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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

“In The Dark Predawn” by Tay Mor

Submitted to Contest #127

I was awakened without warning in the dark predawn. It wasn’t the familiar slow ascent from Morpheus’ embrace, but rather a sharp jolt, similar to that of being torn by force from the depths of a nightmare. I was used to recollecting my dreams with vivid clarity, especially in the few seconds after waking up, but this time there were no leftover images from the Dreamscape. Only the unbroken darkness of deep sleep preceded my suddenly conscious state. Heart fluttering uneasily in my chest, my senses scrambled to life, reaching...

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“With a bang” by Mel Marcik

Submitted to Contest #127

From the moment I met her, I knew there was something about her. I know, everyone says that about the person they love, but this was different. And everyone says that too. It wasn't in the way she talked, or in the way she walked. Actually, my friends raised a few eyebrows when I introduced her as my girlfriend. She wasn't my type, they said. Not what they expected me to date. And yes, sure, I lean more to a certain type of girl than to another. She fell under the 'another' category. But there simply was something about her that interested m...

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“Hunger Wins Out” by CJ Rodgers

Submitted to Contest #127

(Trigger warnings for gore, semi-graphic murder, and cannibalism. Unreliable narrators, out of order sequences, and possible time loops abound as well.)Emma coughed, her eyes fever bright. When Matthew touched her forehead, she groaned at the touch and he nearly yanked his hand away. She was burning up."Come on." He carefully tipped water into her mouth. "Stay strong.""Matthew." Klara was crouched in the tent door.He followed her out and zipped up the tent behind him."Mattie." She looked at him with unflinching black eyes. "We're basically o...

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“Rest Assured” by Adam El Nabli

Submitted to Contest #127

On a cold winter night in the middle of a deserted street walked a wrinkly-faced man emitting an eye-watering odor. His muddy black boots warmed the pair of overworked feet. The outline of his well-defined thigh was visible through a circular hole below the right pocket of his ragged jeans. A coal-colored filth hid a pair of hands previously holding no less than a smooth touch. Atop his elongated neck was a slim face, a slender nose, greasy black hair and an uncommonly calm gaze. But, one look at those glistening blue eyes revealed that this...

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“The Beginning of the End ” by Alessandra Mejia

Submitted to Contest #127

The air was warm and smelled like cinnamon, soft classical music coming from the kitchen downstairs. Any normal person would find comfort in this, but I currently live alone. I groggily checked my phone which read 7:28am, no missed calls or texts. I lay in my bed, dreading the thought of going downstairs. There was only one of two things that would happen the minute I went down there. My overbearing mother would be gearing up to inform me of all the ways I'm ruining my life, or there is a very pleasant intruder who’s making me a final meal b...

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“Deadly Intuition” by Joseph Morganella

Submitted to Contest #127

"Dispatch, 42, are you clear, yet?" "42, just clearing now, dispatch." "Dispatch 42, all units still tied up, I have no additional unit to assign. Shots fired, 42, Dunkin Donuts, South Main Street front plate window shot out. Three young white males, all dark clothing, medium height, dark hair. Last seen heading south on South Main Street." "42 dispatch, responding code 2" "Are you kidding me", I muttered to myself. My first Christmas back home. I just separated from the Air Force police this past April and here it is 4:00...

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“The Sleep Serene” by Mark Jackson

Submitted to Contest #127

Dublin, 2018 His lips pull away from a woman’s cheek, cake-soft with makeup. Her citrus perfume reminds him of his dead mother, of being home. Somehow, deep in his core, he knows this is where he should be. The feeling of security quickly evaporates as he watches the woman turn her back to him as he proceeds to walk backwards out the open front door. He pulls it shut in front of him, pockets the key already in the lock and moonwalks up the steep, gravelled driveway. As he comes out on the footpath of a hilly housing estate, a man moving ...

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“Cosmo the Magnificent ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #127

In the twisted and complex world of carnival performing artists, Cosmo the Magnificent could be found on the bottom rung of the ladder of his profession as a psychic. His seances and psychic paraphernalia was as amateurish and fake as any on the Midwest Circuit during the early 1930’s as national interest in the occult reached its zenith. Born in a small town in Oklahoma town forty some years ago, he was christened Earl Patrick Landers. As soon as his legs could carry him he left home and became a member of Zyicendeld Trav...

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“Little Deceits” by A. Nic

Submitted to Contest #127

It was reaching midnight in the suburbs of Wyndmere City when Safya Le Blanc tossed another coin in the wind that she earned from her little deceits. As she and her sister trudged under the rickety scaffolding bordering a decaying building, she peeled open the pouch that rested on her waist, dropping the golden specie inside. Safya hummed at the satisfying clink of the coin. “Oh, do you hear that?” She pulled the pouch between their heads and shook it around. “If I were mistaken, this is the sound of possibility.” “More like the sound of a s...

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“The Con Artist” by Abby Stone

Submitted to Contest #127

Sydney’s phone woke her up in the middle of the night. The non-stop dinging of missed messages, followed by the Sir Mix-a-Lot ringtone of “Baby Got Back” would not allow her to continue her slumber. “Why can’t they leave me alone?”, Sydney groaned as she slid out of bed. Reaching for her faux tiger fur bathrobe (a recent splurge to reward herself for the Ellen interview), Sydney gave her commands to start the day. “Alexa, play my wake-up mix”, she mumbled. A slow melody of Elvis love ballads echoed through the empty apartment, bouncing from...

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“Divina's Awakening ” by Raina Meginley

Submitted to Contest #127

“You’re going to die.” The look of horror that shaped Taniel’s face was so genuine that Divina held her breath to keep from laughing. Sitting across from her, her older brother clenched his wife’s hand as he paled. Lucy, his wife, had known about the joke since this morning and played her part perfectly as she coddled him, whispering soothing words while petting the top of his hand. “I… I don’t understand.” His brown eyes widened as he sought answers from his younger sister. “Can you at least tell me how?”Lucy rubbed the top of her expe...

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“The Two-edged Sword” by Karen Court

Submitted to Contest #127

The Two-edged Sword Nyree Crandell fixed a large, silver hoop earring to each earlobe and tied a gaudy, multi-colored scarf around her salt-and-pepper hair. She encircled both eyes with a black eyeliner pencil, swiped her lips with crimson lipstick and assessed the result. Not a good look for a fifty-seven-year-old suburban divorcee, she allowed, but it was the persona she wanted. An aging gypsy stared back at her. Righto! Off to work. &...

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“Don't Believe Everything” by Danae E Hunt

Submitted to Contest #127

Rose sat across the table from another poor soul seeking some small semblance of hope in this dismal world. She had spent the last three years conning people into believing her bullshit. Rose was a “psychic” or at least that’s what people thought. She was in her thirties, some might call her beautiful with long dark brown hair and pale green eyes set a little too close together, pale skin with a few too many moles and plump red lips. Despite all that she was single with only her dog to keep her company, Dexter went everywhere with her. He ha...

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“A Little Orange in Black ” by BIUBIUBIU 7

Submitted to Contest #127

A Little Orange in Black It was a rainy day. The sky was very gloomy and dark. John was devouring a very hot freshly baked meat bun like a hungry wolf. He sat on the roadside near Aa non-motorized lane. His face was sunburned red and black, being peeled by the sun. His forehead was full of wrinkles that looked like sea waves. His cheek was spotted with freckles. He had a scruffy beard which was like a tangle of dead grasses. He wore crumpled bright yellow raincoats with a little hole on it. A few calluses were protruding on his palm...

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“The Argument” by Garrett Addison

Submitted to Contest #127

“I have a gut feeling and I can’t explain it.” “What does that even mean?” “You know exactly what that means, Andrew.” “No, I don’t know what that means, Silas.” “God you’re insufferable.” “Me? I’m the insufferable one?” “Yes.” “Are you hearing yourself?” “It’s a feeling—” “Always with the feelings.” “I cannot explain this again to—” “For the love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” “Will you shut up for one second?” “I have had enough shutting up for an entire lifetime.” “Are you mad?” “Oh my god, Silas.” “I’m just saying.” “I am trying, Silas. I ...

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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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