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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#103: Synchronicity

Have you ever experienced a strange or serendipitous alignment of events? Happy accidents, creepy coincidences, or randomly resonant moments happen to everyone, yet they always take us by surprise. Whether you believe they have any spiritual significance or not, it can be hard to shake the feeling that some things happen to us by design.

Since truth is often stranger than fiction, I’ve taken some of this week’s prompts directly from life — one poses a situation that has happened to me personally, and another to a friend of mine. The rest I leave up to your own imagination — or what the universe wants you to write!

🥇 Winner

“THIS IS THE DAY WE DIE” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

🏆 Winner of Contest #103

THIS IS THE DAY WE DIEDepression sounded like a half-witted song, one that couldn’t be sung at home or school or the church. It was something so ephemeral that it seemed to have lost its meaning. It was unlikely that one of the children would somehow become infected with the virus. Life with the Bishop was simple: mornings with prayers and a plate of fried bananas; afternoons with Jesus and rosaries and seashells; evenings with stories and hymns. There was no way a child living with Bishop would end up being contaminated with the virus of de...

199 comments 199

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Joy of a Banana” by Ann Nace

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #103

Karen Gleb was a disagreeable old woman. Every fold on her wrinkled face contributed to her resting scowl. And yet, the yellow bananas greeted her as she passed through the produce department like a hundred sunny upturned smiles. It made the town’s resident battle-ax sick with disgust. Mrs. Gleb glared at a woman loading her cart with bananas. Freak, thought Mrs. Gleb. Sure, the fruit tasted okay. But only a dippy clown would want such a goofy-looking thing sitting in her kitchen all week long. Instead, Karen loaded her cart with radishes, c...

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“Tonight” by Shannon Haffely

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #103

It wasn’t English. Not Spanish either. сегодня ночью. Mira traced the faded characters with her little finger, a delicate touch she feared might make the photograph crumble. Yellow stained the edges. Between her fingers it felt like parchment, a scratchy sort of repulsion; she had to fight to keep from tossing the photo. The front was no better. She could barely make out the face in the old black-and-white, which by now was mostly white with age. Towers stood tall behind the woman in the center of the photo. Even by a...

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“Asking for Forever” by Julie Musbach

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #103

In the end it was the little things. That and a healthy dose of courage. For months I had watched for something, a sparkle in her eye, a spice in her tone, a hint in her touch. Three years we had been together. Three years knowing she had seen something in me - desperation perhaps - that made her think I could be worth her time. Some part of me knew, had always known, that I was worth it. Still, years of loneliness, daydreaming, envying, made it all so...heavy. I wanted to be perfect, but I wanted to real. I wanted to be who ...

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“The Curious Case of Eliza MacDougall” by A Mehendale

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #103

Eliza MacDougall is hearing voices.She tells her father, over breakfast one morning. “There’s an invisible woman talking at me.” “To, you, dear,” her father corrects absently, as he butters her toast, “talking to,” and they speak no more of it.She tries to tell her mother the same, peeking her head around the doorway of her study, where her mother sits on the rug covered floor, surrounded by textbooks. Her mother does not turn her head and simply shooes her away with her notetaking hand.She does scribble a reminder, somewhere in the mar...

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This week's prompts

Write about a character looking for a sign.

Fluff – 153 stories

An apparent coincidence occurs. Write a story about a character who suspects paranormal, spiritual, or criminal causes.

Horror – 129 stories

Write a story where a character runs into someone they’ve seen in their dreams, or enters a building they’ve dreamt about before.

High School – 230 stories

Start your story with someone discovering a photograph that has something written on the back.

Valentine's Day – 196 stories

Write a story about someone who starts noticing the same object or phrase wherever they go.

Thriller and Suspense – 106 stories

Stories

“War Tent House” by Mohamed Sarfan

Submitted to Contest #103

2010 January 04 Kashmir that sleeps as dew drops in the midst of the garden of apple. Cloudy doves all over the sky resembling the circular moon that plays by chasing the butterflies! The wind of spring all over the body like the chillness of the river that tumble and falls into the ocean. The flowers that keep their face so sad in the foothills of the mountain! The dream of freedom in the boundary line like the breathing of the May-flies! Spying love in the chest cage like the dumb man’s language! I stand guarding my father like penance ...

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“THIS IS THE DAY WE DIE” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

🏆 Winner of Contest #103

THIS IS THE DAY WE DIEDepression sounded like a half-witted song, one that couldn’t be sung at home or school or the church. It was something so ephemeral that it seemed to have lost its meaning. It was unlikely that one of the children would somehow become infected with the virus. Life with the Bishop was simple: mornings with prayers and a plate of fried bananas; afternoons with Jesus and rosaries and seashells; evenings with stories and hymns. There was no way a child living with Bishop would end up being contaminated with the virus of de...

199 comments 199

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“between nightmares and dreams” by Aerin Rebecca ✨🌈

Submitted to Contest #103

“Nightmares are more convincing than dreams.”My nana once told me that. Six-year-old me laughed it off. How could they be, when I awaited nighttime to fly and save the world and eat candy? When no nightmares ever plagued my mind, and if my teddy bear did die in Dreamland (ah, the tragedies of elementary school), a night spent cuddling in my parent’s bed vanished the nightmare from my mind?She’d laugh at that too and say, “Okay, sweetie, good for you. But in the end, fear invokes more powerful emotions than happiness.”But times changed. Night...

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“Please Don’t Judge Me ” by Stevie B

Submitted to Contest #103

Unlike most children, it took me quite a while to weed through the corrugated cardboard boxes that had been shipped to me after my mother’s death. They contained items that I imagine my other siblings had either not taken or simply not wanted. At its bottom, a pair of eyes were staring up at me. They belonged to Jesus. It did not look like the picture of Jesus had been drawn or painted; it possessed a photographic quality. But how in this world, if I may ask, could this ever be a photograph? On the back and in my mother’s distinctive and flo...

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“Butterfly” by Lynn Penny

Submitted to Contest #103

Cyra wasn’t sure of many things in their life. The concept of airplanes kept them up at night; the idea of calling someone millions of miles away always got them to stop and contemplate in the middle of coffee shops. Asides from that, there were a couple of things that Cyra knew were certain, such as the fact that pineapple did belong on pizza, gender was unworthy of their title, and that lovey-dovey anything was not their thing.At least, that was something Cyra was sure about.Their friends would sometimes come to them about all their dreams...

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“Lawn Darts” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #103

Billy Putnam shot my dad in the butt with a BB gun. It was quite a feat, as nailing a middle aged man on a ladder cleaning out his rain gutters couldn’t have been easy all the way from the house next door—a house whose gutters were always full of old leaves and debris. My father’s screams of outrage brought my brother Sam and me tumbling right out of our backyard tent. The tent itself was a heavy canvas monstrosity, one held up with bent aluminum poles, yet perfect for us to play in. We’d been taking Polaroids, scrawling down dates and ...

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“The Alive Museum” by 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒 𝕁𝕒𝕕𝕖

Submitted to Contest #103

The museum was quiet at night. So quiet, I bet I could fall asleep and never wake up. You didn’t have the bustling crowds of interested people standing in front of you, making you jump up and down to try and see one single painting. You didn’t have the kids that were on field trips making fun of the art or shooting spitballs at inappropriate times.I strolled down the hallways of the museum as I mopped the white tile floors and dusted the statues and artwork, humming to myself and dancing around the maze of sculptures.And then I suddenly bump...

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“falling” by Amany Sayed

Submitted to Contest #103

Every birthday candle, every loose eyelash, every star, every single 11:11 has been wasted on you. I just want to see you again. You don’t deserve it. It’s just practically muscle memory now. I clench my fist and hold my breath and just wish.I check the time before I go to bed and it’s 11:10.One blink later it’s 11:11.I turn out the lights, lie down, and close my hand tight. ~I dream about your face. We’re yelling at each other, but I can’t hear you or me and it’s just angry faces and thick tension in the air. It’s hazy like all dreams ...

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“Mora” by Marilena Pairi

Submitted to Contest #103

No, god not again. My eyes snap open, interrupting once again my not so peaceful sleep. I know what is happening, it has happened countless times before, this one is no different. I am laying in my bed, my back is touching the soft mattress underneath me while my face can only look towards the white ceiling above me. My body is perfectly straight, like a yardstick, and I know for a fact that I didn’t sleep like that last night. I also know that it is pointless to try to move my body, but I try anyway. It stays utterly still, like a sculp...

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“The Mirage ” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #103

"This woman, have you seen her?" I asked the shopkeeper, not able to keep the desperation from my voice after two months of searching.The shopkeeper tiredly leaned towards the portrait, frowning, and the girl hovering near my shoulder giggled.I ignored her, staring into the shopkeeper's sun-lined eyes. The man coughed once, and replied. "I don't remember, but there's a lot of people that come through here. With the Red Deserts behind us, this is the last place to get food and water for a long time."The man's gruff accent and slippery command...

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“Angel, Ava and My soon-to-be husband” by Johana Htwe

Submitted to Contest #103

TW//drugs, murder and forced scene (Only mild)“Hello?” Max said.He didn’t know it was me. I smiled, picturing him frowning his beautifully gifted eyebrow.“Hey, Max,” I said.“Megan?”“Yes, it is me. What are you doing right now?” I said with a little girly voice. Lily who was checking her luggage tilt her head and raised her eyebrows, to which I responded with a wink.“I am at my apartment with my friends. We’re discussing our soon-to-be house,” he said excitedly which made me smile again. “Whose phone is this, by the way?”“It is Lily’s. We’re ...

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“Dream Spirit” by Allie Mae Sakry

Submitted to Contest #103

My ears rang at the sound of the scraping metal and squealing tires. The pain in my right arm was unbearable. I crawled out from the driver side of my car and struggled over to the other vehicle. The man inside was older, easily older than sixty. I tried my best to find his vein, any vein, to see if he still had a pulse. I couldn’t reach any place where I knew a vein was, and cursing myself for my lack of medical knowledge, I tried to pull him from his laying position across the two front seats of his old truck. My arm hurt too much, and I w...

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“A Loan” by Thom With An H

Submitted to Contest #103

“Daddy, what does ‘fuck’ mean?”The word hung in the air like a fart in a crowded elevator. The trip, originally intended as a pleasant getaway for Stan, his wife, and their two children, had become anything but. They quickly discovered the problem with public campgrounds is one is forced to share them with the public.Although Stan worked long hours at the post office, there never seemed to be enough money for a vacation. Finally, in desperation, he marched into his bank and requested a loan. Stan had gone to high school with Bob, a loan offi...

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“I was blind, but now I see” by Ruth Porritt

Submitted to Contest #103

I can hear the ice cubes crack in the glass as I pour myself a large measure of whiskey. I take a moment to savor the sting of the alcohol on my tongue, and press the record button on my handy-dandy tape player. “Barbara Robinson speaking,” I say. “The date is July 9th, 1976, and the time is 9 AM. I glance at the generous measure of scotch I’ve just poured and think: What the hell, it’s 5 o’ clock somewhere. There is a loud knock at the door and I sigh. "Please God," I say. "Don't let it be an asshole." “Why, hello Barbie,” says my ex, Fra...

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“Old Houses” by Riley B.

Submitted to Contest #103

Old Houses “Guys, check out this weird picture.” “Is it a picture of your mom?” JD snarked, making his way over to his hunched-over friend. “Shut up, man. It’s probably a picture of your mom with how ugly this thing is.” Benson wiped off what dust he could on the old Polaroid picture before handing it over to his friend. “Hey guys, it’s getting late. We should probably head out here soon. I think we’ve been here long enough.” Max’s voice came out higher and even more nasally than it normally was. Benson and JD rolled their...

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$50

Prize money

814

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 23, 2021 EST

Won by Abigail Airuedomwinya 🏆

Title: THIS IS THE DAY WE DIE

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

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