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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

“The Precipice” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #152

“My name is Stanley Menard, and I want to tell you that I can see it now. I can really see it and the wonder of it all. But let me go back to how it all happened.” I grew up in a typical sleepy little New England town in the Blackstone Valley. There were two forms of religious paths to follow, catholic or one of the protestant teachings. In our small town of Uxbridge, Catholicism was the most followed form. Add to that the fact that my mother was the daughter of Irish immigrants. You can understand th...

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“I CAN SEE IT NOW” by Luwana Ransier

Submitted to Contest #152

I CAN SEE IT NOW “I can see it now.” She said over the phone. “There’s a fire on the next ridgetop over. It seems to be centered at John Wilson's ranch. We’ll have to hurry to get the animals out.” Sarah was always worried about the animals. As a park ranger assigned to the fire lookout tower, she took her job very seriously. She spent hours looking out over the trees through her binoculars and fortunately hadn’t seen many fires. This could be a big one if they didn’t get there fast enough. The other ranger arrived to relieve her so she co...

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“The Case of Zaralyne Langster” by Olivia Snead

Submitted to Contest #152

The killer sat reading a book on psychic dreams. He frowned in concentration. Then, he thought of her, and her fear. The heat rose in him. No one will believe her, he thought. He’ll taunt her first, in her dreams. “I can see it now,” he said aloud, laughing at his own cunning. Years ago, he’d learned through his troubling dreams, that sometimes he could hear the thoughts of another sensitive (as he called them). He once found himself connected with someone who had dreams of possible death. He thought about warning them, by subtl...

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“The Masterpiece” by Jermaine Packer

Submitted to Contest #152

“I can see it now,” Ms. Ray says as she stands over her defiant pupil. “What? a sea full of white?” “No Violet. Do you know what I see? I see a beautiful masterpiece.” Violet smirks at the optimistic teacher, whose sight was not aligned with hers. “Ok, mom. I’m ready to go. This teacher is losing her mind,” Violet says as she looks beyond the vacant canvas to see a familiar face. “Hush girl. I’m working on my masterpiece over here,” Violet’s mother replies as she stays focused on her more colorful canvas. “Oh my gosh. Everyone in here is cra...

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“The Cup” by R. J. Garron

Submitted to Contest #152

A series of clattering, clunking and banging rocked the kitchen. A lonely woman approaching middle age loaded her dishwasher from a rack bent out of shape from years of use. The sink was still full of culinary wares neglected from the last few nights. She began singing out of tune when she came across an odd receptacle. It had the shape of a human face whose craftsman made the common mistake of pushing realism into the netherworld of uncanny valley. It was an eyesore. The enlarged grin stared b...

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“A Place Where Only the Things You Want to Happen, Happen” by Ashley Paige

Submitted to Contest #152

April walks the aisles of her favorite bookstore, carrying her infant daughter, Kelly. She loves to read and hopes Kelly will, too, one day, but she can’t afford any of these books. She is tired, overworked, and underpaid, and she worries she isn’t giving Kelly enough. Still, April shows her daughter the caterpillar mural in the children’s section with a smile on her face. A stranger approaches—an older woman, beaming at Kelly. “Look at her,” she says. “What a precious baby girl. A miracle.” April smiles politely, knowing the woman mea...

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“The fortune-teller” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #152

They can be found all over the world. In every village, there is always at least one woman who takes pleasure in reading people's fortunes in teacups, coffee grounds, reading the cards, or predicting the future in whatever way. Some place advertisements in newspapers, but of course, there are those who do not advertise and who live on word of mouth. These are people who don't need advertising. They only use their gifts as a matter of friendship for certain beneficiaries and a round price of course. You come across them everywhere, people who...

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“The Boardwalk Oracle” by Katie Shocinski

Submitted to Contest #152

The Boardwalk The shuffling of wooden boards echoed and blended with the crashing of the waves. The full moon, dusted with gray clouds, highlighted the deep cracks time had weathered. "The sky seems almost purple tonight, doesn't Calvin?" Kristi said, as they strolled the Boardwalk. Slowly watching the carnival rides disappearing into the distance. "It's different, isn't it. The clouds make it, I don't know, almost eerie." Calvin said, making an ass out of himself with a crooked smile as he tickled her...

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“Seer” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #152

I believe in miracles simply because one hasn’t happened to me. It’s easy to believe in something that no one is sure exists—there is no evidence to prove it doesn’t, after all. Hope is like that. It’s easy to have hope when the future is unknown, unfolding like the crumpled wings of a newborn bird. It’s like oxygen and clouds and the space between fingertips—something we can’t always see or touch, but know is there. I’ve always believed in the inherent unknowable mysteries of the world. I’m not so naive or egotistical to say that I have a G...

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“Ensuing Fortune” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #152

Ensuing Fortune Here we were at PPF (past, present, future) revelations. Okay, it was basically just another fortune teller’s parlor. Why and how did we end up here, you ask? Well... It was our night out. There are four of us. We’re all nurses, working at the same hospital. Once a month we enjoy one evening of freedom from our husbands, kids, responsibilities. We meet at a designated restaurant or diner, have a meal prepared by someone other than us, then whatever stirs our interest will be next on the agenda. I’m Freida. I’m middle-age...

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“TRUTH IS IN BLOOD” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #152

TRUTH IS IN BLOOD It had the appearance of a small temple, or rather a small chapel, surmounted as it was by a dome that resembled those of Palladio. The small chapel had been built by willing people of the town, with the collaboration of willing people of the nearby towns ( villages). Even from the beginning it was known it had been a place of prophecy , of predictions, that is , a kind of meeting place or club where people would go to ask about their future, yes, to have proph...

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“The Tarot Reader” by Athena Reyes

Submitted to Contest #152

Stephanie Gutierrez stared at the neon sign in the storefront window, barely breathing.INTUITIVE TAROT CARD READER, it announced. Squiggly lines bordered the words, while stars and moons adorned the empty spaces in between. Stepping closer, she realized that the stars and moons had faces – set lips, a subtly raised eyebrow, eyes boring into her demanding why she was there. For a second, she could have sworn that these celestial beings collectively sighed and downcast their gaze, shaking their heads with a tsk tsk, dismissing her, a lost caus...

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“The Corporate Ladder” by Erik Brun

Submitted to Contest #152

Orvar sat staring past his desk. Beyond the mountains of paperwork barricading his desk. His gaze fixated down the hall to the water cooler. The water cooler itself didn't draw his interest. The tall slender form located next to the water cooler was what Orvar found so distracting. Lilyana attracted the attention of every male elf in the office since she started three hundred years ago. She not once, in all those years, glimpsed Orvar's direction.Orvar's eyes remained locked on Lilyana. Dark brown hair swir...

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“The Resolution” by Gareth Gray

Submitted to Contest #152

Jack pulled back the soggy flap which served as the door to his cardboard cottage. A bitterly cold breeze greeted his hairy face. He hated the beard, but at least it afforded him a modicum of protection from the elements. He scratched his chin vigorously, dislodging pieces of dried food and dirt. He glanced at his wrist just like every morning, always forgetting that he no longer wore a watch. He wondered if he’d ever grow out of the habit. He let the wet cardboard flop back into place as he rummaged around for his grubby overcoat. He strugg...

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“Guardians” by Jonathan True

Submitted to Contest #152

TW: gun violenceNuman followed closely — but not too closely. He was the last of a dying race, and it behooved him not to take too keen an interest in any of his assignments. He was a kobold, a type of demon, which in this context means an ancient being that straddles the line between the mortal realm and the realm of eternal darkness.The light turned from red to green, his target crossed the busy street, and he followed. The world was a noisy place. Sirens echoed between the skyscrapers, coming from everywhere and nowhere. People talked on ...

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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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