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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

“Don’t You Wish” by Jack Karolewski

Submitted to Contest #252

                       DON'T YOU WISH ​Owen Matmor was an ardent, dedicated walker. Naturally, he enjoyed other activities -- such as bicycling and swimming -- but hiking was his favorite pastime.             A native of Dubuque, Iowa, Owen was single and twenty-six years old. He worked ...

6 comments 6
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“Followed Home” by K.C. Hammond

Submitted to Contest #252

She couldn’t see them, but she could sense them. Like how you knew there was someone standing behind you in line at the grocery store even though you hadn’t turned around. She kept throwing glances over her shoulder as she rushed up the street lined with old craftsman-styled homes. Their empty windows peering down at her, intensifying the feeling of being watched. She first noticed the sensation at the park. She could usually be found there on her days off, sitting on a lone bench facing a small lake. She came here to read and get lost in h...

2 comments 2
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“The Yellow Bullet” by Ben LeBlanc

Submitted to Contest #252

The man’s dog was dying. It had been lying in the pink dog bed in the corner for five days. The vet had uttered his diagnosis with quiet finality: liver failure. The dog was only supposed to have two weeks to live, but was still managing to get up long enough to dust off the fleas and sunbathe in the backyard after two weeks and five days.She was a good girl.A sleek, slender yellow lab with long, twiggy legs, in better days, she could run like an antelope–down forest trails, across open fields–like when he used to take her to the s...

2 comments 2
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“Perplexity.....” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #252

"There's a bright side to everything!" Sister Heloise told herself, as she was serving up morning tea to her senior nuns in the retired teacher's convent. It was date loaf for nibbles. She regarded herself as a handmaid to the Lord, being good and kind. She had woken up a bit grumpy, but kept on smiling.Their annual summer holiday at the beach was over, back to their routine in the slow news town of Old Blithering. Those lazy and hazy days of summer were winding down towards Autumn. It had still been so hot, until a thunderstorm had swept ac...

1 comment 1
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“The Dreamer ” by Alex Parise

Submitted to Contest #252

THE DREAMER The head was almost obscured by the big black bee-stung hands; but if one looked closely, one could still make out the panic-ridden face of a soon-to-be deceased...chicken. The sound that started to echo from its beak was not a shrill scream, but a dream-ending screech, that started low and continued to build, until at its crescendo, it startled me awake on a sudden turn at the 77th street subway station. Where poultry became real. I blinked once, twice, rubbed my eyes, and then muffled a sickness yawn. Across from my now semi-fo...

1 comment 1
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“The Wee Fella” by Jonathan Todd

Submitted to Contest #252

Och would you ever away and shite?The fecker is still after me, following my every footstep, grinning like a fool.I shouldn’t have taken that wee nap by the boulder but, you know, with the sun on my shoulders and a hard day’s shoe-making behind me, what else is a fella to do? My eyes grew heavy, the breeze wafted gently and sleep washed over me.Next thing I know I’m hearing a voice that pulls me from my slumber. The sun is sinking in the sky and this voice, issuing from an American if I’m not mistaken, is gushing and whooping because he can ...

6 comments 6
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“We Can Be Heroes” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #252

Her unexpected smile—from a bank teller, no less—was like a spell. Wanting my traveler's cheques cashed—in Vienna, I was charmed, vulnerable to her whims, colored cheeks, and rosy lips…This international language of twenty-somethings overcomes everything. Smiles are the start, followed by delicious looks and touching what has been touched. You know, papers pass between us. Then her halting English trumps my abysmal German so that we’re transcendent together, dreaming.Until she hands me too much money. Uh, what?I fumble for my phrase book. “E...

9 comments 9
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“Watch Your Step or Step Out to be Heard” by Pete Gautchier

Submitted to Contest #252

Topic: 1) Write a story with a character being followed. 2) who struggles to do the right thing. Watch Your Step or Step Out to be Heard Was my imagination running away from me? Everywhere I went I would see a sinister shadow lurking in the dark corners. At times a hot, sulphury wisp of air would trace across the back of my neck. When I would turn around there was nothing. There were no visible signs that anyone or anything had been following me. I felt convinced, however, that I was being stalked. I now av...

2 comments 2
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“A Resurfacing” by Sophie Goldstein

Submitted to Contest #252

Now:Miriam loved Sundays. It was the one day a week that was just for her. She’d get up around 9am, go for a run, have coffee at her favorite cafe, and then go to the nearby park and read for several hours. Today she was reading Alex Michaelides The Silent Patient. Sprawled on the blanket she brought, she lost herself in the creepy thriller, stopping occasionally to look up at the others in the park. Couples having a picnic, children on the swings, teenagers playing basketball. She smiled and was about to go back to reading when she noticed ...

2 comments 2
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“It's Called Karma, Baby!” by Courtney Moore

Submitted to Contest #252

Please enjoy a tale from the Hotel Baku, formally dubbed ‘The Ass and the Shrew’.You see, the co-managers here don't see eye-to-eye. Mr. Tall is 6’ 7” and Ms. Small grows on his thigh. They share a chair that’s bigger than their desk. A melded clump of limbs that’s actually grotesque.While holding this position, yes - you must embrace tradition. On the other hand, times are changing and our guests are wide-ranging. Hotel Baku sits inside the gates of a luxury resort. You can enter by docking in a private eastern port.Enter the lobby; enjoy t...

2 comments 2
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“Winter Squall” by Scott Winkler

Submitted to Contest #252

WINTER SQUALLEugene tormented his wife and daughter. He sniped at them day and night. He was a 58 year old fortress of fear and doubt behind the walls of which he sniped at them all day and all night. His ammunition was their trust and love. The more they loved him and danced around him on eggshells the deeper his assorted grievances against them lodged in the horizontal crevices that lined his forehead and the folds of his double chin.. He was a closet miser who gave to charity only in an effort to purge the rot and darkness from his s...

7 comments 7
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“Stolen Time” by Sepp Van Gurp

Submitted to Contest #252

The first thing Theodore notices when he gets home is his key bowl. His hand hovers over the slightly translucent green bowl on the stand next to the front door, keys still in his grasp. The ring that usually resides at the bottom of the bowl is missing. He stands perfectly still, searching for the cause with only what he can hear and see from his position. One hand inches towards the knife kept sheathed inside his coat, hidden securely in a pocket against his chest. The cold handle is a stranger to his fingertips, but it fits in his palm li...

1 comment 1
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“The WhatsApp Swindler” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #252

-based on a true storyI like to steal things. It matters little whether it’s an unattended iPhone on a coffee shop table, a Barney jacket taken from in front of the sales staff, or a packet of almonds snatched at CVS. The value is inconsequential. The act is exhilarating. But after three close calls–each of which I needed to talk myself out from–I realized my little hobby clashed with my grander ambitions. And why steal things when people will simply give them to you?I study her from head to toe. My girlfriend Amanda is standing before me, a...

3 comments 3
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“Footsteps in the Dark” by Dory Nicolas

Submitted to Contest #252

Ann had come to dread arriving home after dark, but her twice a week dance classes made it unavoidable. She had lived in the Haight a year and had never had a bad experience, but her friends kept voicing concern. "The low rent is not worth the risk," they would say. "The bad guys will notice you eventually," they would also say. Her answer was always, "I'm careful." Nevertheless, their concern was getting to her.It wasn't just the low rent. She loved her apartment. It was on the top floor of a Victorian building on Page Street. It was just f...

0 comments 0
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“Kindly's Boys” by Brandon Cox

Submitted to Contest #252

The young recruits were in a ragged state, bunched together in the wood-paneled great room of the guild hall. Their shirts were more potato sack than tunic, and there wasn’t a shoe in existence among the lot of them. Dirt covered and starved as they were, these were now Kindly’s boys. All twelve had, just today, surrendered their future to guild service in exchange for hot meals and a bed, and it was now Kindly’s job to make thieves of them.He’d never been a troop master before, as he was just a young rogue himself, but Kindly’s tenure with ...

7 comments 7
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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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