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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 – 205 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

“GOOD DEEDS FOR AN OLD APRIL FOOL by Robin Simon” by Robin Simon

Submitted to Contest #87

April Fools is not one of my favorite days. I came up with good deeds for the day instead of being around those that enjoyed seeing others scared out of their wits or finding ways to embarrass everyone you canInstead I thought about spending my time helping others and doing good on this day. Such a beautiful spring time and did not want to spend my time figuring out ways to out do everyone. I took off work to just focus on doing things going on in the neighborhood and around the community. But I was not going to get off that easy. It was Apr...

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“My April Dove” by Daniella Umeh

Submitted to Contest #87

It was January 2007. We were in the final semester of Engineering. One day one of our classmates was teasing one of my friends. I was somehow irritated by that and decided to teach her a lesson. I decided to fool her on the fool's day itself. She was selected to a famous company in campus interviews (I am replacing the company name with ABC). I sent out an email with carefully drafted content: Hi there, We are happy to inform you that we are conducting a workshop on C and Embedded Systems. For this, we have planned to include some selected f...

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“Don't do it” by Like Moon

Submitted to Contest #87

The wind billows fluttering the black colored guys hair that's Immersed in looking at the lone purple violet flower at the corner as it's becoming wet more and more by the drizzling rain with the pitter pattering as background music his memories flashed back to the past "that day was raining too" murmuring to himself he said .....................Crouching down the silver eyed girl was feeding a beautiful curled up stray cat with a warm smile on her face not caring whether she was getting soaked with rain or not as if she was in her...

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“Made of Fear” by Sonja V.

Submitted to Contest #87

The advertisements that laid inside the window of the convenience store on the corner of fifth shone brightly as whoopie cushions, taser gum, electric pens, and more created a mournful expression on Demitry’s face as memories of his past shone before his empty, lifeless eyes. The treacherous day was April 1, 2001. He was always an introvert and his face reddened so deeply that he was a tomato whenever he had to perform something even as simple as solving a problem on the board or presenting something in front of the cl...

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“The Good Doctor” by Durba Kushari

Submitted to Contest #87

"Oh God, I'm already late, seems like I'm going to miss the very first appointment with my new boss", it was the first thought that came to Dr. Shahin's mind when she looked at her hand-watch while entering the elevator on the ground floor. Dr. Shahin Mirza, a 27 years old intern in the gynecology department; bold, ambitious, good-looking and smart enough to impress her new boss though she grew a little anxious about the upcoming appointment which had already been delayed. The elevator took her to the second floor; she almost ran towards the...

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“The Mystery of the April Fools' Benefactor” by Ruth Smith

Submitted to Contest #87

The flowers were placed carefully on the step so that when the door was opened, the house's occupant would see them, yet the breeze caused by the door's movement wouldn't knock them off the step. Several houses in the neighborhood had flowers placed on their steps just like this one. Others had other items such as toy trucks, a baseball bat and ball, a mitt, a jump rope, a box of sugar-free chocolates, a case of Old Style beer, and maybe even a potted orchid. No one knew who placed these items on the steps, but everyone knew every April Fool...

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“April Cool” by Fatuma Abdullah

Submitted to Contest #87

April Fool’s day was quickly approaching, and Nalo was cracking her head what she would do for the kids this year. She loved teaching grade 1 and 2s and spoiling them whenever she got the chance. Some teachers boiled it down to her not having kids of her own. Whenever April Fool’s day came around, she would say “This was not a day to be a Fool but to be Cool.” She lived by that mantra and did it every year. Every April 1 they hang the banner on the classroom door. Nalo was mentally frustrated the pandemic had taken over their lives. “W...

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“Intensity of actions” by Syeda Jafri

Submitted to Contest #87

Have you ever wondered about the result of your actions? Those seemingly innocent actions that can result in catastrophe? Have you ever thought from the other person's perspective that how will your actions affect them? I think that for many of us, this would be a trifle question and we will answer it with a simple no and carry on with our lives. A seemingly innocent action has made Harry to hate the first of April i.e., the April fool’s day. He was a jolly kid back in high school, pulling pranks on others, having a laugh or two and living h...

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“April Isn't Just for Fools” by Alana Avellino

Submitted to Contest #87

In my dream my alarm blares, over and over until my eyes spring open, my fingers lazily search for the snooze button, poking and batting until finally peace and quiet. It’s 7:30 a.m. and it's April 1st, or should I say April Fools’ Day. I groan, rolling over and hiding beneath my blankets. The thought of the day ahead squeezes my stomach into knots. I contemplate faking a sickness, but that's almost impossible to pull off when your mom is a nurse. ‘My throat hurts - But it's not red. I think I have a fever - But you're not warm…’ It never wo...

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“Company pulling” by Aboh Pride Akom

Submitted to Contest #87

There’s been some work stuff in the past, like pranks at work years ago. I remember vaguely one time a boss of mine when I worked in the advertising industry, has sent out some email about us all getting raises or something, which is cruel. I blocked it out. It is nice when you work for someone who has that sense of humor, but it’s also a little bit cruel. Have you ever played a good April Fool’s joke on someone? I haven’t. Even as a kid? No, not that I could recall. Your example is a good one because it’s a very uncomfortable April Fool’s...

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“Modern days, good old pranks!” by Vanessa Nascimento

Submitted to Contest #87

It is common knowledge that FunInNature Inc. follows the good old April Fool's day traditions, so Nancy, the HR manager, has been up every night for over a month, thinking about how to come up with a good prank in the middle of a crazy pandemic, where a great portion of its employees have to isolate due to the 6 confirmed cases last Wednesday, and it had to be in the marketing department, the one department where people get up to talk to every single person on the floor. So it was a pretty big commotion to have to place 20 people in hotel ro...

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“The birthday party” by Arnab Roy

Submitted to Contest #87

Close the door. Rakesh. Bring the food. Vikas was the pick of the group. 'This time its gonna be fun. There is a plan. We will make fool of rajiv this time around'. Actually it was sampreet's birthday,which was on 1st of next month. The group was very excited for the event and this time around they are even more excited. It was three days remaining for the party. The party was held at hotel grand and it was going to be a very big affair. The plan was told to everybody. The plan begins with the placement of key in rajiv's bag. The key will be...

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“APRIL FOOL” by Sajid Bijapure

Submitted to Contest #87

"You don't have to worry, Tom", said the manager with a smile while Tom stood quietly looking at the list of employees pinned on the board next to the manager's cabin. It was the list of employees who were being laid off after the company's business nosedived during the pandemic. Tom seemed worried. "Is it 'the list'", he thought, "or 'the first list'?" He wiped his brow with his palm. Actually, everyone was worried. The whole economy of the country was badly hit by a wrong kind of sequence of nucleotides that could replicate quickly ins...

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“THE GOING OF THE GONE” by 487 AJ

Submitted to Contest #87

‘Next week Thursday first-April, we will be celebrating our 10th year anniversary. We are going to usher in a new beginning for L&J holdiiiiiiiings!’ ululation, whistles and applause filled the air upon the remarks by Mr. John, the company CEO. L&J holdings for its 10 year anniversary had decided to go public, started to sell shares, its returns were soaring higher. The Gum-Arabic it had ventured into two years back was proving to be a good investment. The employees and the employers were all having best moments of their lives ...

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“The Last Joke ” by Marianna Mills

Submitted to Contest #87

Rex arrived at the office early, two days before Aril 1st, 'day of fools' he thought to himself, as he put his briefcase down and his lunch tucked away in the top drawer. He'd been working for the company for 3 years now. A shy man, well groomed, quiet, kept mostly to himself, his nose dusted with freckles and hair as blond as the sun sparkles. The small local newspaper was an ideal place for Rex, as a copy editor's assistant, he did well for himself, and lived at home with his mother, whom he helped with bills and providing a home care w...

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$50

Prize money

491

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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