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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

“Tatiana of Wrath ” by Jimmy Burke

Submitted to Contest #152

The city of Sadansk was gloomy to begin with. But it was gloomier in the winter. The Eastern European city did not have many modern buildings. And the few low skyscrapers that were considered new were only located in the center. The rest of the skyscrapers were from a half-forgotten Soviet past, and they stuck out of the earth like old jagged teeth that should have been removed long ago. As you leave the center of the city towards the outskirts, everything becomes more dilapidated. The roads get worse and the potholes...

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“So This is Love” by Shalon Atwood

Submitted to Contest #152

With eyes half lidded and his body anesthetized with a generous layer of whiskey, Eric bounced off the crowd of party goers like a pinball. The sea of people had swallowed his friends what felt like ages ago, but had probably only been mere minutes, he couldn’t be sure. He had thrown back his sense of time along with that last Jagerbomb. The sounds of jazz permeated the streets and his eardrums were blasted with the blaring of trumpets and the low strum of bass. Bourbon Street was often littered with partiers of all ages, and tonight wa...

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“Beyond the veil” by Louise Coley

Submitted to Contest #152

Incense dripped from a holder hung high in the corner of the tent. The cloying scent filled his lungs, coating him with satin inside as well as out. He sank further down into the mound of pillows that had been arranged on the bench in the waiting area, a fuzzy mist beginning to settle over his mind. The silken material stuck slightly to his sweaty palms and to the undersides of his knees. The ceiling drapes and the curtained walls rippled as a cool night breeze passed the tent’s entrance, the fresh air tugging at the smoke. Another deep brea...

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“You can never win.” by M Esp

Submitted to Contest #152

How can one attain absolution for a previous life full of sins if you don’t know what you’ve done. Every other morning I wake up with no recollection of falling asleep. I remember staring down the barrel of a shot glass. I look to my left or right for the flavor of the day. I remember cigarette tinged kisses and whiskey laden breath. My job gets harder everyday and this helps, I guess. They tell me I’ll get desensitized eventually. That the pain from the grim reality of the job will lessen over time. It's been four years and I cry like a chi...

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“Pranav Bisht ” by Snehil Mishra

Submitted to Contest #152

__________________________________________ “How many times have I asked you to get a mobile phone? '', he recalls his maa yelling, “even I got one”. “Maa you don’t know the mobile phone; how can you speak to someone you don’t know” Oh my poor dumbo, what would happen to you after I am gone, you don’t speak to the mobile phone, you speak to the person who is on the phone” “No maa, the person on the phone is the devil, it’s not the person speaking, it’s the devil. “You mean your aunt Kavita is a devil” He gave her the “cmon even you know i...

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“Peggy’s a Knockout!” by Jame Michaels

Submitted to Contest #152

Peggy’s a Knockout! By Jame Michaels I might as well be honest. All through school, my teachers told my parents I was an under achiever. “She has the potential.” “She can do so much better.” “She’s got it, but she’s not applying herself.” Every year, same old story. I received a B or an A in Physical Education, I received a B or sometimes even an A in Home Econ. I could cook, sew, mend, but English, Math, History – Boring. Always, without exception, a D. In my junior year of high school, my Dad was studying for his Ham license. He ask...

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“With Sugar, Please” by Ashley Ulery

Submitted to Contest #152

Silica dust swarms my head as the day’s sweat invades my vision. Breathing through a bandana, I glare at the men spraying flint stone from a hose at all angles except on the roadway. Construction inspection was not my game plan five years ago, but if you want to have anything in your name, you go where the money is. “Hey girlie, you’re in the way!” They know my name. We’ve been working on this same project together for over a year, but I’m still girlie. I move to the shoulder, no doubt in my mind that I am in fact in the way. Spatial awaren...

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“Precious Visions” by SJ Shoemaker

Submitted to Contest #152

Ivory smoke plumed and billowed through the room. An elaborate revolution of Ebania’s arms effortlessly masked the movement of her left foot as she pressed a secret switch. The crimson flame turned a deep violet with the addition of salts through a hidden mechanism beneath a floorboard. The effect was impressive and convincing. As if summoned fiery spirits recoiled fearfully from her oversized robes. The man and his frail grandparents, customers eagerly awaiting a crucial answer, shrank away. Surely, they considered a full retreat. Most do. ...

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“The Fortune Teller” by Teresa Sandragorsian

Submitted to Contest #152

I should’ve listened. That’s the thought that runs through my head as I look around, as I realize where I am and what I have done. I really should’ve listened. I don’t even know what it was that compelled me to enter a fortune teller’s parlor that day. I had passed by this house-turned-parlor several times before during my walks, but there was something different about it. The purple paint had started to peel off to reveal the original wood-brown underneath that looked like it was slowly taking possession over the house. I noticed it. The ne...

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“Ask the Oracle” by Shanna Heath

Submitted to Contest #152

“Girls, two to a seat, please!” Mr. Parson is looking stressed, but he isn’t half as stressed as I am as I search my phone for the perfect prom dress. Retail therapy is necessary considering I don’t even have a date yet. Also, schools should pay teachers more for working the week before Spring Break. They become glorified babysitters who wrangle hormonal teenagers during organized chaos. Today, my classmates and I find ourselves at the Rockcastle Museum of Ancient History, and the babysitters are acting nervous, as if we might stage a coup....

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“Madam Magdalene’s Oracular Viewings” by Rebecca Leclere

Submitted to Contest #152

The silver bell adorning Madam Magdalene’s Oracular Viewings chimed over the soft swooping hair of the boy who’d just pushed through the door. Magdalene hastily slid her crossword under an appropriately leather-bound tomb sitting next to the register and watched closely. The bell was a trinket given to Magdalene by her mother, who’d received it from her mother before her, who had supposedly bought it off an old troll living in what was now the sunken city beneath San Francisco. A miniscule enchantment carved along its edges summoned t...

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“Gypsy Rose Me” by Jerald Larson

Submitted to Contest #152

So, I'd had a few. But the Guinness in Dublin is beyond compare, and I have as much willpower as I have savings. Yes, Mastercard was sponsoring this trip to the Emerald Isle as it had so many excursions before, my one and only constant travelling companion. How long had I spent on O'Connell Bridge mesmerised by the yellow October sun twinkling off the Liffey as it bid adieu to another day? Too long, it seemed. A chill ensorceled me, breaking the spell as the sun sucked the last of its warmth beneath the horizon with it en route to New York...

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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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