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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

“It Only Takes a Moment to Open or Close a Door” by Christine Richardson

Submitted to Contest #196

Gavin J. Hubbard Junior, lately of London, Ontario, Canada, grunted with exasperation as his insubstantial astral body began to ooze through the chair he was sitting on. If he had known how annoying life after death could be, he would have taken better care of himself. Not that it would have changed anything. There wasn’t much wrong with his forty-two-year-old body until the sixteen-wheeler flattened his car.It was all that stupid therapist’s fault. “Take a little detour to a pretty place, sit quietly and unwind instead o...

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“Blessed” by David Nesbit

Submitted to Contest #196

Oh, think twice. It’s just another day in paradise’. The wafting sounds of Phil Collins’ hit from a few years ago were cutting into the mid-day sun as Bobby made his way down to the beach to while away another few hours of his well-earned holiday. Although just 23 years of age, Bobby sometimes felt much older. He had been working full-time since he left school seven years earlier and in that time had applied himself to such a degree in that he already felt on the verge of burnout. It wasn’t a good feeling, and so pretty much at the insis...

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“A Kid Can Dream” by D. Grimes

Submitted to Contest #196

Mayzie screeched her nightly serenade of Crazy Train, shook coins from the register for percussion, and waggled her golf pencil at Brian. The tradition started when he forbade her from playing Ozzy Osbourn in the store, despite how many of his sleeves hung on the dulled cyan walls.Brian stopped at the register, expectant. Mayzie held his gaze and continued singing, keeping him hostage until the end of the verse.“You’re already making me regret this,” Brain said.As if against his own will, he explained Rad Record’s managerial training program...

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“San Francisco Run” by Jill Gallin

Submitted to Contest #196

My throbbing feet tell me I’ve been standing still, staring at the Departures screen too long. It’s decision time. Savannah or San Francisco? That’s the question. I should join the girls, but the City by the Bay keeps flashing at me—each blinding letter a lightsaber piercing my heart. I could go to the ticket counter, pay the change penalty and show up on his doorstep, ending this story -telling nonsense for good. If necessary, I could tolerate the pain of rejection. I stall instead, scour the gate area for a seat, open my laptop, and...

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“What if” by Rya Johnson

Submitted to Contest #196

‘Where did you get this!’ Rya squeals as she inspects the immaculate antique oil lamp. The copper metal reflecting the overhead office lights as she turns it slowly. ‘At a street market in Egypt. A vendor there had them and was selling all different kinds. That one made me think of you, so here we are.’ Sawyer beams as she watch’s her sister marvel at the petite metal lamp. ‘The vendor guy said that there’s an old wives tale about the lamp and how it can gra...

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“The Borg Queen” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #196

In another life, I would live another life. Like a James Bond mirror cascade, one mirror overlaps another out into infinity. Or that Star Trek conundrum, two men fighting each other forever to prevent universes from colliding and canceling each other out. Or… “Hey, dimwit! You’re on the call!” What? I say silently as my Starbucks nearly collides with all the other coffees I pick up every morning when I arrive at the office. Too fast for me that one. I put the tray down and suck on my coffee-stained hand while balancing a clunky yellow phone ...

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“The Twisted Pair” by M.K. Levant

Submitted to Contest #196

As they spoke, there was a tickling feeling and then a soft flash of heat, a severing, not painful in the moment. Still, she knew it was the end of a part of her. Later she wondered if perhaps it had been the touch of the ghostly hands of the fates gently teasing apart two intertwined destinies. The Christmas lights were shining in his eyes, and festive holiday music played in the background of the café. He looked like he was thinking through what he would say. Then, he spoke quietly."I’m sorry, Chloe, but it's too much. I know we were ...

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“ A Tale of Love that Encompasses, Time” by MG SINGH

Submitted to Contest #196

I have never believed in time travel or traveling into the future or the past, but I do believe it is possible. I have read so many fiction books on the subject, HG Wells’ classic,’ The time machine’ is my favourite. But I could never imagine that such a thing could happen in real life; well, here is a tale, my friends and I wonder if you’d like to believe it or not but all I will say is that it is true. I will concede it could have been a hallucination but that is something induced by ancient Hindu tomes. the Puranas. I remember drivin...

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“The days after she went away” by Dao Huy Kien

Submitted to Contest #196

I still remember the day we broke up. It was when the second wave of coronavirus broke out in our country. I was working from home so that I could pick her up early. Normally, I often had to finish my work early then drive as fast as a bullet from my office to hers through crowded streets so that she would not have to wait long. Now I did not have to rush but was still anxious as she had texted me that she wanted to talk to me the day before. Nevertheless, when she stepped down from the grand Lotte building, climbed on my motorbike and told ...

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“In Another Life” by Samaria Napolitano

Submitted to Contest #196

Natalie ran out of the village. Her heart pounding, she entered the woods and took a few deep breaths. The trees around her seem to be moving. A strong wind is blowing through the woods, and Natalie can hear something large crashing through the underbrush nearby. There was a smell of dirt and rotting leaves. Natalie leaned against a tree and took a deep breath of the earthy smell around her. There was more crashing, and a bit of cursing somewhere in the woods. "I'm not going anywhere." She muttered to herself. "And I don't think that thin...

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“A Dog Named Prince” by Jessie B Taylor

Submitted to Contest #196

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” “Uh, no” I shuffled in my seat and looked up to see the most beautiful blue eyes looking down at me as I leaned forward to tuck my purse under my seat a little further so as not to block the row. “Oh, great! Come on Sheila, we can sit here” I watched him beckon a woman that looked to be his wife. “Well, th...

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“The Lilybed” by Cora Schlöglhofer

Submitted to Contest #196

In my palm leaf protected spot, I am invisible. It is my ritual to watch the comings and goings of the place as a part of the tapestry. And come and go, they do. The cast of our own little movie, which must have been selected by spinning a bottle of expensive wine, and each round it stopped on a character more puzzling than the last. One individual who certainly has the look of a puzzle, although one that was not assembled correctly, takes up residence in front of the receptionist’s counter. Her with jewels adorned hand is held by her acc...

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“Saturn's Rings Are Disappearing” by Vi Bisky

Submitted to Contest #196

She’s fussing over me like good women do, smoothing down the lapels of my jacket. It’s the one gifted to me by the best woman there ever was: my mother. She parts my hair down the middle with her long-tipped nails, while I fidget under her thumb. Hawk’s eyes, she has; they change colors in the sun, first yellowish, then somehow greenish by late afternoon. Healing bruises, those eyes are. If she is displeased with you, her eyes become nothing but black holes. Her pupils swallow the rest of her, the way animal mothers cannibalize their young. ...

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“Heroes (Just For One Day)” by Rachelle Tacosa

Submitted to Contest #196

I wake up to see a body standing in front of a mirror. My body now, I would suppose. She is, truly, beautiful. Her hair is pinned up into a beautiful, auburn bun, strings of loose hair flying out. She wears a sundress with deep yellow and white stripes, and her face smiles into the mirror, a pure, happy smile. She is definitely one of the most appealing Maybes I’ve been in a while. Now, I direct her to the bedside table, because she (me) is in a bedroom. An apartment, from what I can tell, with the city...

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“A Mark of the Soul” by Zoë Page

Submitted to Contest #196

[TW: themes of physical violence, gore and substance abuse.] Stepping into a packed club from typical British weather for the first time is exactly how I imagine time-travelling to be. The mass of bodies are flames heating up a gigantic, sweaty, intoxicated furnace, and it truly feels like I’ve entered another dimension, because no place should be this hot when the rest of England suffers in such rainy, frostbitten silence. In a way, you do time-travel when you can first legally get into a club: your body is frozen by your soul, unable ...

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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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