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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#95: Decision Time

One thing I’ve noticed while working alongside the wonderful volunteer judges who help run this contest is just how indecisive I can be. I’m always the last to cast my vote, tossing up options until the very final moment. Some of us embrace the act of choosing, knowing our own minds inside and out, while others are decision-phobic — and I fall firmly into the latter category.

However we feel about them, decisions — both big and small — are a part of life. Besides the obvious watershed moments, we quietly make decisions every minute of the day; one cup of coffee or two, walk or take the bus, say something or stay silent. It’s the sum of these microdecisions that makes up the fabric of our existence — and so with this week’s prompts, I want you to examine choices of all magnitude, and the ripple effects they can cause.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone being presented with a dilemma.

Character – 216 stories

Write a story about someone who’s extremely impulsive — or extremely indecisive.

Character – 105 stories

A character stands in front of two doors. Write a story about what happens after they choose one to enter.

High School – 237 stories

Write about someone making a seemingly inconsequential decision, which goes on to have important consequences.

Narrative – 153 stories

Write about someone finally making their own choices.

Middle School – 203 stories

Stories

“The Fairy and the sleeping Princess” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #95

The Fairy was in her cottage. This last sullen attempt at protecting her life has failed, and now she is tasked with accepting it. So, in her nature as a much tamed thing, she does. she was the only collateral left for her own gifts, and it was only right, of course, that she be taken. She knew her place in this, and could only be grateful that the Fairy herself was familiar. But she should’ve thought better of the woman before her, as she went and asked, “What do you want to do?” She didn’t know how to respond really, she always tri...

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“Marked For Evil II” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #95

Elise “So, how did you know to tie a tourniquet?” The doctor asked, looking at me side-eyed. I sighed. “Someone who I thought I could trust taught me,” I said. The doctor raised an eyebrow at me but mercifully didn’t say anything else. He replaced the bandage, which had quickly soaked through with blood, and tied it around my arm. After finishing cleaning me up, he packed up his bag. “Make sure you rest. You have already lost so much blood. I don’t want to have to amputate,” he said, and I nodded. The doctor turned and walked out of th...

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“Adulting” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #95

The irony (well, apart from the fact that I always used to tell the girls off for overusing or misusing that particular word!) is that so far as many people, both my colleagues and our clients, are concerned, I am the capable one. Oh, not necessarily capable at what you might call individual skills – I’ m not the one who does the trouble shooting when the laptops go wrong, nor the one who has the knack for unblocking the loo and saving us the cost of a plumber. I am just, in some generic sense, the capable one. The sensible one. Sensib...

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“Twisted in Hatred” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #95

Fog curls around you. You need to choose, the voice tells you. You feel its presence around you like a malevolent ball of living energy. Two doors stand in front of you. Your future stands in front of you. Except it is only behind one of the doors. That is the challenge of the Trial. The last task before you are allowed to become free from your prison sentence. Free. You shift on the small platform. The rest of the room is pitch black, and even though there are no lights, the two doors are illuminate...

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“The unlived life” by Barath Harish

Submitted to Contest #95

Six years back (eighteen-year-old me) I took a sip of water and put the glass at the counter next to me. My mom and dad sat exactly forty-five degrees from my couch and gazing at me for the past half an hour. It almost beats the symmetry of a random frame from a Wes movie. I had a pen in my hand and two papers stretched out in front of me. Nothing complicated, it was simple, all that I had to do was to sign in one of those. One paper which my parents brought from the highly-rated business management college and another one which I ...

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“Who Needs Romance When You Have True Love Surrounding You?” by Shannon Ruane

Submitted to Contest #95

Who Needs Romance When You Have True Love Surrounding You?Tree Town was not awoken by the lovely chirping of birds; instead a cacophony of ringtones and an additional, terrifying sound roused the town resident's from their peaceful slumber. “What the heck! Auntie Jane, am I seeing police...HERE,” shouted a dumbstruck Emma! Frozen in place, Emma glanced at her twin sister Charlotte. Did Charlotte feel as disturbed as she did over seeing a police car in person? Although they lived on Lush Island, an extremely isolated beach within walking...

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“Shadow Monster” by Charli Britton

Submitted to Contest #95

One is cherry, one is mahogany. One has silver, one has gold. Both are embellished with beautiful carvings and intricate details. Both doors beckoning me. From the cherry spreads a moonlight blanket, and from the mahogany, the gold envelops me in a comforting hug. Each door is extraordinary; is there a right or a wrong choice? I should not have to make this decision, yet here it is. Begging me to choose, but no one ever told me I had to. As with most things, time has changed me. Not only physically, but mentally. My perspective has cha...

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“Paola get's her life now” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #95

She was in a passenger car on the capital world of Cressida, it had been almost five years since she’d last taken a passenger train, and she could say now that it was overrated. Paola was happy to have bought tickets for the first time with her own notes, but having been in the overcrowded train car for the hour it took between Luke and Hryhoriy, she could only feel the waste of five Nicks. The only thing that could’ve made it worse was bad company on the other end, she knew a good bit about the good folks in Hryhoriy, the kinds that worked ...

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“Infinity” by Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #95

Approximately 4.25 light years from Earth, in the southern constellation of Centaurus, a small habitable planet called Proxima was discovered. This Earth-like planet rotates perfectly in the habitable zone away from the sun at 1.3 astronomical units. Scans have revealed that the planet has liquid water on the surface, and a clean atmosphere that will support life. With just the right amount of greenhouse gases, Proxima can support the same temperatures as our own planet. The discovery was made in the European Southern Observatory ...

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“The Fault In Their Stars” by Christina Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #95

Last night’s dirty dishes were still stacked in the sink. Not scraped. Not rinsed. Not even soaked. Just leftover food encrusted on the dinner plates they’d once gleefully picked out for their wedding registry. A happy wedding years ago—actually, decades.Denise sighed, she didn’t have the time or inclination to deal with the mess. Mainly she wondered why her husband hadn’t cleaned up the kitchen. Ever since they’d stopped being intimate with each other, he had shouldered more and more of the household chores. Like that was compensation for n...

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“Who Did This?” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #95

(Author's note: Depictions of abuse that may not be suitable for all readers.)I see two doors. Same two I'm faced with every morning hours before sunrise. I wish the green and gold uniform reflected how I really feel about my job. But I realized a long time ago there is no job that's free from interaction with the other gender.My gloved hand curls into a fist. One which I often daydream of using for something besides knocking. I have to control myself. I have to look golden, like these ridiculous stripes, eight hours a day, five days a week....

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“Aboulomania” by Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #95

(Content Warning: violence, and a lot of insanity)I can’t believe I’m finally ready to tell Doctor Regal my deepest darkest secret. I tap my toes impatiently inside my brown Kingston shoes and twiddle my fingers. Maybe I should have gone with the black ones instead. I think they would have matched my brown skirt a lot better. My belt is black, so black shoes would have been the better choice. Why did I choose the brown shoes? Damn this indecisiveness! I’ll just have to accept the fact that I look tacky today. At least my shirt is p...

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“John only 'likes' his house” by Kathleen `Woods

Submitted to Contest #95

It wasn’t unknown that John had a certain despondence about him during the winter. It sunk slowly into his heart in September and only truly lifted in mid-march. Like an ever present shadow in his head, it made him moody to say the least. The kind of moody you lost hours in. How he decided that a night shift would help was beyond him. But he felt like he was getting better, it was edging into the time of year when he could really think again. When he got back into his seasonal work. Finally having a home even just to wallow in was enjoyable,...

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“THE PERFECT HAUNTING” by PRAPTI GUPTA

Submitted to Contest #95

THE PERFECT HAUNTING By Prapti Gupta "Rose, are you ready? We are getting late for office." "Yeah, just 2 minutes" I answered my boyfriend Chris. I was about to leave when suddenly the telephone started ringing. Nowadays who uses telephone? everyone uses smartphone. But still I picked up the phone. "Hello? Who's this?" I could only hear some hush sounds coming from the other side and a woman mumbling something. I again asked who was that and I could barely he...

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“The Girl With Fire In Her Eyes” by Aurora Spencer

Submitted to Contest #95

CW: Mentions of murder and crime (but not much)You hold the hilt of the dagger in your hands, its metal pressing against your frostbitten arm. You've never held a weapon before, and wielding one makes you feel strong. Powerful. You take a deep breath and run the blade through the rope, slitting it into two with a snap that makes your blood run cold."Go," you say in a voice so hoarse you can't believe it's yours.The ten-year-old girl, the one you've just freed, looks up at you with large eyes, as if she can't believe you're letting her go. Sh...

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$50

Prize money

920

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 28, 2021 EST

Won by A.Dot Ram 🏆

Title: Moira's Day Off

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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