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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#127: Gut Feelings

Most people know December 31st as New Year’s Eve, but did you know it’s also Make Up Your Mind Day? Unfortunately for many of us, making your mind up is more easily said than done. I always want to make a considered decision, but oftentimes wind up relying on gut instinct alone.

This week's prompts are all about intuition, and the strange way we sometimes know what to do without understanding how we know it. Whether you believe intuition is a sign sent from the universe, or the workings of your own subconscious, it’s time to trust your creative instincts and get writing for the very first contest of 2022. Happy New Year!

This week's prompts

Begin your story with a character having a gut feeling they cannot explain.

Thriller and Suspense – 75 stories

Write about a character whose intuition is always right — until one day it isn’t.

Horror – 22 stories

Write a story about a problem with no good solutions.

Angst – 32 stories

Write about a character learning to trust their intuition.

Character – 27 stories

Your character makes a living faking psychic powers. One morning, they wake up with real ones.

Fantasy – 64 stories

Stories

“A Fraud's Fortune” by Abigail Jean Jacques

Submitted to Contest #127

“All of this is so insightful. Thank you, you’ve saved my life!”I sat there with the biggest grin on my face as my last client for the day thanked me.“How can I ever repay you?” she asked.“By paying me!” I exclaimed jokingly.Only, I meant it.Nothing was more important to me than my clients, except the money they’re supposed to give me after every reading. As she left the shop I raced to lock the door behind her and draw the blinds.My pet owl, Mr. Sage sat peacefully on his wooden perch while I counted the day’s earnings.Sometimes, I think he...

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“Karma Finds Lily” by Mary Fitzgerald

Submitted to Contest #127

Lily made her living as a psychic medium. Unfortunately, she was neither a psychic nor a medium; she was just really good at reading people. Those who came to her for guidance truly believed that she could help them. She knew exactly how to prompt them to give an accurate reading. She only played the medium when she was sure of the relationship between her client and the deceased loved one that she “brought” through. She didn’t charge any more than any other&n...

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“Neon change ” by Angus Moore

Submitted to Contest #127

Kristy stared at her hand, it looked like it always did. She hadn’t really expected anything to be different, however the feeling she was experiencing at the moment was completely outside her knowledge. If her arm had turned a new colour or into a liquid pile of ooze it would at least help, make sense of the situation. In her head she knew that the plan was sound, and everyone else sitting around the darkened room was in agreeance. Yet she could not bring herself to feel happy about it. She was the sort of person who liked to look...

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“Disaster Take Me” by Kay Reyez

Submitted to Contest #127

I will die young. This I know.I haven’t told anyone, because what’s the word—hypochondriac, crazy? I’m not, but those are the words. If they didn’t say those words, they would call it fear. They would say I just feel the time ticking, taking. I’m as terrified of death as the next person, but that’s not what this is.I know I will die young in the same way I only ever need three guesses to get anything right.“Guess who I saw today?” Eddie. Greg. Justin.“Guess what I did?” Got your belly button pierced. Got a tattoo.“Guess where I’m going?” Mex...

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“Heir To The Throne” by Dylan Roth

Submitted to Contest #127

I sat alone atop my throne, built on the backs of my father and grandfather and his father who came before me. Pride swelled in my chest as I thought of the sacrifices made to protect this great Kingdom that I had the honor of leading. But alas my old age was catching up to me. My wife is pregnant with our firstborn and I am dying, slowly but surely. I'm not sure how much longer it will be before my body and my mind fail me. I cannot shake the terrible feeling that my child would not be fit to be King. My family had been Kings for as lon...

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“The Revelation of Bones” by Don Paul Martin

Submitted to Contest #127

The morning of Friday, June 11th, 1999 began unlike any other morning in my life to that point. I was living in a tiny efficiency in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and the morning light was bright against the wall that hosted my bed. Before I could even identify that it was morning -- or that I was human being, for that matter -- a prophetic, three-word thought appeared in my mind. I might have even said it out loud, though no one else was there to hear it: &n...

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“The Riggsburg Reckoning” by Alex L

Submitted to Contest #127

By: Alex Lape There were very few words Adrian Tippen found to give meaning to his otherwise chaotic and volatile life - one of them being security. And security was exactly what Adrian found when he pretty much made a mad dash out of Riggsburg, New Hampshire as soon as the final bell of his senior year at Brutus H. Heddings High School rang out. As soon as he felt the ignition of ‘89 Camaro turn over, Adrien knew that Riggsburg and all the grievances he had with that godforsaken town would figuratively and literally be in his rearview mir...

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“The Collision” by Amanda Smith

Submitted to Contest #127

Laura wakes suddenly from sleep, sticky with sweat and the lasting images of a forgotten dream, her memory scrambling to make sense of the feelings that still linger. Her gut lurches with a strange sensation, her intuition marking a shift in her day, something out of sorts. She hesitates, wondering if she should go to the airport as planned. Her flight is to leave in three hours for an opportunity that would change her life, for an internship she discovered by chance at a dinner party only yesterday. The caveat was that she had to arriv...

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“The Goddess of Intuition” by Robert Obszanski

Submitted to Contest #127

Trucking never seemed like a job to Frank, he enjoyed the time alone on the road. It helped him think and plan out his future. He didn’t have big dreams, but they were dreams nonetheless. A house of his own somewhere peaceful, and enough land to grow food on. He kept a photo of a pristine grassy landscape hidden in his truck’s sun visor. He would look at it occasionally and remind himself what this was all for. He would build a house there with his own hands. He would find a w...

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“The Perfect Life” by Wilma Segeren

Submitted to Contest #127

The Perfect Life His ability to always pick the right team, from sports in primary school, to super bowl football games with his friends, from the best books to help develop his interests and even the perfect girl to date for senior prom, his intuition was always right and it led to a perfect marriage, the perfect family and the perfect life. So this year, for new years resolution, he vowed for some unusual and exciting new endeavors that might expand his perfect world. He wanted to be surprised and maybe, in his subconscious, he wanted a ...

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“No One Wins” by Rebecca P

Submitted to Contest #127

It sat there between us. And, for something so small, it had created such a big problem. I stared at the ceiling and held my breath. I didn’t need to look. I knew what he would be doing on the other side of our chestnut coffee table. His tree trunk arms crossed over his chest. I could almost feel his cool blue eyes drilling into my face with anger and animosity. His broad shoulders lifted slightly with each shallow breath that panted in and out of his big chest. I shook my head. A little sideways wobble of incredulity. I couldn’t believe we ...

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“A Rock and a hard place ( A fiction based on a true story” by Linsey Vega

Submitted to Contest #127

<CW- gas lighting/ dysfunctional family Dynamics/ adult languageGas·lightverbmanipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.The day before New year’s eveMacy Tomson tied her long, curly fire red locks into a high ponytail. Then glanced up at the digital clock on the stark white wall of her minimalistic yet cozy little one-bedroom apartment. Sitting there on her queen sized mattress, the gray color of her bedsheets seeming to illustrate her mood, she watched the minutes tick by. When 2 o’clock turned to three...

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“Coming Out” by David Trapanese

Submitted to Contest #127

Coming Out I sat in a partial front split, my hands white knuckling a pair of foam blocks–my feet trying in vain to grip the sweat soaked yoga mat. My legs shook like I was approaching the electric chair as my ass dropped that much closer to the floor. The reptilian side of my brain, the side that causes a sane man to recoil at the sight of a colorful snake, pleaded with me to recognize my limits. I consciously shunned this innate wisdom, choosing instead to listen to the yoga instructor Crystal who told me to “breathe”. “Your form looks ...

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“Waking Up To Yourself” by Marquita Mayo

Submitted to Contest #127

Green walls, packed bookshelves, tapestries with mystical symbols hanging from the ceilings, dimmed lighting, and plush floor seats lining the baseboards, this was the space you were engulfed in at Moon Passages. Angela had been living in Denver, Colorado for the past six years reading palms, tarot cards, and giving spiritual visions at special request (private one-on-one session only, of course). Her storefront, Moon Passages, was located on a popular tourist street, so business had flourished quickly. She classified her life as pretty wond...

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“Faking it” by Randi King

Submitted to Contest #127

Georgia escorted her last client of the day to the door, glad that the day was ending on a positive note. Her usual clients came to her hoping to make contact with a loved one who had passed. Hoping she would take away their grief, tell them their loved one was happy or at peace. Often hoping they had been forgiven for some past actions they now regret. Tonight’s client was looking for hope on a new path for her life. She was recently divorced and just wanted reassurance she could find happiness again, which Geo...

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$250

Prize money

220

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 07, 2022 EST

Won by Dena Linn 🏆

Title: The Problem Is

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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