Parallel Lives Challenge Winners

One small moment, two lives unfolding. In Parallel Lives, writers stepped into the in-between, the crossroads where a single decision can redraw everything. Some followed their characters into dreamlike symmetry, others into chaos, but each story revealed the haunting beauty of what might have been.

These winning pieces don’t just tell two tales; they show us how the same heartbeat can echo through different worlds.

🏆 Winners

Same Breath by Joey Raines

Joey Raines' story really gets under the skin in the best way. It feels like holding your breath and finally letting it out, like watching someone figure out how to forgive themselves right in front of you. Both lives overlap so quietly that when the relief finally comes, it’s almost a whisper, but it’s real.

Twin Paths by Theo James Taylor

Theo James Taylor captures what it feels like to live two lives at once in a way that’s both soft and deeply affecting. Both Kaias reach for what the other has, but the story stays gentle and full of care, like learning to hold your own hand. The ending stays with you, showing how the different parts of yourself don’t clash, they just shift and find balance.

The Birthday Door by Dagmar Goeschick

Dagmar's story hits hard with that quiet ache of wanting someone who’s always just out of reach. It’s haunting in the best way, every birthday you can feel that tangled love and loss, like you’re rooting for both girls at once.

The Wheel Spins by C. Rommial Butler

C. Rommial Butler's piece leaves behind a strangely hopeful ache, like holding every choice you’ve ever made all at once. Each life feels sharp and real, then slips into something bigger and looping. Even the smallest decision sticks with you, like it might echo forever.

Greener | by MA Snell

MA Snell leaves you with this strange feeling, like watching one version of yourself fade while another keeps going. There’s something haunting about how the other Allison slips out of sight but still cares. It’s quiet, eerie, and hard to shake.

🎖️ Runners-up

• Siamese by Kristen Keenon Fisher
• Gemınıuıɯǝ⅁ by John Cox
• The Painting by Meredith Harmon
• The One Who Stayed by Thadeus
• A Fractal of Confessions by Ariana GonBon
• Across The Merderet by Matthew Fromm
• Dreaming in Parallel by Sam Spinelli
• Uncivil mad Thoughts. by Novel Allen
• Ferry on a Dream by Thomas Speer
• The Garden Wall by Simon Curtis
• Forty Days by Steve Lance
• Hazel by Silver Daux
• Fractured Reflections by Paul Stewart
• Final Girl Gemini by Tyler C Clark (he/they)
• Apotropaic by Catsidhe

🏅 Honorable Mentions

• The Dominant Child by Raistlin Allen
• Knight & Day by David E. Perry
• The Lengths A Mother Would Go by Connie
• Three Weeks Until Forever by Ashley Lima
• Parallel Collision by Autumn Stew
• Two Paths Converge by Bobi Larson
• You Can Run by Sandy Gillman
• 818 by Esmoore Shurpit
• The Robot by Aura Starling
• Thin Line by Raine Fielder

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