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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#225: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

From Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection to the speaking mirror in Snow White, mirror images have always been a popular motif in literature, commonly used to introduce questions of identity or self-consciousness. But they can also be used to create a split between reality and illusion: is what we see really the truth, or are our eyes — or indeed minds — playing tricks on us? Taken one step further, one might even argue that texts themselves are a reflection of their author and the world they inhabit.

This week’s prompts invite you to reflect (pardon the pun) on topics of self-image, twisted realities, and outer appearance that may or may not capture what’s going on beneath the surface.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone buying a cursed — or perhaps blessed —mirror from an antiques store.

Fantasy – 74 stories

Write a story about someone trying to paint (or otherwise create) a self-portrait.

Character – 66 stories

Write a story about someone coming across their doppelganger.

Mystery – 48 stories

Write a story about a character who one day notices that their reflection has taken on a life of its own.

Fantasy – 50 stories

Set your story in a house of mirrors and make the atmosphere increasingly eerie.

Horror – 42 stories

Stories

“A Likeness” by Jonathan Walker

Submitted to Contest #225

She pressed a finger to her eye and observed the dark spot that appeared in the opposite corner. A boy had once tried to explain the phenomenon to her. “It’s inversion. If you press too long,” he said, “the cells in your retina suffocate.” After a few seconds, the spot began to radiate a kind of verdigris; it stained the way bright light stains after you look away. Then she realised that this was a silly thing to do, pretentious even, and dropped the finger. A light patter on the window outside had betrayed the onset of rain. The show...

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“Margaret” by A.J. Williams

Submitted to Contest #225

Friday Night – The Best of Nights After school, I wander along the train tracks, navigating the uneven rocks beneath my feet. My steps lack direction, mirroring the chaos within. Home or Margaret's place? Uncertain. It's been two days since I last saw her, and concern gnaws at me.I kick at the rocks, my mind consumed by thoughts of her. Imagining a potential delightful evening, our Fridays usually involve movies and music. My hair keeps falling into my eyes. I swipe it away, but it persistently returns.October brings ominous grey clouds, for...

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“The Next Self-Portrait” by Ginger Northcutt

Submitted to Contest #225

The Next Self-Portraitby ginger northcuttresponse to Reedsy’s Prompt Contest #374 “Mirror Mirror”TW: references to domestic abuse Gypsy was sitting at her small kitchen table, glumly looking over the pile of supplies covering it. For the last several hours she had brought to the table enough art supplies for five self-portraits. But this morning not one of these materials had sparked her, called to her. The pile was quite colorful, the colored pencils, the watercolor pencils, a...

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“A Distorted Reflection” by Jordan Mae

Submitted to Contest #225

I’ve always considered art to be “my thing”. I’ve spent hours toiling away at a canvas, picking exactly the right shade of green- olive, pea, emerald, or lime?- making sure every brush was the perfect length, mixing and matching styles and lines. I’ve always obsessed over pieces for days, creating and removing and re-creating to ensure it was the absolute best. But this time, this particular work, absorbed my mind for hours, days, what felt like years. It was a simple day. I went to pre-calc, biology, literature, and government, until ...

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“The Canvas' Embrace” by Kai Lawrence

Submitted to Contest #225

Sitting on his balcony watching the sky change while the morning sun rose away to the east, Damian sipped espresso as he tried to take it all in, letting the oranges, the slate blues, and the pale greys wash over him. This scene never seemed to get old even though he'd experienced something similar every morning since he'd begun his stay here in the San Juan Islands a few months back. The cottage he was renting, well, the loft in the cottage, was charming and idyllic, like something out of a romance novel, and, as the sky continued to lighte...

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“People on Air” by Kat Fawley

Submitted to Contest #225

**This story contains numerous profanities & explicit sexual references.**“I mean, it’s not that I don’t like Guaramire,” said the Caller. “I just don’t think you should be giving them so much air time. Like … there are tons of way better bands.”Ellen had picked up Phone Line #1 at approximately 2:52 pm. Her show would be over in less than ten minutes - less than three, really, if you took away the final two and half minutes allotted to pre-recorded ad time, plus the additional three minutes and fifteen odd seconds it would take for Tren...

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“My Doppelgangers” by Thomas Schilling

Submitted to Contest #225

My Doppelgangers You may love them; you may hate them but everyone has at least one doppelganger. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself, “How many times has a complete stranger said you look exactly like someone they know?” I’ve never met Jim Kinzie, Donald Spenser, Gordon Schmidt, or Florence Cooper but I must look like them. I understand the resemblance to Jim, Don, and Gordon and I really don’t care to meet them face-to-face, but I’m dying to meet Flo. I have a full beard and mustache, and I’ve been told I look like Ernest Hemmingway. P...

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“I Am What I Am” by Robert Radcliff

Submitted to Contest #225

My apparel is sticking to my body as the sweat envelops me. Its late evening in the nightclub area of Bangkok as I say bye to the last of my work colleagues who had joined me for some drinks in the Silom area pub which I often go after work.I have decided to walk back to my apartment which is barely ten minutes away.Maybe the events of the last few hours will become less scary to me once I have ceased the alcohol intake.I go to the pub washroom and look in the mirror. My good-looking physique is overshadowed by signs of despair on ...

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“Déjà Vu” by Alex Galindo

Submitted to Contest #225

CW: mentions of a firearm “Don’t try to sweet talk me. I have a gun to your head,” I snap. The pressure in my skull rapidly transforms from an annoying throb to a stabbing pain that matches my tachycardic heart. They say the darkest hour of the night is right before dawn. I think it’s also the quietest. I know it’s quiet because I can sense the contrast between the emptiness during my sleep and the raw screams that escaped my throat when I awoke to a figure standing next to my bed. I had gone to bed alone in my apartment tha...

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“An Unwelcome Guest” by Christopher Allen

Submitted to Contest #225

An Unwelcome Guest By Christopher Allen The Wedding The murmur of the guests hushed as the pianist stoked the first key to Richard Wagner’s Wedding March. The gorgeous, angelic bride entered the church accompanied by her limping father and trailed by an ample wedding dress train, held aloft at the end by the Maid of Honor, trying her best to mask her envy. Standing proudly at the altar, the Best Man patted the handsome groom on the shoulder. The groom gazed down the queue of his hungover groomsmen and gave a subtle nod. ...

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“Meeting My Doppelgänger” by Hope Linter

Submitted to Contest #225

“I saw someone, who looks exactly like you,” Janine, a friend in my running group said. She sat kittycorner to me at the end of the large dark table in the back of Starbucks. I nodded, deep breathing, I didn’t like being at that end, closest to the washrooms with the exit doors at the other end of the cafe. In fact it was a phobia of mine, I’d mentioned to Janine and a couple of others, but I’d made light of it myself, and we’d laughed it off. But ever since then I’d challenged myself to go for coffee with the group on Saturdays after our ru...

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“Here and There” by Paula Bravo

Submitted to Contest #225

As she awoke for another day, she lied in bed for a few minutes. She had learned to just relax in her bed and appreciate that she had yet another day before her to live and live better. So many ideas running through her mind about her own spirit and being here on Earth. The ideas were exciting, and she enjoyed pondering on them, it was her escape. These ideas filled her with vigor and excitement about what could be. She dropped a coffee pod in her Keurig and patiently watched as the coffee was being extracted and her cup was filled. The aro...

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“Pieces” by Emily Murray

Submitted to Contest #225

There were a thousand things Kate could blame for being there. The bus happened to stop in Carlington, her tailbone hurt from sitting for so long, Vanessa’s bathroom mirror had shattered and they needed a new one to replace it. Later, when she recalled the memory of standing in front of The Little Shop of Mirrors, she would wonder why the bus stopped in Carlington at all. Why it left the freeway for a gas station town where no one seemed to live except truck drivers staying overnight and a few lizards beside the road. Why she, Kate, had wou...

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“Mirror Me” by Sophie Yang

Submitted to Contest #225

Content Warning: Body image issues and anxiety.I gaze into the mirror as the minutes tick on by, turning this way and that, biting my lip as I examine the forest green dress.Then I tear it off. Way too formal.Next I try on a sleeveless gray jumpsuit. I wrinkle my nose as I spin a full circle and examine the bodice. It just doesn’t quite hang right on my body. With a sigh, I change out of that one too.Then I just look at myself. Skinny, small, short. I turn myself at different angles, examine every inch in the mirror. I frown at the sight. Wh...

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“A Scottish Relic” by Sandra KHorn

Submitted to Contest #225

Every morning, she starts the day with “Good Morning!” She read it was a positive thing to do in a book by Michelle Obama. She began that during a rough patch. I’ve wanted to tell her over and over things always get better. I should know. I’ve seen people hit rough patches before. Last year, she lost her job. It was days of red and swollen eyes. She disappeared for a few days. I heard her. She stayed in bed because sounds would come from her bedroom direction. One day, I saw her. She came into the room and stuck her tongue at me. She stuck h...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

106

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 24, 2023 EST

Won by Olivier Breuleux 🏆

Title: The Day Alfred Googled Himself

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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