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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

“Mother's Intuition” by Amy Everette

Submitted to Contest #127

Mother’s Intuition Deanna tossed and turned beneath the heavy blankets. She should have been asleep hours ago, had in fact been in the bed since eight o’clock. She reached for her cell phone in the dark. 11:06 pm. It was almost midnight. She never stayed up this late. Not since her husband passed away three years ago. Deanna considered the bottle of melatonin in the bathroom cabinet. James had taken them almost nightly. He’d always told her that it was the stress of the job that kept him awake at night, and melatonin was the only way th...

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“Unexplainable Conditions” by Cathy Bown

Submitted to Contest #127

“Rebecca? Rebecca? Oh my god. Are you okay? Can you hear me?” My teacher, Mrs. Collins, stood over my limp body in the front of the classroom. I can hear her talking to me, but it sounds far away. Slowly, as she repeats herself, again and again, her words become clearer, and I begin to understand them. As I come around, I am almost too mortified to open my eyes. What was I doing? Oh, right, I was writing on the whiteboard, working on a long equation for algebra. I was doing the math in my head, and then, bam, my head exploded in fear, and I...

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“Like a mouse in a trap” by Randy Juarez

Submitted to Contest #127

Peter felt it leak out of him, from his gut, dragging on his bones. Out of a dead sleep his pupils flickered awake to the dresser, then to the door in pursuit of an invisible presence. It lingered in front of the door, sending an invitation, its intention marked plainly in the aura permeating from empty space. Peter was lost, petrified. The aura bobbed silently in front of the door, urging him to trust it and put one foot in front of the other. Peter refused. The veil acknowledged, eventually dissipating into the maple-wood floors. &nb...

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“In-Tuition” by Prehistoric Purple

Submitted to Contest #127

Gloria Josper had some of the best intuition there was available. Some said that when fate gave it all away, she lucked out. Others thought she just cheated at everything. A few would consider her a genius. But there was just one thing everyone could agree on- Her friends, her family, her acquaintances, her interviewers, her pets. No matter the situation, she simply seemed to know things. It was almost like she was psychic. ..Of course, this did have it's ups and downs. Gloria was nolonger allowed to buy pre-specified lottery tickets or bet ...

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“...In Your Hands” by Maxwell Altman

Submitted to Contest #127

Mark turns onto the street before Jane’s and puts on the Prefab Sprout song he’s been meaning to show her. He thinks that putting the song on now is perfect, because by the time she gets in the car it’ll be at the chorus, providing maximum impact. But Mark didn’t account for how snowy the roads further in her neighbourhood would be. He tests his brakes to ensure he’ll be able to stop smoothly at the snow covered sign ahead that reads S OP. Mark looks up at the moon, three-quarters full, and notes how beautiful it is — kind of...

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“Rafters” by Halle Schaffer

Submitted to Contest #127

Anna does her makeup in the rafters. She dabs her brush in the creamy white paint, slathering it on in fat globs. Once, back when she hid in her parents’ long shadows, she was given the luxury of a mirror. Now, though, her hands paint her face’s canvas so much the movements become ingrained within her, muscle memory. The circus, after all, has no private dressing room. This would be the best she could do. Her reputation had to be kept in pristine condition; they couldn’t know that she was human. It would spoil the act. Its magic.Be...

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“The Great Madame Lavinia” by Carolyn Sternes

Submitted to Contest #127

The dark room still thrummed with the feeling of those from the afterlife. Overhead the light flickered back to life and the smoke from the overpowering incense danced its way to the ceiling as though they held the spirits of those who had spoken from the other side. The overhead light finally after a few failed flickers came to life completely and lit the room completely. The bandana floated to the table and were followed by large hoop earrings that clinked on top of it. There was a small laugh that caught her attention as the door to the b...

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“Crystal Clear” by Nicholette A. Guy

Submitted to Contest #127

Bells rang overhead as the magenta door popped open to an incense-fused waiting room. Behind the counter, Tessa flipped on the open sign and parted the barrier beads to get to the “behind-the-scenes” door she and her coworkers had titled. Inside, the break room glared a sterile white color and droned like an elementary school cafeteria. “Yo,” Tessa said to her red-lipped boss. Her lips cracked open into a smile, “Good morning, Mystique.” Tessa groaned, “Come on, you know I hate that. I thought we agreed we could be ca...

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“The Intuitionist” by Goddess V

Submitted to Contest #127

The day began just past dawn’s break. The Mother Sun beamed from the North, the Daughter Sun from the Northeast. The people of Zeni made their way from one place to the next on the transportation ladders. Like roads from the old world, these hung at different levels from the ground up. One could walk one ladder from the surface to the 34thlevel in ten minutes, which is where she peered out of her office’s window—a cup of mint tea in her hand. Her first ...

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“I Smell a Rat” by Hritesh Mishra

Submitted to Contest #127

I ring the doorbell of Maddy’s flat. Madhav Shinde, or Maddy, has been my neighbor ever since I and Isha, my girlfriend, moved here to Sunrise Apartments a month ago. He works as a software consultant and lives alone. Whenever home, he is particularly nosy about things going on at his adjacent flat.I wipe off the beads of sweat on my forehead.“Hi Roy,” Maddy greets as he opens the door. He seems a bit taller than usual. He is five foot three on a tall day.“Hi. Can I use your phone? I can't find mine.”“Sure,” he holds his trouser with one han...

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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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