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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#252: Obsession

The Netflix series Baby Reindeer, inspired by a real-life stalker story, has garnered millions of views over the past month while receiving both critical acclaim and heavy backlash. In the show, a chance encounter between a barman and a total stranger descends into a chaotic tale of stalking, destruction, and mutual obsession. Delving into themes of personal boundaries, power dynamics, identity struggles, and mental health problems, the show depicts some of the complexities and contradictions inherent in human psychology.


Inspired by Baby Reindeer, this week's prompts are an invitation to explore some of the nuances of human behavior. Whether you write a witty story, a heartwarming tale, or something tense and gripping is up to you!

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character being followed.

Dramatic – 99 stories

Write about a character who struggles to do the right thing.

Character – 35 stories

Write a story in which one of the characters is a narcissist.

Character – 39 stories

Make a character’s obsession or addiction an important element of your story.

Dramatic – 129 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Character – 55 stories

Stories

“Stalked” by Bob Builder

Submitted to Contest #252

WARNING: This story includes content like swear words, signs of psychopathy, torture, etc. If you are sensitive to these subject matters, please feel free to not continue. I hear footsteps following me, the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the smooth concrete sidewalk, my head still replaying the happy memories from this morning. It was strange that I didn't see Hudson today, but I guess he's sick. Instinctively, I turn around to see... no one. Unease makes its way down my spine and I turn back, ignoring my fear. My backpack heavy against ...

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“In Pursuit of...” by Daniel R. Mangru

Submitted to Contest #252

Macy Gleason was sitting on a park bench near a lakeside on a Saturday afternoon. She held her mochi snack in one hand and took a sip from the straw of her raspberry boba tea in the other hand. There were a dozen children playing in the nearby area where the swings and slides were. Their voices weren’t loud enough to distract her from watching the weeks-old ducklings follow their mother as she swam from one side of the algae filled pond to the other. When her troubled mind satiated by the calm of the scenery, she walked to the trash bin toss...

2 comments 2
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“At First Sight” by Allison Hanmer

Submitted to Contest #252

We didn’t leave the apartment all weekend. The bruises on the right side of my body are nearly gone, the scratch on my head has healed enough that I can cover it with foundation and my mental health is in a way better place then it was a couple days ago. Alyse and I ordered take-out every night and paired it with a binge of Grey’s Anatomy episodes. “I think I might go outside today,” I say, looking out the window from my desk. Alyse’s head shoots up from the couch and looks over at me, “Really?”“Yeah. I think it’s time.”“Well, let ...

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“For Us All” by Kara Newlin

Submitted to Contest #252

“Come on, don’t look suspicious,” Myles thought, “They will know I'm wearing a wire the second I walk up.” He pulled his coat tighter around himself. The setting sun barely peeked over the top of the buildings as cars zipped past him on his left. He hesitated. “Is that just my heart pounding or did I hear footsteps behind me?” Myles thought, “If I look back they will know I'm onto them. Then I'm done for.” He glanced at the nearest store fighting the desire to dash inside where warmth and friendly faces went about their business. A gust of w...

2 comments 2
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“The Rain” by Maddox Carollo

Submitted to Contest #252

He sat there, the boy, the clouds forming a fearful darkness in the sky above, and the leaves showing their pale undersides to the world in the rising wind, twisting and curling, like things alive.           It was quiet up and down the street save the children across the road from the boy, playing a game of tag, shouting and laughing, chasing each other around in circles of emphatic glee. Swings were tossed hap-hazardly this way and that, leaves skittered across the abundantly pot-holed...

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“The World Without Her” by Sam Hoekstra

Submitted to Contest #252

I know my friends think I've been here for too long - that I come to the grave too often.They don't know how to say that, of course - nobody has a satchel full of poignant phrases to adequately express feelings like, "I've been really worried about you ever since she died," or, "I think you're spending more time in the past than is helpful right now."Maybe if there were such phrases doled out in emergency aid kits, the kinds that you keep in your car for that one day that you never hope comes, maybe she wouldn't be dead.I don't know what tim...

1 comment 1
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“Lizzie” by Pen Bragan

Submitted to Contest #252

The following is a work of fiction. The main character, Lizzie, is loosely inspired by each of the canonical five victims of the serial killer Jack the Ripper in London, 1888. Trigger warnings for stalking, murder, domestic violence, alcoholism, child loss. Whitechapel District, LondonOctober, 1888 My heart raced as I stumbled over the rain-slicked cobble stones in the East London alley, my alcohol-laced blood surging through my veins. The dark figure loomed behind me, steadily closing the gap despite my desperate attempt to f...

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“Ma” by Philip Dmitriev

Submitted to Contest #252

The Japanese concept of Ma has been described as a pause in time, an interval or emptiness in space. Ma is the time and space life needs to breath, to feel and connect. If we have no time, if our space is restricted, we cannot grow. This universal principle applies to every aspect of life. It was the first town since the bus had crossed the border. The small and provincial town that lies in the middle of a valley, surrounded by farms and the mountains in the distance. It arrived at 7:30 pm when the sun was still up and it would be until 10 p...

1 comment 1
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“On the Run” by Alexandra Caulway

Submitted to Contest #252

The day I was followed was like any other Thanksgiving Day – until it wasn’t. As was my ritual, I was out for a run. I never did the local turkey trot. I don’t run to make friends. I run for the quiet. For the meditative act of deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. For the puff of air in front of my face, like a personal storm, pent-up emotions melted to mist. For the crunch of leaves beneath the rubber soles of my sneakers. The bite of winter’s first frost on the tip of my nose. The dampness that gathers beneath my shirt...

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“HUNTED” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #252

The man was stealthy and impressively silent as he stalked me. It was not his fault the wind had changed direction and I’d caught the scent of gunpowder and freshly oiled steel. I stood still as a statue as the wind changed direction again, it howled through the treetops, and whistled through the elderberry brush, taking the stink of the man with it. He and more of his kind camped out in the cabin at the edge of the mesa. They drank whisky into the night and smoked skunky tobaccos…apparently, they never bathed either, strong was their scent...

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“Darkness” by Shawna Burge

Submitted to Contest #252

DARKNESS By Andy Pearson © 2024 Darkness was on my side. I knew the house.  The owners of the footsteps didn’t. When the lights went out, I knew they were finally here. I didn’t know who they were, but I knew they were here.   I spotted the followers a week earlier. Perhaps they were there earlier. Probably. Who knows. I know I spotted them on Friday.  I saw the first one at the gas station. With my arms draped over the side of my truck bed, sticky with sweat from the afternoon humidity, I listened to the pump whirrin...

1 comment 1
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“Cobblestone Symphony” by Galaxy Grandeur

Submitted to Contest #252

Sensitive Content: Violence, Physical Abuse, Stalking The cobblestone streets rattled in a quiet symphony under her feet, heels gently clicking with her footsteps. Moonlight lit the roads with a pale glow, the occasional street puddle reflecting the great lunar orb so few bothered to even look up at. It was a well lit night, and yet things still clung to the shadows, trailing in silent undertones behind the symphony. She rounded the corner to find the lively watering hole she frequented in her younger days already bustling, warm glows emitte...

5 comments 5
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“Trouble at Cedarwood High” by Patrice Nicholas

Submitted to Contest #252

In the middle of the hallway stood a boy who people called a troublemaker, Jonathan, who was known for his shenanigans and undertakings. He grew up in Cedarwood, a small town where everyone knew everyone else's business, and where life wavered between the everyday and the uncommon. Jonathan was extremely smart, his mind always whirring with questions and ideas, searching for his own path amidst the chaos of adolescence. With his unruly hair and serious demeanor, he often seemed older and wiser than his years. He was also a bit of a goof-ball...

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“Life In Tinwald Town. ” by Farai Gotora

Submitted to Contest #252

Marilyn didn’t notice the black duffle bag right away. It was obstructed by shrubs and reeds beneath the underpass. Besides, she wasn’t looking for a bag but a man. A drug dealing man named Tony to be more specific. Tony was as unreliable as a faulty wrist watch. It was already fifteen minutes from the time he’d said he’d meet up with her and there was no sign of Tony.  Marilyn wrung her hands nervously and began to pace. The half moon gave its light on this dark night and this only exacerbated Marilyn’s anxiety. She preferred an obscur...

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“A Fable” by Siegfried Pueblitz

Submitted to Contest #252

A Fable Don't cry The best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids' flutter which says we are for each other e.e. cummings There was a very old man who fell in love with a very young woman. And, as often happens in love, there was no rhyme or reason to it and it didn’t matter if no one understood it or criticized it. How could they? He never told anyone about it – not even her. It’s not that he didn’t want to tell her, on the contrary, he thought about doing so many times. But ultimately, he ...

2 comments 2
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$250

Prize money

357

Contest entries

143

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 31, 2024 EST

Won by Danielle LeBlanc 🏆

Title: Seven Hundred and Thirty Days

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 | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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