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#152 Miracles and Oracles

We have little control over what happens to us, though there’s nothing more human than trying to micro-manage what will come next. This week, I want us to think about both the expected, and the unexpected; times when life throws positive twists at us — miracles, some might call them — or times when we try to predict those turns, for better or worse.

🥇 Winner

Foretold in Smoke

Winner of Weekly Contest #152 🏆

Content Warning: Mild foul languageMarie S. 5/5 Stars Vivienne is incredible! My life has completely changed since my visit. It’s like a light came on and she’s somehow unlocked all this hidden potential. She’s the best, seriously just go. Call today!Bradley J. 5/5Worth every penny. Highly recommend.Kevin R. 5/5 StarsI never thought I’d come to a place like this, but when I was at an all-time low, I just needed someone to tell me if life was worth sticking around for. I wanted to know if it ever got better. Vivienne made me believe that it w...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

This week's prompts

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

– 44 stories

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

– 36 stories

Write about a character whose life changes for the better.

– 47 stories

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

– 65 stories

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

– 41 stories

Stories

The Angels Kissed Her Heart

Weekly Contest #152

She awoke to angels kissing her heart. A flutter of eyes, the peck of soft lips, a skip of a beat. Flutter, peck, skip. It sounded like a rhythm. A bird’s rhythm, perhaps. The birds outside Mila’s window didn’t have rhythm. They went about their lives, thinking bird thoughts, doing bird things. Nothing outside Mila’s window had rhythm, except the wind. Because even here, even now, even in the lone dessert, the barren oceans of nothingness that was this place called California, the wind came from Colombia. Mila felt it rattling through he...

16 likes 10 comments 10
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Decalogue for your next travel to South America

Weekly Contest #152

It all began when, after 10 years of living in the U.S. I took a trip back to my hometown. As usual, LAX was packed, flights were delayed, too many announcements, and irritable; I was starving. For sure, the most stupid way to start my journey. The check-in line was long; the elderly couple behind me had a hard time, so I helped them get their luggage to the counter. The woman behind me said “Thank you!” and handed me a small card with the image of an angel. I took it and put it in my wallet, not knowing what it meant.“Good morning, welcome ...

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The Tree

Weekly Contest #152

The physician pulled the drapery to the doorway and glanced into the room to the bed where the young girl was laying with the covers pulled up to her neck. He met the dark brown eyes, shaped into a plea. From the door he noted the droplets of sweat streaming down her brow and the deathly-pale complexion of her face and hands. He saw the rags with circles of red on the nearby table. The doctor released the drapeIt is schachepheth. The white plagueHow can you diagnose her from the door? Go in and treat herI cannot go in We are paying you for t...

16 likes 3 comments 3
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Delphie

Weekly Contest #152

Beep Beep Beep Beep!Delphie slowly peeled her eyes open despite the incessant noise coming from that spanking new digital alarm clock, her sight adjusted in the near pitch dark room and with a mixture of disgust and pride she glanced at the time: 5:00 am.This was the sacred time of rising for success she assured herself, any entrepreneur worth their salt or high powered CEO did the same and reaped the rewards and so would Delphie, she would take the business of fortune telling to new heights and make a fortune unlike the rest of her ancestor...

15 likes 4 comments 4
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Cause and Effect

Weekly Contest #152

           “Come in! Come in!” the middle-aged man called out as the young family entered the doors of “Miraculous Inception,” a company that offers miracles to those who qualify.            Hans Gruber, the salesman, asked them to have a seat upon a comfortable navy-colored sofa, while he took a seat in a matching chair opposite the family.            “What miracles can we perf...

15 likes 6 comments 6
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The Miracle At Bondi Junction

Weekly Contest #152

We had been kicked out of our Airbnb. A tiny guest house behind a real house about a half mile from Bondi Beach. After Australia’s lockdowns were lifted, rentals were tight in the city. Another more desirable tenant had replaced us.Lately I had also begun to wonder if, instead of being here on the other side of the world, we should be in Brooklyn visiting my daughter in university, but the immediate concern at that moment was the day’s move to our new place of shelter.Two large suitcases stood next to us as we waited on the main street of Bo...

15 likes 8 comments 8
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Intuition

Weekly Contest #152

Today it was a broken railing that caught and grabbed her attention. Most days it was roadkill. The grotesque bodies of whatever animals had been foolish enough to venture into the road. It always made her stomach do little flips. Her nose would fill with the smell of death, even though she knew that was impossible. There was no way the smell could reach her in here. She’d picture what the animal had looked like before, as if that would make it any less dead, any less mangled. Then she’d curse humanity for inventing such a destructive force ...

15 likes 15 comments 15
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Asimov's Madness

Weekly Contest #152

Many years ago the oracle at Fadelfea made a prophecy. The artificial intelligence there analyzed a collection of badly damaged artifacts found during construction at the station. The oracle then broadcast a single short message before going silent: When the skies are streaked with fire, beware creatures which swarmed like ants upon the earth, for madness follows. Having no supporting evidence to substantiate or interpret the oracle’s obtuse claim, the system filed the message with no consequence. *** I was with the rabbits when I saw th...

15 likes 9 comments 9
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First Time Fortune Teller

Weekly Contest #152

Hands shaking, she smoothed and folded the velvet bag, then opened the drawer to assure everything was ready. Murmurs from behind the curtain stirred Frieda’s regurgitating fear. Breathing in courage, she stood and caught the globe before it rolled off the table. Calm down.  Spirits flashed and spun around The Client’s aura, a tie-dyed blue, purple and white. Mouth tight with a small nod, his triceps flexed under a black hoodie as he pushed the heavy drapery aside to enter the small room.  His guides came. A worthy reading, but...

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The Miraculous Fish

Weekly Contest #152

I died. For real. It wasn’t my first time. Like many others from the village, the Shaman brought me back to continue my life. He told us we had a purpose. No one gets sick here. They only die when their ancestors call them. That is how it’s always been. People from everywhere came to Shaman for healing. He even made house calls. We took his presence for granted. It was typical. People thrived. He told me, “You were asleep, Cricket.” “But this was not ordinary sleep…” Shaman nodded and continued hanging forest herbs to dry. I watched as he ...

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The Fortune Teller

Weekly Contest #152

Mr. Leery’s hot dog stand greeted the visitors of Chameleon’s Circus with the mouth-watering smell of hot dogs and the eye-catching and colorful disarray of a dozen flags, all hung haphazardly along the cart. Mr. Leery was as colorful as his props, with a dazzling shock of white hair, mismatched socks, a protruding belly, and parachute pants that looked as though they might carry him away. Beyond him, Madam Cyris’ Fortune Telling Tent lay closed against the summer heat, occupied by Madame Cyris herself and one paying guest. I watched as the ...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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The Woman Who Could Find Anything

Weekly Contest #152

So you’re probably wondering, who is that woman?  Well, that woman is my mother.  And as of last month, she is still my mother, but just not in that body anymore.  All the systems that had kept her alive for 92 years conspired together to decide it was time to call it quits.  And she was ready for that; well, as much as anyone feels prepared.  As she lay in her hospital bed I sensed her fear, but also her knowledge that this was going to be an exit.  It never is quite like you imagine it, I’m sure of that. One...

14 likes 6 comments 6
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Free Will

Weekly Contest #152

Free Will Prologue In a verdant garden at the oxbow of the River Styx, Spanish viridian green ferns wave at the breeze. Saffron colored umbrellas dot the landscape, like a Christo installation in Monet’s garden. In a far corner, a squat woman stands by a bench, slowly licking a triple decker dripping ice cream cone. Her face is ancient and wears a permanent amused scowl. She has the grace of movement of a former dancer but clearly doesn’t do that much anymore. Her hair, red gone graying in that way it does, is pi...

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What You Seek Is Seeking You

Weekly Contest #152

Three realms lived at the top of the Wonnak mountain: the Realm of the Sun, the Realm of the Deads and the Realm of the Moon. Crown Prince Amedeo sought the help of the first one. Even though as a human he was forbidden the entrance to this land, he dared to climb the mountain. He did not want to harm anyone or to see the Queen. He had to see one person. He heard that this woman could have answers to questions he did not he was asking.  After what seemed to be hours of walking, Amedeo saw a small house in the middle of the forest. An...

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Fighting an Impossible Fight

Weekly Contest #152

TW: Swearing and gore. Danielle had fought monsters before. Compared to the giant beast before her the rest were harmless flies.             “I guess this is how I’ll die,” the knight said to herself. She inhaled deeply.             Blood rained from the red sky. The breeze from the monster’s mighty wings flapping chilled her bones. Scorpion legs that could carry a castle scuttled towards her.     &nbs...

14 likes 17 comments 17
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