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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#152: Miracles and Oracles

We have little control over what happens to us, though there’s nothing more human than trying to micro-manage what will come next. This week, I want us to think about both the expected, and the unexpected; times when life throws positive twists at us — miracles, some might call them — or times when we try to predict those turns, for better or worse.

This week's prompts

Write a story in which a miracle happens — or everyone thinks it did.

Middle School – 45 stories

Start your story with a character saying “I can see it now.”

Middle School – 37 stories

Write about a character whose life changes for the better.

Middle School – 47 stories

Set your story in an oracle or a fortune teller’s parlor.

Fantasy – 66 stories

Write a story about someone whose job is to make miracles happen, literally or figuratively.

Middle School – 42 stories

Stories

“One Million Eyelashes” by Heather Bosch

Submitted to Contest #152

Trigger warning: illness, death One Million Eyelashes Once my brother found an eyelash stuck to the inside of his glasses. Mum told him he should make a wish, so he scrunched up his face and blew it off his finger, eyes tightly shut in concentration and belief. He wouldn’t tell anyone his wish. When we asked, he mimed zipping his mouth shut from one side to the other with the self-satisfied look of someone trusted with a great responsibility. We got a puppy that Christmas, Belle. Arron held her close and whispered to me, “...

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“The Miracle Food” by Lars Krøgholt

Submitted to Contest #152

They had made a post on Facebook about the fellowship meal. In the months ahead meals were being served in the various housing areas in the city where they lived. They were refugees. But they chose to see themselves as expats with refugee experiences unlike how the government saw them. They came out of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, and Congo to Denmark. Nations around the world where there had been war, violence, and terror for years. Many of them were deeply traumatized by what they had been through in their home country...

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“Healing My Clubfoot” by Hope Linter

Submitted to Contest #152

“John, we have to get you up to the front, as near the front as we can,” I could feel my older sister Macy pulling my hand. My club foot was aching, and I didn’t want to be in this enormous tent that was already teaming with so many bodies. I wiped the sweat from my brow. “If God means for me to be healed, He’ll part this sea of people.” I looked down on Macy’s head of thick almost black hair that was only a little less unrully than when when she was younger. When she was ten and I was six, one day, I’...

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“The Screaming Hole” by Vincent Paiement Désilets

Submitted to Contest #152

The hole had never been there, but this morning, somehow, it was. In the middle of the park. A black spot in a sea of green. A dead pixel in the aerial view. “Aaagrooooooomn,” the hole said. Nearby, a boy dropped his ball. He stared at the hole, then approached with as much precaution as a kid could have. Half an hour later, six other kids had joi...

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“A MENACING HEART” by Del Gibson

Submitted to Contest #152

TW: Some graphic scenes, and drug use. I wake to piercing screams, ripping me from sleep – it takes me a few seconds to realise it’s Danny, my 14-year-old son. Deathly still I listen, as his screams turn into sobs. Eventually they subside. It’s quiet, the rain lulls me into a discombobulated sleep – it’s no use, tossing and turning only gets me frustrated. Passing Danny’s bedroom on my way to the kitchen, I can hear him talking to himself again; a chilling cold shivers down my spine. After boiling the kettle, I make the strongest black cof...

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“An 11th-Hour Miracle” by Valerie Johnson

Submitted to Contest #152

The doctor rushed into the room yelling, “Wait!” to the hospital staff that were getting me prepared to go to the operating room. Thank God because we needed a miracle asap and it had not happened…. yet. My husband, Arthur, and I dated a little over two years and were married on June 21, 1980. After a very large wedding and beautiful Hawaiian honeymoon, we returned home and began life as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. After a few short months, we found out that I was pregnant with our first child. In those days, it was common to wait until the bab...

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“The Five Petalled Flower” by L. T. Pitkin

Submitted to Contest #152

My name is Terratei. It means miracle, a rare word nowadays. The Averdi scoff at miracles. We’ve replaced faith with reason, choosing to find causes for everything. My life could never be explained, however. My parents had always wanted a child, but a doctor told my mother it was impossible. She would never have children, he said, and she needed to accept this reality. I was born less than a year later, and quickly became a study across the medical field, along with my mother. I was poked and prodded so much as a child that I suppose I devel...

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“I Want to Buy a Miracle” by Michael Shaw

Submitted to Contest #152

A fine coating of sweat on his brow, his furtive glances, and the way he was incessantly scratching at his palms gave the man, third in line to order his meal, away as paranoid, nervous, or both. The lunch crowd at Marigold Masala Fine Indian Cuisine & Takeout had been a steady one, giving Kamya Kumar, who was working the cash register, little time to pay attention to anything but what each customer was ordering. Still, she’d noticed the man the moment he’d stepped into the restaurant, and had hardly taken her eyes off him as he made his...

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“The Path of Moonlit Feathers” by Gem Cassia

Submitted to Contest #152

Stories are not always formed in straight lines, but in circles. Picture a conical pendulum. Can you see it? It’s just like any other pendulum, only it hits different points each time it swings. If you connect these points, you’ll end up with something round. Back and forth it travels on its predetermined trajectory, always cutting through the center, always without a finish line in sight. This is how our story moves. We’ll start at whichever point the pendulum decides to swing towards next. It’s beyond my control, you see. Ev...

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“Repentance” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #152

“I can see it now,” said old Mrs. Jones. “He’s going to do it again. He’s not sorry. He’s just sorry he got caught.”Sandra and Dave looked round at the television to see what she was talking about. Mrs. Jones was very hard of hearing and the news program was blaring. A pudgy, balding man in an expensive suit and flashy tie was looking contritely at the camera, saying something about asking repentance from the Lord. He was holding the hand of his very pregnant wife who was staring at the ground, her face blank.“Brothers and Sisters, I ha...

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“Love, Misunderstood” by Michael Danyluk

Submitted to Contest #152

When it gave me options on what type of sensitive material this contained, all I could think of was all of the above lol. “I can see it now, how this all ends. You're my inspiration to get help; in 2 days I'm going to treatment.” “Oh, really? How does this all end?” “Listen, man. You need help; you're in denial. You won't live long, living this way.” “I don't care, Mate, I really don't. I have a date. When I get back, we’ll have a hit.” “No, I'm done. No more hits, no more strange stories of what you do back there, no more nothing. ...

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“The Difference” by Liliana Gonzalez

Submitted to Contest #152

"There she goes. Thinking she's so perfect just because she has a nice body." "I can't stand her, she's always so happy, there's nothing to be that happy about." "Why can't I have the perfect body and smile? Why can't I wear clothes like that?" So many thoughts raced through Liana's head. She was never content with herself, and never present in the moment. You could be talking to her but she would not hear you. Her mind constantly fighting to hear what you were saying yet wondering why that person couldn't stop staring at her. It must have ...

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“Secrets Revealed” by Matt Rifenburg

Submitted to Contest #152

The man stood near the front door of the old bank building. It had been a bank for as long as anyone could remember, that most of the “old money” in the town still used. Bill Baxter, the branch manager, had worked at the bank for many years. This morning, Bill was waiting for his 10:30 appointment to show up. It was still early so He ducked out the front door to stand in the sun before his meeting began. The man meeting Baxter drove around the corner from the bank looking for a parking spot. Mid morning downtown was hit or miss fo...

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“The First Timeline” by Ziya T

Submitted to Contest #152

“ I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.” She was most undoubtedly not fine but she was trying. It was her day off she was having a great time, a decent time at least. She slept in, then got out of bed to make her favorite breakfast, french toast with berries and whipped cream. She took slow; read a little, watched a movie, and noticed how nice it was so went to the gym and decided to finish out the night by going to sit in the park before dinner. It was empty at this time probably because most people were eating now, if she stayed long enough others...

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“A Broken Past” by Ava Gallo

Submitted to Contest #152

I grabbed Sadie’s leash out of my closet and tossed it on my bed. I put my lion fish necklace my best friend gave me two years ago around my neck. Rummaging through the little clothes I had left, and tossing them into my teal blue gym bag and grabbed the shoebox from inside a dresser drawer. Inside, I grabbed my TX-22 and loaded it. I placed the gun in the inner pocket of my worm out jean jacket. I looked out the window to see once my favorite things, now a pile of ash. Hank, my stepdad, came into the picture when I was eight yea...

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$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

101

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 01, 2022 EST

Won by Aeris Walker 🏆

Title: Foretold in Smoke

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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