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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#196: In Another Life

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the way making a single decision, big or small, can cause your life to fork off in an entirely new direction. There are the obvious crossroads, the big life choices, and then there are the tiny ones; ones we fail to notice are taking place every single day. Waiting at the crosswalk instead of jaywalking, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, spending an extra 10 minutes scrolling through social media — even these non-events can make the difference between a life-altering incident happening, or not happening.

But what if we could access those paths we didn’t take? Would we go back and choose a different route for our lives? What if we could sense those “sliding doors” moments as they happened? This week's prompts are inspired by this classic sci-fi dilemma, and by the coulda, shoulda, woulda’s we all live with every day.

This week's prompts

Write about a character unknowingly experiencing a “sliding doors” moment. Write your story in two halves; what could have been, and what actually happened.

Dramatic – 62 stories

Write a story that includes the phrase “Maybe in another life.”

Dialogue – 74 stories

You’re walking down the street, when you spot a familiar figure. It’s another you. And they’ve come from an alternate reality to warn you about something.

Thriller and Suspense – 32 stories

Write a story involving a portal into a parallel universe.

Science Fiction – 61 stories

Set your story in a world where time travel has been perfected, and people can use it to hop between alternate timelines — but at a cost.

Dystopian – 50 stories

Stories

“Lost Souls” by Aaron Vitatoe

Submitted to Contest #196

Campfire Lit.I sit down to rest, replenishing what I will need as I enter what will surely be the most menacing part of the castle.The mage told me this part runs adjacent to the Chasm, which is filled with the soulless undead. I am told the halls are filled with soldiers, roaming as husks of their former selves as they walk aimlessly and kill mercilessly.I stand up and prepare for my journey. I put on my heavy armor and pick up my double-bladed sword.Carefully, I pass through a decrepit archway. On either side is a wall just tall enough to ...

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“Almost Perfect” by Chris Metcalfe

Submitted to Contest #196

Dylan Cooper was a twenty-three year old bank teller living in Salt Lake City, who still had ambitions to be the next big thing in the rock world. The people he saw on TV and YouTube made it all look so easy, but nothing easy about dealing with reality. His parents told him two things: 1. Work hard for what you want and 2. Always have a back up plan. If touring around the world was not in the cards, maybe helping people with personal financial goals would be. A single man with no kids, he enjoyed concerts and hiking, but also enjoyed smoki...

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“Fire & Brimstone” by Koda Wall

Submitted to Contest #196

I was raised on the idea that good things happened to good people and only the bad things happened to bad people. The “Just World Phenomenon” and whatnot. I went to church, said my prayers, committed good deeds, just like my mother taught me. I always thought I was a good man. So why did it happen to me? It all happened one night working at the office. It had been hours sitting at my cubicle, staring at the dull blue light of my desktop entering data in spreadsheets. I was just listlessly moving the cursor to the submit button for the da...

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“Tuesday” by Natasha Smith

Submitted to Contest #196

It is often said that Monday is the worst day of the week. It’s not. Tuesday is. Why? Because Tuesday is the start of my working week. Always beginning the same way with the dreaded morning alarm blaring out in the small confines of my bedroom, startling my sleep-riddled brain into consciousness. My phone seems to take pleasure in this act every workday morning, the vibrations of the alarm sending it dancing gleefully across my bedside table. Any dream remnants are brushed away as easily as cobwebs as my heavy eyelids struggle to open. ...

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“Maybe In Another Life...” by Jillian Puckett

Submitted to Contest #196

I often thought about what would happen if things were different for me. If I had been born into a different family if I hadn’t fallen for who I did if I wasn’t me. I would love to say that my life was all sunshine and rainbows but that was hardly the truth. I had an alcoholic mother and a father who was in jail. My girlfriend of five years had cheated on me with my best friend and I was a college dropout with a minimum-wage job and no future plans. I often thought about how badly life had turned out for me as I struggled to sleep at night. ...

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“Peaches and Promises” by Bailey Marie

Submitted to Contest #196

You have brown eyes. You throw your head back when you laugh, covering your mouth to hide the insecurities but by now it’s just a habit–you’re used to me being around and never thinking of you as anything less than completely and breathlessly stunning. In this moment your room is dark except for the flickering street light coming through your window to highlight your skin. I can’t remember what I said to make you laugh, but we’re adding onto it, I can just barely see the pink tint to your skin and the tears in your eyes. You show all your te...

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“The memory of sunset” by Tonatiuh Duran Meza

Submitted to Contest #196

David could hear the door behind him opening quietly, a set of heavy footsteps walking up beside him as he stared numbly at the night sky. "Do you mind if I smoke?" He smirks tiredly at his friend John, trying his best to show him the reliable leader he thought he should be for them. "Knock yourself out." “...so, how are you hanging?" Apparently he didn’t try hard enough. "Really? Do I really look so bad that you feel the need to make small talk?" David couldn’t stop his words from getting out, the stress of it all finally causing the me...

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“322 Passerine Place and The HGTV Defense” by David Sanchez

Submitted to Contest #196

“Can you state your name for the record, please?” “Pablo Moreno.” “And your date of birth?” “12/16/78.” “Where do you currently live?” “Here in Valley Heights, Texas.” “I meant, what neighborhood?” “Corona Hills.” “And Mr. Moreno, do you realize you are charged with trespassing -- namely, squatting in an unoccupied residence, specifically the home located at 322 Passerine Place -- on the evening of Friday, December 10th? How do you wish to plead?” “I plead not guilty,” I said in almost a whisper. I was scared. I have never had to ma...

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“The Approxinator” by Daniel Besa

Submitted to Contest #196

“I admit it's a stupid name that I came up with when I was about twelve years old.” he said after introducing himself. "I got it from a movie, and it sounded cool at the time. I thought that I could be a superhero or something. I kept on using the name and it stuck. Now if I change it, it'll just confuse people." Jethro "the Approxinator" Medley was a minor celebrity to the wider world and a widely popular controversial figure of the math world. He sat across from me doing a crossword while he talked. His apartment was on the sixty-fourth ...

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“Her Secret Struggle” by M B

Submitted to Contest #196

As Celeste logged on to the forum she frequented, her phone screen lit up. Her phone. The only device she had. It was meant to be used to keep tabs on her, but she hoped it was the key to her freedom. “Hey!” She wrote. “Hi, you’re back! You logged off so quickly last time!” A user replied. “Before technology, I had no way to communicate with the outside world. I am not about to have it taken away!” She replied back. “Oh, right! Your secret. Are you ever going to tell us the secret?” One user asked. “I’ve held it in for so long. Part of me is...

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“Ruby Blood Paint” by Charly Woods

Submitted to Contest #196

You know those dreams, where you think you wake up on the other side of your bed? And sometimes, actually do. And to make things worse, you had a fever dream. And to top things off, in the dream you’re accused of murder.You’ve heard people say, “When you’re dreaming, you’re actually seeing yourself in the multiverse” and strangely, you believe it.Maybe in another life, you killed someone.Maybe in another life, you are on the edge of being accused of it.Maybe in another life, you get away with it.-The blood on your hands had dried up and when...

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“To Be Free: A Case Study of Ancient Robotics” by Odette C. Nassar

Submitted to Contest #196

My end is near. I can feel it with each slow drip of liquid seeping from my broken frame. The battle cruisers glide above the mountains of mechs on the ground and I turn my head to see what is left of the centuria that I was a part of. The loose pieces of titanium, plastic, and rubber surround me but not a single viable ‘bot. I scan the field beyond the piles of components around me but I can see no movement, only a random limb jutting here and there in the smoky air. The silence is deafening. Except that it is not silent. Not really. My hea...

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“Voices” by Lorraine Spring

Submitted to Contest #196

Voices Jean stepped onto the verandah of the weatherboard cottage, frowned at the squeaking floorboards, shook her head at the fragments of glass strewn here and there, remnants from the broken window. The cottage held her memories, of the Grant family, who lived on one side, and Josie Jones who lived on the other, of paddling in the murky, brown river at the end of the street. A lifetime ago, before the illness which wrenched three-year-old Lizzie from the family, and left her, seven-year-old, Jeannie not understanding what had happen...

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“The Commute” by Aaron Tippit

Submitted to Contest #196

Clinton Fischer lay in bed staring at the ceiling. He stopped himself from looking at the clock for the umpteenth time that night. The light in the room was increasing with the gray of dawn. His feet jittered. If he were standing, it would be a foot tap. Lying down, it was more like a spasm. His fingers twitched. He took his arms out of the blanket, then put them back. He flipped to one side, then the other. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP "Finally," Clint stopped the alarm as he bounced out of bed. His belly filled with helium when he stood up. Then bu...

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“THE WARNING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #196

THE WARNING I’m walking on the sidewalk, and the florist’s shop is beyond me when I suddenly see that face among the passers-by coming in the opposite direction to me. A face with pronounced cheekbones, a long nose, and a small mouth. And blue eyes. It is little to say that it is a face familiar to me. That face is mine. It had also a mole between its nose and mouth, like me. But look what is happening to me this morning: to meet my double, I think embarrassed. I take a few more steps and I find myself facing the man ….with my face...

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$250

Prize money

279

Contest entries

149

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 05, 2023 EST

Won by Delbert Griffith 🏆

Title: The Bullet that Esther Stopped

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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