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#325 It Could Just Be the Wind… with The Book Belle

This week, we're running a takeover in collaboration with Lucy Richardson, a.k.a. The Book Belle! This contest’s winner will not only be awarded $250 — they’ll also receive personal feedback from Lucy herself! Here's what she has to say about her takeover:

Hello, writers!

I’m Lucy Richardson (@bookbellereads), a fantasy author and publicity director working in the publishing industry. I’ve been capturing my thoughts on all things books, publishing, and writing over on my YouTube channel, The Book Belle, since 2013. Also, as an agented writer, I’ve been documenting my journey to publishing my debut novel since 2023.

I’m a huge reader and love all things dark, gothic, and dramatic — I’m especially partial to fiction that explores liminal spaces and the boundaries between life and death, fiction and reality, and rationality and spirituality, which leads me to this week’s contest theme and prompts! “It Could Just Be The Wind…” plays on the ambiguity and uncertainty of whether a paranormal or not-of-this-world event actually happened (or whether it’s just all in a character’s head!). To me, the line between the supernatural and the psychological is where true horror lies.

Good luck, and I can’t wait to see what you write!

Special Update: The Results 🏆

Lucy's top pick for her takeover was "Dust" by Firyal Quraishi Paladini. Here's what Lucy had to say about it:

I was really struck by how unique this story felt — it lingered in my mind long after I finished reading it. The recurring figure of the half-shot rabbit is such a powerful motif, probing at the boundary between the real and the uncanny. I especially loved the jarring time-jump toward the end. That abrupt leap unsettles the reader (in the best way), leaving us scrambling to piece together what must have happened to the protagonist and her sister in the intervening years. The tone of voice is confident and compelling, and I loved the atmosphere created from the very first sentence. It left me unsettled, curious, a little haunted… in exactly the way a great story should!

Congratulations to contest winner Firyal Quraishi Paladini and the runners-up, Christopher C and Ashley Donnell!

This week's prompts

Center your story around a character who can’t tell the difference between their dreams and reality.

Dramatic – 95 stories

Start your story with the sensation of a breeze brushing against someone’s skin.

Short Story – 82 stories

Your character sees something unfamiliar out of the corner of their eye. What happens next?

Horror – 30 stories

End your story in a way that leaves the reader with a sense of uncertainty or doubt.

Short Story – 82 stories

Write a story that includes the line “Did anyone else see that?” or "Who’s there?”

Short Story – 56 stories

Stories

The Passenger Seat

Jim LaFleur

Submitted to Contest #325

Something was sitting in the passenger seat when I drove past the streetlight.I didn’t see it straight on—just a shape, like someone ducking their head in a hoodie.But when I turned, the seat was empty, and I was already doing seventy.My hands stayed steady on the wheel. Three years of driving nights, you learn not to jerk the car every time shadows play tricks. The Camry’s dashboard glowed green against the dark stretch of Route 37, that dead zone between Mechanicsburg and nowhere. No cell towers. No houses. Just trees pressing close to the...

24 likes

The Stare

Submitted to Contest #325

The unwritten rule on the NYC subways is simple; For god sakes- Don’t make eye contact with those on the train! While everyone else was trying their NY best to ignore one another- There was one passenger that was dressed to the nines, and seemed adamant about breaking that rule. He glanced over and tried to make eye contact with each person on the train. Noticing his validation seeking intentions, I rolled my eyes and ignored him. I had no patience for such a bushy tailed tourist at this hour. ANY HOUR. As I sat across from this creep, there...

24 likes

Whispers in the Wind

Submitted to Contest #325

A breeze brushed against his cheek, soft as breath, and Micah stirred beneath the thin blanket. He blinked into the dark, his eyes adjusting to the pale cut of moonlight slipping through the blinds. The room smelled of old pine and dust—the kind of silence that had weight to it. The retreat center was still, save for the quiet creak of aging beams and the distant hum of cicadas outside. Then—that feeling again. A presence. “Micah…” He jolted upright. He turned toward the door. Nothing. Just moonlight pooling on the floor like spilled silver....

23 likes

It could just be the wind...

Zoe Dixon

Submitted to Contest #325

So, this is it. The end. I looked up at the house, and it couldn’t be any creepier. My aunt had always been an eccentric old kook, and this place fit her perfectly. The mansion loomed like something stolen from The Addams Family, its towers leaning down as though judging my worth before I even set foot inside.On the right, a glass structure clung to the house — a greenhouse, maybe? Hard to tell through the grime and ivy. Whatever it was, it was mine now.The wind shifted, a cold push at my back, urging me forward. I shivered. It felt less lik...

22 likes

Cross Over

Submitted to Contest #325

Coming off the sea, the breeze is restless, but not unpleasant. Savouring its feel, I taste the salt and fear that it carries. Somewhere beneath the tide, I almost hear children laughing – or maybe it’s only the wind rehearsing old sounds. If I could, I’d roll back time like a beach mat and start over. Here, all I can do is make the most of the golden hour, and October’s latent warmth before winter claws its way back in. Apart from the odd straggler, the beach is deserted in the deepening light. I’m rarely drawn this way and hope my wait won...

20 likes

Silly Girl

Submitted to Contest #325

Pet wheels the trolley. It’s what she does. It’s not everything she does, but the patients follow a Pavlovian instinct to open their mouths and swallow their pills when Pet comes rattling through.She is thirty but she looks fifty. When she is fifty, she will carry on looking fifty until she dies. Some people are just like that. Born to middle-age.Pet is devoted to religion, but there is no evidence that religion is devoted to her. There is no room in her head for allegory, and so she sucks up the contradictions through a single straw. She do...

20 likes

Loving

Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #325

Loving“No, that’s not what I mean. No, no… I mean that I love them. I’ve beenso lucky to have been able to have someone to love so much.”-Bessie (Diane Keaton); Marvin’s Room “Let’s hit the bars, Henry. The ladies are waiting.”“You go, Jack. I’m tired of trolling for women at the bars and clubs. I want a more meaningful relationship.”“The girls I meet at the bars hold a lot of meaning for me. A man has his needs, you know.”“No, I’m good here tonight.”“Your loss, Henry. I’m feeling lucky tonight.”“You always feel lucky.”“You’re not going to f...

19 likes

All My Dog's Fault

H.M. Ridge

Submitted to Contest #325

You want a scarf? This wind is numbing icy.Here. Bundle up against the frigid gale. No? Suit yourself, though choice seems rather dicey. I guess you’re young. Perhaps you’re not so frail. Andre? Oh, yes. He’s friendly. Most labs are. Care to join us and saunter ‘bout a spell?We’re wandering around the creek, not far. This breeze reminds me ‘bout my darling belle. I always tell the tale of meeting same:It was all my dog’s fault; I’m not to blame. I’d been quite happy single, living ‘lone. It was Andre’s idea to find a bride.He slipped his ...

19 likes

Her Remains

Submitted to Contest #325

Hey. Your phone is buzzing.“I’m asleep.”Wake up, Isla. It might be important.“No. Go away.”You should answer it.“You’re not there.”Nice try. You answered me, right? So answer the phone.“You . . . are . . . not . . . there.”C’mon. Remember that game we played on our wedding night?“What? Wait . . . what?”Here we are at the Honeymoon Arcade. Look at that, your arm’s a toy-claw and you’re going after the biggest prize . . .“Oh my . . . stop!”Find the phone, pick up the phone and answer the phone.“I know you’re not real. You’re not there.”Oh? And...

18 likes

Last Stop Before Morning

Mary Butler

Submitted to Contest #325

When Mick woke up, the bus had changed drivers again.The fluorescent lights overhead stuttered their familiar seizure, casting everything in that particular shade of public-transit yellow that made healthy people look tubercular. His mouth tasted of copper pennies and yesterday's coffee. The seat beneath him groaned with that specific vinyl complaint that belonged to every city bus since 1982.Christ, how long was I out?He rubbed his eyes hard enough to see phosphenes bloom behind his lids. Through the smeared window, streetlights blurred pas...

18 likes

Chapel of Crows

M B

Submitted to Contest #325

The letter had said to meet at the chapel in the woods. At first he had thought to burn it and think nothing of it, but the details within had stayed his hand: Phrases known only in certain circles that caught his eye. Whoever this was knew about his old family business - the business of banditry... the life he had sworn off. Let my family hang themselves with the nooses they wove, he thought. Sooner or later the hangman would find them, or the crossbow bolts of the caravan guards. They were dead to him, and he to them. So why had this l...

18 likes

2:13

Submitted to Contest #325

In the darkness just before sunup, Patrick heard someone breathe his name. For a moment she was there again. Stillness gathered, thick and close. Years had passed since that night, yet the house remembered. Cold and waiting, it seemed to lean inward as if listening too. Pine walls rose close around him, boards marked by years of smoke and winter. The ceiling cracked when the cold settled. Through the small window, cottonwoods lined the ridge, their branches drawn white against the sky. Everything Lynn had chosen still stood. Everything that ...

18 likes

A Waltz with Ghosts

Submitted to Contest #325

I was never one who had faith in the existence of ghosts. Even now, having borne witness to what lurks in the shadows, I find myself inexplicably torn between the truth and the makings of a madwoman. Although time, ever-present and stealing, has altered the smallest of details, what I saw that night still flits about like a flame in the wind; always dancing, but never strong enough to extinguish. It began, as most tragedies do, on a day of the most prosaic character. All those years ago, John and Maggie Hale lived in a modest manor on the ed...

17 likes

The Entry Point

Submitted to Contest #325

I lie on the bed as if fastened by a psych ward’s canvas strap. Only—I am free to move, and the sheet I tucked into the crook of my neck for comfort has abandoned me.It’s the hammering in my chest I recognize first. As strong as the final sprint to the marathon’s finish line, my heart fists against my ribs. I gulp for air, heaving, pleading for each breath to fill me, but everything pushed in is forced out just as quickly. I can’t get in enough.My eyes open, and nothing changes. Open or closed, the darkness is complete, total, smothering.My ...

16 likes

The Knight, Death and The Devil

Submitted to Contest #325

The cool breeze brushes up against the skin of my cleanly shaven face. It is a beautiful morning, and if you know how to hate just one person I can teach you how to hate the millions. I ride my pale horse through the valley, sharpened sword at my side. My faithful hound Marcus keeps pace, ever ready for the next slaughter, as am I. We are both proud soldiers of the Fatherland. Stolza Deutsche Soldaten. I wear the goat horns and I bring the flame. I bring death by the bullet or the blade or the rope. I am all of these things. I wear the SS li...

16 likes

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Contest #325

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

345

Entries

137

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 24, 2025 EST

Won by Firyal Quraishi 🏆

Title: Dust

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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