Begin your story with a character having a gut feeling they cannot explain.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 75 stories

“Waiting for Mr Smith” by James Brook

Submitted to Contest #127

Sensitive content warning: has themes of sudden loss, bereavement and mental health.There were three of them in Mr Smith’s outer office: Appleby (who had a gut feeling he had to see Mr Smith); Mrs Stuart (Mr Smith’s secretary, with a sharp nose, concrete hair and the absolute authority of those who are always right) and the pudgy boy with no name (Appleby hadn’t been paying attention).Mrs Stuart, in the manner of a queen graciously bestowing an undeserved favour, had informed Appleby the boy was Mr Smith’s son, but offered no further informa...

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“The Appointment” by Heather Greene

Submitted to Contest #127

Kate Swenson woke up with a strange feeling that she couldn’t seem to shake. She wondered if it had been some leftover feelings from her dreams the night before but she couldn’t remember any of the dreams that she had. She got out of bed and started her morning routine in hopes of letting go of the feeling but it was still there. She couldn’t even really describe it, just that it was a feeling of foreboding deep inside her gut. She played her favorite music playlist on her way into work and sang out loud to the songs to...

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“Auld Lang Syne” by Kiera Lawley

Submitted to Contest #127

December 31, 2021To whomever finds this letter: My legal name is Skye Willow Harvey. My parents named me Skye, to remind me that I am limitless, and Willow to encourage me to bend with life's changes rather than break.Despite their good intentions, at the age of thirty-three, I am still known by family, friends, neighbours, and even my boss, as Lilly. It's actually short for Lilly Logical. That was my childhood nickname; bestowed upon me - completely without irony - some three decades ago by my loving father.When pressed by their closest fri...

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“Neon change ” by Angus Moore

Submitted to Contest #127

Kristy stared at her hand, it looked like it always did. She hadn’t really expected anything to be different, however the feeling she was experiencing at the moment was completely outside her knowledge. If her arm had turned a new colour or into a liquid pile of ooze it would at least help, make sense of the situation. In her head she knew that the plan was sound, and everyone else sitting around the darkened room was in agreeance. Yet she could not bring herself to feel happy about it. She was the sort of person who liked to look...

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“Disaster Take Me” by Kay Reyez

Submitted to Contest #127

I will die young. This I know.I haven’t told anyone, because what’s the word—hypochondriac, crazy? I’m not, but those are the words. If they didn’t say those words, they would call it fear. They would say I just feel the time ticking, taking. I’m as terrified of death as the next person, but that’s not what this is.I know I will die young in the same way I only ever need three guesses to get anything right.“Guess who I saw today?” Eddie. Greg. Justin.“Guess what I did?” Got your belly button pierced. Got a tattoo.“Guess where I’m going?” Mex...

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“Heir To The Throne” by Dylan Roth

Submitted to Contest #127

I sat alone atop my throne, built on the backs of my father and grandfather and his father who came before me. Pride swelled in my chest as I thought of the sacrifices made to protect this great Kingdom that I had the honor of leading. But alas my old age was catching up to me. My wife is pregnant with our firstborn and I am dying, slowly but surely. I'm not sure how much longer it will be before my body and my mind fail me. I cannot shake the terrible feeling that my child would not be fit to be King. My family had been Kings for as lon...

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“The Revelation of Bones” by Don Paul Martin

Submitted to Contest #127

The morning of Friday, June 11th, 1999 began unlike any other morning in my life to that point. I was living in a tiny efficiency in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and the morning light was bright against the wall that hosted my bed. Before I could even identify that it was morning -- or that I was human being, for that matter -- a prophetic, three-word thought appeared in my mind. I might have even said it out loud, though no one else was there to hear it: &n...

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“The Riggsburg Reckoning” by Alex L

Submitted to Contest #127

By: Alex Lape There were very few words Adrian Tippen found to give meaning to his otherwise chaotic and volatile life - one of them being security. And security was exactly what Adrian found when he pretty much made a mad dash out of Riggsburg, New Hampshire as soon as the final bell of his senior year at Brutus H. Heddings High School rang out. As soon as he felt the ignition of ‘89 Camaro turn over, Adrien knew that Riggsburg and all the grievances he had with that godforsaken town would figuratively and literally be in his rearview mir...

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“The Collision” by Amanda Smith

Submitted to Contest #127

Laura wakes suddenly from sleep, sticky with sweat and the lasting images of a forgotten dream, her memory scrambling to make sense of the feelings that still linger. Her gut lurches with a strange sensation, her intuition marking a shift in her day, something out of sorts. She hesitates, wondering if she should go to the airport as planned. Her flight is to leave in three hours for an opportunity that would change her life, for an internship she discovered by chance at a dinner party only yesterday. The caveat was that she had to arriv...

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“Home” by Tiffany Stewart

Submitted to Contest #127

Allie woke up in a panic. She had a driving urge to pack supplies, but she didn't know why, or how much to pack, or what to pack for. She couldn't remember what she had dreamed, but she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. The feeling had an almost physical presence to it, like a weight; it was unlike anything she had ever felt before. So, at 2 o'clock in the morning, Allie found herself in the kitchen packing reusable grocery bags as efficiently as possible with bottles of water and shelf-stable milk. A day or so earlier, s...

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“Missing Maynard” by Stacy Lynn

Submitted to Contest #127

“He’s alive and well. I can feel it.” Honoria was an icicle when she said it, cool and still and utterly self-composed, perched like a Sphinx on the cat-worn, claw-tattered blue sofa in the living room. Not the slightest hint of histrionics, not the merest pinch of petulance. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Maynard would return, although she couldn’t have explained how she came to possess this knowledge. Something deep inside her belly sensed it. As she was one week from eighteen and eager to prove herself grown up and exorcise...

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“Where my Chase Ended” by K R Stanfield

Submitted to Contest #127

How many ways could a person be maimed by a peach? A man walked by eating one not long ago. He made a face. He was uncomfortable. So, I'm trying to work it out. I’m leaning against a concrete wall at the edge of a green-space. There’s a bench beside me connected to a footpath, but I don’t want to sit on it. My butt’ll get wet. On the other side of the wall, across a mat of dirt and drubbed weeds, cars roll by with perturbed patience. A lazy cop has his radar gun out a little down the way. He's hunched over his unmarked vehicle door, trawli...

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“Mother's Intuition” by Amy Everette

Submitted to Contest #127

Mother’s Intuition Deanna tossed and turned beneath the heavy blankets. She should have been asleep hours ago, had in fact been in the bed since eight o’clock. She reached for her cell phone in the dark. 11:06 pm. It was almost midnight. She never stayed up this late. Not since her husband passed away three years ago. Deanna considered the bottle of melatonin in the bathroom cabinet. James had taken them almost nightly. He’d always told her that it was the stress of the job that kept him awake at night, and melatonin was the only way th...

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“Unexplainable Conditions” by Cathy Bown

Submitted to Contest #127

“Rebecca? Rebecca? Oh my god. Are you okay? Can you hear me?” My teacher, Mrs. Collins, stood over my limp body in the front of the classroom. I can hear her talking to me, but it sounds far away. Slowly, as she repeats herself, again and again, her words become clearer, and I begin to understand them. As I come around, I am almost too mortified to open my eyes. What was I doing? Oh, right, I was writing on the whiteboard, working on a long equation for algebra. I was doing the math in my head, and then, bam, my head exploded in fear, and I...

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“Like a mouse in a trap” by Randy Juarez

Submitted to Contest #127

Peter felt it leak out of him, from his gut, dragging on his bones. Out of a dead sleep his pupils flickered awake to the dresser, then to the door in pursuit of an invisible presence. It lingered in front of the door, sending an invitation, its intention marked plainly in the aura permeating from empty space. Peter was lost, petrified. The aura bobbed silently in front of the door, urging him to trust it and put one foot in front of the other. Peter refused. The veil acknowledged, eventually dissipating into the maple-wood floors. &nb...

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Begin your story with a character having a gut feeling they cannot explain.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 75 stories

“Waiting for Mr Smith” by James Brook

“The Appointment” by Heather Greene

“Auld Lang Syne” by Kiera Lawley

“Neon change ” by Angus Moore

“Disaster Take Me” by Kay Reyez

“Heir To The Throne” by Dylan Roth

“The Revelation of Bones” by Don Paul Martin

“The Riggsburg Reckoning” by Alex L

“The Collision” by Amanda Smith

“Home” by Tiffany Stewart

“Missing Maynard” by Stacy Lynn

“Where my Chase Ended” by K R Stanfield

“Mother's Intuition” by Amy Everette

“Unexplainable Conditions” by Cathy Bown

“Like a mouse in a trap” by Randy Juarez

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character whose intuition is always right — until one day it isn’t.

Write a story about a problem with no good solutions.

Write about a character learning to trust their intuition.

Your character makes a living faking psychic powers. One morning, they wake up with real ones.

Contest #127

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

220

Contest entries

135

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: