#modempr

#Instagram stories has been so wonderful for us, our friends and sponsors. Thank you to everyone who voted! To those who voted for their friends - that was naughty! Your votes were considered. But ability was the key! A new voting system will be in place next week ;) If you haven't written a story on #Instagram yet please do! Here are the competition rules. And here are this weeks winners!

Week 1 Winner: A Book from Widescreen Fun Library!!!

@salhad  ~ The Shoes You Wish You Had.

"I bought some shoes from the Asian side of Istanbul. The laces snapped as I tried the shoes on and the shopkeeper said, with a smile, that I must be an angry man. Outside it was raining hard, and as I looked out the shop window a seagull swooped in and attacked a cat sitting by the door . Shoes in hand, we walked in the rain and took the ferry back to Sultanahmet. On the ferry we drank tea and sat on the dusty arm chairs listening to classical music. For a moment I felt I was back in the 90s, spending lazy hot afternoons in my great aunt's bullet-ridden apartment in Beirut's Achrafieh. The rain slid down the window as I watched the other boats navigate the choppy waters, and an old man sat next to me reading the newspaper, the headline announcing Turkey's peace deal with the PKK"

Second Place

@talaahadi ~ The City Is An Airport.

"Sometimes this city is an airport. A place of endless transition and passing through, leaving those with delayed flights to find themselves in states of in-betweenness, and those with prolonged stays to display symptoms of coffee laden discomfort. Here, everyone seems in a perpetual state of waiting at times. Waiting for a break, waiting for a cigarette, waiting for the weekend. It is an oversized waiting room where patients or late drug reps entertain themselves with month old magazines and struggle to look attractive in the unflattering neon lights. Oftentimes , it is a city of contradictions. where the concrete is overwhelming, and the concrete doesn't do nearly enough. Sometimes it's difficult to deny the sanctity of this city's summer twilights."

Week 1 Finalists :] @spacerockmusic ~ Aurora.

"At a time your silhouette was as crystalline as the barrier between us - but even your shadows have been harvested. And while your restoration is unlikely, I have managed to preserve - if only in memory - a sliver of your aurora."

@ssshhaaahhddd ~ Constellations.

"If street lights were constellations, we'd get lost on our way to Paradise, wish upon fast cars, and pretend stars have always been closer to us than tomorrow."

@talaelissa ~ A Toothless Smile.

"This is what i have left of you : X-rays and negatives of your brittle skeleton that refuses to disintegrate, when all I ever wished for was a toothless smile"

@lkassicieh ~ Life is Good.

"As she sifted through the mossy, reed-filled water collecting shards of glass, she remembered all the little things she loved: the translucency of walnut tree leaves, the cold breeze welcoming you in the evening after a stiflingly warm day, her grandmothers pistachio ice-cream. She remembered that life is good."

@danaudalla ~ I Love Life.

“I love life. Like balloons with different colours symbolising our stories into flying patterns. I love life I said. Because I am sure enough each one of us has a message here. A message that says I am worth it and I can do it. I love life because you & I exist. 

Because I know you can make a difference. Because that second you breath in, you are giving yourself a chance to live. I love life because my battle helped me to be the person I am today. A story to be told, a lesson to learn from & above all I gained my life all over”

@jude_odeh ~ Better Days.

"We threw our hats into the moist air, our voices cracked with suppressed tears. To better days, we screamed, against all the odds.”

@park_hanaa ~ Life You Wish You Had.

"My mind is quite a battleground, A thrilling game of Chess. Kings and Queens and Black and White, Pawns on epic quests. But playing Chess plays games with you, Many men go mad. Queens and Kings and Black and White, The life you wish you had.”

@salaa128 ~ Lumos.