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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!

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

“Last Drinks” by Vicky S

Submitted to Contest #103

The ice cubes slowly melted in the bottom of the glass as Stacey swirled it around in one hand, not noticing the people around her even as they jostled and shoved, as she stared at the faded oil painting hanging in front of her. The red car shining as it shot along a road. It seemed eerily familiar. “Last drinks!” the man behind the bar yelled, his cheeks reddened from the warm air. The person perched next to her waved their hand in his direction. “Are you sure?” the man asked, glancing at the man’s glazed eyes. “Just fill her up,” the man s...

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“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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“Sammy Not-So-Fast” by Kate Winchester

Submitted to Contest #103

Somehow in her 35 years of life, Penelope had never been in a police station before, let alone been given a ride in a cop car. She was disappointed that the officer had not activated his sirens or lights. He wasn’t even speeding. Could he not sense the urgency? This was an emergency. Her baby was missing! Penelope was grateful to the officer; however, as he did not make her sit in the back like a criminal. Penelope was a straight laced goody two shoes, and she wasn’t about to have her reputation thrown into the ...

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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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“The Man of My Dreams ” by Theresa Bhowan

Submitted to Contest #103

TW: gun violence The figure just stood there, hovering, looming. His large stature hovering in the brightness that her eyes seemed to fight and protest against. The blurry haze engulfs and encompasses them. Louise is fighting against her senses and surroundings but nothing seems to make sense. Her movements seem uncontrolled, she can’t seem to get any part of herself to move according to her will. Then the figure draws closer and his face becomes crystal clear. It is a face she does not recognise but his features, strikingly prominent in the...

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“Passion” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #103

“Do it or don’t. There is nothing else.” That was good; really clever. He heard it on a bus ride between two friends who were trying not to be quiet. Two sentences that worked so well together just came to him. They belonged there. He could not get past them and really did not want to; he needed them. It was another personal project for him...

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“Hey There, Delilah” by Mira Caplan

Submitted to Contest #103

She sat up in her chosen auditorium seat as the first notes of her best friend's chosen audition song rang across the stage. It was a song they sang together often, laughing at the fact that "Delilah" was the chosen name. Not in a mocking way, but one that based off of irony and admiration.But this time, when Iseline sang, the words weren't muffled from elbowing her best friend over and over. They were clear, fitting perfectly with her guitar as she slowly picked at the strings, melodic, and... beautiful.Delilah felt eyes on her, whispers dr...

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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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“Old friends” by Sasini Athapaththu

Submitted to Contest #103

I picked up the photo. It had something written on the back of it which read, "whenever you need me, you know where to find me." I turned the photo; it was a photo of me and my best friend, Dandre, playing in a park when we were small. I could feel a broad smile draw across my face. I grew up in London with my father and mother as the only child. Dandre was all I had for a brother and a friend. He always found everything I say funny, even the lamest of jokes. But when I was twelve, we moved to Manchester, and Dandre and I grew apart. It ...

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“Lost and Found” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #103

“Turn left and proceed on the route for twenty-five miles,” says my iPhone.Damn it! Jerry wasn’t joking about tonight’s road closure. He warned me I’d have to go cross-country this evening. I never know when to take him seriously. Commuting this way is never an option unless I’ve an hour to waste. I mean, who’d choose to take the scenic route to work, anyway? And what kind of prankster picked July to dig up the roads? We’re in the middle of a heatwave, for God’s sake.#Everyone knows the Singleton district for its endless meadows of graz...

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“The Imaginary Cabbage Stew” by Nina Chyll

Submitted to Contest #103

C: ‘Are you asking about the impact the accidente had on the family? Well, there’s no family to speak of anymore, to start with. But I just want to scream: be yourself no matter what, you know. God, when I first came to this town, I had no idea, I had to reuse my lashes twenty times, that’s how poor I was, I reattached them until the residue glue was too heavy to keep my eyelids open. I had to ride to auditions on a bike, in the heat, can you imagine?‘And I saw him across the bar one night and boom, ten years later, some late-night arguments...

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“Affaires de Coeur” by Christina Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #103

When Mom died ten years ago, dad practically did too, even though the death certificate would list his official passing with today’s date. There are couples and then there are soulmates; mom and dad were the latter. They didn’t need to finish each other's sentences because they could converse without speaking. Theirs was a love story for the ages, which is why I am completely baffled at the picture I hold in my hands. I found it while cleaning out my dad’s dresser, in the bottom drawer hidden in a cigar box. It has to be at least 6...

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“Explosive Scrunchie ” by ☠️฿ⱤɆ₵₭ł₦ ₦ØⱤ₮ⱧⱤɄ₱😎

Submitted to Contest #103

“Charlotte, Will, dinners ready!” my mom yelled to us upstairs.I closed my computer with a long sigh because I was almost done with my story.“One more minute!” Will yelled back downstairs. My brother was a huge fan of video games and just couldn’t stop playing them.“NO!” mom said.“Ughhhhh!Fine!”He said. I could hear his loud footsteps from all the way downstairs because he literally sounded like a herd of elephants.When he got downstairs he sat down but realized his food wasn’t there for him on the table.“Moooom,give me my food.” he yel...

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“Thoughts Kill” by Zahra Daya

Submitted to Contest #103

I held in my cough as I entered the bathroom, senses already on high alert. Smoke unfurled around, blinding me for a moment. It took a second to gauge my surroundings, but once I had, it came as no surprise to see my older brother standing in their group. The only boy in here. After all, this was a ladies' bathroom. I watched in the mirror as the cigarette got passed around. A girl with pouting lips caked in maroon lipstick passed it to my brother. His lazy smile at her and the smoke around were in competition to make me nauseous.&nbsp...

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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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