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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#94: Stubborn as a Bull

Those who dabble in astrology may know that we’re nearing the end of Taurus season — and that one of the “typical” Taurus traits is stubbornness. I’m only a casual fan of horoscopes, but I will say I’ve met a few stubborn Tauruses in my time; that said, I’m pretty sure that’s because most human beings are stubborn, not because it’s intrinsic to those born in late April and May.

Still, Taurus season is a great excuse to delve into this fascinating character trait! Stubbornness, tenacity, perseverance, or stupidity: whatever you call it, this week’s prompts are all about the refusal to give up or give in, and all that might mean for your characters.

🥇 Winner

“How to Cook Pasta” by Caroline Greaser

🏆 Winner of Contest #94

Content warning: suicidal thoughts She waits with a watchful eye, staring at the pasta. It doesn’t boil. Pacing back and forth across the empty kitchen with the useless pots and pans still in the creaky cupboard, she adds another pinch of salt to the pasta. It still doesn’t boil. She thinks about putting on a bit of music while she waits, but the downstairs neighbors hate when she does that, and she can’t remember where she last left her headphones. They might be in her coat pocket or they might not, perhaps she left them ...

128 comments 128

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Red Tea Dream” by Yolanda Wu

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #94

Trigger warning: Drug use, gun violence, metaphorical reference to loss of a baby. Your fingers brush on my clean skin, dirtying it like dust on a canvas. The blood is so starkly red; I will believe it if you tell me it’s not blood at all, rather your red lip rouge. The one you carry on you in that little gold tin. You apply it to your lips with your pointer finger and that hand mirror a man dressed in black had given you on your first night at the Red Lotus. The man told you that he liked your phoenix eyes and thought the silver mirror...

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“The Sins that Betray Us” by William Richards

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #94

A fictional moment in the life of Eugène Vidocq, the criminal turned criminalist *** It was a warm Parisienne evening and fog rose from the Seine. It mingled with the smog of industry and clouded the gas street lights that dimly lit cobblestone streets. Beside the Seine, in the 4th arrondissement, was La Force Prison, within which was the man Eugène Vidocq, whose wrists were shackled to the dungeon wall by cold steel chains and ankles bound by manacles. Eugène had black, curly hair and long, thick sideburns that taunted the corners of ...

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“Daddy's Little Girl” by Emily Thompson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #94

TW: Alcoholism, verbal abuse, brief mention of eating disorder and sexual assaultShine on You Crazy Diamond, Pink Floyd (1975)**Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.Shine on, you crazy diamond. You’re seven years old and you sit next to Dad. The waitress fills his mug with black, black coffee and the steam swirls up and cradles your nose. You want another donut, Poot? He asks. You smile your gap-tooth smile and the waitress brings another donut, setting it on the napkin in front of you. You spin around in...

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“Do Not Resuscitate” by T. C. Emerys

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #94

I bury my toes in the sand of Ryde Beach. The layers move from dry and cosy to damp and cloying as my feet undulate like worms. I don’t like the look of them anymore – pale and crusty from years indoors. Years of hospitals. Years of waiting rooms. No one moves to the Isle of Wight to sit inside. That’s what Mum would have said. She used to like the sun on her feet. I remember she would always slip her shoes off when I took her for her walks here, in the early days, before everything. “Wash between your toes,” she always muttered to me when I...

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“One step.” by Jeanne Lejeune

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #94

TW: gore One step will lead to another and you will be free from the loop. Free to live the rest of your life. Just walk away. Cameron ignores his reflection waving from the store windows across the street, opting to focus on the sky instead, watching the scaffolding above the entrance to the cinema with wary intention. Sneaking looks in between nodding along to Felix’s excited commentary on the inconsistencies between the third and fourth installments of…it’s been so long he can’t remember what movie it is. “Look out!” He pulls on ...

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This week's prompts

Write a story about someone sticking to a course of action even when it’s clearly wrong.

Middle School – 182 stories

Start your story with someone accepting a dare.

Middle School – 185 stories

Write a story about two people who need each other, but are too stubborn to admit it.

Teens – 164 stories

End your story with someone finally conceding to another’s point of view.

Middle School – 97 stories

Write a story in which a character justifies an argument with: “Because I said so.”

Middle School – 97 stories

Stories

“How to Cook Pasta” by Caroline Greaser

🏆 Winner of Contest #94

Content warning: suicidal thoughts She waits with a watchful eye, staring at the pasta. It doesn’t boil. Pacing back and forth across the empty kitchen with the useless pots and pans still in the creaky cupboard, she adds another pinch of salt to the pasta. It still doesn’t boil. She thinks about putting on a bit of music while she waits, but the downstairs neighbors hate when she does that, and she can’t remember where she last left her headphones. They might be in her coat pocket or they might not, perhaps she left them ...

128 comments 128

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“Can You Hear Me, Major Mushroom?” by Stevie B

Submitted to Contest #94

Did you know that the largest organism known on Earth is a mushroom? While the whale is the largest living mammal (the largest on record was a scant 110 feet long and weighed an anorexic 200 tons), there’s a mushroom so large it could choke the biggest whale in the ocean. Heck, it’s so huge it could probably choke a whole pod of whales with enough left over to obstruct the breathing passages of a few herds of elephants and gag several gaggles of geese. Scientists who have studied this massive fungal organism estimate that its body can exte...

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“Welcome to the Neighbor's Hood” by Mister X

Submitted to Contest #94

At the Trump International Hotel Washington, a large group of red-faced men sat their doughy bodies in overstuffed winged chairs, drinking Scotch from crystal tumblers.“What is the matter at hand?” Harrison Jefferson Livingston, III asked, blowing blue plumes of cigar smoke out of the corners of his mouth. He tapped cigar ashes directly onto the Persian rug. “National health care?” replied a voice to his right.There was a brief pause before the group started to chuckle—the chuckles quickly turned into loud guffaws as the joke hit home. ...

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“Yellow Leaf” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #94

“Because you cannot take care of her properly,” I finally say after arguing for almost an hour. “Now, I’ve brought some brochures—”“I take care of her just fine,” my father replies evenly, those coal black eyes of his boring a hole through me. “I always have. And you know what you can do with those brochures,” he mutters, his tone a clue that I’ve crossed the Rubicon. “Dad,” I lean forward, exasperated by his arrogant stoicism. “When she was hospitalized last month, she was dehydrated and had a UTI. Her blood sugar level was far to...

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“Trust exercises (Part 7 of Mutants versus Witches)” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #94

Breakfast felt like a trap.I stared at the stacks of golden pancakes, little bowls of butter, the apple pie syrup, and the little cut-up fruit salads.John, wearing a 'kiss the cook' apron bustled around, pausing to draw a drippy smiley face with an ungodly amount of syrup on Harry's pancakes.Harry looked up at John tiredly, then gingerly prodded one soggy pancake with a fork. Next to him, Elysse giggled slightly, sounding surprised.Devon and I shared a look: partly confused, part suspicious. What the hell was going on?Elysse scrutinized...

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“Red Tea Dream” by Yolanda Wu

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #94

Trigger warning: Drug use, gun violence, metaphorical reference to loss of a baby. Your fingers brush on my clean skin, dirtying it like dust on a canvas. The blood is so starkly red; I will believe it if you tell me it’s not blood at all, rather your red lip rouge. The one you carry on you in that little gold tin. You apply it to your lips with your pointer finger and that hand mirror a man dressed in black had given you on your first night at the Red Lotus. The man told you that he liked your phoenix eyes and thought the silver mirror...

Read story

“A Word to the Wise” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #94

The squirrel has declared War. He has shaken Furry tail at me. Chattered Angrily and I think he’s Mocking me. My human doesn’t let me Outside. I stare out The window. The squirrel thinks it’s So funny. My owner gets Mad at me. When I Bark. It’s the Squirrel’s Fault. It declared War. My owner finally Pulls his socks on. Minus the one I chewed Yesterday. He was mad About that. He grabs the Leash. Clips...

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“the chemist ” by KED KED

Submitted to Contest #94

It had arrived. Months of self-imposed confinement, however, did very little to prepare me for the accompanying shipping agent of the package. “Don’t tell me they saw fit to send a little girl to protect something this valuable,” I sneered, hoping to inject enough venom in my voice to sting just a little. I waited for a response as I searched her nubile face. Expressionless, she gave nothing away. Despite her youth, I could tell immediately she was born before The Fall. 50 years prior, give or take, the Wo...

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“The Blood Soaked Hands of a Healer” by Lynn Penny

Submitted to Contest #94

There was no bloodshed, splattered walls, or screams of agony. It was the worst battlefield Cerelia had ever stepped foot in. She had walked knee-deep in the blood of her brothers, wrapped their wounds while the light in their eyes faded with the whispers of the lost flying by her ears. Hundreds of dying wishes intrusted in her heart, their lasts breaths of life seen only by her. Cerelia had wept for the lovers of those she had never met before the day she broke the news that families would never reunite. She prayed for the survivors s...

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“It is what it is” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Submitted to Contest #94

After the fire had gone down and the rain had become nothing but a drizzle, Ria said to him, "you should know me by now."He did not look at her but he knew she was smiling. "You're right. I should."And yet, here he was, straddled to a chair, knowing he would die and she would kill him. And perhaps he'd known all along that the fire in his eyes had burnt with a delicate tenderness for a woman who did not love him. By his feet, her cat lay curled up. He wanted to stroke the furry coat but she did not want to take any chances. "Tell m...

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“This Way!” by 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒 𝕁𝕒𝕕𝕖

Submitted to Contest #94

I kicked the little gray, mossy stone into the forest, mumbling things about this stupid trail we’re lost on under my breath. “It’s this way.” Molly switched her direction, away from the creek that would lead to civilization. Molly, my best friend, and I were lost in the woods. We were trying to go to this super cool tree ziplining thing, but on the way there, we sorta got lost. I told Molly we needed to stay near the river because that would lead to civilization. But, I guess she really didn’t want to agree with me. “Molly, come on. We n...

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“Ashes Two Ashes” by Rayhan Hidayat

Submitted to Contest #94

Ash grits her teeth as the rock bites into her fingers, teasing out blood that wriggles down the cliff face in ribbons of shimmering crimson. Flecks of snow spin and dance around her on their merry way down, and she thought the cold would numb her flesh, would make the climb bearable.Idiot, she chides herself as she hauls herself up another painful inch. This was never supposed to be easy.And yet here she is anyway, bleeding herself dry in the choking darkness of the night, riding the hazy promise that at the summit, past clouds that blind h...

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“Final Products of Combustion” by Nina Chyll

Submitted to Contest #94

CW: very strong language, sexual harassment Natasha is so plump her breasts are already filling an underwired bra her mother had picked out for her, it’s pink. She looks so tan in it that other girls think she’s dirty. She smells of chlorine and strawberries. She dives so well she’s the only one allowed at the deep side of the pool in swimming class. Ken is scrawny like a young tree with his skinny branches. He’s mere kindling, no obstacle to the hormonal wildfire. He notices hair starting to grow under his armpits. He wakes up...

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“silly rabbit, murder's for dummies ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #94

You need me, Sport. “I don’t need you. You’re nothing.” You’re lying. You need me. You love me. I need you. I want you. Stay with me, Sport, and we’ll do such wonderful things. You’ve seen how much fun we’ve had, you know, before you decided you didn’t want to listen anymore. But you know what happens when I feel ignored, don’t you? Don’t you know? “Would you stop that? I said I’m done. I’m leaving and you’re staying and there’s nothing you can do about it. Goodbye.” Don’t you dare. “I will! I am daring. And what...

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“Twenty-two days” by H L McQuaid

Submitted to Contest #94

“Don’t you dare go," Mariam said, as Aicha tucked the money into a hidden belt around her waist.“If I stay, nothing changes for any of us," Aicha replied."You are as stubborn as a donkey."Aicha smiles, thinking about that last conversation with her sister, as she stands on a windy beach looking at the rickety boat that's meant to carry her 800 kilometers across the open ocean. Even a donkey would have more sense than to ride in that. But she's already travelled for weeks from the Ivory Coast to Mauritania to hand the money she’s saved since ...

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$50

Prize money

725

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 21, 2021 EST

Won by Caroline Greaser 🏆

Title: How to Cook Pasta

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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