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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

“I Reckon a Circus Caught Fire” by Kira Carver

Submitted to Contest #196

Some people are lucky or willful enough to love where they live. They're either blind to flaws or there are none to find.How do you fit into that?Garbage, as far as the eye can see. As far as you're concerned. Muck and mire.But you pass by people, as well, and they go with clear eyes. They hold tiny hands and answer inane questions with a grin. They march with purpose, bags clutched to chests, briefcases fixed in white-knuckled grips. It seems like they all have DESTINATION printed on their foreheads.Your hands are small. You have a bag, tho...

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“You but from an Alternate Reality” by Elizabeth Clark

Submitted to Contest #196

Autumn sings along in her head to the music playing in her earphones. Her feet are moving automatically to the pizza shop down the street. She keeps her steps slow, drawing out her brief break for lunch. She stops at a crosswalk, massaging her neck, twisting it from side to side, sore from bending over her textbooks for hours. Just one last test, Autumn reminds herself. The walk sign lights up, along with a beeping sound. Autumn strolls behind a group of women her age, talking and laughing loudly. They turn right; the noise disappear...

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“Seeing You” by Shana Bazi

Submitted to Contest #196

You can feel it in yourself when something begins to change. Whether it’s growth, or change, or new emotions. Often the cause is love. The desire to understand someone else and be understood by someone else. The desire to be seen and accepted wholly. Love, desire, awakens something in us that we often are unaware even exists. Unaware it exists, and unaware that it changes us. Slowly and unconsciously affecting our behaviors. Making us conscious of small little details otherwise insignificant. Making us conscious of our loneliness and desire ...

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“Perchance to dream” by Martin Hull

Submitted to Contest #196

One I stood at the low, wrought iron gate and stared at the house. Just another featureless three bed semi in a quiet suburban street. A house like many others, it’s anonymity spoiled on this night by the light and sound spilling over from it, escaping through the windows, seeping through the cracks around the edges of the door. Raucous music, a hubbub of intermingled voices, the sound of people enjoying themselves, the sounds of life. In that moment my nerve almost broke - I would have turned and fled but it was too late, the door had opene...

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“The Hunting Realm” by Jocelyn Nelson

Submitted to Contest #196

I snug my boot laces and check the mirror before reaching into a pot of thick mud next to my bed. It’s nearly too dry to use, so I generate the small bit of saliva I can manage and spit on it, plying the dirt with my fingers till it’s soft enough to smear across my face. That layer of grime disguising my skin could be the difference between victory against prey this morning, or coming home empty-handed from the Hunting Realm. My partner Farac pokes his covered head into the tent. His clothes are their usual motley of tans and browns with dri...

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“Echoes of Another Life” by Laura Steiner

Submitted to Contest #196

Jessie watched a group of people dressed completely in black roam through the crowd giving out samples. They moved with economy giving the same spiel to groups of five or six; take this pill and you can travel through time. Individuals took the pill, and were gone as if they never existed; heads swiveled, looking into area shops and restaurants. Jessica wondered if they’d be missed, and if so by whom. “What do you regret?” a clipped feminine voice asked. She wavered; nobody had ever asked her that before. She generally avoided it because...

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“Occupational Hazard [abridged]” by Gowner Jones

Submitted to Contest #196

Author's note: This story was abridged to reach the word limitation for this contest. You can read it in full length here: https://editor.reedsy.com/s/WysfOUl/c/ZFMm-aXpWtxsB0ZY *** Trip groaned as he sat down. Aching bones were a side-effect of his trade. Even now, in the body of a 78-year-old man, Trip’s mind was focused on his contract. He kept his weapon trained on the other man. As he sat, Trip scanned his quarry. “P-please Mister…” stammered the man. Trip shook his head. Judging by his youthful face and the high-pitched voice, the ...

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“Time Travel Costs $595” by Heather Eldridge

Submitted to Contest #196

“Your total is $595.” the automated voice said, as Hendrick arrived at the turnstile. “Man, prices just keep going up, don’t they?” Hendrick said to no one in particular. He tapped his right wrist to the scanner which gave a little ping, having successfully processed his payment through the subdermal credit card chip implant. “Tell me about it,” an elderly lady was...

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“Steeplechase Park” by Sav Lightwood

Submitted to Contest #196

Summer. 1914. By blurred lines and bokeh lights, a man and woman danced upon the brick-tiled lanes of Steeplechase Park as if they owned the place. After-hours chatter. Faint carnival music. Sweet nothings whispered from lip to ear. He, the pinnacle of white excellence. A Harvard senior with impeccable grades, stunning looks, and an affinity for horse-racing and skirt-chasing. She, the first of her kind. A Stanford sophomore who came out of nowhere and impressed everyone — mahogany-like skin and frizzly hair like a bowl of noodles, a mind...

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“Time for Me” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #196

“Good morning, Dad.” I look up to see Heather appear in the kitchen, greeting me with a sad little smile on her face. “Morning,” I say, the word coming out in a wheeze. I have to take a deep pull on the oxygen tank afterwards. Every breath seems harder than the last, every word a struggle. But that’s okay; it gives us a reason not to talk much. With all I can’t tell her, that’s a blessing. Heather moves about the small space, putting on the coffee and pulling out the ingredients for breakfast. Everything in the room is clean but worn, ...

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“ReWind” by Will Oyowe

Submitted to Contest #196

I met Katherine in a life different from my own. We both liked each other's dating profiles, both sport themed. I was impressed with her lovely legs, her right leg raised in mid-motion about to kick the football. That was a good photo.During our first date, the connection was instant, despite her being an Arsenal fan. I wanted her badly at the end of the first night, but she did not feel the same. She only said, "You are a nice guy, but we are too different; I am looking for something more authentic."On the second date, I ensured I was the o...

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“A Life for a Life” by Kenza Taboada

Submitted to Contest #196

“This is so boring,” Fran huffed, rolling her eyes at her friend across the table.“Come on, just give it a chance. The book says all we have to do now is close our eyes and take deep breaths. What if it actually works?” said Seline with the fetching look she always used to get Francine to follow along with her insane schemes.“Nothing is going to happen, Sel. This is all absurd.”“If nothing happens, then we’ll just go back to our shitty lives and forget we ever tried. Ok?”Fran groaned but held Seline’s fingers, which felt clammy in her appare...

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“Riding the Struggle Bus” by Ali Anthony Bell

Submitted to Contest #196

It’s a hot summer day in Casablanca, and I’m riding the bus home from work, standing room only. I had a seat when I got on at the terminus, but I soon gave it up to an old lady, something that most of the local men would never think of doing. It irritates me to no end. Sometimes, when I see a big hulk of a man sitting thoughtlessly while an old man or woman, a pregnant woman, or a mother with infants is standing right next to him, I want to go up and say “Hey, if that was your mother you’d be standing! There’s no difference. Get your ass up!...

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“Nicotine Dream” by Marshall Chapman

Submitted to Contest #196

CW: Mature Themes Maryanne awoke entangled in her silk white sheets, the sun shining through the open bay window at the edge of her studio apartment, landing its rays and accentuating her golden mop of hair. Ever present and then non present was the dull agitation she felt when she wanted a cigarette, or was on her period. Right now it was both. She grabbed her phone off the bedside table and began scrolling through the daily rabble, syphoning the dopamine from likes and comments tha...

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“Something” by Vicki Myers

Submitted to Contest #196

Friday, 11:07 "How could you say that?" Emma yells, storming out of the room toward the front door. "I can't with you. I just fucking can't." She turns back to look at Ethan who is following her. "Well, what do you fucking expect? When you come home and act like this!" he yells back, arms flailing like everything she had said was in the air between them. "I don't know, maybe I expect a fucking partner. Someone who won't jump down my throat at any moment. I'm done. I have to get out of here." She ...

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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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