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#113: Dreams and Nightmares

Different cultures and civilizations have been pondering the meaning of dreams for centuries. Whether you believe dreams reflect real life, or real life reflects our dreams, it’s difficult not to be intrigued by the personalized movies our brain creates while we’re asleep. This week’s prompts encourage you to explore what happens when we enter this liminal space between fantasy and reality — and how dreams can be beautiful, terrible, and everything in between.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character who believes their dreams predict the future.

Thriller and Suspense – 39 stories

Start or end your story with the line ‘This is my worst nightmare.’

Dialogue – 74 stories

Write about two people whose dreams are somehow connected.

Thriller and Suspense – 43 stories

Write a story about a character who interprets people’s dreams.

Adults – 18 stories

Write about a character whose dreams are portals to other worlds.

Science Fiction – 54 stories

Stories

“Baby doll” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #113

The shrill ringing of his alarm clock woke Frank at 7.00 am. He attempted to roll over, to thump his hand down on the small button on the top of the clock, to shut the annoying noise off. That was what he intended to do, but this morning it seemed an impossible feat. For some inexplicable reason, he was unable to do this simple thing. Instead, all he could manage was an uncoordinated thrashing of his limbs. He could feel himself beginning to panic, his heart rate accelerating and beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. ‘Calm down’ he to...

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“Not a Dream Gift” by Elizabeth Fenley

Submitted to Contest #113

“Not a Dream Gift” by Elizabeth Fenley The dream deities must be pissed off. If I had to guess, Morpheus is delivering his messages in record numbers, his brother Phoebetor, the Son of Darkness, is bringing more nightmares, and Mara is sitting on the chests of the sleeping to pour nightmares into sleep-cycling brains. They have to be the ones responsible because the dreams are so palpable, so tangible that they exude from people as they go about their normal days. I have the misfortune of reading everyone’s dreams. I can’t control it—and I c...

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“All her dreams are gone” by Erin M

Submitted to Contest #113

Leaving had been difficult, and no matter how long Darcy was away, her days were not getting better. Part of the problem was that her trip and subsequent three years in Australia had been her life’s dream. Something she had thought about and prepared for since she was a teenager. The feeling that being on the other side of the world in a place not unlike Canada had seemed tangible, not so exotic or different. Now back in Canada, she wasn’t sure what to dream about. All her dreams were gone. Everything she had worked for had washed away like ...

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“Nightmare” by Victoria Kuzmina

Submitted to Contest #113

I had to take two glasses of whiskey before bedtime. Without water. And there was one other glass on the table near my bed. Had to? Yes, because I was too excited after the opening party. My heart rate went over the roof. And I had to sleep somehow, because tomorrow there was show number two. Equally important, if not more, then the premiere night. I made it to the bed and half-sat, pressing my back against a huge cushion. I wasn’t able to fully remove the makeup, and it lay as a heavy layer on my skin. I took that extra glass of whi...

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“Nana and our Dreams” by Annika 7882

Submitted to Contest #113

Let me tell you about my beloved grandmother, or my nana, as I call her endearingly. She’s quite tall, lean, with wrinkled, dry, and sun spotted skin, and had gloomy, drooping, lackluster eyes that hide a wise woman way more advanced than her years. I was starting in high school, 12 going on 13, and she was already in her mid-60’s. My relationship with my grandmother was at the borderline of love and hate. Do you know why? Because I was her favorite grandchild for house chores! She wakes me up very early to gather firewood in the riverbanks,...

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“The Message” by Gita Rash

Submitted to Contest #113

Sarah was exhausted and lay down in bed, tired, weary, and spent with pulling staples from the wooden boards most of the day. As she tried to relax, she couldn’t help but think of how different her life would be if her and Ed had chosen the beach front condo instead. They could be enjoying cool breezes and warm sunshine year-round with zero maintenance on their part. Sarah’s husband Ed had been harboring this deep yearning to buy a grand old Victorian mansion. After years of convincing Sarah that he could refurbish an old mansion and flip it...

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“They Visited Cruelties Upon Their Savior” by Vince Salamone

Submitted to Contest #113

The Grayhaven inquisitor was a tall, porcelain woman whose features hung like a lynched body from the uncaring noose of her face. There was a detached quality about her that lent itself to lifelessness—a stiff, jerky manner of articulation, as though she was little more than a flesh-and-bone puppet conducted by some unseen master. But no, she was real enough, and without a doubt of her own mind; the oculus revealed no touch of the malignant about the torturer—nothing otherworldly, anyhow. Nor was the voracious hunger present as it had been ...

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“Cafe” by Leah Murphy

Submitted to Contest #113

She awoke face down on the floor of a department store, and looked around in a daze. A coffee shop was to her left, scattered clothes hung in a mess on her right. She forced herself to her feet and entered the shop. It was full of teenagers. They had pushed the tables into large groups, and threw things at each other laughing; even the baristas had joined. She walked towards the counter with heavy feet, trying to catch the barista’s attention; she was a heavily pregnant teen and plastered with cheap, colorful makeup. The teen looked at the d...

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“The Key for Nightmares” by Arindam K Singh

Submitted to Contest #113

I ate my dinner at 10 that day. I felt too sleepy after 20 hours of hacking. But the MI6 didn’t care heck about who died for them and who worked how many hours for them. They just wanted their work done. I wolfed down all of the Italian noodles and threw the plastic bowl down the veranda railing. I walked to the schedule my sister had made for me. She died 2 years ago in a car crash. She was driving on an accident-prone road when a truck coming from another side hit her car. The car was completely smashed and she was deeply hurt. As ...

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“LA SOÑADORA DE PARQUE OCHENTA (THE DREAMER OF 80TH STREET PARK)” by Nicole Spiegel-Gotsch

Submitted to Contest #113

Frankie placed her palm on the sacred eye and waited. Standing in silent communion with the scarred stump, she lost track of time. The park, brimming with activity—families barbecuing, kids on their bikes, volleyball and basketball games in full swing on the courts—shimmered and faded away. A sensation came over her, like a low level signal coming up from the roots buried deep in the layers of sparse grass, earth, and concrete. Was this finally it? Would this be the moment she had been waiting for? One beat, then another, then . . . nothing...

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“The enigma of Phillipa” by Sarah Cullen

Submitted to Contest #113

"But I don't understand" I told her. "It just doesn't make sense... You are such a logical person." Phillipa looked at me and rolled her eyes dramatically. "I'm telling you that my dreams come true. I'm not saying that I believe in the flat earth theory or joining the church of Scientology - " "But that doesn't make sense!" "To you it doesn't, Amelia. I'm not sure why you're so closed minded about this. Do you think I'm lying? You know this is true! What about the time I told you I dreamed that...” it was at this point that I tuned out...

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“In my dreams you smile” by Ruby Lewis

Submitted to Contest #113

I remember the first time I dreamt of you.The champagne still felt gold and bubbly on my tongue as I laid in bed that night, the fizzy possibilities after our first date spilling into my unconscious mind. The darkness around me was soft, the ghost of your hand pressed so warmly in mine anchored me back to Earth as we laid against the grass. Explosions of red and pink painted the sky as I turned to you, your mouth smiling so prettily in the same colours as you held on tight.It’s a different smile you’re wearing now. It’s beautiful, of course ...

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“LOVE IS A WONDERFUL, TERRIBLE THING” by Django House

Submitted to Contest #113

'For there was never yet philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently,however they have wit the style of gods and made a push at chance and sufference.' -This is my worst nightmare...' Barry the Beagle was at the end of his wits. His rational perspective and acute perceptions were often blessed to trigger critical changes in others but now he felt as if wandering an endless desert in a futile search of an oasis. He tried every trick in his book to win Pumpkin’s favours and he tried them all in vain. Even worse, he found hims...

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“The Woman of My Dreams” by Tim Butler

Submitted to Contest #113

Tony married Angela right after the two of them had graduated from college together. They had been dating since freshman year of high school. Tony considered Angela to be the woman of his dreams. Together they raised two beautiful children, Ryan and Katie, both now in their twenties. Two weeks before her 49th birthday, Angela was told by her doctor that she had stage four breast cancer. It was too far progressed, and unfortunately there was nothing that could be done for her. She was terminal. She passed away in the Fall of that year. Ryan ...

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“Dream Connection ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #113

Her name was Dawn and we were connected for a time, but some connections are not meant to last. My name is Jerrod Yost and believe it or not, I never met Dawn, but I know more about her than any other living human being. This is not a love story either as I throw my suitcase on the bed at the Quality Inn in Peoria, IL. I am on the run, so you can't tell anyone where I am. Promise me. My connection with Dawn Hannihan started with a dream, an innocent dream that seemed very promising. I was sixteen when it started and I wa...

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$250

Prize money

228

Contest entries

139

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 01, 2021 EST

Won by Megan Lange 🏆

Title: Dream Weaver

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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