Write a story about someone coming across their doppelganger.

Posted in Mystery on Nov 17, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 48 stories

“The Day Alfred Googled Himself” by Olivier Breuleux

🏆 Winner of Contest #225

Everyone has Googled themselves at one time or another in their lives. Even you, dear reader, I'll bet. Why did you do it? Curiosity? Validation? Finding your own LinkedIn profile? When Alfred did it, his reason was self-pity. He was nobody, he had nobody, and he had nothing. His immediate family had died years prior. His extended family did not remember he existed, nor did he remember them—they might never have existed. His high school acquaintances had all fled the miserable small town in which he was now left behind, alone in a mobile...

57 comments 57

Read story

“The Proposal” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #225

There had to be more to life than funding other people’s dreams. Rachel Zahara fixed her hair in the foyer mirror, spritzing Baccarat Rouge on her neck and wrists, careful not to wake Brian. She walked down to the Hudson Market with a spring in her step. Once her deal finally closed, Rachel would escape the cold New York winter and get away to Riviera Maya. And Brian knew that she was expecting a proposal when they got there.When she met Brian seven years ago, they both had great jobs and seemed so far ahead of the game. She’d dreamed of sta...

24 comments 24

Read story

“Doppel” by Sean Packard

Submitted to Contest #225

Doppel by Sean Glenn Douglas Packard Why is it that when we stare into terror, we often stare into our own eyes? I think it’s the way we’re wired. It’s our thoughts. We have access to them but nobody else; and just as it is impossible for foreign hands to unscrew our craniums and peer inside, so too do the minds of others remain unknowable to us. We’re alarmed at minds different from our own. We fear those that could be similar. Because we don’t have to imagi...

4 comments 4

Read story

“What Says The Mirror” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #225

What Says The Mirror“Don't judge me. Yeah, I am talking to you, Doppelganger. I only can repeat what I see. You come to me every day. Morning and night. Looking. Searching. Asking questions. Always with the questions. What do you expect from me?“You want me to force you to confront your own truths? Well, the truth is--How should I know? Look at you! That's all I can help you with. I am the same. Yesterday, today and probably will be tomorrow.“I hang around here all the time, whether you are around or not, and stare at that stupid wall over t...

32 comments 32

Read story

“Oil and Water” by Chris Miller

Submitted to Contest #225

The scrutiny of the gallery guard weighed on Spencer like a wet dressing gown. He’d felt watched since he pushed through the heavy doors into the guard’s peacefully unvisited room. Spencer was tired from his unplanned journey and thought that the gallery of the unfamiliar town might offer sanctuary. A place where he could clear his head sufficiently to be able to plan his next move. He had ignored the guard who lingered near a door-sized slab of a painting on the right wall of the gallery. He had turned immediately to the left wall a...

8 comments 8

Read story

“Of All the Places” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #225

Of All the Places I have been very aware that I was adopted since I was ten. The meanest boy on the school bus loved to torture me just because I was the bus driver's daughter. The following day, after being assigned to the front seat across from mine, Andrew boarded with a huge grudge and the boasting of his nastier mother. As the door closed, his mother screamed, "You know what you must do." When the bus pulled from the stop, he shouted, "She's not your mother. You're adopted. Your real mother didn't want you." My mother tried to defuse th...

7 comments 7

Read story

“The Replica” by Stevie Burges

Submitted to Contest #225

Martha raced down the lengthy deserted corridor that stretched along the Relaxation floor of the Starship Enterprise. Usually reserved, she would timidly shuffle along, keeping her eyes glued to the floor to avoid any potential eye contact or smiles. As a Yeoman on the Enterprise, she was initially assigned administrative duties in the Canteen and Restaurant. However, seeking alleviation from the solitude of her cabin, she had taken on volunteer shifts in the Lounge Bar and the Karaoke Room in the evenings. At 26 years old, a sl...

12 comments 12

Read story

“Duped” by Cole Oost

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #225

I always hated the Franktown Mall. The food court took up the entire top floor, but there was still nowhere to sit. Too many high school kids set up residence there during summer break when there was nothing better to do. I watched them all, sipping on their burnt, overpriced drinks from a chain coffee shop that had three identical locations across the mall. What was the use in having so many of the same thing? The food court also had a corn dog place that I used to work at. Well, not at the one in the Franktown Mall. The location I worked a...

8 comments 8

Read story

“Good Company” by Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #225

My cheeks stung. My body burned with open wounds and admonishment. The very follicles of my hair rebelled in their purgatory of being partially ripped out. When I reached the creek, I fell to my knees. Water cooled my burning skin and camouflaged my tears, but nothing could be done for my broken voice asking nobody for everything. “Please,” I begged the earth, “I can’t do this anymore.” She did not reply and the loneliness wrought a desire to confess the foul thought that festered in my young soul - a wish steeped in cruelty. It was not in m...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Who Am I?” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #225

I have to admit to noticing him a number of times before taking the time to attend to his existence. Fleeting glimpses in the midst of a crowd. A chance sighting as I sped past in my car. The blurred reflection in the train window. I dismissed each and every occurrence as a waking cheese dream. You see, I have a pet theory, a half-baked hypothesis that I concocted on the hoof as it were. My musings centred around the simplicity of faces. There are only so many combinations of features and this helps explain my regular encounters with the f...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Secret Santa” by Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #225

Bill Turner woke to his alarm and quickly shot a hand out to silence it. This was not the time to wake his boy. Not when the sun was away and the snow outside fluttered down in barley illuminated spirals. Bill Turner had one thought as he heaved himself onto the edge of his bed, and it was not of the fatigue he felt waking at an ungodly hour like this. “Make this one special.” He muttered to himself. Christmas was a lonely time. Not for one or the other but for both, which Bill felt was worse than if it were just the one of them feeli...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Other Tim” by David Lund

Submitted to Contest #225

Tim Badson walked through the park on a nice Sunday evening. He was whistling to himself. It had been a good day. He remembered fondly the time he had spent with Lucy by the lake. They had talked and laughed for hours. He’d even fed the ducks that had been circling around them, looking for scraps of unfinished bread. It had been an idyllic setting. He hadn’t wanted to leave, but he still had his English paper to write. Why was he even studying English? Stupid subject, he muttered under his brea...

4 comments 4

Read story

“The Other Version” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #225

She sat on the edge of the bed looking at the sleeping child. Her cheeks were rosy from the summer day, her hair tousled about her face. She looked happy, peaceful. She once again examined her feelings towards this child, her child. She cared for her, perhaps even loved her. The child would be taken care of, continuing down the path that had been so carefully arranged. With the evidence of high intelligence and increasing self-confidence there was no doubt that she would continue to thrive. She was ca...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Twin or Doppelganger?” by Rudy Greene

Submitted to Contest #225

Layla was awfully affectionate when I returned from work today. She had that postcoital glow about her. When I asked her what was up, she looked at me with those moony eyes, I only see after intense love making. She seemed to think that I should know the source of her bliss. Yet I was clueless, so I had to ask: “What’s going on? You seem to be on cloud nine.” Layla gave me a warm smile and answered: “You know.” I shrugged my shoulders and answered: “No I really don’t.” “That was some gift you gave me at lunch.” Layla embraced me and kissed m...

2 comments 2

Read story

“She/Her/You” by Aqsa Malik

Submitted to Contest #225

And they had been waiting for quite a while now. Even if you hadn’t been sporadically staring, you could tell by the way they interacted with the empty space between them. The man visibly huffs and sighs, shooting a mental tirade across the table with a showy gesture of crossed arms, and the woman makes an appearance, but only to you. Earlier, she had called the waiter over before the milieu turned even more sour, an attempt at understanding and placation, but it seemed to you that it would’ve made no difference. The situation would’ve pro...

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone buying a cursed — or perhaps blessed —mirror from an antiques store.

Fantasy – 74 stories

Write a story about someone trying to paint (or otherwise create) a self-portrait.

Character – 66 stories

Write a story about a character who one day notices that their reflection has taken on a life of its own.

Fantasy – 51 stories

Set your story in a house of mirrors and make the atmosphere increasingly eerie.

Horror – 43 stories

Contest #225

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

$250

Prize money

282

Contest entries

106

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 24, 2023 EST

Won by Olivier Breuleux 🏆

Title: The Day Alfred Googled Himself

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write a story about someone coming across their doppelganger.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 48 stories

“The Day Alfred Googled Himself” by Olivier Breuleux

“The Proposal” by Jonathan Page

“Doppel” by Sean Packard

“What Says The Mirror” by Mary Bendickson

“Oil and Water” by Chris Miller

“Of All the Places” by Kimberly Walker

“The Replica” by Stevie Burges

“Duped” by Cole Oost

“Good Company” by Raquel Belury Rosenberg

“Who Am I?” by Jed Cope

“Secret Santa” by Cade Holter

“The Other Tim” by David Lund

“The Other Version” by Hannah Lynn

“Twin or Doppelganger?” by Rudy Greene

“She/Her/You” by Aqsa Malik

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone buying a cursed — or perhaps blessed —mirror from an antiques store.

Write a story about someone trying to paint (or otherwise create) a self-portrait.

Write a story about a character who one day notices that their reflection has taken on a life of its own.

Set your story in a house of mirrors and make the atmosphere increasingly eerie.

Contest #225

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

282

Contest entries

106

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: