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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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

“The King's Vision” by Laura Orr

Submitted to Contest #113

There had been whispers of the King and Queen’s madness for months, but this was the first time the doctor had witnessed it for himself. Refilling the chilled basin with hot water, the doctor repositioned the King’s cold, bloated hand into the bowl and quickly moved toward the other side of the bed, avoiding the wild eyes of the Queen as she urgently glared at a spot just above the King’s head. Aside from her continuing pleas for her beloved to awaken, she remained still and unresponsive as the doctor stalked for hours throughout t...

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“Diaries of the Villas of Nassau Bay” by TARA WOODIN

Submitted to Contest #113

September 26, 2021 This is my worst nightmare. Two months ago, I had what I thought to be the happiest day of my short 19 years. I signed the lease on my very first apartment. The Villas of Nassau Bay. This was the cutest community I had ever seen. Turquoise buildings surrounded a gorgeously landscaped pool right in the center of the small thirty-unit property. An old French lady named Helene is the manager and the only employee on the property other than Miguel, the maintenance man. Not only does she manage, but she also liv...

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“It’s Only Business” by Bruce Friedman

Submitted to Contest #113

A Thanksgiving dinner at my home in Detroit in 1971 changed the course of my life forever. My name is Jack Short and I am the founder and CEO of Atomic Logistics, a company with a market cap of about $100 million and with about 1,000 employees. That particular dinner at home with my family served as the launching pad for my subsequnet career as a tech entrepreneur. Remarkably, I was only sixteen at the time and my path to success was rocky, certainly in those early days. I look back on that particular night with mixed emotions. You need...

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“Dorothy's Winter of 1929” by Sharon Farnsworth

Submitted to Contest #113

DOROTHY’S WINTER OF 1929 The evening before he died, Daniel O’Hara barged through the door, a dust-bowl storm of rage filling the room. Mary and the children watched wide-eyed, not breathing, waiting for his next move. Cowering in the corner of the kitchen, Dorothy saw her father’s face turn crimson red with violence and hate and knew someone in the room would be his victim, and most likely it would...

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“Ready Again” by Aaron Gibson

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare. It was the first thought that popped into mind when Chase spotted his ex-fiance taking a seat at a small table mere yards away from where he sat. A tall male helped her take off her coat. Still facing away, both ‘the ex’, Rita, and her new whatever-he-was-boy-toy had yet to be revealed in their entirety just yet. It’s funny how winter can hold secrets under coats and hats this way. The removal of her jacket revealed what Chase had hoped not to see: his favorite dress. It was the one s...

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“Kooma, 1954” by Sue Walters

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare. I would love to tell you that I don’t know how the hell I got dragged into this, but I’d be lying. Lying to you and to myself because everyone around this neck of the woods knows that when Mrs Ursula bloody Quartermaine clicks her expensive high heels, people around here jump to attention and do as they are bid.This especially applies to my mother, Lillian. My mother idolizes Ursula Quartermaine; has done since they went to school together. Personally, I can’t stand the woman and never have but, as a 21-year-old K...

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“CONNECTED” by Janis Van Meter

Submitted to Contest #113

CONNECTEDBy: Janis Van Meter Restless and Weary Feeling hazy and a bit foggy, I sat up from a restless nights sleep feeling more tired and less energy than I had before I went to bed last night. My hair and pajamas were damp with sweat that the strange dream had caused. It was so real. I could see people around me so vividly. I felt I could reach out and touch them. The colors of their clothes and their interactions were so very distinct in my memory. I had dreams similar to this one when...

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“Our First Embrace” by Lucy Barnes

Submitted to Contest #113

I don’t recognize this place. It’s a park, I can tell that. I see swings gently blowing in the wind and a tall metal slide. But no children. Directly in front of me lies a bench. A woman with short blonde hair sits on the bench. I can’t see her face. I slowly walk towards her and place my hand on her shoulder. She turns her head, and I can almost see her face. I wake with a start. What a strange dream. I feel as if I’ve been to that place before. And the woman… the woman felt curiously familiar to me. I get out of bed and shake off those...

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“Linked” by Kenny Bannon

Submitted to Contest #113

Lights flash and blur above Rusty as he gets carted down the hallway. It’s something he’s seen half-a-dozen times before. Strapped down to the gurney, in a white hospital gown, Rusty can barely move his arms or legs. He knows better than to lift his head to see where they are taking him. They’d put him in the machine longer than normal, and he’s already in for so long. Besides, he already knows where they’re going. He goes there once a week. Rusty has the route memorized. Twenty lights, elevator, three floors up, a left, sixteen light...

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“Hollow Shell” by J. E. Nelson

Submitted to Contest #113

Can you hear me? His words became a tattered piece of paper, snatched by the wind and sent fluttering off into the darkness. He sat hunched in the snow, his gaze not meeting mine but instead staring just past me. Hazy, unfocused. “I hear you,” I whispered. His gaze shifted, still not quite finding mine, but alert. I could see the closest trees through his right ear and shoulder. The finger that worried at his jeans looked thinned, like a spool of thread unraveled. A stiff breeze blew, and a few flecks of white flew from the back of h...

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“The Ugly Baby” by LinAris Aris

Submitted to Contest #113

It happened in the middle of a hiking trip. Gem was pregnant, which in hindsight should have been her first clue. She dragged the weight of her belly up a mountain and a man, Geoff, carried her rucksack. He was dark and skinny, and his face was oddly asymetrical, as if the halves of two different faces had been stiched together. Gem had dated him for some time a few years back but they had lost touch afterwards. As she walked the narow path behind him, she tried to remember how they had ended up on this trip together. Had he looked as strang...

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“We Paint the Skies” by Jane Linwood

Submitted to Contest #113

They say when you dream, you can’t tell the time.That isn’t true. I know exactly what time it is. I know when to run across the purple clouds, when to chase the leaping lizards, and when to listen for the chimes of morning. I know when the dream starts, and when it’s about to end. I can tell when a minute passed, or even an hour. My sense of time has never been broken. No…What you really can’t tell is why you're allowed to dream. What many call “reality” is a place where I work part time behind a desk. Answering calls just to be ye...

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“Dream Reader” by Cliff Pratt

Submitted to Contest #113

Dream ReaderRory had been having these dreams, see? He was in a high place and someone who he couldn’t make out was trying to push him off the edge. He was fighting back, of course, but he was being forced backwards, centimetre by centimetre. Then the dream ended with a scream. His.He told his fiancee.“Wow! That’s amazing! What does it mean?”“Too many cheese sandwiches? That ale I had at lunchtime? I thought it tasted funny.”“No, no. It’s a Sign!”“A sign?”“Yes, a Sign. You must go and see a Dream Reader!”He was doubtful. “A dream reader? Don...

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“The life I dreamed of ” by Ethan Moloney

Submitted to Contest #113

It was happening again I thought as the cityscape in front of me slowly came into focus, I have been to this city several times before, but I can’t place the scrapers, the bay, or the island that it overlooks. For the past three weeks, I have been drifting off after a long day of work on my sofa with Milo my dog on my lap crying for pettings. I’ve always been in a habit of falling asleep early as my brothers will attest but it’s gotten worse over the l...

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“The Lost Goodbye” by Aditi Kumar

Submitted to Contest #113

‘He’s dying.’Jo looked up at the lady in the wheelchair, one hand buried deep in Benny’s fur. It was so thick, a grassland of curling black hair. ‘Check his mouth,’ Ms. Darrow said with a slurp of her tea. Her chair squeaked and some tea splashed on the floor.Jo let go of Benny. His big brown eyes followed her movements, questioning nothing. She pushed Benny’s food bowl towards him with her sneaker, filled with kibble and dashes of peanut butter. After a long moment of panting uncertainly by the bowl, he swung away and flopped down at Ms. Da...

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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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