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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

“Window of Lost Souls ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #97

About three months ago, my brother Wendell went off his medications. A couple weeks later, he put the barrel of his revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger, because he could not take the voices anymore. After his funeral, of which I was the only one in attendance, I came out there to Star Lake in the Adirondacks to chill out as they say. The cabin that sits on the north shore of the lake has this window. My first night in the cabin a full moon crossed the window casting silver light on the black water, creating ...

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“The Katapies Experiment; Part 9” by Penny Tang

Submitted to Contest #97

Tsuni It was chaos in the morning. The Messengers were tied up in weird fishing net things screaming at the top of their lungs, and the Summoners and Mages were panicking and trying to fight back. The thing was, no one knew what we were fighting against. There was a fancy carriage that looked oddly similar to the one that had brought us to Disarus in the first place. Even though everyone was trying to get away, we knew...

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“Where's The Fun In That?” by Lexi Meyer

Submitted to Contest #97

Tap tap. I jumped and spun around, heart slamming in my chest. Maya was laughing on the other side of the window. I rolled my eyes and opened it. "You know I have a front door, right?" "Where's the fun in that?" Maya grinned as she climbed inside. "You just wanted an excuse to come in through the window, didn't you?" "Yes. And it was totally worth it to hear you screech like that." "I did not screech." "You absolutely did." I rolled my eyes and glanced toward my desk," Since you're here, I might as well stop studying." Th...

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“Arcana Mortis” by Caroline Eddy

Submitted to Contest #97

London, 1886 Under his palm, the table was smooth as glass. And then it wasn’t. Thomas disliked the beginning of trances. As a child the weightless, cold sensation had scared him, convinced him that if he stepped too far off the path, he would not be able to find his way back to the surface. Nearly twenty years on, Thomas was used to the mechanisms of his trances, the tendrils of his magic latching onto things unseen and unknown, just beyond the veil. He had sat for months with his mentors learning how to control it, balance it. How to...

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“Just a dream ” by Rayne Hannah

Submitted to Contest #97

A knock on your window is the last thing you want to hear when it is 3:43 am, and you live alone. I was all nestled into bed after a long day of work. Patients came in second after second and I didn’t even get my break. The hospital was understaffed, so when I got home I ate and immediately went to bed. I was in a deep sleep when I heard a tap that woke me from my slumber. It sounded like a finger tapping on the glass. It was pretty annoying and didn’t stop for about two minutes. When it was finally over, I figured it was nothing. Sounds are...

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“Fleeing Family” by Jay Luuu

Submitted to Contest #97

—To all the people who've suffered from the Israel-Palestine Conflict. —————————— I sit in absolute confusion as I watch the night sky turn to day. Are they fireworks? No, they can’t be. I don’t recall any holiday that’s supposed to be today. They do sound like them though. But what are they? Like when the fireworks go off, I can feel the vibration resonate in me. They make everything shake, each faraway boom rattling every window, including mine. I peek outside my bedroom window and watch as another firework shoots up into the sky, on...

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“The Desert Flower Mansion” by Max Shoe

Submitted to Contest #97

TW: killing, suffocation A few nights ago—in a certain village in Cambridge, England—a movie about a father and a son going on a trip played in local television. My wife, Arianne, was with me the whole time. It was a good tearjerker. I wasn’t sure why I was moved but I was and it made me feel terribly sad. That same night, I remembered the penetrating grief I felt when I lost my only son. We never went on a trip together. We never even engaged in casual conversation since he never got the chance to learn how. He didn’t make it a year old. Ar...

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“Vampire Friends 🧛” by Chloe McLellan

Submitted to Contest #97

Devon is sitting on the couch in front of the TV switching the channels so fast I can’t even read it. I'm surprised she can. I’m tryin’ to read Twilight but with flashes on the TV and the obnoxious clicking of the button on the remote are distracting my thoughts and reading. I get up to go to the bedroom that’s only a couple of steps away and a left turn but I’m stopped by Devon. “Where are you going?” She asks as she gets up and glides towards me while also throwing the remote back at the couch with precision and looking at me all the ...

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“Bloody Hands.” by Abhay S S

Submitted to Contest #97

The night was pitch black because the moon was too shy to come out from the clouds. With a restless heart, I stood there waiting for my brother. I knew what I am doing is a sin. But sometimes, the path of sin is the only path forward. I agreed to this for mom. She really needs my help. 'I broke the window. Come on. It's time.' 'I have a bad feeling about this.' 'Don't you want to help mom?' He always uses the mom card. Do I love my mom? Yes, I do, but that doesn't mean what we're doing is right. Because of his dumb idea, we're sittin...

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“The Rapper at the Window” by Cliff McElrea

Submitted to Contest #97

Rap, rap, rap, rap.Victoria jumped in her chair. She pulled her earbuds off and turned toward the window. Rap, rap, rap, rap.She froze. Who could that be? How in the world are they rapping on her second story window? It certainly wouldn’t be any of her friends. They would have texted her before coming. Rap, rap, rap, rap.Could it be a bird pecking a seedpod?Victoria crept over to the window pressing her back against the wall next to the window.A muffled male voice called out, “Vickie, are you in there?”She knew that voice, but wasn...

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“The Man in Black” by Kirrtanaa Thanesh

Submitted to Contest #97

Nick tossed about in bed. He couldn’t sleep. He gave up trying to keep his eyes shut because he knew it was useless. And his pillow was on the wrong side of the bed. Nick sat up and put the pillow on the right side of the bed. He straightened his blankets and lay down on the bed, still unable to sleep. He stared at his ceiling. And then he stared at the window. There was the moon. How round and bright it was. He got up and went to the window to get a closer look. Nick admired the moon. He lived in a flat on the 7th floor. Fr...

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“A window is broken or Found broken” by Sayyed Sayyada

Submitted to Contest #97

It started with one of the stormiest nights the Briggs family had ever since. Hammering rain and icy winds, thunder, and lighting rattling their measly cottage. Travis Briggs, the eldest of the Briggs children, was shaking. He was a bully and hot-headed, but thunder made him scared straight. Milly, the second eldest, was delighted! She loved storms and often dreams of becoming a meteorologist. She was looking out the window, smiling wildly. Then there was Junior, the youngest. He sat on the ground, not fazed at all the commotion of his famil...

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“The No.7 Bus” by Dhevalence .

Submitted to Contest #97

Her gasp, her sigh, wrung in my chest. There she was, facing away, pleading, “Let’s go back… Let’s go somewhere else.” And here I was, thinking, I can’t go back. But saying, “I have to… Really! I have to.”Hanging her head outside the car window, she flinched in the waft; a gentle murmur into and out of the vehicle under her sobs and sniffles. She wiggled in her seat, her dress sliding higher above her thighs, but silently, I looked away.The quietness, awkward between us.Deep inside my head, a keyboard and saxophone accompaniment rendered a h...

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“A TEXAS SUMMER DOTTED WITH BLOOD” by Anuthaman The_ripper

Submitted to Contest #97

He got up in the middle of the night in a startled way. He was staring out of the window which was beside his bed. He saw a canal rushing. Looking closer, for a split second, he thought it was blood. It was just sewage water, shouldn’t he be relieved? He wasn’t. He had seen a figure he thought he would never ever see again. He thought the figure was dead until… It all started in the summer of 1969. Texas in June was a nightmare. Ajax was just reading The Daily. It had a two page article on a serial killer who had been associated with 90 mi...

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“The Church of Painted Light” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #97

The path leading up to the church was over-grown and shaded, and it was already dark, despite the late afternoon sun. The paving stones were cracked and riddled with weeds, and the gravestones that loomed up from the long grass looked like monsters ready to attack. Even though she could hear the traffic racing past two streets away, Marie still paused at the entrance to the church grounds. “Come on, Marie.” Danny jogged back and punched her shoulder. “This is nothing. If you want scary you should try coming back here in the dark.” Mari...

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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.

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