Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

reedsymarketplace

Assemble a team of professionals

reedsystudio

The writing app for authors

reedsylearning

Writing courses, events and memberships

reedsydiscovery

Get your book reviewed

reedsyprompts

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Directory

Contests

Magazine

FAQ

Write a story about another day in a heatwave.

Posted in Summer on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google

Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 150 stories

The Delights Of Magic Ice

Aerin Rebecca ✨🌈

Submitted to Contest #53

“Uuuugh, nothing is possible!”The words fly out of my mouth as I fling my sweaty arms in the air. The sofa is damp and uncomfortable against my damp and uncomfortable back. “The AC will never start working, I will never stop sweating gallons, and THIS FREAKIN’ HEAT WAVE WILL NEVER END!”“Carson,” Ron emphasized, “be more, uh…positive.”“Dude, you were complaining a second ago.”“At least I wasn’t saying nothing was possible! That’s dark for a 17-year-old.”“But it's true.”I hauled myself up into a sitting position and slouched against the sofa. ...

189 likes

160 comments 160

The Things You Don't Say

BeInspiredAbstracts/Etsy SarahGreenwood

Submitted to Contest #53

           It was the hottest summer of the decade the year we bought our first air conditioner. It was August 1988, the summer before I entered high school, the summer before life got complicated. The six of us (seven if you count Daisy, the basset hound) loaded into the green Chevy station wagon and drove to Sears, Roebuck and Co. (as it was still called back then.) We were the only people on our street to get an air conditioner. Ronald Reagan was king and we were rich.   &nb...

141 likes

Red is a Common Color

Lata B

Submitted to Contest #53

 A warm breeze brushes my shoulders as I bike down 15th street. It might sound weird, but I'm on a quest to find a butterfly. I want to find the prettiest one. The most delicate one with fragile wings. It's a steamy hot day so surely, they should be out there somewhere.          As the wind plays with my hair, I think about her. Her bright eyes wander through my mind. The way she laughed every time it rained. "God's peeing!" She would scream at the top of her lungs. Her smile was a disea...

130 likes

107 comments 107

Crimson Tears

Submitted to Contest #53

It was summer; the sky was blue, the birds were chirping and Johann wanted to die.It was a curse. It would lure him in every year, making him feel emotions that weren't his. The excitement, the anticipation, the rush of release; all that which had seemed so wonderful and natural in the moment made him feel sick to his stomach in retrospect.The illusion of thrill; one not felt in and of itself, but only in its anticipation.It was a salesman who sweet talked you into buying that oh-so-neat product you always wanted, only for it to blow up in y...

106 likes

149 comments 149

Here We Go Again

Avery G.

Submitted to Contest #53

It was a hot summer Sunday, and I was already ready for winter. I was in my house, a nice two-story suburban home. We lived in a nice neighborhood that had a community pool. There were a lot of nice families and kids here. The thing was, all of my friends that lived here were on vacation. So here I was, bored and at home.“Mom,” I asked. “Can we please turn on the air conditioner? It’s so humid.”“No, Claire.” She answered, making cookies in the kitchen. “We need to save money. Go cool yourself off at the pool.”I pouted. “Mom, I have no one to...

100 likes

Weeping Teacup Day

Submitted to Contest #53

The lavender and the mallow sat watered in the sunny windowsill, looking out at the cracked stone plaza. Tendrils of ivy and honeysuckle swept into the window, trailing into the suds in the sink at each heavy, hot breeze. From somewhere in her house came touches of jazz and breaths of some heavy beast moving about on the floor.February’s house was in the middle of the Thistle Wasteland, now in the most cunning heat wave of sun and surety in a dozen years, and she had never had a visitor. She lived alone, in her house that looks like someone ...

84 likes

A Thousand Galaxies

Alby Carter

Submitted to Contest #53

The Parsons and the Adams had spent every summer they could remember on a small, private island somewhere tucked away in the Pacific Ocean. The island had been in both families for generations, but they were not friends; the reason being that neither family liked to share. This led to bargaining and bickering and bartering and bargaining for the island all summer long, but each family was accustomed to checks with lots of zeroes, and neither family wanted to give the island up. Eventually, they always agreed to split it down the middle and c...

83 likes

A Friendly Reminder

Submitted to Contest #53

I think it will relent soon. It has been going strong for a good ten minutes now.It? She? I don’t even know what to call it.Her whole body is swaying back and forth as if her ankles are tied to a spot that my eyes cannot meet. Her face looks more malicious every time she leans towards me: her eyes are widening, her mouth is taut by opening so wide, and her long fingers are reaching out, ready to throttle someone. People have mentioned that I have a pleasant voice more than once: maybe she will heed my request to stop screaming. I need the sc...

79 likes

An Eternity of Sorrows

Submitted to Contest #53

A blazing yellow sun spies us from between a bank of clouds high in the sky. The road’s lights stretched out along the desert floor, flickering, fearing to sleep, anticipating this moment. The dust devils dance among the heat waves rising from the sand.  “It’s been how long, brother? Twelve years? The last time we witnessed one another was Rome. You were pointing your gun at me, running down a flight of stairs of abandoned buildings, behind back alleys of fish markets. I would have killed you if I caught you. But you got away? Disappe...

69 likes

The Spectacle(s)

Jonathan Blaauw

Submitted to Contest #53

The weather can have a curious effect on human behavior. Motorists, for example, frequently lose all driving ability when it rains, and when the Summer heat descends, sanity often departs the scene. There is a well-documented correlation between temperature records and crime rates, after all, and even the most skeptical observer would be hard-pressed to attribute this to mere coincidence. For some unknowable reason, people do strange things when the mercury rises.    That was probably the reason Ms. Moore decided on the G...

68 likes

Two to Three

Lynn Penny

Submitted to Contest #53

NightCrawlers: Victims of a Parasite that turned into Nocturnal Cannibalistic Hunters whose only instincts are to kill and eat.Having found a literal paradise in this drug store, with protection and supplies galore, Onyx and Dr. Doggy waited for the other shoe to drop. It took a couple of days to get everything all set up for optimal survival, but oh boy, it was all worth it. Onyx felt like a real survival pro, having set up her own rainwater filter using vases and cheesecloth, a contained fire pit with a wire rack and a giant wok. The fire...

66 likes

Answers on a Teacup

Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #53

What happened on the second Tuesday of July was a simple thing, and it started like so.The boy wore a large velvet blazer and was swallowed by his ancient copy of Jane Eyre; the copy that smelled like his grandmother’s perfume and felt like butterfly wings between his calloused fingers. He sat alone on a park bench that day, much like the other days, and he waited for something to happen. Not in his book, he already knew how that ended after having read it seventeen times, but in the park there were several things that could happen. The smal...

63 likes

It Was A Good Day

♥☪ᙏҽɬσɳყ Ƒɾҽ𝓶σɳԃ☪♥

Submitted to Contest #53

Drip."Help me."Drip."I'm dying."Drip." Guys, I'm drifting away."Drip."When I die, feed my cat."Drip."I-"Maya are you done being dramatic? We know it's hot, but seriously, you're making it worse. What's with the water sounds? It won't make you any cooler." Aaron exclaims. "Oh, I'm sorry that my pain annoys you, Aaron, I can't help but express how I'm feeling. And the sounds aren't intimating water, - it's the sound effect of the sweat dripping off me, - for your information.""Girl, you are too much, - wait, do you even have a cat?" Natasha ch...

58 likes

Dearie Dearest

Kathleen Doidge

Submitted to Contest #53

Dearie Dearest,I can't feel you anymore. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, but the headaches might suggest the latter. I'm getting freaking withdrawals from you. This is worse than when I canceled coffee. Everyone ran for their lives when that happened. Literally. Although, it did help with Disneyland. No lines!Anyway, you haven't talked to me in a while. Didn't want you to forget me. I’m still here and will be there when you fall.~Your loveThe man frowned at the letter, flipping it over. Nothing. He bit his lip, a hand ruffling his peach fu...

52 likes

Beverly Bettencourt's 5K Marathon

Kristin Neubauer

Submitted to Contest #53

I blame the 12-day heatwave of 2015 for the loss of Beverly Bettencourt. You see, Beverly didn’t have air conditioning. She’d grown up in Savannah and brushed off window units, never mind central air. When the summer days turned thick and heavy, Beverly would turn off her oven, leave another golden pie cooling on the windowsill and dab the sweat off her forehead as she moved onto her front porch. There she would sit, slowly rocking, pitcher of sweet tea and plate of her secret recipe chocolate chip cookies by her side, waiting for t...

51 likes

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a few people spending a long-overdue weekend away at a cottage.

Summer – 122 stories

Write a story that begins with someone's popsicle melting.

Summer – 256 stories

Write a story about a teenager spending their final days at home before going away to college.

High School – 118 stories

Write a story about summer love — the quarantine edition.

Romance – 131 stories

reedsylearning

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel