Set your story in a world where time travel has been perfected, and people can use it to hop between alternate timelines — but at a cost.

Posted in Dystopian on Apr 28, 2023

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✍️ 50 stories

“ReWind” by Will Oyowe

Submitted to Contest #196

I met Katherine in a life different from my own. We both liked each other's dating profiles, both sport themed. I was impressed with her lovely legs, her right leg raised in mid-motion about to kick the football. That was a good photo.During our first date, the connection was instant, despite her being an Arsenal fan. I wanted her badly at the end of the first night, but she did not feel the same. She only said, "You are a nice guy, but we are too different; I am looking for something more authentic."On the second date, I ensured I was the o...

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“A Life for a Life” by Kenza Taboada

Submitted to Contest #196

“This is so boring,” Fran huffed, rolling her eyes at her friend across the table.“Come on, just give it a chance. The book says all we have to do now is close our eyes and take deep breaths. What if it actually works?” said Seline with the fetching look she always used to get Francine to follow along with her insane schemes.“Nothing is going to happen, Sel. This is all absurd.”“If nothing happens, then we’ll just go back to our shitty lives and forget we ever tried. Ok?”Fran groaned but held Seline’s fingers, which felt clammy in her appare...

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“Occupational Hazard [abridged]” by Gowner Jones

Submitted to Contest #196

Author's note: This story was abridged to reach the word limitation for this contest. You can read it in full length here: https://editor.reedsy.com/s/WysfOUl/c/ZFMm-aXpWtxsB0ZY *** Trip groaned as he sat down. Aching bones were a side-effect of his trade. Even now, in the body of a 78-year-old man, Trip’s mind was focused on his contract. He kept his weapon trained on the other man. As he sat, Trip scanned his quarry. “P-please Mister…” stammered the man. Trip shook his head. Judging by his youthful face and the high-pitched voice, the ...

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“Time Travel Costs $595” by Heather Eldridge

Submitted to Contest #196

“Your total is $595.” the automated voice said, as Hendrick arrived at the turnstile. “Man, prices just keep going up, don’t they?” Hendrick said to no one in particular. He tapped his right wrist to the scanner which gave a little ping, having successfully processed his payment through the subdermal credit card chip implant. “Tell me about it,” an elderly lady was...

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“Steeplechase Park” by Sav Lightwood

Submitted to Contest #196

Summer. 1914. By blurred lines and bokeh lights, a man and woman danced upon the brick-tiled lanes of Steeplechase Park as if they owned the place. After-hours chatter. Faint carnival music. Sweet nothings whispered from lip to ear. He, the pinnacle of white excellence. A Harvard senior with impeccable grades, stunning looks, and an affinity for horse-racing and skirt-chasing. She, the first of her kind. A Stanford sophomore who came out of nowhere and impressed everyone — mahogany-like skin and frizzly hair like a bowl of noodles, a mind...

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“Time for Me” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #196

“Good morning, Dad.” I look up to see Heather appear in the kitchen, greeting me with a sad little smile on her face. “Morning,” I say, the word coming out in a wheeze. I have to take a deep pull on the oxygen tank afterwards. Every breath seems harder than the last, every word a struggle. But that’s okay; it gives us a reason not to talk much. With all I can’t tell her, that’s a blessing. Heather moves about the small space, putting on the coffee and pulling out the ingredients for breakfast. Everything in the room is clean but worn, ...

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“Echoes of Another Life” by Laura Steiner

Submitted to Contest #196

Jessie watched a group of people dressed completely in black roam through the crowd giving out samples. They moved with economy giving the same spiel to groups of five or six; take this pill and you can travel through time. Individuals took the pill, and were gone as if they never existed; heads swiveled, looking into area shops and restaurants. Jessica wondered if they’d be missed, and if so by whom. “What do you regret?” a clipped feminine voice asked. She wavered; nobody had ever asked her that before. She generally avoided it because...

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“The Day We Never Met” by Fire Bird

Submitted to Contest #196

In a world where time can be changed, I believe the only constant is love. Love is timeless. “Hello welcome to TimeTravelLLC. Where are you planning on traveling too today?” A strange man looks at us with a blank stare. He wais almost more robotic than human. It is my boyfriend and I’s two-year anniversary, and we have been saving up all our money to go on this once in a lifetime opportunity as the advertisement had described to us a few months prior. I kne...

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“A long way ahead” by Henrry Peinella

Submitted to Contest #196

I will explain why I took this decision and don’t regret it. I am also going to explain how time travel works.During my entire life, I was always interested in time travel, however, I was not more than an “aficionado,” never to become a real professional. You have to be an actual genius to be taken seriously and be part of the SITTS, the biggest and only real center dedicated specifically to time travel. I was intelligent enough to know I was not intelligent enough to work there.Up until the time this idea crossed my mind for the first time,...

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“Have You Found What You’re Looking For? Is It Everything You Wanted? (Alternatively: Happy Endings Are For Losers)” by Serena Zhang

Submitted to Contest #196

Yang finds that life is not so different after time begins again, at least compared to his original timeline. He mostly wanders around counting his steps and trying to remember. He’s always trying to remember. One thing they don’t tell you about time travel is how hard it is on the human body and psyche. Yang remembers reading about a man who held the universal record for time jumps. By the time he retired, his body was riddled with all sorts of cancers, some common and treatable, others yet undiscovered by science, the cancerous cells havin...

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“The Row” by Quinn Micheals

Submitted to Contest #196

I tried to escape again last night. Not my most gallant of attempts, but it did make for good conversation at breakfast among a few of the travelers this morning. “Oy, did I hear you tryin’ to break out again last night Arlo?” Elwyn shouted at me across the chow hall with a mouthful of grits. “That makes number 12 yeah? I don’t know why you’re still tryin’, you’re gonna get your date moved up fool. That what you want huh?” A few of the men in the hall chuckled, though most were still half asleep and just waiting for the...

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“Parallel Revolver” by S.N. Beale

Submitted to Contest #196

[TRIGGER WARNING - MENTION OF MENTAL HEALTH, DRUG ABUSE, SEXUAL ABUSE]I was supposed to be a lot of things.To my grandmother, I was supposed to be a child star or model turned beauty queen, then an actor. To her, this meant I was supposed to be white; she didn't want me to be born. She'd tell me from a young age how worried she was that I had a black mother. Concerned about how I would come out. Questioned how'd I look and what people would say. She said some of her troubles were swayed because I came out beautiful and intelligent. My grandm...

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“Life” by John Richardson

Submitted to Contest #196

Jason Allen stood on the corner at a busy intersection in Nashville, with a sign that read “Homeless Veteran. Anything Helps”. He wore a dingy grey shirt with a black Nike logo, faded denim jeans-stained brown at the knees, and a worn leather belt fastened tight against his ever-shrinking waist. Jason wasn’t really a military veteran; he was just working an angle. The location was ideal. The intersection where he stood was at the end of an off ramp from a major interstate in the heart of downtown. It was one way, with a left turn lane which...

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“A date in time” by Chris Chinchilla

Submitted to Contest #196

"I'll be back from my date in two minutes" I called out to my housemate, donning a shirt and buttoning it to the collar. I heard an indiscriminate grunt of acknowledgement and consulted my shoe collection to pick out something that was a suitable balance of casual and smart, and that wouldn't look out of place. This was my 3rd date with Jane, and things were progressing well. I mean, she was an old fashioned girl, and we had just kissed at the end of the last date, but that's the way I like them really, and you couldn't expect more of a w...

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“A Virtual Life” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #196

We all have regrets. Coulda, woulda, shoulda…fill in the blank. It drives some people into insanity. Or into therapy. Or worse. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Shoulda is the worst of the trio. I should have done this, but I did that, and look where it got me. Where is not the preferred place or you wouldn’t have asked the question in the first place. The ideal was a life well-lived, no regrets, and a long look in the ...

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Set your story in a world where time travel has been perfected, and people can use it to hop between alternate timelines — but at a cost.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 50 stories

“ReWind” by Will Oyowe

“A Life for a Life” by Kenza Taboada

“Occupational Hazard [abridged]” by Gowner Jones

“Time Travel Costs $595” by Heather Eldridge

“Steeplechase Park” by Sav Lightwood

“Time for Me” by Ian Gonzales

“Echoes of Another Life” by Laura Steiner

“The Day We Never Met” by Fire Bird

“A long way ahead” by Henrry Peinella

“Have You Found What You’re Looking For? Is It Everything You Wanted? (Alternatively: Happy Endings Are For Losers)” by Serena Zhang

“The Row” by Quinn Micheals

“Parallel Revolver” by S.N. Beale

“Life” by John Richardson

“A date in time” by Chris Chinchilla

“A Virtual Life” by David Ader

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character unknowingly experiencing a “sliding doors” moment. Write your story in two halves; what could have been, and what actually happened.

Write a story that includes the phrase “Maybe in another life.”

You’re walking down the street, when you spot a familiar figure. It’s another you. And they’ve come from an alternate reality to warn you about something.

Write a story involving a portal into a parallel universe.

Contest #196

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

279

Contest entries

149

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: