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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

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 b...

124 comments 124 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Red Tea Dream” by Yolanda Wu

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 ...

63 comments 63 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Sins that Betray Us” by William Richards

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 w...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Daddy's Little Girl” by Emily Thompson

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...

7 comments 7 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Do Not Resuscitate” by T. C. Emerys

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. ...

19 comments 19 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“One step.” by Jeanne Lejeune

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&he...

2 comments 2 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Transformation” by Naomi Andrade-Butts

Miel stood in her kitchen and stared at the package of pasta on the counter. It was thin and long and didn’t take up much space. If she turned it on its side she could slide it in between the salt and pepper and probably forget about it. Her heart didn't pound. Her body wasn't sweating. Her mind wasn't racing.  Her left hand stung along the side ...

4 comments 4 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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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 – 186 stories

Start your story with someone accepting a dare.

Middle School – 193 stories

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

Teens – 169 stories

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

Middle School – 101 stories

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

Middle School – 101 stories

Stories

“How to Cook Pasta” by Caroline Greaser

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 b...

124 comments 124 WINNER 🏆
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“Can You Hear Me, Major Mushroom?” by Stevie B

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 wh...

53 comments 53
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“Welcome to the Neighbor's Hood” by Mister X

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 chuckle...

12 comments 12
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“Yellow Leaf” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“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...

25 comments 25
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“Trust exercises (Part 7 of Mutants versus Witches)” by Moon Lion

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 co...

29 comments 29
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“Red Tea Dream” by Yolanda Wu

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 ...

63 comments 63 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“A Word to the Wise” by Nainika Gupta

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 ...

39 comments 39
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“the chemist ” by Kelly Dennison

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 ...

47 comments 47
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“The Blood Soaked Hands of a Healer” by Lynn Penny

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 o...

9 comments 9
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“It is what it is” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

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 wan...

8 comments 8
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“This Way!” by 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒 𝕁𝕒𝕕𝕖

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 ...

7 comments 7
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“Thirteen Roses” by Thom Brodkin

The bar was dark, as a bar should be. That didn’t bother John. In fact, it was one of the reasons he had stopped by for a drink. The last four years had all made sense to him, until tonight. She wanted roses at their wedding, yet his mom wanted lilies. If you really want to make a bride-to-be angry a week before her big day, try changing one of the major decisions at the last moment to placate your mother. John learned that the hard way. Somehow he knew he should have sided ...

60 comments 60
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“Ashes Two Ashes” by Rayhan Hidayat

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.

30 comments 30
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“Final Products of Combustion” by Nina Chyll

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 w...

31 comments 31
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“Déjà vu” by Amany Sayed

Yellow light spilled into the room through the white curtains, staining the pillows and bed in a hazy glow. Mona sat on the corner of the bed, a half-filled cup of coffee in her hand and her hair in a messy bun on her head. "It's 7. In the morning. On a Saturday," she said, speaking slowly so her words wouldn't slur together in her sleepy state. A groan emulated from the phone that was face-up on the mattress....

27 comments 27
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$50

Prize money

750

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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