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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#98: Origin Stories

Every year, on the fifth day of the lunisolar calendar’s fifth month (which happens to be this Monday!), the Dragon Boat Festival commences with gusto all across China. Within three days of celebration, people attend dragon boat races (as expected), eat sticky rice dumplings (zongzi), and hang aromatic plants around the house to ward off evil spirits.

The origins of the festival are obscure: some say it commemorates the death of a poetic and patriotic official who was exiled from the ancient Chu state. Others say it celebrates a filial daughter who lost her life searching for her father, who fell in the river during the organization of a boat race. While father and daughter were reunited in death, their misfortune connects to yet another alternative origin story for the festival: the fifth day of the fifth month was considered the unluckiest day of the year, and the festivities are carried out to keep this bad energy at bay.

Taking inspiration from these fascinating stories, and from their multiplicity, I present to you the prompts for this week! Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with the festival itself: since the tales behind this occasion are so diverse, there’s something for everyone.

This week's prompts

Write about a family with a long-standing tradition, whose members all have conflicting origin stories for it.

Thanksgiving – 58 stories

Start your story with a character having a premonition, but no one believes them.

Dark – 147 stories

Write about someone who’s desperately trying to change their luck.

Teens – 101 stories

Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Middle School – 122 stories

Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Angst – 320 stories

Stories

“Cookie Jar Secrets” by K.R. Switzer

Submitted to Contest #98

Crumpled in the corner of the kitchen like a dead spider, blood dripped down my father’s temple and onto the hexagon-shaped tiles. His eyes remained fixed on his feet with the absence of any life behind them. I still had a white knuckle hold around the neck of the broken whiskey bottle. I tried to wrangle my thoughts together but it seemed pointless as my head spun wildly. I dropped to the floor, with my fingers deep in the crevices of the tile, holding on for dear life. I stared at the floor and waited for the air to become thin enough to b...

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“A Few More Dollars” by Kurt Burke

Submitted to Contest #98

PROLOGUE Wednesday, October 9, 1867 Three miles east of South Pass City, Wyoming Territory It was approaching sundown when Polly Bartlett spied the doctor from her parlor window. He had turned off the Oregon Road onto the rougher track leading into Slaughterhouse Gulch and subsequently into the yard of her father’s inn. If you could label dirt and sagebrush a yard, she thought. She knew he was a physician simply from the bag strapped to the pommel of his saddle, all doctors carried just that style of valise to hold medications, along wi...

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“Saving Moon 342: Earth's unwitting demise” by Steveanddanine Gruber

Submitted to Contest #98

Nalaha excitedly swung wide the hatch, feeling a slight pinch as she climbed out of the cramped travel pod. She was assisted by the arms of a handsome USS carrier crew member sent to retrieve her. Wide-eye and full of anticipation, she determined to memorize every smell and sight around her. It was surreal. Her impossible dream had become a reality. Earth. Since Nalaha was a little girl on Moon 342, she had heard stories of her relatives of long ago. How hard they'd labored in the beginning to establish the settlement she now called home....

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“I Never Told Her She was Home” by Mellanie Crouell

Submitted to Contest #98

Giving his goodbyes to his love ones, he was excited to go on this new adventure that life afforded him. He walks to the depot. He hears a whining and weak crying. He continues to walk the sound gets louder. He hears men laughing, speaking his Arabic calling this her a whore, plotting for the next man turn and what they were going to do her. I tried to ignore what was being done. All I could think about is what if that was my sister. I would want someone to help her. I walked softly back to the corner where I could pick up my bags and run on...

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“THRESHOLD” by Jon R. Miller

Submitted to Contest #98

Dyodara tilted her head and peeked out from behind the rose granite column, her raised right hand keeping the sun out of her eyes. At home by the coast, such a sight always promised a good catch. Sweet oceans! I should have brought my harpoon. Like tropical fish overcrowding a shallow lagoon, the colorfully donned courtiers, clerics, foreign dignitaries, and guild masters mourned the death of Voivode Skralar, supreme ruler of Puros—her biggest catch yet. One week ago at this very plaza she hurled a spear through his throat in the middle of h...

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“Phelan” by Laurence Tryon

Submitted to Contest #98

“Ma, what was your dog’s name when you were little?” “T’was Phelan, Hun! Same as our current Phelan and countless other dogs through many generations of O’Donnells!” “Why are all our dogs always named Phelan?” “Ye can ask me Ma when she and Grand-da come over for dinner with Uncle Daffyd and Aunt Rosalie! Go on and play outside now. I’ve got me washing to do!” Mary shook her head as she watched Seamus call Phelan to him and the two of them took off running like a pair of bandits trying to run off from the tax collector. “Always so full of q...

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“The Flannelly Family Famous Friday Fun Night, and how it all began” by Mariana Del Rosal

Submitted to Contest #98

1) Kathy Flannelly “Class, today we are going to keep sharing stories about our families and our traditions. Today is Katherine Flannelly’s turn. Kathy, please come to the front and tell us!” A young girl, no more than seven years old, with red hair and freckles, stands up. She smiles and skips towards her teacher. She is holding a big bag full of boxes. “What have you got for us, Kathy?” “Well, Mrs. Thompson, I brought some games!” she takes out a set of chess, some dominoes, three or four card games, puzzles, and a huge box with colorful...

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“Woody” by Gracie Jean

Submitted to Contest #98

"I'll never let it happen, Woody," I said. Tears were running down my face and onto the pillow under my chin, betraying my life-long effort to conceal all emotions.But since there wasn't anyone in the room besides Woody, I didn't care. I was looking straight into his perfect, copper eyes, while he stared up an me from the floor, confused. I'm sure he was just as frightened by my behavior as I was about my family's disgusting traditions."I promise, boy. I don't think you understand, but you'll have to stay close to me."Woody was the kind of d...

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“Family Beef” by Ella Ryder

Submitted to Contest #98

Why? Arguably, this is a question asked by everyone at some point in their lives, whether it’s used as a form of complaint or to declare an existential crisis. This was exactly what I asked myself as I watched little drops of blood trickle from my bottom lip and onto my white, Pink Floyd Tee. I reached for a tissue to tend to the indent my upper left canine had made in my lip, and where the evidence of the scene was still overflowing. I lightly dabbed the tender area and planned to apply some sugar afterward to stop the bleeding. My bro...

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“The Big Book of Family Lies” by Leon Moss

Submitted to Contest #98

I was born into a dynasty. A huge, overgrown, chaotic family. I have 37 first cousins. My grandfather and his 2 brothers married the 3 daughters of another family, causing confusion, chaos and volumes of family myths. Much depended on whether you were a descendant of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. To further complicate matters, Isaac’s wife died in childbirth, not surprising as this was her tenth delivery. So Jacob’s wife stepped in and ended up looking after 17 children. The 3 brothers, all immigrants to this country, built a large and profita...

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“The Birdfeeders” by James Falcone

Submitted to Contest #98

Uncle Jack Jahodnik was bald - the top of his head looking like a strawberry that is just slightly over-ripe. At the annual Jahodnik family BBQs, the nephews would always purposely don bright green and sit, surrounding Uncle Jack. It tickled him pink to think he was the favored uncle. In truth, Jack was fairly vile and had never been anyone’s favored anything. Even his wife had never really seemed fond of him. The devious plan, however, was to fool a berry-eating bird or two that Uncle Jack’s noggin was, in fact, the biggest, juiciest,...

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“The Fog” by Colton Collins

Submitted to Contest #98

In a small town in a small county in Texas, something very strange happens every hundred years on the day of the founding of the town. A fog. A mysterious, dense, and an abducting fog. Arthur Mosley, lean in size with just a touch of brown facial hair is the only lawyer in town. He has a fair-sized family, his wife, Mary stays home and takes care of their two kids Martha and Dewey II. The two kids, both eleven take care of their dog Max and run into town to run errands on their days off from school. &nbs...

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“Premonition Sarah” by Abigail Hunt

Submitted to Contest #98

“I’m telling you; it’s gonna happen.” “Oh hush up Sarah, taint nothing but a silly twinge.” “Oh sure, Uncle Sedley could be drunk as a skunk, and you would still believe him if his hip started aching.” Sarah’s father ignored her last comment and continued watching his football game, grunting when the resolution started to waver in hazy gray. Pouting, Sarah stuffed her hands into the pockets of her overalls and limped out of the house and into the yard. Her dog, Bone, came bounding over to her for some ear scratches before wandering off to...

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“Those Who See Them ” by Meta M Griffin

Submitted to Contest #98

Granny was different in many ways, and some people just said she was crazy. Now people were starting to think Summer wasn’t right. She could feel something about to happen before it did. But Granny wondered if everyone had that ability but only some people chose to use it, as it was easier to not see something happening. Summer squinted when she walked out to the parking lot. She had been feeling tired a lot lately and was becoming more sensitive to lights. Was she losing what was left of her mind? Did ...

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“A Dream Becomes A Nightmare” by Scarlet Scribe

Submitted to Contest #98

Lila was startled from sleep by a dream. In it she saw a man grab a women off the street and into the foyer of a building. It was very dark so she could not see his face, only an arm clad in a dark colored shirt with a gold cuff link in the sleeve and a large, hairy hand reaching from the pitch black of the doorway and pulling the woman into the darkness. She had watched the woman coming down the street in light from the streetlamps. She looked to be in her twenties with long copper colored hair and wearing a white blouse under a forest gree...

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$50

Prize money

751

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 18, 2021 EST

Won by Mary Sheehan 🏆

Title: Blessed Home

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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