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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#220: Out of Place

The air’s beginning to chill and goosebumps are rising on your skin like mushrooms on a log. With Halloween not far off, everything’s beginning to feel a little… strange. It’s got me thinking about all things odd, and one of the most unsettling sensations of all — noticing something that’s out of place.


From things that shouldn’t be where they are, to protagonists far from home, this week’s prompts explore the bizarre, and the uncanny feeling of things being where they don’t belong.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character walking through a desert landscape, when they stumble across something unexpected. “That shouldn’t be there,” they muse.

Dialogue – 50 stories

You arrive at a destination you promised an old friend you’d visit after they passed, only to find them there too.

Mystery – 65 stories

As a child you’re helping your grandparent bake. When you’re sent to the pantry to fetch an ingredient, you discover something odd.

Mystery – 41 stories

Begin your story with a protagonist taking shelter under a bridge during a thunderstorm. An animal scurries past which shouldn’t exist. Against their better judgment, they decide to follow it out.

Fantasy – 50 stories

You’re awakened from your nap by someone asking, “Are you hungry?”. You fell asleep somewhere else entirely.

Mystery – 45 stories

Stories

“Eat and Enjoy” by Nik Alxndr

Submitted to Contest #220

“Are you hungry?”“I reckon I'll let you know when my stomach wakes up.” Jake said, grinding the backs of his calloused fingers against his bronze eyes. Yawning, he tried to get up, stretching as he went.“What?” His shoulders and chest raised to almost sitting height but his waist wouldn't move and his feet didn't shift more than an inch or two. An object stretched across his waist; tight, broad and pressing into his abdomen.“Seriously, what?”Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked past his faded denim shirt. A broad, black strap held hi...

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“I Will Never Take a Nap Again!” by Karen Best Wright

Submitted to Contest #220

"Wake up. Let me help you get off the floor and onto the couch." I think that's what I heard a woman say. It didn't sound like my mom's voice. My head pounded, and I was too tired to care. I kept my eyes closed as a warm blanket covered me."Are you hungry?" The stranger asked."No, my head hurts too bad to eat," I muttered. I gradually opened my eyes and saw a woman I didn't know. I was lying on a plaid couch I had never seen, covered with a soft woolen blanket that wasn't mine. I thought I was dreaming, but my head hurt too severely for it t...

11 comments 11
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“The Doppelgangers” by Don Lubov

Submitted to Contest #220

The Doppelgangers The hot desert air is stifling. The temperature is triple-digits. Megan hurries across the twisted landscape as best she can. Her mouth feels like she just licked the top of a pool table. But, she is unexpectedly free, and must keep going. Moonlight will show her the way. Finding her bedroom door ajar, the keys to the outside door on a table, and nobody awake, is a godsend. She stumbles along through a desert landscape, just wanting to put distance between her and the institution. Slowing down to catch her breath, Meg...

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“Looking for Quiet” by Wake Lloire

Submitted to Contest #220

The sound of her kicking gravel was the only sound in the empty desert valley. It was hot but not unbearable. Intoxicatingly still. Quiet. She’d come to the outdoor museum to get away from the loud of the Las Vegas strip. Her friends had wanted her to be a part of their girls weekend out, but from the moment she’d set her sneakers on the sidewalk of that crowded distraction of a landscape, full of noise and chaos, she knew she wasn’t meant to be there. This thought shook her. She felt like the first woman to think that. Doesn’t everyone wa...

1 comment 1
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“Carpet” by H.e. Ross

Submitted to Contest #220

Bill shut his eyes, feeling pressured weight trying to move him. He smiled, turned his head away, He still felt the pressure and wondered who it could be. Bill opened his eyes to see sand. There was sand all about him and a slope was sliding to his side a bit. He was alone with a sun that was just overhead, now about to set. The quiet spoke to him with the hollowness of an empty world. He looked this way and that, feeling the heat of the day as his robes swirled with each jerked turning. A bare shimmer caught his eye, then it disappeared wi...

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“The Oasis of Eternal Serenity: A Place of Refuge.” by Aseret Franco

Submitted to Contest #220

Alex was a curious traveler, always seeking new adventures in the most unlikely places. On this particular day, as Alex wandered through the scorching desert, the heat waves dancing on the horizon, something caught his eye. As Alex trudged through the seemingly endless sand dunes, he stumbled upon a lush oasis nestled in the heart of the barren desert. Trees swayed gently, their leaves whispering secrets to the wind, while a crystal-clear pool sparkled invitingly in the sunlight. Birds chirped melodiously, creating a symphony of life in an o...

2 comments 2
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“Guilt” by Andrew Herlan

Submitted to Contest #220

I left the diner. The sand of the surrounding desert spilled over the street. In the distance, saw a checkpoint. No fencing. Just an arm bar and guard box. “That shouldn’t be there,” I mused. Good enough place to start, though. “Hello.” The guard said to me. I didn’t know what to say. Sure the obvious is, “Hello.” But it didn’t occur to me. “Hello.” Well, then it did. “Where’re you going?” I pointed to the other side of the arm bar and the vast desert beyond. The guard twisted on his heels and surveyed the bleak terrain. Then twisted bac...

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“The Green Thing” by Zachery Miller

Submitted to Contest #220

“That shouldn’t be there,” Ben croaked through lips dry and cracked as the mud flats surrounding him. The dawn air was stagnant and carried with it a foul smell that Ben couldn’t place. At times it smelled of rotting flesh, others of truncated soil. Whatever it was, Ben was sick of it more than the neverending dead plains that housed him, and he already hated them more than he’d ever hated anything. The sky was bleak and the disturbed dust flew high, muting the newborn light and giving the rising sun a hazy quality. But amongst the various s...

1 comment 1
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“Red Identity” by Janelly Valdez

Submitted to Contest #220

This was always on our bucket list. “Tokyo for our 30th birthday” Except I have to go alone because it’s been five years since I’d last seen you. Five years since the paramedics pronounced you dead, when it should have been me. After all, I was the one driving that night. I was the one who made you go out when all you wanted to do was stay home, snuggled up with a book. But I just didn’t want to go to the party alone. You made things less scary for me. You were the outgoing one, while I was always the awkward one who could barely keep a ...

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“Hello” by Cecilia Toomey

Submitted to Contest #220

This story contains profanity and implies sexual violence, violence and sensitive mental health concerns.Leaves falling slowlyDriftingSlow dancingLetting the wind carry themThey hold hands without a careWhere will they go?Light and smilingA dreamWho knows?Together, that’s whereJust keep holdingThe wind picks upStronger nowA storm brewingMore leaves passingLeaves bumpingRippingPullingWho were they?They glance aroundThey only seeThe other leavesAll rushingRushingGoneWhen they landThey don’t know whereNot together, that’s whereOn the groundWher...

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“Lake Life” by Fredrick Dios

Submitted to Contest #220

“What took you so long mate? I died three years ago,” a voice called out from a lounge chair on the deck.Len barely thought before speaking. “I’m sorry?” he said, standing with one foot on the deck and one on the last step up. He paused to take in the full features of his dead friend lounging comfortably. He looked good, really good. Better than ever before. Len's eyes dashed back and forth between the lake view and his friend. He stood doing that for a long moment and gathered words together in his head to make a sentence. “What's goin...

2 comments 2
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“Friendship of Jealously ” by Elayna Torrez

Submitted to Contest #220

It’s been 5 years since one of my good friends died… She and I met during our high school years. Her name was Michelle Duncen, but she went by Shelley. She liked the name Shelley. We were best friends, we did sleepover parties, and worked on school projects together. We were like sisters! After we got out of high school, we went to the same college. She always loved to help me with projects at college. After college, she studied law enforcement and eventually she got a job as a homicide detective, but while working on a murder case…., s...

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“The Creek” by Maunikha Rasineni

Submitted to Contest #220

No matter what happened, I had Ellen, and Ellen had me. Until I didn’t. It’s funny when you’re happy one moment, then the next you feel like you’ve lost everything your life has depended on.  At least, that’s how I’d felt. It was raining hard.  I could barely see 2 metres away from me. “You don’t have to go.” I whined from my place on my bed, where I’d stayed for the entire week because of my broken leg. “And who’s going to get the groceries, Sierra?  You?” She said jokingly. Only if it was me, I wouldn’t have had to fac...

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“Dead to Me” by Desiree Daniello

Submitted to Contest #220

Dead to Me               The morning sun pierced through my curtains, assaulting my eyelids. I reached for my comforter to pull over my face like a little girl that didn’t want to go to school. If I could hide within my feather filled fortress, the sun would cease fire and retreat. With eyes still closed, my hands explored their surroundings, only to find couch cushions and a throw blanket that was purely decorative. It could barely provide warmth. How was it supposed to s...

4 comments 4
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“Special Ingredient” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #220

Granddad was an OK cook. I think at some point the cooking duties were shared more fully and I recall Mum telling me about the fluffy Victoria sponges Gran used to make. Somewhere along the way Gran withdrew. She withdrew in a way that I could never quite square. The way she was crept up on everyone. She became larger than life and yet she became less than she was. She wasn’t quite herself and she didn’t do some of the things she used to do.  As it is in many families and in particular marriages, the spaces left by one party were fill...

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$250

Prize money

251

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 20, 2023 EST

Won by D. Grimes 🏆

Title: Fae Touched

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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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