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#291 Illusion or Reality?

In a world where things aren't always what they seem, how do we distinguish between what's real and what isn't? Sometimes our minds like to play tricks on us, and other times, the truth hides just out of reach, turning what we thought we knew into something unrecognizable.

The prompts below invite you to explore the blurred boundaries between illusion and reality. Challenge yourself to create a story that leaves readers constantly on edge — a dream that feels all too real, a moment of surprise that flips everything upside down... where will your writing take you this week?

🥇 Winner

Eggshells and Sea Glass

Aubrey Nickerson

Winner of Contest #291 🏆

Dear Raven, What’s your name? My mama doesn’t know, and I asked her to ask your mama, but she said she doesn’t want to go anywhere near your house. I told her that’s mean because she doesn’t know you. None of us do. I’ve only seen you from across the street. You have black hair, and it’s very dark, which is why I call you Raven. If you tell me your real name I will use it. Is black your favorite color? You wear it a lot. I’ve never seen you wear anything but that black dress with the poofy sleeves and lacy collar. Or are you sad because some...

122 likes

⭐️ Shortlisted

52

Mortimer Ridgewood

Shortlisted for Contest #291 ⭐️

Weston Pierce had a regular weekly routine. Every Thursday afternoon, at exactly 4:52pm, Weston walked into his local toy store. It had to be Thursday, because Thursday was the fourth day of the week, and it had to be 4:52, because arriving any other time wasn’t good luck. Weston’s mission was critically, deathly important, so he needed good luck. When he’d first started his mission, he’d first had to ask if there were any unopened cases, then ask if he could buy one without breaking the seal on the tape. It became a bit of a scene each time...

35 likes

Transference

Nicholas Andrew Clark

Shortlisted for Contest #291 ⭐️

Shea butter. Hibiscus perfume. Smells distinct from the chemical staleness of the group home, signaling Miss Greenwood's arrival. Lenny looks up from his sketchbook as her dragonfly eyelashes carry her into the room. Heels today, pearl earrings, a navy pantsuit that clings to her form. "I'm told there's a boy here that puts Picasso to shame...is that you?"She's always making him blush. As they walk together, he wishes she would take his hand in hers and he could experience the smoothness of her palm again. She never does. Something to do wit...

25 likes

This week's prompts

Write a story inspired by the ultimate clichéd twist: it was all just a dream.

Short Story – 96 stories

Center your story around a character’s addiction or obsession.

Angst – 83 stories

Write a story that keeps a key detail hidden from the reader until the very end.

Dramatic – 71 stories

Center your story around a character who successfully — or unsuccessfully — escapes their fate.

Dramatic – 82 stories

Write a story with a huge surprise, either in the middle or the end.

Short Story – 82 stories

Stories

Eggshells and Sea Glass

Aubrey Nickerson

Winner of Contest #291 🏆

Dear Raven, What’s your name? My mama doesn’t know, and I asked her to ask your mama, but she said she doesn’t want to go anywhere near your house. I told her that’s mean because she doesn’t know you. None of us do. I’ve only seen you from across the street. You have black hair, and it’s very dark, which is why I call you Raven. If you tell me your real name I will use it. Is black your favorite color? You wear it a lot. I’ve never seen you wear anything but that black dress with the poofy sleeves and lacy collar. Or are you sad because some...

122 likes

IN HER SKIN

Waeni S

Submitted to Contest #291

I met Ethan on a cold, rainy evening in a dimly lit bar-a tall, brooding man whose eyes hinted at untold stories. His presence was magnetic-an irresistible gravity that pulled me in before I could second-guess my instincts. I had only intended to explore my new neighborhood, maybe nurse a glass of wine before heading home, but the moment our eyes met, something shifted. It was as though fate had tethered us together, bound by an invisible thread of inevitability. We talked for hours. His voice was rich, his laughter rare but intoxicating. He...

59 likes

The Last Story

Jim LaFleur

Submitted to Contest #291

Mark Holden’s fingers trembled above the ancient Remington typewriter, hovering like pale moths uncertain where to land. The rejection email glowed on his laptop screen—the fifth this month, thirty-second this year. “Thank you for your submission to The Weekly Wordsmith,” the email read. “While your story showed promise, we have selected another entry as this week’s winner.” Promise. Always promise. Never triumph. Mark dragged his palm across three days of stubble and reached for his cold, bitter coffee. Bookshelves bowed under writing manua...

50 likes

You Can't Read in a Dream

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #291

We only have about ten minutes to get him to Everett. Awake, the ride takes forty-five minutes, but we don’t need that long if he’s asleep. I once trained a guy who quit on the third night, because he didn’t like the pliability of it all. The way time wasn’t the only flat circle, but everything. Nothing but circles. Speech, behavior, and emotion--all could bend if you knew which way to pull and how hard. I can get anybody to Everett in twenty, but sometimes you have less than twenty, and that’s when it gets complicated. I showed up at around...

40 likes

The Last Member of Pifflewick

Audrey Elizabeth

Submitted to Contest #291

Graybury Pink strutted through the golden gates of Pifflewick Country Club, doing his best to exude a spirit of casual indifference—though inside, his nerves were tap-dancing in top hats. After months of strategic elbow-rubbing and a hefty fee of fifty thousand piffles, his long-awaited Champagne Welcome had finally arrived. “Ah, Mr. Pink! Welcome—only the finest for you! A glass of our renowned Champagne Royale, harvested from the sun-kissed hills of Piffle Valley, where each grape is personally whispered to by a sommelier before it’s press...

38 likes

REM Job

Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #291

Eli awoke with a start. The sensor attached to his left pectoral tugged painfully at gray scrub as he jerked back into the conscious realm.It was just a dream, Eli told Eli.“Good morning, Mr. Trainer! Please stay as still as possible until we can remove the leads.” The voice was somehow, simultaneously, cloying and utterly perfunctory, practiced and patient, and, as a result, Eli absurdly, simultaneously, somehow felt the desire to please and to bitch-slap the man in the observation booth.“Did you sleep well? Do you feel rested?”Eli worked h...

35 likes

52

Mortimer Ridgewood

Shortlisted for Contest #291 ⭐️

Weston Pierce had a regular weekly routine. Every Thursday afternoon, at exactly 4:52pm, Weston walked into his local toy store. It had to be Thursday, because Thursday was the fourth day of the week, and it had to be 4:52, because arriving any other time wasn’t good luck. Weston’s mission was critically, deathly important, so he needed good luck. When he’d first started his mission, he’d first had to ask if there were any unopened cases, then ask if he could buy one without breaking the seal on the tape. It became a bit of a scene each time...

35 likes

Hades Revolver

Submitted to Contest #291

This is a page of time from “Our Lady Universe’s” book of two fucks. In this story, Jimmy Walker is about to get more than he bargained for, at the hands of the Hades Revolver. Do do do do. Do do do do.As Jimmy awoke in his office at the club, with some random naked woman laying on his chest. He pushed her off him and stumbled to the restroom.Before he closed the door, he turned to her and said, “Bitch, grab your shit and get out of my office.”“Ok Jimmy,” she said with fear in her voice.A long time ago, Jimmy wanted money and fame more than ...

35 likes

Now You See Us

Submitted to Contest #291

Dipping and soaring, we fly through skies of rippled blue, eyes fixed upon the ocean. Constantly shifting shape and focus, waves churn up spume which land like snowflakes on the shore. To the distant eye, we appear like specks of grey in the sky.Playing at Peekaboo. Now you see us, now you don’t.Sometimes called “parrots of the sea,” we’re not all we seem. Flying at speeds of up to 55 miles, our wings beat extra hard as we wait for the sea to calm. Other times we avoid the tumult by ducking and swimming underwater. Using our wings and feet a...

34 likes

The Method Actor

Submitted to Contest #291

‘What’s the deal with this bloke you sent me, Ron? I’ve got his resumé in my hand, and frankly it’s thinner than my wife’s skin. A corpse in Casualty, a rioter in Silent Witness, several ‘passers-by,’ and — oh! fucking stellar! A speaking part in an arthouse silent movie, for which his only verbal contribution was to say, “The End.”'‘I hear you,’ said Ron Lumet, agent to the stars. ‘But you have to admit, he is seriously handsome. The man’s a vision. Never seen anything like him. Not so much as an open pore.’‘Can’t be denied’ said Vinni...

34 likes

The Universal Obsession of Max Preensworthy

Bertie Beanboots

Submitted to Contest #291

This is the story of Max Preensworthy, a man addicted to exactly the same thing as you or I. I'll come back to that. First about Max: Max is almost 52, so his childhood is almost lost to him. His school teachers have forgotten him and he has no close friends. If cats lived longer, one would remember him. He remembers her. It was England, 1973, Max was ten years old. Every morning he skirted Lister’s Farm to avoid the snapping sheepdogs, crossed a couple of empty fields, and walked along the back of a row of sandstone cottages to Chinsb...

31 likes

Sprawl

Submitted to Contest #291

I decided to get a tattoo. I have always wanted one, but for some reason I just never did it. I don’t know why. I was planning to get it done that night but my boss, Murray, invited me out to dinner. It was a Friday night around 6:30 and we were at the office. I called my wife, Sam.“Hey Babe, sorry for the late notice but I won’t be home for dinner. Murray wants me to join him at Musso & Frank. We’re leaving now. I should be home before nine.”“All good. I didn’t have anything special planned for dinner tonight anyway. Just reheating that...

29 likes

Ghost Ship

Marty B

Submitted to Contest #291

The squat blue gray building hummed with danger. Was this where he would find Sophia? Whatever happened, Otis knew after tonight everything would change. Even in the barren wasteland of the old industrial district, the cement block warehouse stood out. Like an ancient mausoleum, the words ‘Ghost Ship’ were painted in 6-foot-tall letters high across the front of the crumbling façade. An auto body shop and a cell phone store girded in steel bars shared the block, but the warehouse was a thing apart. It bre...

29 likes

Maria Would do Anything for Love

Teneille Mackley

Submitted to Contest #291

All Maria had ever wanted was to fall in love. To find someone who was her whole world, and she theirs. She pined over the romance stories she edited as a freelancer, swooning over the passion of star crossed lovers and forbidden romance. Oh, she had had her fair share of partners, lovers, and one night stands. But nothing that she would call ‘love’. All of that changes tonight, Maria thought to herself for the hundredth time. Tonight, I will find the one. She nodded at her reflection in the mirror, adjusting her purple-tinted hair and addin...

28 likes

Until the End of Time

Martha Kowalski

Submitted to Contest #291

It started innocently, like most obsessions tend to. After all, after you’ve lived for centuries already, it’s only a matter of time before you get bored. Caspian became immortal by accident; he didn’t really remember how it happened – I remind you, he has been alive for quite a while. He does remember Archimedes running through the streets shouting “Eureka!” though, if that gives you some context. He remembers being one of the few surviving members of his community after a rat-borne disease swept through the continent. It was around th...

28 likes

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Contest #292

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

414

Entries

208

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 28, 2025 EST

Won by Aubrey Nickerson 🏆

Title: Eggshells and Sea Glass

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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