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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

“Market Miraclenomics” by Dempsey Hyatt

Submitted to Contest #152

“Well, hey there!” said an animated mote of light with cartoonish eyes and a pleasant smile from the job orientation video I was asked to watch. “We welcome you to the most premiere miraclenomic firm in the world; Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, or what we colloquially call MGUR.”The flying mote of light giggled then said, “Follow me! I’ll show you around!” It twirled then streamed across the screen as a ribbon of light, and the camera panned to the MGUR building, previously called the One World Trade Center. Then, the screen transitio...

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“Changing Colors” by Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #152

“I want it to be purple,” she asks again. She holds her translucent, plastic cup to my face. I accept it and twist it in my hands to study it, twisting it in the filtered light coming from the kitchen window as I consider her request. “Purple, huh?” I ask. “Blue is kind of like purple,” I attempt to hand it back to her, but she crosses her arms over her chest, her head drops as she keeps her gaze on me, and her little mouth opens to hang slightly ajar. "Maybe?" I second guess myself. "In the light?" I hold the cup up to the wind...

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“Miracle Dead Ahead” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #152

Miracle Dead Ahead He’d been driving for quite some time on a rural road that seemed to go on forever. Mature crops—corn, wheat, alfalfa, soybeans—covered the undulating valley on both sides of him. The resplendent sun was high in the sky. Elongated cumulus clouds hugged the horizon. Both of his front windows were open, and the scent of fresh-cut grass hung thickly in the air. At last he perceived what he was ...

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“Candle Magic” by Eli Rainbow

Submitted to Contest #152

“This is complete utter madness! Why am I doing this?!” thought Elise nervously as she shuffled in her chair and sat staring at the psychic. Her mother had recommended she come and visit this raven-haired lady.“Now lovey, I’ll start off by tuning into you to see if I can pick up on anything.” There was silence as she closed her eyes. “Hmm... you’re very aloof, aren’t you?” she questioned suddenly. Elise stared at her blankly. Was she aloof? Well she could be at work but that was just professionalism. She had to be de...

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“It's not How you Start the Game, it's How you End the Game!” by Yoonah Cho

Submitted to Contest #152

2005-2010 I remember most of my childhood bedridden, in a pearl white castle. I remember my grandmother guiding me to the shower, where she would bathe me as my frail body plopped down on a wooden chair. I remember the jokes my grandfather would make; anything he said, he said to lighten up my heart. Growing up in that beautiful house, dressing in the finest silk, my health did not resemble beauty. I am sure you are curious about how ill I was, so I shall give you a list to ease your curiosity: Asthma, Immunodeficiency, and Iron Defici...

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“Monologue from a Hero” by Abigail McGovern

Submitted to Contest #152

There’s a small village in the mountains, tucked between towering peaks. Balanced on a cliff at the edge of the world, just on the line between falling and flying. They live in a world where stories happen, where gods come down from the sky and mingle and mate and sometimes demand that men march to war. Where monsters roar. Where heroes learn to swing swords. But in this village, the people herd goats up and down the crags. They grow olives and churn olive oil and pick figs, sell them to the merchants and their carts to carry to...

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“When Your Luck's In” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #152

Elisabeth’s hair floated behind her, mesmerising Luthar as he chased after her down the hill. The smell of grass and wildflowers floated through the air and tickled his nose as the summer sun beat down on them both. She turned to him, that beaming smile of hers outshining even the sun itself. ‘Luthar watch out!’ The world turned upside down as Luthar realised he was weightless, trees, buildings and roads all spun in and out of his vision as he careered through the air. His arms flailed, trying to grab something, anything to stop his flig...

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“X-ray Vision” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #152

As he opened the door and turned on the lights that morning of the miracle, the dust particles glittered in the air, a sparkling portent of the day to come. Floating and drifting, they were brighter than Bo had ever seen them. JP, another X-ray technician and Kailani, the nurse receptionist followed right behind him into the Radiology office. Bo tried to act normal while he anxiously waited for the reaction, any moment… “BO! What the heck!” JP shouted, staring at his workstation. Slight with a thin beard, he was the token...

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“Anatomy of a Miracle” by Tim Daughtry

Submitted to Contest #152

There's a problem with miracles. You can ask or pray for them all day long. But they come in their own time. Miracles are the best examples of hope. When they happen they validate our expectations of the future. “Wayne, Wayne!” Why was Charlie screaming my name? And why did he look like he was fading into the distance? I was the one leaving the room, while still sitting down. “You passed out. You looked like you were dying.” To be honest with you I thought I was dying, separating from this world. “I’m fine now but I don’t k...

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“Necromancy and the Little Black Book.” by Julia Timlin

Submitted to Contest #152

The promise of infinity had felt almost inevitable as the sunrises and sunsets seemed to keep rolling on, but Blue still remembers the exact moment, down to the second in which that hope had been shattered. That promise looked like a crime scene now, tied up and choked by caution tape. “Do not cross”, sprawled out in bold, black letters isn’t enough to keep her out, and with every free moment she gets, Blue spends them at the graveyard. Passersby hardly notice the young woman as she sits, cross legged on the grass. They do not notice h...

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“Seeing beyond the Clouds” by Katrina Barrett

Submitted to Contest #152

"I can see it now". said Jane. Jane climbing up the mountain along with her friends. "The clouds are moving west so I can see the top of the mountain covered with snow" Jane yelled down, as the wind gusts down their faces. John climb up behind Jane. "Do you think we will make it before nightfall? asked John, looking at Jane. "I don't think we will because of the weather. said Sarah. Jane turned looking up the mountain and see the weather coming in. Jane thought Sarah is probably right. Jane turned around. "Sarah, I think you are right. We ar...

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“SOPHIA'S REVERSE” by Chisom Umeh

Submitted to Contest #152

“I can see it now,” Sophia said to herself as she went down memory lane while she was driving her two children to the boarding school. She has come to realize that everybody is important no matter their status. The serenity in her home made her so excited that she heeded her servant’s advice. It was three years since her husband came home with Mark who became their apprentice. Mr. Williams, Sophia’s husband was into motor spare parts and was a very wealthy man. He was also a very good man, but his wife was his direct opposite. She was a thor...

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“Lost in Favors” by Kory Goldbeck

Submitted to Contest #152

"I can see it now," I say to myself. It was pitch black, but the light above me started to flicker in a dark room with padded walls, silence in the black night. Screams of the mind fill the halls, and squealing metal burns the eardrums. I was wrapped up in a stray and let out of the room. Traveling endlessly into the aisles filled with terror and disease. I looked in the corner; at the end of the hall was a person crunched over in a ball; they stood out from the rest, not wearing a gown. I started to get closer, and they lifted their heads t...

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“The Eyes Have it.” by Brian Bywater

Submitted to Contest #152

I can see it now but it wasn't always that way. My mother, rather than shower me with the necessities of life, handed down an hereditary corneal dystrophy. My father, whose biggest achievement was meeting Queen Elizabeth in 1954, put my eyesight problem down to masturbating far too often. As my eyesight problem was evident at age two, it became obvious the genes passed down included his own masturbation excesses. Little did either of them realise, eyesight was to provide me with two events of major significance as I journeyed through wh...

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“Vin and Val ” by Chelsea Mckinley

Submitted to Contest #152

Chapter 1: Vinny and Val “I can see it now.” Valencia’s sarcasm grated on Vinny’s already stretched thin nerves. It made Vinny automatically roll his eyes and walk faster, to get further away as fast as possible. His twin sister sure loved to push his buttons and to attempt to get him to snap. “Vin. Come on, Vinny. I’m just kidding . Could you slow down?” Vinny sighed exasperated and turned to face her, her voice sounded apologetic . Vinny let out another sigh and crossed his arms, the muscles tightening and bulging slightly from the g...

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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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