Write a short story about someone with unconventional New Year's traditions.

Posted in Holiday on Jan 31, 2020

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✍️ 44 stories

“The Honeysuckle Letters” by Michelle Cook

Submitted to Contest #22

31st December 2019Dear BenMy love. Another New Year’s Eve. Another twelve months without you.I should be accustomed by now, but the void you left behind is hollow as ever. Always this season, it grows into a black hole, a swirling horizon extinguishing all light inside, and every scrap of joy.Can you believe, I still fantasize you’ll return? I know it’s impossible. Yet on a summer evening, I swear your scent of musk and spice drifts on the breeze. Like you’ve visited, staying out of sight, squeezed behind the backyard honeysuckle. Our flower...

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“Ivona Meet Your Family” by Jay Trifkofić

Submitted to Contest #22

"Not it!" Brandon pressed his finger to the side of his nose so quickly that he was sure he heard a crack.Lee sighed, eyes leaving her phone for the briefest of moments. "They're not even my kids, dude."By the time he looked away from the road, Lee was back on her phone. Of course she was right, and Brandon hated that."Give it back!""It's mine!""Daddy! Liam's being an ass!"Brandon could practically feel Lee bristle. If he kept staring at this bright red light in front of him, she's forget and the kids would come to a diplomatic solution. Abs...

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“The Bee” by Mildred Okwako

Submitted to Contest #22

THE BEESince I came to this village six years ago, I have keenly observed that my old grandmother spends her new year in a rather unusual way. Not once have I observed her go to the farm to plant vegetables on the first days of January. According to her, farming means plenty of food to her family throughout the year. She also farms to act as a role model to the youth, who, according to her, are generally lazy. Therefore,...

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“New Year's Skin” by Laura Smith

Submitted to Contest #22

And then, as the new day dawned they striped away our flesh. They knew that the flesh was past its prime. We had pasted the time for this year’s harvesting. The night before, they laid us in rows and sanitized the tools. They couldn’t afford to waste a moment each 31st of December. The process took all day, and those of us that they didn’t get to before midnight would retain his/her/their dermis until the following year. If the skin had become too fastened to the musculature underneath, we may carry it even longer— possibly for life. Just th...

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“The Best Time of The Year” by Kristina Nichols

Submitted to Contest #22

“New Year’s Eve is finally upon us dearest Cuddles!” Oscar exclaimed to his brown tabby who was lounging lazily by the heater. Oscar began to pace up and down the length of his living room in his shoebox-sized apartment, “I must get prepared to celebrate” suddenly Oscars pacing came to an abrupt stop “oh my! I almost forgot to decorate before I made the meal” upon the realization of his forgetfulness he chuckled to himself. Making his way to his bedroom he flips on the light switch, illuminating his unnaturally green colored room, and slides...

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“Colorful Stick” by Gunel Jabrayilova

Submitted to Contest #22

The illusion of freshness, and a new chapter in a non-existent book. The feeling that everything horrible that happened is left behind between the dusty pieces of the past even though they all were on your shoulders just a couple of hours ago. Fireworks going off, children screaming, fake and real snowflakes mixing in the air. The lights turning on and off, torturing easily irritated people, vibrant colors swarming off. Rene took her eyes off the window and took a deep breath. She was watching the whole thing like it was happening in the nex...

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“Another New You” by K M Hasling

Submitted to Contest #22

A New Year, a new you. The psychedelic advertisement email projected onto the ceiling as if she didn’t remember. Lying on the bed, Julia was awake, but she wasn’t ready to get up. She wanted more time to think. She rolled over to silence her phone from the new message, hoping that she didn’t wake her husband, Odin."Have you thought about what you want the new you to be like?" he asked. He was awake. Rats."It’s so much more than a new workout routine, honey. I’m still deciding," she said."What did you think about my suggestion? To go red?""I ...

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“Adventures in the New” by Emilie Conroy

Submitted to Contest #22

A funny thing happened at my college alumni New Year's Eve festivities. With great Pagan panache, I appeared in a purple gown cut along the lines of a classical Greek robe. I wore what I call my Pagan bling, a pentagram sprinkled with amethyst chips. After all, I had no reason to disguise what I was under a cloak of the mundane. These were people who had known me back when I was a caterpillar. Now I was a caterpillar with wings. You might call such a creature a butterfly, I don’t know. Anyway, I got a glass of Generic Pun...

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“New Years with Julia” by Kathryn Kielman

Submitted to Contest #22

I shrugged my bag over my shoulder as I made my way down the driveway. I checked my phone, 11:00pm. I let out a frustrated sigh as I hurried down dimly lit sidewalk. I wanted to leave thirty minutes ago, but mom was once again trying to convince me to go to her coworkers party. She didn’t understand that I don’t feel comfortable being in crowded places like that, around people like that. She doesn’t understand that I want to be out here, that I need to be. I know she was disappointed I didn’t go and even a little nervous. Any caring mother w...

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“Alone within emotionally illusory dynamic fluid wilderness new years eve 2019” by Matthew Harris

Submitted to Contest #22

A reverie along memory lane bubbles forth, when this grr wreck oh row man (figuratively perched high atop totem pole - paddles - secured within oarlocks), while he serenely quizzically, lackadaisically, and harmoniously drifted merrily thru LX orbitz around the sun. Obliviousness wafted with zealous laissez faire devil may care attitude. Pointlessness against cavil leer mindset (regarding roaming as sea sunned bonafide Nova Scotian fish she ate while off Newfoundland) blissfully carried yours truly along slipstream of timelessness since his ...

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“5 Stars” by Jake Creghton

Submitted to Contest #22

That familiar ping filled the cramped hallway, it was the only immediate sound against the music and laughs muddled in with the muted tones of chatter from the partygoers in the apartment above. “The Uber is here” said Claire to her two co-conspirators. They were already making their way down the damp carpet towards the shaking door aware that the message could only have been for their ride. “It says he has a… disability,” she said, unsure of what to make of that information. “What like he’s ‘tarded or something,” asked Max, he had bee...

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“To Tradition” by Hailey Schap

Submitted to Contest #22

New year. New start. New you. At least that is how most people see it. A time of rebirth and of beginnings. A time for the future. And yet, so many of the most infamous New Years celebrations are based on traditions and the past. From the countdown in times square to that lucky new years kiss, it is all about the past and it is all about repetition. But this continues because, as humans, what do we have but the past and tradition to define our lives? Without tradition we are nothing. We are simply masses of atoms with no purpose and...

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“The Year is 202 b.G.” by Elena A

Submitted to Contest #22

Looking in the mirror of her cramped bathroom, Léonie forced a smile at her reflection. She regarded her dark, curly hair and tanned-brown face, assessed her outfit chosen for the evening. A dark midnight blue dress, hanging loosely around her curves and hiding them neatly beneath the folds. She wore matching dark blue heels, and nylon stockings, as it was freezing cold outside. The month was December, the year was 2019, and it was rapidly coming to a close. Today was the last day of the year, and everyone in Brussels—the city that was Léoni...

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“STANDING ON TRADITION” by David D'EttoreUser

Submitted to Contest #22

STANDING ON TRADITION “Why are you standing on your head?” I tried to look up and focus on the person asking the question. He was small man with a thin mustache that appeared to be painted above his lip. He had a squeaky voice, the kind that reminds one of the little whiners back in grade school who used to wipe their noses with their sleeves and then touch everything with...

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Write a short story about someone with unconventional New Year's traditions.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 44 stories

“The Honeysuckle Letters” by Michelle Cook

“Ivona Meet Your Family” by Jay Trifkofić

“The Bee” by Mildred Okwako

“New Year's Skin” by Laura Smith

“The Best Time of The Year” by Kristina Nichols

“Colorful Stick” by Gunel Jabrayilova

“Another New You” by K M Hasling

“Adventures in the New” by Emilie Conroy

“New Years with Julia” by Kathryn Kielman

“Alone within emotionally illusory dynamic fluid wilderness new years eve 2019” by Matthew Harris

“5 Stars” by Jake Creghton

“To Tradition” by Hailey Schap

“The Year is 202 b.G.” by Elena A

“STANDING ON TRADITION” by David D'EttoreUser

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a short story about a person who goes to bed on Valentine's Day and wakes up in 1920.

Two strangers meet at a New Year's Eve party. They spend the party together, and then never see each other again.

Write a short story in which the last line is the countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve.

Write a short story about someone who does not spend December 31st celebrating New Year's Eve.

Contest #22

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

337

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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