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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 – 383 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

“Not Broken” by Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #92

(This story is a follow up to "Broken")My name is Peter Anderson, and I’m... broken. I’ve always wondered about my father because I never met him before. The only time I hear my mom talk about him is when he misses a child support payment. She cusses him up and down completely forgetting that I’m only eight years old. Kids shouldn’t hear those kinds of words. I know what you're thinking, what does an eight-year-old boy know about child support. Well, I know that if my mom doesn’t get it, she takes her anger out on me. It’s not my fault....

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“The Tyranny of Light” by Kristin Neubauer

Submitted to Contest #92

The old grandfather clock, invisible in the darkened dining room, whirred and clunked through its gears just before chiming eleven times. As the last tone faded, the innkeeper heard a creak. This was not the groan of the country house settling. For 42 years, the murmurs and sighs of the aged walls and floors had woven themselves into the innkeeper’s consciousness. She knew those noises as intimately as she knew the pops and clicks of her bones.No, this was the squeak of one Early American floorboard being pushed against a...

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“La Sombra” by Alex Arias

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #92

TW: abuse Evita lied awake in the corner of the room her family shared, the moonlight casting a white glow that she manipulated with her hand’s shadow. The howling of coyotes was long gone, but they still echoed in her brain as she shaped her fingers into a snout, its mouth open. The shadow was dear to her, protected her not only from the Sonoran Sun during the day, but cloaked her from danger at night. She knew this land and the darkness it cast in its folds better than anybody else in her family, and in return was respected by the shadow. ...

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“An End To A Beginning” by Stories Are Fun

Submitted to Contest #92

This is it. I have completed it. The final stage.At this moment, I have fallen asleep for what will almost certainly be the last time ever. This time I will truly be asleep. ForeverUpon saying these words I have completed an eventful journey. One that has been most remarkable.Over the last few months I have not been well and have been told that I have an incurable illness and that the end was evitable. I would be dead before long.Well the sad thing is we all have to die someday. I know its terrifying for us all to know about that the very mo...

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“Ghosts” by Amelia Bowen

Submitted to Contest #92

It felt wrong to be anything but a ghost, in this house. Felt wrong to liken yourself to anything but a drifting specter, white dress or cape billowing after you like a train of unfinished thoughts. She was alone. It felt wrong to be anything but alone, in this house. The curtains were made to be rustled by some invisible hand; frosted windows crafted specially to frame the longing face of a life-long captive. The house was drafty, inconsistent in its moods; she liked to think that she was too.There was a trunk in the attic. An old, wooden t...

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“A Different Blood” by Arwen Dove

Submitted to Contest #92

It was war. The slashing of swords and the hammering of fists echoed in my ears as I hid behind a rubbish bin in a dark alleyway, hidden from view. I was a good guy, one of them, someone who supposedly saved everyone from evil. But I wasn’t brave enough to fight, I was too weak to hold a sword. Too cowardly to overcome my fears of battle. I heard voices approach, so I hid further into the shadows. Two figures emerged and stood directly in front of me, they didn’t seem aware of the fact that I was there, but I could see them, smell...

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“Connor cleans up” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #92

It had been two months since his friend's disappearance, and while they didn’t want to see it, his family knew the chances in the first forty-eight. They loved their son, him not being there wasn’t gonna change that, but grief made everything harder. Especially without a body. The search was still on for it, but it was a cold comfort in a world that had already taken him. Connor wasn’t impressed with the investigation, but without any leads there wasn’t much to be done. Their grief was palpable, enough so that Edwin’s sister had put him to...

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“Sun vs. Moon” by 𝔘𝔤𝔬𝔠𝔥𝔦 𝔑.

Submitted to Contest #92

Definitions ~ In Greek, Selene means ☾ In Ancient Rome, Aelia means ☀ ☀☾ Spotty and white. That’s the colors of the moon. Or was it gray? Looking at it here I can’t really tell. But it sure is beautiful, this is what I have been waiting for, this is what I wanted to see. The moon. The magnificent moon. Its a full circle tonight, and we are sitting right in front of it. How lucky are we to sit right in front of it! The ocean reflects the moon sending ripples through its body. The stars paint the black sky with yellow spots. I see a shooting s...

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“The Shadows of the Flowers” by Kenley Ellis

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #92

A general misconception about countryside homes is that they are beautiful and bright; I am basing this off of my personal misconception of the same kind. Countryside homes - they are like any other place on earth. They harbor equal shadow and light. Light is not always a fearless defender, you know. It does not chase away shadows. It is not on your side. More often than not, and always in real life, it shares space with the darkness. Nothing is fighting for you but yourself. It’s just the way things are. I understood that as a common l...

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“Barry and the Burning Dog” by A.R. Eakle

Submitted to Contest #92

The sun beaming in through the window lays so still on the wooden floor that it’s hard to walk without feeling like I’m going to wake up the sun. Like I’m tiptoeing around fire. A glance out the window are green hills rolling into the horizon, like green ocean waves covered in wildflowers. It’s hard to believe in sadness with a view so beautiful. The house is full of antique farm equipment and knick-knacks and the kind of junk that only a lifetime worth of love and passion could ever hope to appreciate. The areas where the sun cuts through ...

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“Memories and cobwebs” by Echo Sundar

Submitted to Contest #92

My small honda Prius bumped around as I drove up the gravel driveway. Rocks hit the side of the car with tiny plinks. Mud covered the wheels and the doors of the car as I drove through puddles and I thought miserably that I would probably have to give it a good washing when I got home. A small house lay in front of me. Small it might be but it felt like it was towering over me.I hadn't been inside in years. Cobwebs were strung from the doorway like Halloween decorations. The windows were cracked. Mice skittered over the steps and the wh...

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“Eloise goes places” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #92

She’d never been given a real explanation as to why her body reacted like that, why her body would burn with those Irate welts from the sun.Her condition, like most things, was only a miner inconvenience at this point in her life.That same response was rare enough around her face, which she would’ve been thankful for if she’d taken a day flight.Concerned with her skin Eloise always took a night plane when she traveled.This would’ve made sleep difficult for others, but Eloise was one for the night life, taking her five to eight hours by the h...

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“'Dancing Shadows'” by Asha Pillay

Submitted to Contest #92

The old house on the hillock had always fascinated Rudra. It was away from hustle and bustle of the village, and had been deserted for many years.One day he had told his mother Mira that he wanted to visit the house on the hill. Mira had heard various stories about the house, and she forbade her son to go up there."Promise me Rudra, you will never go up to that house ever" his mother warned him"But why, Ma?""There is a witch living there who eats small children for lunch" Mira told him, trying to scare him...

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“When it's Not Just an Outage” by Stephanie Albright

Submitted to Contest #92

The Long Walk Home comes out tomorrow. This is an edited version of the first chapter. Enjoy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0938KHPMV It was Friday morning and I was headed to the break room for my coffee, then back to sitting in my office. I was almost back to my office when the lights flickered, then went out. “Well, shit,” I muttered. I made it to my office with the light coming from the front windows. As I picked at my doughnut, I realized how quiet it was. I grabbed my flashlight and headed out to the front of the store. There were n...

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“Bats to Butterflies ” by Beth Jackson

Submitted to Contest #92

“For the love of God, Brian, why can’t you just get out of the flaming car?” Doreen put her hands on her hips and glared at Brian. She didn’t understand. No one did. Not really. “It burns.” The words sounded stronger than he anticipated, growing wings and roaring into life as they left his mouth, like wet-winged bats escaping a cave. Doreen sighed and looked at the sky. Perhaps she felt the fear too. Her brave face, a necessity in a mother’s armory. “God, give me strength.” She said it quietly, but God seemed to hear, and she smiled, g...

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$50

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1051

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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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