You confront the monster you’ve spent many long years hunting. Except they’re not exactly what you thought they’d be…

Posted in Adventure on Sep 8, 2023

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✍️ 45 stories

“Another bite” by Héctor Zalik

Submitted to Contest #215

It appeared after a strong flash. An innocent baby still touched the skull. A Ouija board, many candles, a drop of blood, the eye of a calf, a common room. The three-legged monster with an elongated smile immediately knew that this kind of opportunity did not come often. Carelessly, someone had left a portal open to the earthly world and now, a little crawling human looked up at him from below with enormous curiosity. With smooth brown skin and large greenish eyes, the beautiful baby seemed interested in the tall ears and red eyes of the s...

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“The Curse of Elmaraen Woods” by Rado Randriamamonjy

Submitted to Contest #215

Ebonvale sat like a shimmering pearl on the edge of the churning Sirgus Sea. It was the booming hub of trade and commerce for the Central Kingdoms. It overflowed with riches. Its Swift Crest Pillars, which welcomed wary seafarers, were cast from pure gold, and towered like twin flames over the great Mist Harbor, such was the wealth of this land. But its opulence and ostensible good fortune belied a dark secret, one that was spoken of in hushed tones, and lurked deep in its forests.August Miles looked out on Ebonvale's shores from the deck of...

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“Wolf Water” by Lyric Monroe

Submitted to Contest #215

Alaris' footsteps crunch against the snow. She tried to even out the weight of her body with every step she took, but the bow and arrows she carried made it hard to walk silently. The council had limited rations again, and her sisters were starving. First, they had limited the townsfolks' water supply, only turning it on every few days, and then they had taken their food. She tries not to be bitter, but it was hard not to be when she heard council members throw lavish parties for their friends while people struggled to survive in the ...

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“What Lurks in Dreams” by Rose Winters

Submitted to Contest #215

What Lurks in Dreams Location: California Dream Institute Cal woke up flushed and clammy. And furious. He’d failed again to control his dream. “That was a bad nightmare.” Dr. Kline nodded to the erratic line graph that spiked like an earthquake reading. She pulled the electrodes from his forehead. “Did you catch that bad guy you’re always after?” “Not yet. Next time.” Her ruby lips parted into that delicious smile. His tortured dreams were almost worth the reward of her fingertips on his skin. “Your pulse is still high.” She ripped...

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“The Cozy Void” by Colby McHugh

Submitted to Contest #215

A deep rumble off in the distance interrupted Marlowe’s brutal rendition of “He’s So Vain” with a sour note. She already couldn’t sing a lick, but that didn’t bother Edie one bit. Edie was kind like that, just enjoyed listening to her soulmate’s voice, and still did after forty beautiful years together. The rhythmic rocking of their houseboat brought an ease to the sunset they were watching. About three and a half glasses of wine in, Edie in particular was feeling buzzy and relaxed. “Storm’s comin’,” Edie said as she kicked back in her sea...

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“Boomer” by Ken Cartisano

Submitted to Contest #215

“It was an accident, honest.” I said.My wife was dubious, of course, her arms across her bosom, tapping one itchy finger on her muscular forearm.“Honest!” I reiterated.“So you killed it?”“Uh—I don’t know. It fell from its perch and then crawled or dragged itself under the shop. Probably,” I added.She harrumphed and went somewhere else. This short exchange tells you more about women than it does about my character or marksmanship. The damned thing was threatening me, as much as it could from thirty feet away, so I leveled the gun in its’ gene...

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“The tower” by Eddie McKenzie

Submitted to Contest #215

The tower had become so overgrown with heavy, creeping vines that its original shape had become so thoroughly obscured it was a wonder that it could be recognized as a tower at all anymore. Time had not been kind to it, nor the area of its surrounds. There were ghosts of what had once been much loved garden in the gnarled roots and overgrown rose bushes with their thorns that seemed eternally seeking to draw blood, the hedges that were once a menagerie of fine topiary now stood as wild beasts in the growing gloom of nightfall. Unseen eyes, v...

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“Insomnia” by Musa Jafar

Submitted to Contest #215

Doctor, if memory serves me right, you once told me that you would help, that my case was no exception, that there was a high chance it could be cured, and that I would soon be able to return to normal life. In general, you have stated a lot of things with the inimitable aplomb inherent in your brethren. Now that I have seen the light and am able to distinguish black from white, your immature, untenable attempts to lull my consciousness, to put me into a trance, into a palliative, gullible, suspended animation, look like nothing more than an...

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“The Witch's Trial” by Rudy Senecal

Submitted to Contest #215

“T-Jack One Actual we have you on radar. Coming up on your right wing.” Colonel Allbarian, sat with hands clasped. His head hanging low and his thigh heavy with the weight of his sidearm. The only weapon he’d brought on this night. However, he wouldn’t be doing any of the fighting. Allbarian was far too old now for that kind of thing. Weak knees, a bad back, and (he hated to admit it) a growing gut were only a few signs that his days of door kicking and gunfighting were behind him. He held some resentment ...

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“A Wish Fulfilled” by Kathleen Spencer

Submitted to Contest #215

Thunder howled not from the dark cloudy sky, but from the gigantic, deformed catfish in the water beating and thrashing the cliffs with its human hands. Angry and tired, the six-foot monster cried with a human’s voice, “Why won’t you bring her back to me? I don’t deserve this. I have waited far too long. I need my wife. I am lost without her.” The large black rocks in response to the unhappy attacker did not reply. They had no power to overcome death. They were merely the guardians of the siren’s grave...

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“The Monstrous Truth” by Veronica Meadows

Submitted to Contest #215

I think most people could give a good description of their monster. Not me. I do not really know how to describe what my monster looks like, because they are not just one person. They were my friends. Or at least, I thought they were. But where I grew up, monsters hid among the congregation, and some of them stood behind the pulpit, claiming to be the mouthpiece of God Himself. I grew up in rural Iowa, in a small holiness pentacostal church. We thought we were special, chosen by God, the only ones who would be in Heaven. As a woman, I w...

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“Monstermommy Dearest” by Earthlynn Thibodeaux

Submitted to Contest #215

The scariest thing about this story is that it is a TRUE STORY....It was a week before Halloween, I was out shopping with my niece for costumes when I received a strange text. It was from my mom, saying to hurry to get to the emergency room because my sister Terri had a collapsed lung and pneumonia. I called my dad, and he said to hurry home, my sister and my mother "need my help because Traci may not make it out of the ER!"We threw our future purchases back on the rack and ran out of the store to get home. My niece was crying and asking why...

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“THE BEST LAID PLANS...” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #215

THE BEST LAID PLANS... The two men watched as the bus approached in the darkness. The only passenger to alight walked slowly, head down, towards his home, a modest, single storey house. One of the car’s occupants snapped away with his camera as the bespectacled man, unaware of being observed, entered his dwelling. An hour later, at another house closer to the city, four men and a woman gathered to inspect the photographs they had developed. Along with those taken on that suburban thoroughfare, were several others captured by other memb...

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“The Butcher of Yimi” by Jermaine Packer

Submitted to Contest #215

3 years ago, I was a doctor. I absolutely loved every bit of it. Everyone in the town came to my practice. I admit, it wasn’t a very big town. So compared to top doctors in those enormous cities, I would have a significant amount less than them. But still, I had an ample amount of patients come thru. And I can brag that they loved me so much that no one opted for the big city for any procedure. My office stayed rumbling with the sounds of the townsfolk. If a baby was due to be born, I was the OB-GYN and the Pediatrician. I was the cardiologi...

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“Wyvern” by Sam Beckard

Submitted to Contest #215

Wyvern anointed himself with the ceremonial oils and stepped into the sauna's heat. Today was his nineteenth birthday, a day of ritual, a day to face his future. More importantly, it was the day he could finally set off and fulfill his duty, something he had been preparing for his entire life. The sauna was a ceremonial ritual, representing being forged anew and crossing that ever-perilous border between boy and man. Wyvern sat down and meditated in the heat, trying to calm his thoughts. He was about to set off on the most important journey...

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You confront the monster you’ve spent many long years hunting. Except they’re not exactly what you thought they’d be…

Submissions are closed

✍️ 45 stories

“Another bite” by Héctor Zalik

“The Curse of Elmaraen Woods” by Rado Randriamamonjy

“Wolf Water” by Lyric Monroe

“What Lurks in Dreams” by Rose Winters

“The Cozy Void” by Colby McHugh

“Boomer” by Ken Cartisano

“The tower” by Eddie McKenzie

“Insomnia” by Musa Jafar

“The Witch's Trial” by Rudy Senecal

“A Wish Fulfilled” by Kathleen Spencer

“The Monstrous Truth” by Veronica Meadows

“Monstermommy Dearest” by Earthlynn Thibodeaux

“THE BEST LAID PLANS...” by Charles Corkery

“The Butcher of Yimi” by Jermaine Packer

“Wyvern” by Sam Beckard

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone trying to resist their darker impulses. Whether they succeed or fail is up to you.

Set your story in a haunted house.

Write a story about a monster trying to become more human. Or about a human trying to become more monstrous.

Write a story about someone making a deal with the devil.

Contest #215

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

387

Contest entries

135

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: