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#332 Under the Weather

For many of us, we’ve seen firsthand how the weather can be a little dramatic, especially during this time of the year — one minute it’s sunny, the next it’s raining cats and dogs. If you’re not careful, a chilly gust or sudden downpour can leave you feeling downright miserable.

So, we’re letting the weather take center stage this week. Tell us a story where a storm shakes things up, a breeze changes everything, or someone winds up sicker than they bargained for. Embrace the chaos, the chills, and the inevitable!

🥇 Winner

Slippery Nonsense and Other Atmospheric Crimes

Winner of Weekly Contest #332 🏆

They say the British complain about the weather at least three times a day.Personally, I consider that an underestimation bordering on slander.I complain about the weather the way other people hydrate: constantly, instinctively, and with a faint sense of moral duty.It’s one of my most finely honed talents, practically a calling.Too hot. Too cold. Too windy. Not windy enough.The drizzle is rude. The cloud cover is smug. The frost feels judgmental.Some people complain recreationally. I complain as if the climate owes me money.Until last Tuesda...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

This week's prompts

Write a story in which the weather takes an unexpected turn.

– 45 stories

Set your story before, during, or right after a storm.

– 96 stories

Write a story in which a character or object gets caught in a sudden gust of wind.

– 29 stories

Start or end your story with a character standing in the rain.

– 71 stories

Write a story that includes the phrase “under the weather” or “sick as a dog.”

– 32 stories

Stories

Delilah's Daughter

Weekly Contest #332

Delilah’s Daughter The pink poui blossoms wined in the Caribbean wind, petals gyrating rhythmically across the yard. Delilah Brown sat on the low stone wall, her bare feet brushing the earth, eyes fixed on the distant hills. A picture of John, the boy she loved, wavering in her mind. Pa’s cough echoed from inside, reminding her of the weight she carried even at sixteen. In this world, a girl carried more than herself; she carried family, survival, expectation. The biggest ball of the year would come in a fortnight. Every daughter of the tow...

23 likes 9 comments 9
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Group

Weekly Contest #332

The rain was pounding down on my car, and I could feel myself starting to panic.I’d avoided driving in the rain ever since the accident, and I’d tried my best to avoid it tonight, but Kimberly begged me to come and I’ve never been able to say no to my older sister.There was a flash of light, and I slammed on the brakes in the middle of the empty road, peering in front of my car. Nothing was there; no one was there. No vehicle, no person. The grief group Kimberly and I had been attending was located in a red brick building on the campus of a ...

23 likes 3 comments 3
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A Dog's Best Friend

Weekly Contest #332

A Dog’s Best Friend "You've heard of the British Nation and the French Nation? Well, this is the Imagination. And when you get there, you can do almost anything you want."-Kris Kringle, Miracle on 34th Street Reality to dream to delusion. This was the life of Riley.“Riley, what’s wrong?”“I’m not sure, Scoots. I feel sick as a dog.”This was always hard on Scoots. He knew his best friend, Riley, a stout, tricolor five-year-old beagle, had struggled with it for years. Scoots had tried everything: gentle persuasion, fierce argument, video clips,...

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Moira Hates Winter

Weekly Contest #332

The summer of '76 did it for me, back when everyone was still imperfectly alive. My father, an infrequent visitor, chose that year of all years to convert the loft into a living space. The image of him lying prone, slick with sweat while unravelling a bale of fibreglass for the lower rafters is sharper than other memories I have of him.It was also the year I went on a class trip to the Welsh borders. It was the last act of our primary school days before we had to grow up in September. Some of my friends fainted on a walk we took on the secon...

23 likes 23 comments 23
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Always End In Rain

Weekly Contest #332

“Why…Why does it always end in the rain?”The words slipped out of her before she even knew she was thinking them. The city around her blurred into streaks of silvers and neons. The rain fell like a curtain, closing over the final act, but there was no applause. Just the sound of water as it pattered off her coat, soaked through her gloves, slipped down the back of her neck. It never bothered her. She’d done all her work in weather like this.Rain blurred vision.’Rain blurred guilt.Rain washed away blood.Rain made it easier to not see her own ...

22 likes 4 comments 4
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The Sound from the Hills

Weekly Contest #332

“Storm’s coming," Linda thought as she opened her eyes to a darkness so complete she wasn’t sure she’d woken at all. The moon had vanished during the night, taking with it the soft silver glow that usually seeped through her curtains. For hours she had tossed under the weight of several blankets, imagining lightning slipping through a crack in her window and striking her. Somehow, she’d fallen asleep anyway, only to wake up sweaty and tangled in sheets. Her phone blinked an apologetic 09:42. The sun was nowhere to be seen. Work was cancelled...

21 likes 9 comments 9
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A Day With All My Selves (I hate of all of them)

Weekly Contest #332

A final, deep breath fills his lungs, steady and deliberate. He turns the doorknob slowly, feeling the cool metal against his palm, and steps out into the hallway. It's peak January in the city, that brutal time when winter digs its claws deepest, and even his new branded coat, a costly one at that, offers no real shield from the cold seeping through the cracks. The fabric is sleek, imported, the kind that screams status in muffled tones, but right now it feels as thin as paper against the chill. At least he looks cool in it. That's somethin...

21 likes 4 comments 4
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Wizarding Agency for National Defense: Ice to Ski You

Weekly Contest #332

Watching the snow fall, each flake as thick and fluffy as the last, my brain rejects what I’m seeing. See, the thing about snow is it usually falls down. This snow is falling up. Why is that? I look around, turning my ringing head left and right to see that I’m in a tree. Upside down. I’m dangling from the branches of a great big pine tree. What the hell am I doing up here? And why is it snowing? For some reason the first thing to come to my mind is that it’s mid June in New Hampshire. Okay, let’s take a moment and recollect my jumbled and t...

21 likes 3 comments 3
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The Storyteller

Weekly Contest #332

Two scarred hands carefully parted the branches of an old tree stump, the hood pulled low, only the rise and fall of the person's breath visible. The figure looked toward the group across the street; the area, once filled with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, prepared meals, and playful children, had transformed after numerous gang conflicts into a scene of smashed, partially flipped cars, cracks in the sidewalks, and roads. “Eyes so big they can see you better at night,” the figure heard the woman say, noticing she paused briefly and loo...

20 likes 8 comments 8
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Red Sky at Morning

Weekly Contest #332

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning. Those words rattle in my head. They tumble from ear to ear in time with the rocking of the boat. I’m sitting at the stern, hand on the rudder. The boy is kneeling at the bow, untangling the net. The boat is inching along. All sails are out with full sheets given, searching for any breeze. My eyes, squinting in the morning sun, scan the blushing horizon in search of any other signs of trouble. Nothing yet. We’re almost there, just a little further. We shouldn’t be out, ...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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Triton & Tug Tours

Weekly Contest #332

Part of a Children’s story. Triton and Tug Tours It was the strange sight of the huge whale, most of its body floating above the waterline, and the small, tiny tugboat waiting alongside for the morning high tide to rise to its highest level, that had attracted a small crowd of passersby. People wandered down to the waterside to find out why there was a huge whale and tiny boat floating just offshore in the Black Sea. They assembled on the shoreline and shouted at Triton the whale with their enquiring voices. “Are you OK, great whale?" "Where...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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The Sacrament

Weekly Contest #332

Northern Sink,Twenty two levels below Ground A bark of gunfire echoed through the corridors of the decrepit factory.Then another.Then, silence.As Rina stood waiting patiently in the doorway, she could hear yelling, pleading and groans of pain. Eventually, men emerged limping from the smoke, hands raised in surrender. Her own crew in black stormcloaks followed behind them, weapons ready to discourage any last-minute heroics. The raid was a success.Kai, her second cousin and trusted right-hand man, rounded the corner. ‘We got ‘em, Ri. We got ...

19 likes 0 comments 0
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Storming Into The Good Night

Weekly Contest #332

In downtown Beijing, the chilly draught marched alongside the rain, which battered the pavement ferociously. The chill seeped through Ling’s coat and into her skin, making her tremble. She stood by the curb, trying to hail a taxi, but failed again and again. Without an umbrella, her coat was soon soaked. Each occupied taxi sped past, windshield wipers working relentlessly, splashing water high into the air. The six o’clock traffic jam became a nightmare for every commuter longing to return home. Ling had just fled the dreary, pointless team ...

19 likes 4 comments 4
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Snowmageddon

Weekly Contest #332

Blue’s ears twitched – it was the only part of the dog that moved, as he lay still with his muzzle between his paws. He liked hearing his humans talk, even if he didn’t know what they were saying. He liked the rumbly sound of their voices and how they communicated affectionately with each other. Their communication made him feel part of something larger. They belonged to each other, and he belonged to them. He was part of their pack.The rest of the pack was sleeping right now. Two little girls, the young ones, the babies, already in bed. Thi...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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Winter Wanderer

Weekly Contest #332

He seemed to materialize amid the swirling snow as if the blizzard had birthed him. His measured pace was somehow relaxed and easy in his heavy furs and woven snowshoes. Watching from the warmth of my cabin window, I nearly dropped my mug of coffee in amazement. Where was he coming from? There was nothing but a frozen lake behind him, and my nearest neighbor was twenty miles in the opposite direction. In all my winters here, this was the first time I’d had a visitor.After my initial shock wore off, I came to my senses. I threw on my coat and...

17 likes 5 comments 5
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