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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

“Docca and Ollie, Once Again” by Kaitlyn Kelley

Submitted to Contest #98

Doors locked? Check. Windows barred? Check. Pills taken? Check. Alarm activated? Check. What was she missing?... Alvira’s eyes roamed the marble floors, the pillars, the few accessories of her home, all visible from the front hallway. First the bathroom, to the right of the front door. Then, to the lab, at the end on the right side. Not there. Next she scanned the kitchen, its wooden cabinets painted black, contrasting with the copper countertops. That room was open to the hallway, though the floor was raised tw...

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“Rainbow” by Edah Jeffrey

Submitted to Contest #98

The Rainbow came out today, She was wondering and colloquizing Here is her thought, “Why must the Rain and the sun comes out before she does?” She said to me, “I’ve been trying so Hard to come out before They do, but to no avail”. I couldn’t say anything because I Believe this Conversation is beyond My reasoning. She continues “Jeff”, I responded hmm! “Do you know or have you noticed that I often Comes out only when it rains And hot at the same time? And most of the time when I’m out nobody took note of me”. She also ...

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“The Day Of The Dragon” by Sylvia Lucas

Submitted to Contest #98

What a day ! I thought that having my clock stop and my alarm not going off was not a good start, but when Mr., Haroldson said that being late was once too often and that I was to consider myself as starting my two weeks dismissal notice, I was completely shocked. While it is true that I was less than enraptured by the computerized book keeping which was my job at Haroldson and Hilbury , I thought that I did what was required of me. However, according to Mr. Haroldson , I did it When I Arrived and without the dedication of a true professiona...

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“The Moloch” by Pat Kelly

Submitted to Contest #98

THE MOLOCH A love letter I remember a trip Clare and I once took to the islands. We bounced, rattling over glistening white-topped waves located a few miles offshore in my memory’s humming tuning-fork sounds. The thought came to me today with the air snuffing salty this morning and the humidity perfuming the air. A gray sky filtered feeble rays through large cross-slanted windows of her home. I remembered how sunlight once warmed my small puppy Honey as he struggled to learn his footing, a tiger with large foot pads in a black jungle. My m...

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“Tread Lightly” by Sydney O Bryant

Submitted to Contest #98

When they fell, I fell too. Like a stone swept up in the currents of a stream, a poor bird with wings not strong enough to resist the winds. I allowed my story to be woven into a narrative that was not my own, untrue in its illustrations. Now the fire flickers and my home is not my own. Chair creaks and I sigh and the wind whistles past the open windows, the sounds becoming one. My eyes flit upwards and he sits in the chair opposite me, watching. He is chained, yes, but his cool glare full of contempt and calculations is ever-present and I w...

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“Cursed” by Bella White

Submitted to Contest #98

My daily routine included new steps now: stepping carefully across my bedroom as if I would find unexpected land-mines; eating cereal because I could not trust myself with a knife to cut fruit or heat to toast bread; walking to work after my insurance refused to cover the third car crash and I had been banned from Trainline. Even with all these steps, it was unusual that I made it to work unscathed. That morning, it had been iced coffee over both me and the pavement. No one hurt, thankfully, but my outfit ruined and £6 at the gentrified coff...

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“The Virtuoso ” by Mwila Mwaba

Submitted to Contest #98

THE VIRTUOSO The Virtuoso will put your family back together. Heed to his doctrine, follow his ways, and good fortune will be granted to you and your house until the end of your days. It was what the stories said. It was the truth the rumours insisted. These were the words, filtered long enough between cold pillows and stale brews, that Vsevolod’s wife had used to co...

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“The Whale” by Amir Williams

Submitted to Contest #98

The sounds of rustling pages almost always lulled me to sleep, but this time I would stay up as if my life depended on it, which it did. It was packed in the library today, everyone getting their last minute training in before the Tournament. It was about 8pm, way later than I had ever stayed here. I knew that my brain couldn’t hold any more information so I got my bag and started my walk back home. I looked back at the giant castle that was the library of my city once more before I turned and walked down the street. “Yo Ty, what’s good my ...

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“Royal Flush” by Lemonade Midnight

Submitted to Contest #98

“Two sevens,” Liza said, tossing a pair of cards, face down, onto the pile. Theo frowned, then put down four cards. “Four eights.” “Cheat,” Ecc said. Unfortunately for him, when he flipped over the top four cards he saw four eights staring back up at him: hearts, spades, diamonds, stars. He wordlessly took the small pile and added it to his cards. “One jack,” he said, putting down a card. Jack looked at the card Ecc put down for a long time before turning back to his cards. He had four queens: hearts, diamonds, clubs, stars. He had the...

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“Good Luck Rubbing Off” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #98

Sara Windermere had never won anything in her entire life despite entering hundreds of contests and buying thousands of dollars worth of lottery tickets. She always said that only her name could be in a hat for a prize and she would still lose. She had gone out and acquired everything known to humankind to change her luck including a real four leaf clover, which she had spent hours looking for and had received a nasty sunburn. She had also purchased several rabbit’s feet, a gold-plated horseshoe hung on her wall right side up, an...

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“Lucky Number 7” by Tolayo Ojo

Submitted to Contest #98

Dear Diary Journal. My name is Darius and I am incredibly and irrevocably unlucky. I can’t even deny it anymore. At this point it is just a fact. I don’t even know how it happened. Maybe it was the ladder I walked under, or the umbrella I opened inside. Or quite possibly the evil witch who cursed me to 7 years of bad luck. How ironic. Whatever it was, it was most certainly not my black cat. My black cat who I would never get rid of. My anti-Snow White, feline of the night, Garfield of a cat. My Precious Pookie. She meow...

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“A Journal on Luck” by Opal Knight

Submitted to Contest #98

You enter the house, moving through the corridors of dust and shadows, finding a small study lined with ancient bookshelves. A few pieces of paper lay scattered on a rickety wooden desk, they are crinkled in a way that would suggest they were soaked in water and dried at some point. One piece of paper has the slightest speckle of blood on the right-hand corner. A shattered jade bracelet and dried four leafed clovers sit in a horseshoe beside the paper, bite marks are indented into the metal of the shoe. The papers are covered in rough handwr...

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“The Departure Of Lady Luck” by Aryansh Dubey

Submitted to Contest #98

Henry fidgeted uneasily and shifted his entire weight to the other leg, dangerously pushing it towards an inevitable collapse for an umpteenth time. The weather wasn't very helpful; it never was, in this particular office. Not that he had had a firsthand experience of others. There were literally uncountable ones. 'The Department Of Sorrow', however, was infamous for its particularly troublesome crowd, and the least pleasant in terms of ambience, and otherwise. Thousands of people wailing and screaming, trying to get a compensation for their...

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“Night of the Rabbit” by Adam Tyler

Submitted to Contest #98

Finn strode through the doors of the Snoring Dog and ordered a drink, navigating through the throng of sweaty, irritable laborers that were just finishing a day of work. A thick cloud of smoke hung in the air. The energy of the tavern was different today. Conversations hummed excitedly as the crowd rumbled about what they’d do at the Midyear Fair. The sun had not yet set outside, but once night fell the whole city of Veritas would explode out into the streets. Finn might have been the most excited of anyone. He’d traded his stained cobbler’s...

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“Winding River Falls ” by Christian Hinrichsen

Submitted to Contest #98

Winding River Falls Jordero Arriving at one of the key port cities of the A-rake jungles. Saze Abdul and his crew are eating in one of the better port city restaurants. Ordering a popular meal of shrimp and parsnip dinners. A lone female figure approaches the lead crew. “Excuse me, I was told by a priest of Valkur that you are adventurers who may be able to help me.” The cloaked female removes her hood and shows a lovely A-rake women with pale hair and elf ears. “Please my lady, have a seat. Bartender please bring this woman a cup of t...

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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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