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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#92: Chiaroscuro

A meteor's dazzling burst of light, a sky faintly illuminated by a crescent moon, or a sidewalk lined by long afternoon shadows, the world is infinitely more interesting for chiaroscuro — the contrast of light and shade. More than that, the binary between light and darkness is one that holds great symbolic power (think yin and yang, Nyx and Erebus, good and evil).

With that in mind, this week’s prompts invite you to reflect on the way light influences a story’s setting, plot, or even its characters. Whether darkness means comfort and privacy or creepy echoing corridors, and whether light reminds you of clarity and safety or of blistering intensity, I’ve chosen prompts that give you freedom of interpretation. Happy writing!

This week's prompts

Write a story that begins in the light and ends in darkness, or the other way around.

Horror – 382 stories

End your story with a truth coming to light.

Horror – 184 stories

Set your story in a countryside house that’s filled with shadows.

Horror – 170 stories

Write about a character who thinks they have a sun allergy.

Summer – 117 stories

Write a story set in a city where the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.

Horror – 187 stories

Stories

“Ditzy Daisy🌞🚫” by Jade Orien🍀

Submitted to Contest #92

while my small body lays across the hospital bed I overhear my mother and the doctor discussing my procedure. I know that this might sound silly but I think that I am allergic to the sun. Google told me so. Ok, so let me take you back 2 hours ago. It was a nice hot day when my best friend Raina and I decided to go bike riding. You could smell the scented oil that our mothers spread on our bodies filling the misty air.The sound of our bike tires screeched every time we turned a corner on our block leaving the people staring at us with discomf...

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“REFLECTION ” by Shatobhisa Sen

Submitted to Contest #92

TW: violence Millie was almost ready for the dance when suddenly her phone started to ring. It was almost time for Kevin to pick her up. She took a peek on the cell screen while finishing her makeup. But it was not Kevin's name flashing on the screen rather it was an unknown contact. After hesitating for a moment she finally ceased dabbing the blender on her cheek and received the call. "Hello"-Millie answered it with a deep voice. The other side didn't reply anything at first. All she could hear was some loud panting, like someone was runni...

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“You Can't Draw in the Dark” by Elizabeth Atkin

Submitted to Contest #92

TW: violence, murder It was so, so dark. She couldn’t remember the last time it had been light. Not here, never here. Yet it was here in this house that she was stuck, with its creaking stairs that groaned and its peeling brown walls that sighed whenever the wind blew by, and its beautiful paintings made blurry and indistinct by their thick coating of dust. Here, in the shadowed room with heavy curtains closed, painted with pain and memory, she couldn’t imagine it holding anything but darkness and scars. Yet, it had held light, a long ...

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“When Your Candle Flickers Out” by Alya Kaikuahine

Submitted to Contest #92

Shadows. The place where darkness takes over the light. The place where monsters lurk and hide, waiting for the right moment. Shadows. The place where broken dreams go to die and fallen stars lose their light. They seem untamed, intangible, unable to control. But they listen to their master. They listen to me. Death lurks in every corner, right around the bend. But I also wait in every shadow, waiting for darkness to overcome the light of life. When your candle burns down to its wick and flickers out, Death is called. A whoosh. I l...

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“Bombs Away ” by Kenneth LaFave

Submitted to Contest #92

My last friend dead, and still the breakfast comes. Puffy blonde Mel brings it, like always. “Good morning Mr. Somers,” she says with a cracked-lip smile spread across yellow teeth. Hard to tell which is yellower, her hair or her teeth. Ridiculous looking woman. Despite old Doug down the hall dying, which we all expected anyway, I’m in a pretty good mood, so I don’t tell her to go to hell. Breakfast is orange juice, which I hate, coffee, which I love but not they way they do it here, some kind of damned pastry and a cute little box of ...

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“The Vampire Rumour” by William Richards

Submitted to Contest #92

It’s an unholy place, the school bathroom. There are sounds and smells best described as unnatural. The fluorescent light shines moon bright and casts my skin porcelain white. I seem to blend in with the wall tiles, hand basins and cubicle doors. The water from the tap is warm and I splash my face to try and freshen up. It's been a strange few weeks. My classmates seem to be laughing at me more than usual and I can’t get a handle on why. The sound of tissue paper being pulled from a dispenser emanates from a cubicle behind me follo...

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“Space Girl” by Natalie Day

Submitted to Contest #92

There’s a comforting breeze in the air when the sun begins to set. If softly dries my eyes and pulls me back home to that blanket my aunt bought me when I was six. The blanket is no longer soft, but it reminds me of the special herbal tea she always made whenever I started to cry. It came from a cardboard box from the grocery store, but a warm aunt-hug always hooked itself to the mug. The breeze fills my nose with the smell of the herbal tea so completely that I can almost taste it on my tongue. It whispers like the Harry James song on my gr...

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“Sunny Days ” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #92

I've left my reading lamp on the lowest setting, with the flexible neck straight so that the lampshade directs a soft light at the ceiling. I'm leaning my back against a pile of pillows looking longingly at the locked doors of the wardrobe. As soon as the social worker left I'd slipped the key out of my sock and shut myself in for the night, but he came back into my room an hour later and caught me slumped like a dead dog (his words) on top of a pile of my old clothes. After I got out he'd made...

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“Light on a Path” by Bonnie Clarkson

Submitted to Contest #92

Brian and Keith, sixteen-year-old friends, camped without adults for the first time. In the mid-afternoon, Keith drove his car to arrive at a clearing for their campsite. Camping for the last six years, the boys felt confident in their ability to find firewood and prepare a campfire. Keith and Brian each wore an old tee-shirt and blue jean shorts. To cool off, Keith pulled his shoulder-length brown hair into a short ponytail. He busied himself shifting his load of firewood, practicing showing off muscles with his tattoo. Brian prepared ...

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“Darkness (TW Vent)” by Lunar Night

Submitted to Contest #92

“It’s like drowning, like watching a lifeless form of yourself slowly suffocate knowing surely whats going to happen, but you hate to admit it. On each dive deeper the pressure of the water becomes more and more unbearable. It feels like you want to cave in and break down. Like a submarine lost in uncharted waters, unable to see or navigate. You call out mayday, hoping for help, but help is so far away. Too unknowing of your particular situation. How one small thing goes wrong and destroys the ship. But that small thing could take days to ye...

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“Andrew's Turn” by Rheo Graham

Submitted to Contest #92

1927London, EnglandMacTavish Theatre smelled, looked, and felt like home. I’d spent more hours within its walls and treading the boards of its stage than I could count. The revues were a blinding riot of light and colour, of sound and texture. I loved it all. I remember the grand opening when the air was rich with the smell of fresh paint, cloth upholstery, and new-cut wood. There was no saying when that smell had been lost to a miasma of stale smoke and cheap gin, but even that was glorious. It warmed something within me every time I ...

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“Towards Twilight” by Angel Merin

Submitted to Contest #92

It was about the daybreak. Davey was confused about the place that seemed to be an orange field because it smelled orange blooms. He could barely see the beam of early sun through the crowd of leaves. It’s been 12 hours since he fell from the collapsed helicopter SE202 of the Southeast Army. He can’t muster up the energy to stand .He can feel each and every single joint of his body aching. He couldn’t recognize the place. The only thing he understood was he was somewhere in an island because he could hear the sound of the calm ocean. H...

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“Water Bubbles ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #92

Arletta was made for the rain. Not for her the sunny bright cheerful days that her peers so enjoyed. Rain made her feel cozy and comforted even when she had to be out in it. For her, everything felt closer, within reach. She had discovered, when she was very young that if she sat quietly and closed her eyes, she could actually feel the water as it made its way from heaven to earth. As she got older, she would reach out with her thoughts to the highest peak of the thunder cloud. She would choose one individual drop and track it, feeling the r...

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“Shadows in the Snow” by Eddie Ihlan

Submitted to Contest #92

Power is fickle at the best of times where Uncle Harvey’s house lies out in the country. Being well over an hour from any major city and several miles from even small country towns makes maintenance for the roads and powerlines difficult to say the least. Any major weather threatens to shut the whole thing down, and it can take days for someone to come out and repair the lines. Knowing I can be stranded without power at any time, I keep a generator and a stock of fuel in the barn in case of emergencies. Emergencies like this one. When the p...

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“Little Black Book” by Emma McManus

Submitted to Contest #92

A melodic shrill woke me from my sleep. I wasn’t long in bed, having just completed a nightshift. I turned onto my back and rubbed my eyes as a single line of sunlight leaked through my curtains. I turned my head to see my phone lighting up on my beside table. The melodic shrill that had woke me was my ringtone. I must have forgotten to put it on vibrate. I grunted and glanced at the screen just in time to see that it said private number. I often got private number calls, it came with the territory of being a Doctor but if it ...

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$50

Prize money

1050

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 07, 2021 EST

Won by Nina Chyll 🏆

Title: On the Origin of Shadows

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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