Set your story in an oracle or a fortune teller’s parlor.

Posted in Fantasy on Jun 24, 2022

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✍️ 66 stories

“Beyond the veil” by Louise Coley

Submitted to Contest #152

Incense dripped from a holder hung high in the corner of the tent. The cloying scent filled his lungs, coating him with satin inside as well as out. He sank further down into the mound of pillows that had been arranged on the bench in the waiting area, a fuzzy mist beginning to settle over his mind. The silken material stuck slightly to his sweaty palms and to the undersides of his knees. The ceiling drapes and the curtained walls rippled as a cool night breeze passed the tent’s entrance, the fresh air tugging at the smoke. Another deep brea...

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“Ask the Oracle” by Shanna Heath

Submitted to Contest #152

“Girls, two to a seat, please!” Mr. Parson is looking stressed, but he isn’t half as stressed as I am as I search my phone for the perfect prom dress. Retail therapy is necessary considering I don’t even have a date yet. Also, schools should pay teachers more for working the week before Spring Break. They become glorified babysitters who wrangle hormonal teenagers during organized chaos. Today, my classmates and I find ourselves at the Rockcastle Museum of Ancient History, and the babysitters are acting nervous, as if we might stage a coup....

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“Madam Magdalene’s Oracular Viewings” by Rebecca Leclere

Submitted to Contest #152

The silver bell adorning Madam Magdalene’s Oracular Viewings chimed over the soft swooping hair of the boy who’d just pushed through the door. Magdalene hastily slid her crossword under an appropriately leather-bound tomb sitting next to the register and watched closely. The bell was a trinket given to Magdalene by her mother, who’d received it from her mother before her, who had supposedly bought it off an old troll living in what was now the sunken city beneath San Francisco. A miniscule enchantment carved along its edges summoned t...

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“Gypsy Rose Me” by Jerald Larson

Submitted to Contest #152

So, I'd had a few. But the Guinness in Dublin is beyond compare, and I have as much willpower as I have savings. Yes, Mastercard was sponsoring this trip to the Emerald Isle as it had so many excursions before, my one and only constant travelling companion. How long had I spent on O'Connell Bridge mesmerised by the yellow October sun twinkling off the Liffey as it bid adieu to another day? Too long, it seemed. A chill ensorceled me, breaking the spell as the sun sucked the last of its warmth beneath the horizon with it en route to New York...

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“Precious Visions” by SJ Shoemaker

Submitted to Contest #152

Ivory smoke plumed and billowed through the room. An elaborate revolution of Ebania’s arms effortlessly masked the movement of her left foot as she pressed a secret switch. The crimson flame turned a deep violet with the addition of salts through a hidden mechanism beneath a floorboard. The effect was impressive and convincing. As if summoned fiery spirits recoiled fearfully from her oversized robes. The man and his frail grandparents, customers eagerly awaiting a crucial answer, shrank away. Surely, they considered a full retreat. Most do. ...

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“The Fortune Teller” by Teresa Sandragorsian

Submitted to Contest #152

I should’ve listened. That’s the thought that runs through my head as I look around, as I realize where I am and what I have done. I really should’ve listened. I don’t even know what it was that compelled me to enter a fortune teller’s parlor that day. I had passed by this house-turned-parlor several times before during my walks, but there was something different about it. The purple paint had started to peel off to reveal the original wood-brown underneath that looked like it was slowly taking possession over the house. I noticed it. The ne...

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Set your story in an oracle or a fortune teller’s parlor.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 66 stories

“Beyond the veil” by Louise Coley

“Ask the Oracle” by Shanna Heath

“Madam Magdalene’s Oracular Viewings” by Rebecca Leclere

“Gypsy Rose Me” by Jerald Larson

“Precious Visions” by SJ Shoemaker

“The Fortune Teller” by Teresa Sandragorsian

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in which a miracle happens — or everyone thinks it did.

Start your story with a character saying “I can see it now.”

Write about a character whose life changes for the better.

Write a story about someone whose job is to make miracles happen, literally or figuratively.

Contest #152

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

101

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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