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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character whose dreams are portals to other worlds.

Posted in Science Fiction on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 54 stories

“The Key for Nightmares” by Arindam K Singh

Submitted to Contest #113

I ate my dinner at 10 that day. I felt too sleepy after 20 hours of hacking. But the MI6 didn’t care heck about who died for them and who worked how many hours for them. They just wanted their work done.  I wolfed down all of the Italian noodles and threw the plastic bowl down the veranda railing. I walked to the schedule my sister had made for me. She died 2 years ago in a car crash. She was driving on an accident-prone road when a truck coming from another side hit her car. The car was completely smashed and she was deeply hurt. As ...

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“They Visited Cruelties Upon Their Savior” by Vince Salamone

Submitted to Contest #113

The Grayhaven inquisitor was a tall, porcelain woman whose features hung like a lynched body from the uncaring noose of her face. There was a detached quality about her that lent itself to lifelessness—a stiff, jerky manner of articulation, as though she was little more than a flesh-and-bone puppet conducted by some unseen master. But no, she was real enough, and without a doubt of her own mind; the oculus revealed no touch of the malignant about the torturer—nothing otherworldly, anyhow. Nor was the voracious hunger present as it had been ...

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“Where the scary things are” by Ian Barrett

Submitted to Contest #113

Max had what you would call “episodes” or that’s what his mother had been calling them. They started when he was young and progressively got worse to the point where she considered having him committed. The things that happened to him even brought Child Welfare Services to their door. It wasn’t just the things he would say it was the physical marks all over his body. There were deep scratches and bruises, even some burns that perplexed the local physicians. This went on for years until Max learned that the more he told people ...

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“Judge of the Underworld Household” by Chenchen Du

Submitted to Contest #113

Bao Si Ran’s dreams lead her into the underworld household.  The underground household she goes to is not Hell, nor was it the Greek Underworld ruled by Hades. It is called 阴朝地府(Yin Chao Di Fu) in Chinese, which relatively translates to the Dynasty of Yin and the Underworld Court.  Depending on if the person accumulated good or bad karma in life, one can either be send to their next life that would be filled with joy immediately, be promoted into a minor deity in the area or a guardian ancestor for their family so people can bu...

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“The life I dreamed of ” by Ethan Moloney

Submitted to Contest #113

It was happening again I thought as the cityscape in front of me slowly came into focus, I have been to this city several times before, but I can’t place the scrapers, the bay, or the island that it overlooks.                For the past three weeks, I have been drifting off after a long day of work on my sofa with Milo my dog on my lap crying for pettings. I’ve always been in a habit of falling asleep early as my brothers will attest but it’s gotten worse over the l...

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“The Porch” by Elena Pitsilidou

Submitted to Contest #113

Alice? ALICE? Can you hear me? The last time we met was approximately one week ago. I believe I managed to make contact but it was too brief. The nurses in the hospital managed to get you out from the REM state and the portal disappeared. I only saw you standing in front of a door but you were staring at me in, what I suppose, must have been a mirror. So, you were staring at yourself but in reality it was me. Reality; HUH! You remember I had been debating whether reality is the correct concept to describe our surroundings since I was a chil...

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“Into The Wonderlands” by Dmitriy Galashin

Submitted to Contest #113

..the waves of crescendoing waltzes filled the ballroom, the chandeliers were on fire, and the reflections in the shining mirrors amalgamated with the dancers in endless revolutions. The sugary, floral fragrances hovered over the hall, mildly exciting, tenderly intoxicating. “Fourteen, just a little too early for the balls?” “Oh, I come for the desserts,” I say, smiling And another dessert cart rolls by, the first tray taken by marble cakes and berry-covered pies, the second housed marzipan tartlets, and crispy pastry, third lodged w...

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“The Lost Goodbye” by Aditi Kumar

Submitted to Contest #113

‘He’s dying.’Jo looked up at the lady in the wheelchair, one hand buried deep in Benny’s fur. It was so thick, a grassland of curling black hair. ‘Check his mouth,’ Ms. Darrow said with a slurp of her tea. Her chair squeaked and some tea splashed on the floor.Jo let go of Benny. His big brown eyes followed her movements, questioning nothing. She pushed Benny’s food bowl towards him with her sneaker, filled with kibble and dashes of peanut butter. After a long moment of panting uncertainly by the bowl, he swung away and flopped down at Ms. Da...

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“The Morpheus Gate” by Aaron Bartholome

Submitted to Contest #113

James Griffin bolted up in bed, the veins in his forehead throbbing with each rapid beat of his heart. Sweat poured from his scalp as he fought to bring his screaming mind back into focus. The chair in the corner. The window by the bed, its curtains waving gracefully with the steady hum of the A/C unit. The door to the hallway standing ajar just enough to let in the light from the bathroom. James fumbled around the bedside table for his phone and shrank back when its bright screen attacked his sleepy vision. After a few moments of rubbing ...

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“The Abandoned House” by Candace Shattuck

Submitted to Contest #113

Will was lost in thought again. His friends Steve and Danny were laughing and goofing around but he was silent. He couldn’t get his mind of the dream he had last night. It felt so real. It was just like his world but he had owned a motorcycle instead of a car and seemingly had different friends. Could it have really only been a dream?  After a while, Danny stopped to stare at their friend. “Dude, you alright?” he asked. “Hmm,” he replied. “Eh, you know Will. He is always daydreaming about something,” said Steve. “What is it this time?” ...

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“A Dream Come True” by Susan Richfield

Submitted to Contest #113

 What if I told you that sleep was the most dangerous activity I could possibly perform around others? Laugh perhaps? Or maybe you'd ask why, and when I told you then you would laugh and roll your eyes. Maybe call me names. My parents know the truth, but they prefer to hide it; telling me it was best if we just pretended it wasn't real, that it would go away eventually. They wanted a normal child, or at least to pretend to have one. At 16 though, it was harder and harder to be the kid who wasn't allowed to out at night or allowed fr...

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“KENDRIKA'S DESTINY” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #113

Kendrika ran from the barn, but she was already late for family dream sharing. Another scolding and hard looks from Brother and Father along with Mother’s sad smile and nod greeted her. Breathless, she took her seat saying, “Sorry for being late.” Mother nodded, “How were the horses?”            “Good. I lost track of time.”            Father grumbled, “You missed breakfast and here you are late again. You know dream sha...

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“The Art Connoisseur” by Charlett Bundy

Submitted to Contest #113

Last Fall, I was in Portland for a job interview and stumbled on a 1950s storefront. It had large windows that lined the short walk up to the door of the store. It intrigued me because it was an anomaly in a hip, urban neighborhood. The display windows were at least nine feet tall and inside those windows, framed artwork was hung from the top of each wall to the bottom, side to side, and then across the floor of the display shelf on the bottom of the window case. The art pieces hung touching each other like the artwork in...

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“Thin Air” by Kristupas Sirvydis

Submitted to Contest #113

           The bells tolled twelve in the night, the ringing echoing through the warm sandstone halls, which seemed to whisper of the many people that had walked through them that night. The sound of heels hitting the marble floor at a fast pace continued as the chimes faded into the warm night. Jack, almost running, was trying to finish fitting into his evening attire. A shirt still dangling untucked and half buttoned and a dark maroon jacket under his arm, the man seem flustered. He kn...

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“Venusian Dreams” by Matthew Morse

Submitted to Contest #113

As Riley stepped through the front doors her body felt as if it had been smothered in a thick woolen blanket. It was a stark contrast from the frigid air-conditioned environment in which she had just spent the last eight hours. Nearly every day she went from having to bundle up at her desk to keep warm, to then going outside where a moment of respite from the chilly air was replaced by an overwhelming urge to strip down to nothing before her sweat laminated her clothing to her skin. Not only that, but her company’s parking lot offered very ...

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Contest #113

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Ended on 23:59 - Oct 01, 2021 EST

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