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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.

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Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 115 stories

“Diana” by Kai R.

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #84

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 had died without even realizing it. It was more likely that the purgatory was in my head, where I was trapped while my body...

2 comments 2
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“The Bus of Hope” by Sreedevi Mahapatra

Submitted to Contest #84

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 reached their eyes to acknowledge each other’s presence. Today of course, the bus stop appeared happy with the lone almond tree with...

2 comments 2
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“ Afterworld” by Tanya Stingley

Submitted to Contest #84

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 when the pandemic hit. People were actin crazy, goin from holler to holler stealing folks chickens and robbing them for everything they had. Jim bob; Ma's bea...

3 comments 3
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“The Labyrinth” by M C

Submitted to Contest #84

 “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 every day, day after day because it was all him all along. I can’t forgive, I will not forgive, not him, not myself, and not...

6 comments 6
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“Pandemic Thoughts” by Jungle Clover

Submitted to Contest #84

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 in front of people, and even my co-workers. Other than for basic supplies and food, I hadn't left the house at all. For a...

1 comment 1
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“Paging Dr. Harris ” by Priscilla Lewis

Submitted to Contest #84

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 Zechariah the baby, is only fifteen, They are good boys at heart, but I wished that I would have had a girl. I longed for my...

4 comments 4
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“How Trump’s erratic behavior and failure on coronavirus doomed his reelection” by Alonzriah'a Washington

Submitted to Contest #84

How Trump's erratic\ By Ashley Parker,  Josh Dawsey,  Matt Viser and  Michael Scherer The same impulses that helped lift the president to victory in 2016 contributed to his undoing four years later. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) This is wrong. Home Share 3k Air Force One was descending into Detroit when President Trump posed a question that would come to define his entire approach to the deadly coronavirus pan...

3 comments 3
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“This time last year” by Angela Halubobya

Submitted to Contest #84

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 for what was to come...

4 comments 4
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“Normal Again” by Michelle Lavoie

Submitted to Contest #84

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 patchouli drew me inside. Looking around, I saw him sitting at a back table, hunched over a mug that he was clenching with the ferocity of a man seeking warmth after a week in Siberia. I have to be honest, here. This is no...

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“Where Were You?” by Adam Wan

Submitted to Contest #84

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 was it the lights? Or autumn glow? A young woman stood by a lamppost, watching the night roll on before her eyes. She was wearing a large coat, the rain washing down its leather, a coat that looked a little too ...

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“Stay With Me” by Cory Zhang

Submitted to Contest #84

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 with, so I tried to make do.&nbsp...

5 comments 5
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“Backward steps” by Thembelihle Nala

Submitted to Contest #84

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 was startled. What are you doing here Lucia , occupational nurse exclaimed ! You are supposed to be on quarantine until your results...

2 comments 2
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“Aftermath” by Ann Layne

Submitted to Contest #84

   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 has now a days. There are still people wearing masks too. I wo...

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“Life after that.” by Grace Sam Awa

Submitted to Contest #84

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 faces, frankly, I cared less about it, I was on my way to work, for the first time in 1year, I had missed all the thrills, ang...

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“Disappointment ” by Darcy Bleachwood

Submitted to Contest #84

  Disappointment dominated my emotions when the police officer told me he was found dead last night. The sudden echo of sound waves created by my pen hitting the floor bounced off every wall and filled my place of work. As I stood being forced to listen in shock, pain and disbelief I felt the warm salted tears roll down my cheeks and cling to the cracks in the corners of my lips. Disappointed yes but disappointed with what? Myself? Society? Charlie? That was his name, Charlie. Charlie Sullivan!   I first met Charlie 12 mo...

4 comments 4
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Contest #84

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Title: How the Fish Survive

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