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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 Dream Node” by Ben Rounds

Submitted to Contest #113

In electrical engineering, a node is a path on a circuit between two circuit elements. It was time and Janet eased herself around on the sofa, finding the floor with her flat feet. It was right where she had left it and she chuckled. For a miracle it felt firmer than it had lately, less apt to fly away from her. It had not yet jumped up and struck her- well, not hard anyway- had not, ‘tapped her on the forehead,’ as some author or other had once said, but sometimes it did feel very squirmy down there. Ponderously, trimm...

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“The Abandoned House” by Candace Shattuck

Submitted to Contest #113

Will was lost in thought again. His friends Steve and Danny were laughing and goofing around but he was silent. He couldn’t get his mind of the dream he had last night. It felt so real. It was just like his world but he had owned a motorcycle instead of a car and seemingly had different friends. Could it have really only been a dream? After a while, Danny stopped to stare at their friend. “Dude, you alright?” he asked. “Hmm,” he replied. “Eh, you know Will. He is always daydreaming about something,” said Steve. “What is it this time?” ...

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“The Art Connoisseur” by Charlett Bundy

Submitted to Contest #113

Last Fall, I was in Portland for a job interview and stumbled on a 1950s storefront. It had large windows that lined the short walk up to the door of the store. It intrigued me because it was an anomaly in a hip, urban neighborhood. The display windows were at least nine feet tall and inside those windows, framed artwork was hung from the top of each wall to the bottom, side to side, and then across the floor of the display shelf on the bottom of the window case. The art pieces hung touching each other like the artwork in...

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“Thin Air” by Kristupas Sirvydis

Submitted to Contest #113

The bells tolled twelve in the night, the ringing echoing through the warm sandstone halls, which seemed to whisper of the many people that had walked through them that night. The sound of heels hitting the marble floor at a fast pace continued as the chimes faded into the warm night. Jack, almost running, was trying to finish fitting into his evening attire. A shirt still dangling untucked and half buttoned and a dark maroon jacket under his arm, the man seem flustered. He kn...

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“Venusian Dreams” by Matthew Morse

Submitted to Contest #113

As Riley stepped through the front doors her body felt as if it had been smothered in a thick woolen blanket. It was a stark contrast from the frigid air-conditioned environment in which she had just spent the last eight hours. Nearly every day she went from having to bundle up at her desk to keep warm, to then going outside where a moment of respite from the chilly air was replaced by an overwhelming urge to strip down to nothing before her sweat laminated her clothing to her skin. Not only that, but her company’s parking lot offered very ...

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“A Dream Come True” by Susan Richfield

Submitted to Contest #113

What if I told you that sleep was the most dangerous activity I could possibly perform around others? Laugh perhaps? Or maybe you'd ask why, and when I told you then you would laugh and roll your eyes. Maybe call me names. My parents know the truth, but they prefer to hide it; telling me it was best if we just pretended it wasn't real, that it would go away eventually. They wanted a normal child, or at least to pretend to have one. At 16 though, it was harder and harder to be the kid who wasn't allowed to out at night or allowed fr...

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“KENDRIKA'S DESTINY” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #113

Kendrika ran from the barn, but she was already late for family dream sharing. Another scolding and hard looks from Brother and Father along with Mother’s sad smile and nod greeted her. Breathless, she took her seat saying, “Sorry for being late.” Mother nodded, “How were the horses?” “Good. I lost track of time.” Father grumbled, “You missed breakfast and here you are late again. You know dream sha...

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“The Death of Somnia” by Dean Hodsfry

Submitted to Contest #113

06:45 Jericho, Oxford Samia screamed and came round with a start. Her heart was racing and her head felt heavy and sweaty. She shivered, the clock was on 6:45 damn it, forty-five minutes before her alarm should have gone off. After that dream, she could not go back to sleep. She got out of bed with a huff and stomped downstairs. ‘Samia, sweetheart, you look like you got dragged through a hedge backwards and it’s only 6:45 am’ Sally said hand on her hips ‘Please don’t tell me you have just come in?’ ‘No Sal I have been in all night. I had a...

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“Water and Air” by Polly Figural

Submitted to Contest #113

The sun-warmed water lapped at her feet, tucking bits of sand and seaweed between her toes. She leaned back on her palms, closed her eyes, and tilted her face to the sun. A quiet breeze brushed her cheeks as she sifted sand through her fingers. The water lapped a bit higher, past her ankles, and flowed lazily back. She shifted and stretched the length of her body on the beach. The water rose, past her ankles and then to her waist, and it was noticeably cooler too... the breeze grew to a chilling wind, insistent. She started to straighten up,...

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“Changng Track” by Ann Allen

Submitted to Contest #113

Changing Track The water was surprisingly cold, and the current more swift than expected. But it was only a small river, running a little high because of the summer rains. It carried him downstream maybe a hundred yards, before he hit a backwater. From there it was an easy swim to shore. Over some large boulders, up a small cliff, and he ...

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“La La Land” by Jennifer Hasuly

Submitted to Contest #113

The blueprint of the familiar night sky vanished. Where did the stars go? They were replaced by dense layers of cloud cover.I can't even recall the last time I saw a star. Every night was the same. The sun would set I would step outside gaze up and nothing. I could not comprehend this incongruent new night sky. I hated it. I love the artistry and nirvana the night sky offers. An opportunity to bask in the moonlight and light a fire gnawed at me like a rodent with jagged teeth. It was early July when I caught a glimpse of two stars.They weren...

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“Awake” by Katie Edwards

Submitted to Contest #113

“This is my worst nightmare” I sighed to myself. Every night I dreamt of the same thing. It’s like my brain doesn’t know what to do with all the information I process during the day. My brain feels like a movie theater, playing the same dream, over and over every night when I fall asleep. Sometimes the dream changes, but most of the time it’s the same thing. I’m young, old enough to walk and speak, but young enough that I can’t control my emotions. My mother is making soup, I think this time it smells like tomato. Last time I remember s...

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“Replacement” by Kathy Philpott

Submitted to Contest #113

Kathy Philpott philpott.kathy@yahoo.com Replacement “This is my worst nightmare,” Kat told herself. Not only was the theater sold out, but the local newspaper reviewer was also sitting next to the show's director. Kat could see they were engaged in an animated conversation. Could they have been talking about her and how much the show needed her? It was maddening not to know, and she knew her insecurity was showing, but she couldn’t help it. Her confidence was dribbling away like a spoiled child’s ice creme cone on a hot summer's day. K...

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“Cold Painted Walls” by Netania R. Allen

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare - and it’s shaping itself right in front of me. In front of me is a chair, a bed, a broken book, and cinder block walls. The walls are cold and rough, I know because my cheek is scraping against it, though not due to my own volition. That part of the cinder block was a milky white, now mixed with red, it’s hue is an odd pink. The bed is creaky and squeaks its protestations. Its coiled bones are very old and rusty with age. Should’a drank some milk, I tell it. I laugh to myself. The bed does...

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“The Perfect Proposal” by Jules Sherwood

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare. “What do you mean it’s not here?” The clerk is looking at me with his eyebrows pinched together, worrying at his bottom lip. “We lost it,” he explains again, and my vision whites out for a second. “We’ll of course give you a full refund, or you’re more than welcome to pick out one of our ready-made designs –“ the clerk continues but I’m no longer li...

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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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