Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Set your story in a post-pandemic world, where the effects are still felt even as your character attempts to move on.

Posted in Narrative on Oct 25, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 116 stories

“Diana” by Kai R.

Waking up used to be a treat, having a big bed used to be my favorite thing about my bedroom. The vaulted ceilings, and spacious rooms used to be pleasing to look at it, and made my home feel safe. Now, staring up at those vaulted ceilings only made me feel alone, and that loneliness made me feel suffocated. I felt dead, and maybe I was. Maybe this was some purgatory I was stuck in, maybe the disease had gotten me and I ...

2 comments 2 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“The Bus of Hope” by Sreedevi Mahapatra

The isolated bus stop at the outskirts of the city was waiting since past one year for the three regular commuters who always took the first bus and were also the last passengers to return. Two young men and a woman , all in their early thirties , with their backpacks ,always took their designated seats, never spoke to each other except for a thin crescent smile which disappeared even before it r...

2 comments 2
Read story

“ Afterworld” by Tanya Stingley

What day is it? Sam stood triumphantly at the mouth of the cave. it had taken her hours to remove the remaining rocks that had kept her safe yet hidden from the outside world. All that she had known for the last year was buried up there, on Sawbuck ridge. It was almost spring when Me Ma, Jim bob and our old hound dog Rufus decided to hole up in the Sawbuck Ridge caves of Kentucky w...

3 comments 3
Read story

“The Labyrinth” by Maci Currey

 “The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” That is a total lie, that is just a stupid quote from an old book. I can’t forgive especially after what happened, after what they did. Forgiveness is weak, you must not give in to someone. You can never escape the labyrinth, you can only embrace it. I do and I will never forgive because it wasn’t my fault, it was his, it was all his. I remind myself ever...

6 comments 6
Read story

“How Trump’s erratic behavior and failure on coronavirus doomed his reelection” by Alonzriah'a Washington

How Trump's erratic\ By Ashley Parker,  Josh Dawsey, 

3 comments 3
Read story

“Pandemic Thoughts” by Jungle Clover

I was cruising down the highway in a surprisingly good mood. It had been one of my first days back in the physical-not virtual-office, and the change, while a bit disorienting given the events of the past year and a half, was very welcome. Though I had never thought so before, my time at home, quarantining, left me lonely. I missed staring out of my window at work, talking with clients in meetings, giving presentations ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Paging Dr. Harris ” by Priscilla Lewis

Work was like any other day, daydreaming of a day I can get away from this work life. One would think I would be used to it, after all I have been here for fifteen years. My husband is always away while I work and then go home with the kids. I have three teenagers. My boys are loud, eat a lot, messy, and stink, but to their dad, they are good boys. Connor is my oldest at seventeen, Matthew the middle child, sixteen and Z...

4 comments 4
Read story

“This time last year” by Angela Halubobya

The humid air smells just like it did this very day last year. Except this time around, it’s heavy and dense, not the type of dense you’re thinking of but dense in a sad and cruel way. Exactly a year ago, the earth showed everyone no one is it’s master and that we are all only but a spec in its vast existence.A year ago, this time, I was happily bopping to some up beat and vibrant sound track. This time last year, the shift had not yet occurred and this time last year, I was filled with so much optimism, hopes and dreams...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Normal Again” by Michelle Lavoie

Normal Again Present Day Amari I never expected to run into Eddie after all this time. It was on a rare workday, when I was actually running a bit early so I decided to bypass my usual route and go to the GenX Coffee House. The door stood ajar, and the aroma of that most favored of brews, mingled with scents of patcho...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Where Were You?” by Adam Wan

It was raining. The midnight streets bore a soft, quiet glow, and various cars, motorbikes, and cabs drove along over them, the neon lights all around reflected in the puddles—multicolored: red, blue, yellow, pink, purple. A soft, soothing sound sighed every time a vehicle drove by. A quiet mist seemed to hang in the still air. Or ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Stay With Me” by Cory Zhang

May, 2034No one had really expected the pandemic that wiped out the majority of the population. Least of all, me, whose biggest worry at the time had been failing my Geometry final. Within a single night, three-quarters of the population was dead.Most would argue that I was one of the lucky ones. But being a survivor isn’t lucky. Not when everyone you ever loved isn’t one. If I had the choice, I’d rather be dead than all alone. But fate is cruel, and the hand that was dealt to me was the one I was stuck ...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Backward steps” by Thembelihle Nala

Lucia , a 40 year old female woke up bright and early as always . She was tired of staying at home since she hasn't been to work ,awaiting her Covid 19 results for the past four days. She then decided that since she is not feeling sick she might as well just go back to her work as she is a nurse in a community health care centre. As she got to work, the occupational nurse who took her Covid 19 specimen for test wa...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Aftermath” by Ann Layne

   People don’t like to get too close these days. Everyone has been vaccinated that wanted the shot. But still there are those hold outs. Some think it’s against there religion others don’t believe in science. So, they are risking there own life because of there beliefs.      I took the subway today not many riders and of course no one sits next to you. I guess the thinking is who knows what someone else ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Doomsday” by Phillip Eaton

My wife thought that I was absolutely nuts. The World Health Organization was warning people of the approaching virus. A strain of which experts weren’t sure how to combat. No antibodies had yet been discovered and it was spreading like a California wildfire. After forty-seven years on the job, I finally got the opportunity to retire. I always had a dream to write the next great American novel, now I would have th...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Life after that.” by Grace Sam Awa

The wind blew across my face as I walked down the dusty tared road, the harmattan air smelt like dust and felt both cold and dry on my skin and supposedly, any other person's skin because everyone had some sort of sweater or long shirt on, people where running in different directions, as if to say they were chasing after something, I walked past them without giving much attention to the expressions they wore on their fac...

0 comments 0
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that spans exactly a year and takes place in a single room.

Winter – 215 stories

Write about someone who grew up in a bunker, and lockdown life is all they’ve ever known.

Sad – 84 stories

Write about someone who’s trying to accomplish a task that used to be easy but is now made complicated by a pandemic.

Narrative – 81 stories

Start your story with a character struggling to remember the date, because every day is like the last one.

Dark – 180 stories

Contest #84

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: A Year In

$50

Prize money

676

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 12, 2021 EST

Won by Evelyn Kill 🏆

Title: How the Fish Survive

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢