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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#97: Window of Opportunity

Windows let us see and be seen. These openings to the outside world (or the indoors world, depending on where you’re standing) have been so important in connecting our individual isolations during the pandemic. And beyond their presence in our daily lives, windows frequently feature in art and cinema: from Edward Hopper’s famous paintings of nightly urban scenes to films like The Woman in the Window or The Neighbors’ Window, glimpses into the lives of others have always been a source of wonder and curiosity.

Speaking of which, wonder and curiosity are promising feelings to tap into when you're responding to this week’s prompts. Apart from the literal gazing in and out of windows, you can also pass through magic ones, or develop a story around a window-related event. And if you happen to passionately loathe windows, I’ve got a metaphorical one for you to get creative with. Have fun!

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character looking out of a window in the middle of the night.

Horror – 340 stories

Write a story in which a window is broken or found broken.

Dark – 142 stories

Write a story that involves a magic window — or a window like no other.

Fantasy – 154 stories

Start your story with an unexpected knock on a window.

Dark – 138 stories

Set your story within a window of opportunity, when a character finally has the chance to do something.

Middle School – 144 stories

Stories

“"Thomas Received"” by ✨Maddy Gunn✨

Submitted to Contest #97

"Thomas Received" "You will never, EVER amount to anything, YOU HEAR ME?" The cruel words of his Lady Lane's voice replayed over in Thomas's mind, he clenched his fist trying to drown them out. Thomas stood looking out of one of the Servant's quarter's windows, the day was bright, his clock read exactly 6:00 am, it was already begging to become sunny. The clock chimed. Thomas sighed. "Well, here we go!" he muttered to himself as he changed out of his bedclothes and into his butler uniform. The bells started ringing, in all of t...

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“The Old Cooper Place” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #97

The rag tag ball team stood there and looked over the fence at the broken window. It wasn’t just any old broken window it belonged to that of the old Cooper house, the most haunted place in the entire planet, probably the whole universe. Igor, the newest member of the Kemptville Mud Hens (the official/unofficial name of the team) stood at the fence with the others, but didn’t understand what was truly going on. “Why does someone not get the ball?” They all looked at him and half-laughed and half-guffawed. “Igor, this place- “Is rea...

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“Look around, it’s hidden in plain sight” by Chacha Jaramillo

Submitted to Contest #97

✍️REEDSY 🔆🔅 The sound of a passing car and the screeching sound of tires called my attention. Maybe another crazy speedy driver street racing down to the beach walk. It’s sunny and many sunbathers are congregating down at the beach. An everyday scene for sunny beach days down Marbella Beach. Couldn’t take the opportunity to join all these exhilarating feelings that everyone’s getting when going to Daytona Bech, the smell the burning tires and the sounds of pneumatic drill unscrewing bolts to take out and put back and exchange tir...

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“24 Oak Drive” by Megan Skaggs

Submitted to Contest #97

Kids will kids. That’s the saying, isn’t it? Cassie gulped hard, swallowing the burning anger that had been rising from the pit of her stomach. Turning the baseball over in her hand, she walked over to inspect the damage. Glass crunched under her well-worn espadrilles. The warm summer air was being forcefully sucked into the room through the hole now adorning the bottom corner of her privacy-tinted picture window. The forced air caused the sheers to do a small dance, and she longed to feel that breeze on her face. Carefully, she si...

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“Sweetness in Seattle” by S.E. Reed

Submitted to Contest #97

“You have something on your chin,” Chayce shouts over the electric pulsing of the deep house music. The beat is about to drop and the crowd is roaring wildly. I’m moving in my not-really-a-dance-move sway. Chayce and I come to the Underground in downtown Seattle after our night shift at the docks every Friday. “What?” I shout back at Chayce. “Your chin!” he yells. “WOOOO!!” the drugged up candy-kid next to me yells and pumps his fist. His jaw churns side to side and his eyes roll along with the beat of the music. I smile...

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“Who's There?” by Sarah Bird

Submitted to Contest #97

It happened on day ninety-three. Seven days before we were due to return to Earth. I suppose Fate is out there somewhere laughing at the irony of it all, but I haven’t managed a smile since it happened. It’s only been a day, but it feels like a lifetime. Like a gaping hole has opened up in my chest and is hollowing me out. The habitat AI’s soft computerised voice prompted me to complete the routine tasks, otherwise I might not have bothered at all. Once I was finished the AI suggested I rest, and that was when my thoughts finally caught up w...

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“Pressure Release” by Ian Mitchell

Submitted to Contest #97

Charlie woke up with a start. She sat up on the couch and looked at the kitchen, the source of the sound. “Holy crap!” she shouted. The kitchen was covered in lemon basil chicken. And glass. “Wha-?” she asked, trying to figure out the source of the glass. Oh, right, the window. The pressure cooker’s lid had gone clear through the window, shattering it all over her kitchen and dining room. And probably the street below. She really hoped that no one had been under that. And a morbid part of her won...

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“Reckless Blue Sky” by Tionge Nakazwe

Submitted to Contest #97

The smooth, predictable ride of the train was doing nothing to soothe the nerves Rena was feeling. Instead, the ambiguous shapes, camouflaged by the darkness outside of the large train window calmed her beating heart. The two day, one night train ride from Corix, the island's most populated city, to Ara, a region closest to the mountains, had just begun. two thirds of the trip ahead of her, Rena scratched at the cashmere pinching her neck. She cursed herself for not taking the shop attendant's advice to wear something under the sweater, sinc...

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“Window of Dimensional Transposition” by Lynn Bigham

Submitted to Contest #97

On display in the Museum of Quantum Phenomenon is a window. It is 1.524 meters tall and 0.914 meters wide with clear glass separated into 9 panels on the top and 9 on the bottom. It has a white, matte frame and a small placard providing a narrow history of the window, the seemingly most boring exhibit within the museum. The placard reads: Window of Dimensional Transposition, ca. 900 AD, Rome, Italy; discovered by Rinaldo Russo and donated in 2105 by the University of Bologna.Standing before the window is Dr. Una Harlowe, a quantum physicist ...

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“A Story From The Eighties” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #97

Janice was startled when she heard the rap on the window. She wasn’t supposed to sleep while working as a watch person at the poultry barn but she may have dozed off. She was sitting in the employee lounge of Sunup Poultry, Inc. Old man Petrie, the owner, threatened to dock the pay of anyone who called the place a “chicken factory” but that was what it was. It supplied the maximum amount of meat and eggs at the cheapest possible cost. ...

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“The window to death” by Prathna Kukreja

Submitted to Contest #97

Patricka had hust moved towards the countryside to her new home with her parents and one elder brother. She was a timid type of girl, always day dreaming about her passion-Dance. She was loving her new house, actually you can say it was a mansion beautifully decorated. Her favourite place was the window of her room. She had just got a beautiful mushroom shaped night-lamp for her study table which she had just placed near her window. She sat there and imagined herself dancing to the hip-hop tunes. She also was a great artist, as in sketching ...

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“THE WINDOW'S EYE” by Sudeep RANA

Submitted to Contest #97

THE WINDOW’S EYE “What is that interminable blue line called”- told by an undisclosed rough voice with stupendous astonishment being immersed in it of a 24 years old boy with a shake- stubborn mitt pointing towards the infinity. A staggering tone surpassed the bumpy voice in a fraction of seconds and uttered gleefully- “it is the sky”. Then again ruthlessly that unwanted voice is saying –“how big it is!” It is covering an exaggeratedly large number of houses.” Again that happy voice whispered –“Yes it is so”. But that dulcet conversati...

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“317” by Winston Smith

Submitted to Contest #97

Three knocks hit the cell window. Officer Young jumped to his feet, sending his folding chair clattering to the floor behind him. He scrambled to retrieve his rifle and gripped the barrel in two, white-knuckled fists. “The hell?” he whispered to himself. For the first time in six years, Officer Young stood at attention. He stared down the length of the hallway, refusing to believe that the knock came from his prisoner. Inmate 317 had been in solitary longer than Young had been an officer. And 317 never made a noise. There it came again. ...

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“The Optimistic One” by Shaquita B.

Submitted to Contest #97

The heel of my boot tapped rhythmically under the coffee table as my knees bounced up and down. The shot of espresso seemed to be working its magic through my limbs. I eagerly watched the people passing by the window with the collar of their coats turned up. Not too strange for early November. I had to have watched about 25 people walk by. None were him. I checked my phone once again. He was ten minutes late. I sighed. Hopefully, he wouldn’t stand me up like he did last night....

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“Lucid Dreaming” by Amy Jayne Conley

Submitted to Contest #97

The sun was so nice on my skin. I could feel the hot rays beating down on my eyelids, the warmth relaxing and just right. In the background, the sounds of the waves crashing against the sand soothed me even more. Belinda Carlisle said Heaven is a place on earth, but I was yet to find a place quite like that which I could dream. Admittedly, it was a somewhat lucid dream, and I always came back to this beach. It was where I’d met him, all those years ago, before he’d decided he’d had enough of his current path and had decided to go abroad for ...

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$50

Prize money

921

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 11, 2021 EST

Won by Claire Lindsey 🏆

Title: In situ

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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