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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

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...

192 comments 192 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Joy of a Banana” by Ann Nace

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 di...

37 comments 37 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Tonight” by Shannon Haffely

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 ...

4 comments 4 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Asking for Forever” by Julie Musbach

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...

15 comments 15 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Curious Case of Eliza MacDougall” by A Mehendale

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 shooe...

9 comments 9 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Write about a character looking for a sign.

General – 159 stories

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

General – 137 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.

General – 241 stories

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

General – 205 stories

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

General – 111 stories

Stories

“THIS IS THE DAY WE DIE” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

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...

192 comments 192 WINNER 🏆
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“War Tent House” by Mohamed Sarfan

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 th...

97 comments 97
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“between nightmares and dreams” by ᗩᗴᖇiᑎ ᖇᗴᗷᗴᑕᑕᗩ ✨🌈

“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 emoti...

681 comments 681
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“Please Don’t Judge Me ” by Stevie B

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 ...

31 comments 31
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“Butterfly” by Lynn Penny

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...

25 comments 25
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“Paranoia ” by Amelia Bowen

She was at peace, she wasCalm, she wasRestful, she wasStoic in the face ofAdversity; she hadNo fear, absolutelyNone at all.The stone bench was abrasive against the undersides of her short-clad legs. It was sandpaper and she was a block of wood, worn into a shape by the perpetual tide of friction.A man passed by, glancing her way but momentarily. She shivered, noting his heavy boots, heavy jacket. There was the handle of a knife peaking out above one ankle like a meerkat.The st...

23 comments 23
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“Lawn Darts” by Deidra Lovegren

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 ...

55 comments 55
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“The Alive Museum” by 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒 𝕁𝕒𝕕𝕖

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 the...

22 comments 22
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“Feedback Loop” by Alex Sultan

If you had the chance to total your ex’s car with no repercussions whatsoever, would you take it?Ever since Vince found that damned photo—and he thought he got rid of everything, the question had never left his thoughts. Sure, next week he would be rich off horse races and lottery winnings. He’d have more in cash than his ex could ever comprehend, but the satisfaction of seeing her panic over her car, headlights shattered and hood dented? That’d be priceless.And there would be no repercussions. No drawback, no jail time, non...

15 comments 15
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“Tēomeh” by Alex Sultan

CW: Gore The gods demanded sacrifice, and the Aztecs could not dare to disappoint them.Mecatyl prodded his captive up the temple steps. He pushed the blunt end of his bladed club against the man’s back, tripping him on the stone as they approached the apex. The high priest awaited at the top with an obsidian dagger in hand. The verdant green feathers of his headdress shook as winds gusted by.Torches crackled in their posts, the warm light glowing in the eyes of the people who watched the ceremo...

15 comments 15
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“Angel, Ava and My soon-to-be husband” by Johana Htwe

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....

19 comments 19
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“Mora” by Marilena Pairi

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 slee...

14 comments 14
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“falling” by Amany Sayed

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...

27 comments 27
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“Dream Spirit” by Allie Mae Sakry

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 ...

14 comments 14
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“The Mirage ” by Moon Lion

"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."...

10 comments 10
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$50

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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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