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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 Newcomer” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #87

Whether people approved or disapproved of Luke Welsh, and there were strong opinions both ways, as well as those who affected to be unconcerned, there was a general consensus, spoken or unspoken, that he wasn’t the kind of person who generally came to live on Monterrey Terrace. There were various theories as to why it was called Monterrey Terrace, none of them especially plausible. Some unkindly or self-mockingly said that Mortuary Terrace might be nearer the truth. But let’s not give the wrong impression. There was nothing sordid or scary a...

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“Wish Upon A Fish” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #87

April 1st, 2020The day started like any other day, just as it would for any other high school junior. I woke up from my five hours of productive dreaming and removed my headphones, which were still playing personal recordings of organic compound nomenclature rules. At 5:30AM, after an energizing cold shower of precisely fifteen minutes, I brewed coffee and poured some into my favorite cup, revising the structure of the caffeine molecule printed on it at the same time.For the next two hours, I practiced Graphical User Interface development in...

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“The (Re)Invention of Lying” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #87

I am so bored!All this time, all these stories that you skin jockeys created about me, and now I am just here and I am bored. Best years of my life are gone – big talk for an immortal, trust me – and now I see that there isn’t much else for me now. I am just watching the passing scene and wondering where it all went wrong. And I’m bored.I know, I know… It is hard to feel sorry for someone with my history, my rep; my truly incredible powers (again, there I go), but see it from my point of view. You guys gave me all the cha...

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“If the circumstances of the day get any more dismal” by Aiden Solomon

Submitted to Contest #87

If the circumstances of the day get any more dismal, Bob will go to the rooftop of his apartment building and scream at the top of his lungs “I HATE APRIL FOOLS!”. He tapped his foot, patiently waiting for the elevator to arrive. Fridays are always great, but not this time. No, this wretched day just has to keep happening every year. The elevator dinged. No one was there. He looked at himself in the mirror. “Look he’s covered in whipped cream!” someone said. He checked his hands. Lo and behold, white frothy substance stuck in-between ...

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“I should've checked my phone... "Oh COME ON!"” by Somegenius Kid

Submitted to Contest #87

It’s only 9:00 AM and I’m already holding a trash can so I can throw up whenever I have to. Why? Cause it’s *reech! SPLAT!* April’s Fools Da-a-… Ahhh!!! I can’t say it! It’s the 1st of Ravril. I can’t say the Apr- word. Why? Cause it gives me the worst feeling ever! I can’t stand this day! Everybody keeps trying to prank me! Why? First of all, I’m a principal. Second of all, kids don’t really like me that much because I guess you could say I lose my temper… But it’s only because some kids keep annoying me and well some kids keep talking back...

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“All About Timing” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #87

The sun was shining and the streets were busy. Pedestrians weaved in and out of the traffic, calling to friends and family as they went. The occasional car horn went off, but in the heat there was no malice to it. No one was in a hurry, not when there was so much sun to enjoy on this glorious summer Saturday. Sat at a table outside the café Levy swirled his cup of coffee round as he watched. Everyone else was drinking iced beverages, yet Levy still had a hot one. Even in this heat he felt a chill in his bones, the chill of his old age. It ...

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“Different People” by Sam Ackman

Submitted to Contest #87

Balor opened his eyes to the first rays of morning light trickling in and the soft melodies of the birds, and dread filled his senses. His stomach rolled over several times and his chest felt heavy. It is here. He heard clatters and movements from the floor below him. Curse these elves, why must they thrive in such an energetically mischievous day. Pranks are an embarrassment to the pranked, disrespectful. A few louder clunks from below and Balor gripped his puffy feather filled blanket tightly and...

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“Interviewing a trickster” by J Sagar

Submitted to Contest #87

Below you'll find an excerpt from an interview by the editor-in-chief of Times Weekly, Howard Nash, with the Trickster. Our transcriptionist has tried to make sure that every word uttered during the interview has been transcribed accurately. Nonetheless, we apologize in advance for any discrepancies that might have crept in. Thank you for your co-operation.Howard : Mr. Trickster, what would you say makes you so successful in tricking people?Trickster: Well, if I told you I have three friends: Potrino Stag, Antoni Stag, and Toni F. Caden, how...

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“Eris' Reckoning” by Christopher Moore

Submitted to Contest #87

“They needed to be taught a lesson. They lost their way. Judgement will reign down upon them one day and they are not ready.”“Eris, it was not your place to start a pandemic on earth.”“Father I didn’t start the pandemic. It was their own hubris that started the pandemic. You know as well as I, they will be the cause of their own destruction. It serves them right. They no longer worship us. They worship themselves. Remember when war, pestilence, and disease served to idolize al...

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“Date of Death: April 1st” by Marin Arvin

Submitted to Contest #87

TW: suicide and graphic horror As I dressed myself casually for school, my excitement was consuming; I could not settle the anticipation building in my veins. It was April first, and the prank that I had been planning all year would be epic, so deceptive that everyone would believe it. Then I would laugh at them and reveal the truth: it was just a prank! It was a solid plan. I threw open the curtains and looked around my room for the fake knife I had bought, but it was out of sight. The fake knife looked so real that it even shined the...

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“An Unlikely Hero (Part 1. Beginnings)” by Phoebe DeNeve

Submitted to Contest #87

Piper was different from all the pixies, and it wasn't because she was an orphan, or that she lived alone in the Moon-drop woods; it was because she was a prankster. Once a week the other pixies, living in local village, would be pranked by her in different ways, but it would be on a different day every week, so they didn't know when to expect the weekly trick. It would be hard to believe that this little prankster would be the one to save all the pixies in her village. To discover about her transition from prankster to savior, a deeper loo...

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“Legging Up Time” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #87

Rhoda had got it into her head that she was going to give a new slant to the whole Secret Santa business. Well, in a manner of speaking! To start with, she most determinedly suppressed any thoughts of Santa. Rhoda was no Scrooge, and was fond of Christmas, but she wasn’t even fond of Christmas in October, when the shops decided it was time to start playing I wish it could be Christmas every day and the expurgated version of Fairy Tale of New York. And as for Christmas in April, well, the mere thought made her shudder. And Secret Santas gave ...

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“Open your eyes” by Aboh Pride Akom

Submitted to Contest #87

I open my eyes. I am readying myself for the morning. A golden cheekbone lined by the rising sun, beautiful in its simplicity. I touch it, once, her skin warm under my fingers, a reminder of how alive we are. How young we are. We are teenagers. Our hands are clumsy, too big for our skinny limbs, not sure where to go or what to think. These hands hold pens, and books, and dreams. We discuss the future in vivid colours, full of blossoming hope of what it could hold. Neither of us say it, our lips tied by the thin string of fear, but our dreams...

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“GOTCHA!” by HC Edwards

Submitted to Contest #87

Finn always saved her house for last, not just for the chocolate, but the love of mischief that had been his standard all these long years. It was tiring work, visiting so many homes in one evening, and if it wasn’t for the folderol of that last house he would have been bored a long time ago. Rose was a conundrum of a human being. Since childhood she had shown a predilection towards the sciences, constantly experimenting with...

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“The Most Elaborate Prank” by Fay Winter

Submitted to Contest #87

Ooh, I'm gonna get her. I'm gonna get her good. It's April Fool's Day today, and my best friend just made me drink decaf instead of coffee. But she has no idea that I've just started to plan my own prank for her for next year. And it's gonna be epic. It's going to be hilarious and elaborate and amazing. "Man, Jake! I can't believe you fell for that! The simple switching the coffee and decaf labels...Man, your face was priceless!" I just smile at her. "Yeah, Posy, you really got me good. Good job." She raises her eyebrows at me and burst...

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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.

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