Good Doer” by Amber Zhao

Submitted to Contest #87

Margaret Anning didn’t dislike April Fools’ Day. Not exactly. She thought it could be used for more important things. Margaret, always with determination and resolution, spent her whole, abbreviated life campaigning for the better: for global peace, for an end to leaders’ tyranny, for a stop to global warming, for every protested issue ever contested, justice and harmony and happiness her guiding sigils throughout existence. What good was a holiday where everyone pranked each other relentlessly, like unfunny clowns? And during her childhood ...

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“Lost in Grief” by Laurence Tryon

Submitted to Contest #87

Canceling April Fools’ Day sounded better by the minute to Laurianne. She stared out of her 6th floor apartment window, tuning out the heavy traffic and the screech of train brakes on metal. She had just called in sick at all three of her jobs, but now, she regretted it as she tried to shake off the memories that plagued her each year on the first of April. She now found herself with an empty day ahead, on one of the toughest days of each year… As a college student at the Université de Bourgogne, in ...

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“Good Deeds: 0/10” by Hannah Dominguez

Submitted to Contest #87

Dean hates pranks.Wait, no, that was mild.Dean abhors pranks.He hates pranks with every cell of his being. Why would anyone want to put ketchup in someone else's shoes? Do they know how hard it is to scrub such a sauce off? And then there are those people who's been pranked close to death but then laughs about it. What, has the human populace finally gone mad?And then, among all the customs that the great and intellectual homosapiens, wise in all its years, choose to celebrate, why does it have to be April Fools'?Dean was getting a headache....

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“Fool's Lie” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #87

“You ever notice how we got people dressing up all the time for stuff like Christmas, those goofy red hats with a white jingle ball on top. Easter, everyone going out in these bonnets all made up with plastic fruit and flowers, rabbits handing out chocolate covered eggs. Valentines, talking candy boxes, mints with writing on them. Halloween, you choose, can be anyone or anything; they got it all covered. But take something real special, like the Fools Day, and people don’t do a thing. I know it’s one of those days wh...

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“April Cool” by Rani Jayakumar

Submitted to Contest #87

On Mondays, Maureen drags herself to the mailbox. She peeks in with anticipation, then slits open the envelope right there in the lobby. Her face always falls as she tosses the envelope, folds up the pink paycheck and shuffles back to the elevator. She mutters to herself something about the price of dinner. On Tuesdays, Kasha comes down the stairs with Milo, his schnauzer. He’s the only one who’s allowed a pet in this building, he’s been here that long. He’s generally cheerful, with something jovial to say to me in his still-thick Polish a...

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“Because Some Fool Wanted a Blind Date on April 1st” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #87

Kathy hates April Fools. First of all, there are plenty of fools out there anyway, so there really isn’t a reason to spend an entire day celebrating idiocy. Second of all, the people who actually ‘celebrate’ April Fools’ Day almost never enjoy being the fools themselves, and although the Golden Rule is tarnished, Kathy argues that it’s still gold. Third of all . . . . well . . . Kathy doesn’t actually have a third reason, just a whole bunch of examples, but everything is more powerful in groups of three, and Kathy’s a writer and believes thi...

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“As Far As the East is From the West” by Heather Ann Martinez

Submitted to Contest #87

As Far As the East Is From the West By Heather Ann Martinez When we were young, Finn, Luke and I used to go cow tippin’, drinkin’, drivin’ and steal from the shops in town. I knew how to pick almost any lock. Luke was the best get away driver and Finn was like our big brother. He was bored. He was tired of living out in the country. To entertain himself, he would talk the rest of us into going along with his next adventure. It didn’t take much to convince the rest of us, we were all eager to grow up and move as far away as we could ...

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“The origin of April fools.” by Georgia Lnbi

Submitted to Contest #87

A tall man in a suit walks into a busy building his hair is a mess and his cheeks flushed. As he walks the people around look at him with question like he doesn't belong. He walks very quickly to his destination "Wesley?" the woman at the front desk calls but the man ignores her and continuous walking towards his destination. Finally the man arrives he pushes open a huge wooden door in front of him and walks in to find a group of eight men sitting on a rectangular table. "What is the meaning of this" a man at the end of the table Says. "My m...

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“Chocolate Rabbits” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #87

Samuel Schweizer was leading his team’s first meeting of the year. He was a small, squat sixty-nine year old, with a rotund belly, florid complexion and balding head. He wore a navy two piece suit, with the trousers held in place by bright red braces, and a midnight blue silk tie. He was clean shaven and immaculately manicured, and finished his outfits with a gold tie pin and matching cuff links. If you got close enough to him, you would catch a waft of lemony aftershave. Everything about him intimated opulence and good taste. He started wor...

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“True Lies of the First Kind” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #87

It all started the day Benjamin Hooker won the prize for being the best liar in the company. We all were asked to submit tales, we’d either heard, or made up. Ben came up with this tale about how The Twizzle Stick Company, which employed several hundred people making swizzle sticks, for primarily the martini market, and some of the Puerto Rican Rum trade that couldn’t find enough wonderful things to do to rum. We were to be terminated. Ben thought of himself as a fun guy. Now when you describe it that way, it sounds like ...

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“Every Fool Thing” by Rani Jayakumar

Submitted to Contest #87

I only kind of survived because I’m not on social media. After all the scares of recent years, I begged off, finding out too late that I couldn’t see my friends’ baby pictures or even yoga videos anymore. Everyone was not only completely online, but on just two major apps where they all shared everything - photos, videos, where they were, what they were doing, what they were going to do. The turning point was when the news media got on social media. Now it wasn’t news unless it was on Cheep or Lookbook. So of course, when some VP who’d had...

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“Escape clown tower ” by Ally Evans

Submitted to Contest #87

Charlie Higgson, Boss of this branch of Diebold, inc vending machines, lay back in his chair with his feet resting on his desk and his eyes glued to the office clock. He’d been waiting months for April first to arrive, the entire office knew it. They also knew his pranks bombed every year, such as last year where he tried to saran wrap the toilets. He had done it the night before so the nightly cleaning crew took them off and the only reason the staff found out was because Charlie came in all huffy and stompy that day. This year ...

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“Fired” by Delilah Wolf

Submitted to Contest #87

There is silence. Not a single sound fills the office. The tension could probably kill someone if it chose to. Harry, one of our co-worker will be walking into the office any second now. Today is April 1st but yesterday we pulled a few pranks on him to make him think that today is the 2nd. That's normal. My girlfriend, Fay, and I love to pull pranks on people around the office. We are super lucky to work at the same place but then again, we met here. As far as pranks go, we push past that. Every. Single. Year. Our plan for this year is simpl...

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$50

Prize money

492

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 02, 2021 EST

Won by Catherine Hill 🏆

Title: Samill the Trickster

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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