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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#89: The More Things Change...

If there’s one constant in life, it’s change. You can plan all you want, but as we all know, life is often surprising. The only way to keep up is to remain flexible and open to new choices.

This is my final Friday here at Reedsy, and so in the spirit of moving forward, this week’s prompts are all about changes. I want to thank this wonderful community for all your creativity and enthusiasm — it’s been an honor getting to write these prompts for you every week and see the dazzling, beautiful, and unique stories you create from them.

But Reedsy Prompts is much larger than one person, and as the saying goes, the show must go on! Next week you’ll be meeting your new Prompts host, Laura, and I’m very excited to see what you all achieve together.

This week's prompts

Write a story that spans a month during which everything changes.

Sad – 131 stories

Start your story with a character taking a leap of faith.

Middle School – 151 stories

Write a story where one person is trying to say goodbye but keeps getting interrupted.

Middle School – 154 stories

Write about someone who is always looking toward the future.

Adventure – 77 stories

Start your story with an ending and work backward toward the beginning.

Fiction – 201 stories

Stories

“Closure” by Christina Marie

Submitted to Contest #89

The road between Nanaimo and Uclulet is long and winding. It snakes around stunning lakes and curves under ancient trees. It clings to breasts of craggy mountains and stretches over bowels of deep green gullies. The way is occasionally barred by rockslides and often slick with steady island rain.Today though, as Natalie returns home, the pavement is dry and a few brave rays of the late summer sun peek through the Pacific Rim’s constant coastal mist in tentative greeting.Her tiny rented Prius put-putts patiently behind a rust-spotted Westfali...

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“Hell Hath No Fury” by Mallory Senn-Flinn

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #89

Hi, lovelies! A few content warnings: cursing, suicidal thoughts, death, and a brief mention of substance abuse. Thanks for reading! --------- It started with an envelope - white and innocuous save for the “time sensitive” stamp in the bottom right corner. Whoever it was had spelled my name correctly, which was a rare occurrence among the spam mail I regularly received. Siobhan O’Rourke. Yes, my family is Irish, I would deadpan to whoever asked, as if it weren’t the most obvious thing in the wo...

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“Goodbye, Old Friend” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #89

It was like trying to swim the English Channel. Jeb's knees were wobbling by the time he opened the gate to the fortification that was Carl's yard. The winter wind fought him every step of the way down the gravel path and up the rickety porch steps which creaked and popped as the stout breeze toyed with loosened boards.Carl, the closest and only person to a friend Jeb had left, still liked this setup it seemed. Ever since the psychotic break ten years ago, he had developed a fetish for the bizarre. There were perfectly-spaced fence posts sur...

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“Fish Blood” by Zahra Daya

Submitted to Contest #89

The words on the textbook page blur into opaque black lines as my eyes fixate on one point. My biology professor’s monotone voice drones on despite my apparent lack of interest. I morph the black lines into words, ones that have been crafted by me and edited by the very best. I imagine looking over the front cover, seeing my name occupy the bottom. My mind conjures up multiple options for pseudonyms. The plush chair I sit at is the only perpetrator for my drowsiness—not a boring voice. I take solace in the fact that a tall mug of coff...

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“Just a month for Jenny” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #89

We should probably start at the beginning, or somewhere close to it. Jenny found a body. Don’t worry, it wasn’t dead. But one doesn’t often find their sister’s boyfriend in their bed. Most people at least. Luckily for Jenny not many people really knew her. At least she felt lucky. One thing for sure, he didn’t know her from Marry, Jona, or the Whale. That she knew when he called her ‘Molly’ upon waking up. She went about her morning by herself, while he of course ran back to her sister, like a loyal puppy. She’d call her sister lat...

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“don't unmute the group chat” by Natalie Strawbridge

Submitted to Contest #89

“You know, Ells, I don’t think I’m coming next time,” I said, adjusting my duffel bag on my shoulder. “If there is a next time.” If I’m invited.Ellis moved his mouth, but no words came out, and I wondered briefly if I’d been dropped into a silent film. He tugged on the hem of his faded t-shirt. I remembered standing in line with him, our shoulders bumping, when he bought it at a concert. “Yeah, I know,” he finally said.“It’s just, they aren’t—”“I get it.” He ran a hand through his hair, as if that would tame his unbrushed, sleep-tangled curl...

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“⥼Evergreen⥽” by 𝔘𝔤𝔬𝔠𝔥𝔦 𝔑.

Submitted to Contest #89

⥼2050⥽ I walk around in my boots, my legs scruff the dirt. I stuff my hands in my pockets as the cold air blows my skin. “Its been almost 23 years since that day.” I whisper to myself. “Yeah.” Mark says as he walks up behind me. We walk silently in the world that is not as it once was. There is dirt for miles, yet no plants have grown. There are a few trees but that's all there is…a few. We would grow them back but…all the seeds we put in the ground never seem to grow. They just die off. We have lots of storage for food since we knew this da...

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“Goodbye” by Vicky S

Submitted to Contest #89

Thick mist drifted between the graves, the rain soaking the already drenched ground, making the mud even more slippery and treacherous to the mourners who were trying desperately to stay upright.“I told you not to wear those shoes,” one man said to his wife as her heels sank into the ground.Tom gritted his teeth and tried to block out her reply as she was yanked free.“….and those that are left behind can only….”, the monotonous voice of the Priest droned on, as if determined to finish so he could escape back to the comfort of his lounge and ...

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“Hope Within” by Ann Tillinghast

Submitted to Contest #89

About twelve years ago, I was able to feel other people's feelings. If someone had love, forgiveness, and kindness in their heart, I can feel it in mine. If someone has hate, unforgiveness, lust, and fear in their heart, I was able to feel it. When I was home alone, I asked God what He wanted me to pray for. Sometimes He had me pray for one person or a group. I didn't tell anyone. I would visit people who had hate, unforgiveness, bitterness, and torment in their heart. Every time I went home, I felt so angry. God said, "Give it to me...

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“I KNOW THIS PLACE!” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #89

Start your story with an ending and work backward toward the beginning. I sit tonight looking at an image that I haven’t thought about for decades. I had stopped into the library to return two books on growing roses and on my way out the door, I glanced at the bulletin board and saw the image. It stopped me dead in my tracks, literally. Leaning in to read the small note attached, one of those tear off a phone number kind of notes, I read that a person was trying to gather informati...

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“Should I tell her?” by Lucy Thompson

Submitted to Contest #89

Stella Montana, a 16-year-old girl, is planning stuff to do over the summer with her friends, thinking about what she should do when she finishes school, and wondering what she could do to make her last two years of high school the best two years for everyone. Stella loves to stay updated with everyone’s drama so she can help some people when needed if she could, she also loves to stay up to date on trends of whatever, she checks the weather for each week of school and picks out an outfit for each day of that week ahead of time, so she has t...

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“Above and Below” by Charli Britton

Submitted to Contest #89

Have you ever been so terrified you couldn’t move? No. Probably not.But It happens often to me. I am frightened of so many things.As the smoky haze closed in around me, My legs stayed planted on the blackened rug. One of the beams had fallen from the ceiling and now I watched, unable to run from my burning home. My father was under that beam. I couldn’t bring myself to go over and help him out. I couldn’t even move to save myself. I was petrified. Paralized by my fear.“Colette!” He called.He wouldn’t ask me to save him. He was...

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“Heaven and Back” by Anna Mosqueda

Submitted to Contest #89

“Big man is waitin’ on me.” “No he aint papa, don’t say that.” I hear the crickets. They sound like hell but their chirping don’t stop. It don’t ever stop. Papa’s breathing beside me makes me want to cry. Every breath sounds like it’s the last and he knows it too. I have no one except him and the insects around me. Over Jinups Seat, I can see the sun rising. This morning, it makes the whole of the sky a pink color that turns the Earth pink. I look at Papa and his skin looks healthy because of the pink, it don’t have that yell...

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“How Things Ended” by Monica June

Submitted to Contest #89

It ended in silence, as most things do. It all ended in the brutal, stifling nothingness, with no one there to bear witness. Not even the wind dared to howl, for it knew that there would be nothing left to hear it. Before, though, there was a gunshot. Ringing out in the cold stale air, the last thing that anyone ever heard. The cries of that girl. A single girl, laying on the unknown remains of her childhood home, as she realized that she had lost everything she knew. The cries of the last girl on a dying world, her cries, kn...

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“Abroad” by Amelia Bowen

Submitted to Contest #89

The old man’s suitcase was having none of it. She smiled slightly, trying her best to reassure its wrinkled figure that no unfortunate miscreant was lurking in wait of its corner. Now, she thought towards its sagging eye; hanging jowl, you might find a hand ready to rob you, but I should think your corner is safe. It continued to glower, and her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air. You’re going to set my head aflame with those angry looks of yours, she thought at it. Hairspray is quite flammable. The luggage harrumphed as the train lurched ...

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$50

Prize money

718

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 16, 2021 EST

Won by Shea West 🏆

Title: Strong Exhale

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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