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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

“Inconvenience” by Holly Hanlon

Submitted to Contest #98

The sky had been dark for a couple of days now, but the people around town acted as if it was normal. Conrad felt as if it was not. Conrad’s eyes were constantly flicking from the yellow sky to the people sitting on the grass, laughing and listening to music, as if it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. It wasn’t, and he didn’t understand why people weren’t the least bit concerned. It was only two days ago when Conrad was on the soccer field, kicking a ball around with his teammates in one of the most important games of the season.&nb...

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“I predict but none beleive” by Hazel Hinderland

Submitted to Contest #98

Her heart beat raised up….”Zoya!! go away from here… please!!” . Zoya heard that last word and that’s something that she heard last and forever. Zoya opened her eyes and saw herself lying in the bed and found some medical equipements and came to a conclusion that she is in hospital. She was surrounded by her dad and her mom with tears wept eyes. She tried to ask were where Ziya , her twin sister , is . But she couldn’t speak up. She turned to her mom and her mom replied in sign language. She couldn’t understand what she’s conveying at first ...

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“Future Perfect” by Lavender Blue

Submitted to Contest #98

FUTURE PERFECTCammie knew things. She knew things that others didn't know and she knew them before they happened. Cammie had what some would call “a gift” and others might label “a curse”. She was able to relate all sorts of events prior to when they happened, and that astounded some people and frightened others. She was first aware of it in sixth grade.************************Camilla, will you read the second paragraph on page 137 please?” Cammie hated being called by her full name, but Mrs. Harrigan never called anyone by the shortened for...

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“Please Don't Go” by Yvette Francaise

Submitted to Contest #98

I was at the corner of Main Street and Acorn Ave when a screech echoed in the hot summer air as a red fiesta flipped over three times and finally stopped at my feet. My parents lay still as blood dripped onto the black ceiling of the car. Glass glinted it the morning sun as it stuck out of my father's forehead. Tears welled up in my eyes for I felt as if I was three years old again. Red and blue lights flickered around me as the sirens rang in my head. I tried to call out for my parents, but couldn't speak. The firefighter looked over a...

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“Mother Will Die Tomorrow” by Annie Dang

Submitted to Contest #98

Mother will die tomorrow. This is guaranteed. “Mother,” I say, “You will die tomorrow.” She smiles sweetly. “Honey,” she says, “I am already dead.” “No. The real kind of dead,” I say. “The kind where your heart stops beating and your lungs stop breathing and your eyes are clear and glassy because you see nothing but the innards of the soul.” “Honey,” she says. “I have no soul with which my eyes may see. I have no heart with which to beat, no lungs with which to breathe. Honey,” she says, “I am already dead.” “Mother, your life sh...

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“Paranoia~ I'm His Last Saved Meal~” by Grace Mulrain

Submitted to Contest #98

"You know guys... I could turn this whole Mystical Palace into my personal runaway." Angelika, my best friend and a dear sister said jokingly. Of course, out of amusement every one laughed at that casual joke While I... well for some reason I feel nothing but this intense anxiety that flaring inside my soul. The "Mystical Palace" that Angelika mentioned earlier is actually the palace that belong to the Pagan God of Child Sacrifice... Molach. That name alone sends shivers down my spine, till this day I still have endless nightma...

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“Poisoning the Well” by R. S. King

Submitted to Contest #98

Patricia took it as a joke, which is how Jai intended it. While waiting for their afternoon session to begin at the conservatory, draped across neighboring park benches in the tidy city square, Jai told her about his dream from the previous night: the memory lapse, the paralysis, the laughter from the crowd as he leapt up from the piano and ran offstage. He’d hoped that Patricia would dissolve the dream’s terrifying power and confirm that it was just noise from his subconscious, too ridiculous to ever believe. And she did play along perfectl...

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“Girl of My Dreams” by Joanna Slayter

Submitted to Contest #98

Levi was what some might call a dreamer. He believed in the impossible, and in his eyes, the impossible was more possible every single day. Fate wasn't just possible, it was real. You see, Levi had dreams; dreams that not only were vivid, alluring, and unpredictable but dreams that came true. Levi's dreams predicted the future. Her one left brow raised ever so slightly, looking at him with great speculation. "You're making that up. There's no way I'm printing that." "I wish I was – then people would stop giving me the same 'you're insane...

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“Meant to Be a Bird” by Daniel Hybner

Submitted to Contest #98

“A bird?” “Yes. I felt like a bird.” “And you’re still going to do this?” “I have to. I know it’s crazy, but I can fly.” “You’re absolutely nuts, you know that? There is a zero percent chance you can fly just because of some silly dream you had. And there is a zero percent chance I’d be anywhere near that plane after that kind of dream.” “Well that’s you. And it was more than just a dream. I have, I don’t know, faith, I guess. It’s not like anything will happen anyway.” “Better you than me.” And so most of my conversations went...

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“Harbinger of Death” by Haylie Parkison

Submitted to Contest #98

Waking up in cold sweat, Lia panted as she pushed aside her blanket and got up from her bed, putting on her house slippers. As she opened the window, she took a deep breath and sighed, glancing at the bright, pearly moon above the star-encrusted sky. It's just a nightmare, she told herself, rubbing her forearms. It's not real, it was just another dream, that's all. For months, she was plagued with nightmarish dreams every single night, to the point that she dreaded falling asleep. Her mother told her that she needed to pray more, which Lia...

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“Fading Stars” by Tonatiuh Duran Meza

Submitted to Contest #98

He’d tried to warn everyone close to him, tried and fail to convince them that something big was coming towards them. The increasing obsession for this catastrophic event severing all ties with those he sought to warn from the coming darkness, leaving him alone with the terrible knowledge of the inevitable fate that would befall everything. His fingers flew over the keyboard in a frantic attempt of conveying as best everything he had seen happen time and time again in his dreams, the typing growing faster with each paragraph describing a hel...

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“Love or Life” by Annette Schmidt

Submitted to Contest #98

Kaia pushed her way through the shop’s door, letting it slam behind her as she stuck her hands into her pockets and headed back towards her car.“Kaia, wait up!” Farryn was running up from behind, hands full of shopping bags. “So what’d she say?”“A whole lot of nothing.” Kaia started kicking at the paved sidewalk beneath her. Complete waste of money, she thought to herself.“That bad huh?”“I could get a better reading from a fortune cookie,” Kaia replied.“Well then let’s go,” Farryn looped her arm through Kaia’s and led her towards the eatery ...

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“The Blackwater Dream” by Tatiana Olin

Submitted to Contest #98

Last night I was in the black water. It happened the way it always happens. I wake up lying face up on ground that is covered by 2 inches of black water. No sky, no land; it’s a void. Yet the water ripples in places all around me. Somewhere far away, I hear The Elk slowly walking through the black water, the splashing sound playing against the sound of hooves against glass. The ground is obsidian. The Elk is a ghost. He will have left hoofprints of blood in his wake; they will have melted and spread through the water in ephemeral swirls unti...

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“hope ur ok” by McThunder Gacha

Submitted to Contest #98

Sidra is a 16 years old Muslim girl who studies at Neva Bassett's International School, New York. Her birthday is on 24 September and she is a Libra. She got a scholarship to study there. She belongs to a big poor family back in London.She is a normal teenage girl, living normally in her international boarding school. She have 3 roommates, Lia, Olivia and Sam. They thought they were living a normal life, but it all changes until one day, Sidra bumped into a teacher.Sidra: I'm so sorry Mrs Walker! *bows to take Mrs Walker's files that fell*Si...

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“Hank Sampson's Wager” by George Davis

Submitted to Contest #98

Hank Sampson’s Wager—George Davis Hank Sampson has been going to the racetrack two or three nights a week for the last seven years and, as he says, ‘I break even’ Hank can ill-afford to spend the money on the ponies. He goes, he says, ‘to make extra money to buy a house. He’s rented from Olive Pearson for the last forty-one years. Hank has never missed paying his rent on time until now. “I’m sorry, Olive. I’ll get the money to you by…the end of the week.” “Hank, you need to stop your ga...

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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.

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