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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

“Me and the Keyboard, the Keyboard and Me” by Kalina Atanasova

Submitted to Contest #127

I write “He walked away and closed the door, silently on his way. And then there was a line on the path they had shared, on the path they had walked together, on the way between their hearts. That highway had become obscured by smoke and words, slippery with mud and dreams and unlit from misconceptions long before it was abandoned.” and it feels right. I write “He hesitated. His lantern illuminated only a fraction of the dark in front of him. Its twin was gone before the door.” and it feels like my heart bleeds onto the page and yet I’m c...

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“Absurd Anxiety” by Minerva Noiropp

Submitted to Contest #127

I can feel the evil creeping, seeping through the walls.Of wolves in sheep's clothing. Plotting, orchestrating my downfall.To my face, they smile. They deny everything they've said and done.Gaslighting me in the name of sick perverted fun.Have you ever felt that gut-clenching, stomach squeezing kind of anxiety? It arises from an inexplicable source. Or, does it. Is it that your subconscious is registering every warning sign, while your conscious mind remains unaware? Is it that you are so used to being in a dangerous situation that the littl...

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“Following your dreams” by Greg Short

Submitted to Contest #127

Through the stone archway of the villa, Steve saw an army jeep drive past the villa. Soldiers ran behind it. Then two more passed, followed by a truck, its unfastened tarpaulin cover flapping at the rear. He got up quickly, but continued to rise into the air, weightless. Steve was then slammed into the wall, along with the table and chairs and other loose furniture. He got to his feet ran up stone steps to get to the roof so he could get a higher viewpoint. The steps went on forever. They began to spiral, and get steeper, and narrower. Steve...

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“The Alchemy Tower” by Brian Thatcher

Submitted to Contest #127

This was the third night in a row that I lay awake, staring at nothing in the complete darkness of my dorm. The room was filled with the deep, rhythmic breaths of my roommates. Although neither of them were necessarily obnoxious sleepers, the sounds of their sleep eventually became unbearable and I left, as quietly as I could, to go on a walk. I wrestled with my shirt as I walked down the long corridor outside my room, the gray stone of the floor chilling my bare feet as I tip-toed down the stairs th...

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“Smoke signals.” by Dustin Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #127

My girlfriend, Lena, has become expectant. She says something wonderful is coming; there is a jitter in the air is how she phrases it, an auburn magnetism. I trust her, because she is usually right, and I like how hard she tries with words. She is making a cup of coffee in the kitchen while she mulls over this latest energy, humming to herself, her dreamcatcher earrings dancing above her shoulders as she moves between cabinets. She stops a moment to hold her right hand on her belly in several places, wondering, and then resumes the morning ...

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“All Your Lonely Moments” by Aimee Sargent

Submitted to Contest #127

The boat cuts through the water, rising and falling, rising and falling as though situated on the chest of the ocean; salt spray makes our faces and skin sticky, bright sun glares, slowly rouging our shoulders and noses and wind wisps through our hair. Susan and Jenny gossip on the bow and Tommy chews my ear about everything I’ve missed this last six weeks while I’ve been away on the mines. I miss months of their lives at a time, so there is a lot I have to catch up on, a lot for him to tell me about. How he kicked the final goal in his socc...

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“Hiking Club” by Anne Sellers

Submitted to Contest #127

"I don’t really want to get involved. I mean, I don’t know the woman personally, and I don’t know how she went missing. Ok, not missing but murdered, whatever."I think that will be enough information to get the cops off my back. Doesn't work though. It'll only take a few minutes, they prod. Let us come by your place to talk, they push. A woman was found dead and you were one of the last people to see her alive, they charge. How do they even know this? I call my psychiatrist to get me out of this mess. Dr. Perry is on vacation until the ...

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“No Easy Way Out” by Cody Waltman

Submitted to Contest #127

Running for his life through the woods, Eric glanced back to see the wreckage of his truck ignite into a ball of fire. He pressed on, knowing he was exposed and the danger was closing in on him. During the day, the trees were colorful with fall beauty. But in the night, the yellow, orange, and red leaves were coated with an unsettling blackness. Rabid growls chased him. In the distance, he spotted a lifeline—a lonely cabin with the lights on. The fire crackled and popped when the pressure of another log dropped onto the pile. Chad stab...

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“Gut Instinct” by Katy Rose

Submitted to Contest #127

‘No more!” Kyla screamed. That was the last time she would ever fall for another stupid guy. Kyla threw the bedroom door shut behind her and fell onto the bed. Her muscles screamed with the tension of the evening. Kyla burrowed her face within the folds of her pillow and let the tears she had fought so hard to hold back, stream down her face. It wasn’t long before the pillow was drenched with the liquid of her sorrow. Was it her? Did she just attract them? Kyla thought back to earlier that evening when her date had leant towards her and pl...

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“Tells and Truth” by Tanya Forsyth Taylor

Submitted to Contest #127

TELLS and TRUTH ‘I have a copy of your advert right here. It reads: Need direction in your life? Call Luna Blaise authentic experienced star seed moon psychic! The thing is your real, authentic name is Jan Smith. By the reports we have received nothing about Luna Blaise is authentic. I don’t understand why anyone believes in such things, never mind someone who pays for it. This is your third complaint through fair-trading in two weeks. If it was not for the fact your customers could not produce receipts, you would need to pay serious fines...

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“Cheers and Good Luck” by Lisa Mc Beach

Submitted to Contest #127

Cheers and Good Luck“Cheers and Good Luck,” Mindy said, gathering the cards into a pile as she finished her client's Tarot reading. Mindy was a very experienced and, many would say, accurate Tarot reader. She’d learned the skill as a teenager, from her Aunt, before Tarot had become more mainstream. Aunt Celine had passed away when Mindy was in high school, bequeathing her box of Tarot cards and esoteric artifacts to Mindy. When she had been studying Psychology at university Mindy would bring the cards to parties and read for her fr...

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“My Powers ” by Sam Healy

Submitted to Contest #127

I hate working this job. Every person that came into my tent only wanted to see if they were going to find true love or money. I had to make up love scenarios and "predict" how much money they would make. I sighed, walking to the only inn in town, the Sundale. The Sundale was a shabby building, it could often be mistaken for an abandon house. When I first came into town, I thought Molly was lying about the building being an inn. I could see pieces of the building crumbling and rats running on the floor. Safe in my room, I immediat...

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“Bina's Mystic Emporium for Immediate Truths” by Vie L'cast

Submitted to Contest #127

Bina placed the six neon signs ten feet apart in both directions. The boardwalk celebration was kicking off at 6pm but the growing number of pedestrians was already twice what the shop owners would typically see. She noticed that Paulito, the baker, had already placed his A-boards 20 feet apart. She shook her head. He was so disciplined, so on top of things. Something she struggled with constantly. One week she would wake up at 5am to meditate. The next week she would rush in at 11am, having missed the early morning walkers and breakfast wit...

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“Unexpected Visitor” by Elizabeth Miller

Submitted to Contest #127

Marta looked over the tiny colorful room where she had created a living for herself and daughter the last 15 years. It was colorful and filled with natural elements, including residual smoke from thousands of smudged sage bundles and patchouli incense sticks spent over the last 15 years. They cleared the air and space of negative energy, somehow though, their power had run out. It was a sad day, the cloudy sky reflected her inner turmoil effectively. Just twenty-four hours from now Marta would be in court defending he...

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“Hidden Senses” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #127

There were still a few hours left until Private Liebermann and the rest of the guards of Stalag V C had to wake up ahead of the prisoners, and wake them up for roll call. Moving onto his stomach, Liebermann reached under his bunk, taking out a small clock and squinting in the darkness. It’s nearly three . . . I should get back to sleep. Shifting onto his back, Liebermann stared up at the boards of the bunk above.After a few long minutes passed, something started to feel off. Confused, Liebermann looked around the barracks. Every other guard ...

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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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