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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Center your story around a childhood fear that – as much as you try to shake it – still resonates in adulthood.

Posted in Angst on Oct 25, 2024

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✍️ 92 stories

“My Good Aunt” by Maria Wickens

Submitted to Contest #274

My Good Aunt Trigger warning: Mental Health / Children's death Rooms full of medical equipment, are the only things left in the labyrinth of decaying structures. The faint smell of hospital food lingers in the kitchens where 100,000s of meals were prepared over the decades…The hospital where my mother resided throughout my childhood is under demolition. I learn this from a website article and it includes a virtual tour of the old hospital. I double dare myself to double click. But that mention of the smell of hospital food, lightly beaten wi...

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“In the Shadow of Salome” by HezeKiah Wilcox

Submitted to Contest #274

The clock ticked steadily, each second resonating through the dim room like the beat of a funeral march. Salome sat on her unmade bed, shoulders slumped, her gaze fixated on the peeling wallpaper that had once worn a cheerful shade of baby blue. Now, it had dulled to a murky gray, a haunting reminder of the neglect that had seeped into every corner of her life. At twenty-seven, she felt like a ghost in her own existence, adrift in an ocean of unfulfilled dreams and simmering despair. Beneath the soft, yellow glow of her bedside lamp, her chi...

4 comments 4
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“Currents” by Brontë Schiltz

Submitted to Contest #274

NOTE: this story contains mention of harm to children. Crouching over a cardboard box in the loft of her childhood home, Georgia feels the old terror seeping through her organs, pooling in the joints of her fingers and the space between her ribs. Her memories of childhood are scant, and her mind holds those that it has retained at a remove. She vaguely recalls once being lost in Ikea, but she recalls it as if she had been a bystander, seeing herself hiding under a bed and her parents calling her name and choosing to say nothing. What she rem...

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“They Are Out There” by Edward J. McCoul

Submitted to Contest #274

“They Are Out There!” By Edward J. McCoul They say childhood fears are like seeds buried deep, sprouting only when you least expect it. For me, the seed was planted when I was young, a child too small to fully understand yet big enough to imagine the unimaginable. I was a boy of eight, sitting in a dark theater, my father beside me as the screen flickered to life. The air buzzed with anticipation, but I was already nervous, my stomach tight with the kind of dread that only children know. War of the Worlds came first. As I watched those metal...

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“Monsters Under the Bed” by S.M. Sykes

Submitted to Contest #274

I sit down with my daughter to quell her fears. She ran out of her room tonight screaming about monsters under her bed. She’s had this fear ever since we moved into the new house, six months ago. Ava is 7 and has never had a fear of anything. Her mother and I have chalked it up to the move: new house, new school. Maybe one of her school friends has this fear and has told Ava about it. Either way, I settle her down and tell her about a fear I had as a child. “When I was little, my mother and I moved around quite a bit. I became scared of the ...

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“Reflection” by Hannelore VdC

Submitted to Contest #274

She had made a mistake. A big one. Massive. Gargantuan?Lora shook her head and smiled, knowing very well that she was trying to cheer herself up by taking things out of proportion. Still, it might have been a bit of a mistake.She remembered the day well when she decided to pack things up and move to the countryside. That day, again, she had been overlooked for a promotion. Why? She had no idea. Her managers had never said more than that they believed person x or y was better suited for the job. Never any clues as to what made them better. Ne...

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“The Unheard” by Carolyn O'B

Submitted to Contest #274

     My friend, Baily, and I had just completed a haunted hayride and were walking toward my car when a clean-cut teenager approached us. He asked if we would be interested in checking out the haunted house he and his buddies created. It would be free of charge; his only request was that we spread the word if we thought it was any good.          “Hell yeah,” I said. The hayride got my blood pumping, and I was ready for more frightening fun. Baily was just as energized as I...

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“Between Dusk and Dawn” by Teresa Coss

Submitted to Contest #274

The doctors called it ALS in January 2021. Chris stood there, all 6'2" of him, those blue eyes steady as he listened to the diagnosis. He never wanted to be a victim. 'Well,' he'd say, managing that smile I loved, 'at least now I can definitely haunt you. Nothing could keep me away.' Those first few months, he faced it like everything else in life - with stubborn determination and dark humor. He'd been a meat cutter for twenty years, his strong hands precise and steady with a blade. But he was so much more - a talented chef who could create ...

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“The Crown Chakra ” by Eden Penfold

Submitted to Contest #274

“So, what brings you here today?” she began, one leg folded neatly over the other, black marble notebook perched carefully on her knee. I couldn’t help but analyse her choice; that notebook was both boring and trying too hard to be inconspicuous. Every other item in the room was carefully curated, so its attempt to be unremarkable only made it stick out more. A blunt reminder that when things were put down on paper, they always felt a little more real. “I have this… fear.” I twisted my fingers inside my frayed strands anxiously, like I was ...

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“The gift” by Atan Solp

Submitted to Contest #274

CW: This story contains themes or mentions of childhood abuse, sexual abuse, physical violence, and trauma.“Dear Olivia, happy birthday! This is for you! Open the box!” Carl said with a big, bright smile.He came closer, winking, and handed his present to Olivia. Carl’s lips trembled in a smile, and Olivia knew that something was wrong. The man had always behaved strangely. But he never gave gifts to anyone, it was something like his principle.“What’s the catch, Carl?” Olivia asked.But he didn’t seem to be at all embarrassed. Man smiled as ea...

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“It was never there.......then.” by Margaret Renshaw

Submitted to Contest #274

Having a bath was a bit of a performance. There was no bathroom. The toilet was in an outside falling down shed. You wiped your bum on newspaper. This was the 50s after all. No shower of course, they weren't invented until the 80s or something, and until then you made to with a rubber hose attached to the bath taps. Anyway, enough of the history of bathrooms.....back to 'having a bath'.The kitchen contained something, which a first glance, looked like a biggish box with a worktop attached to the wall. Ingeniously, whenever a bath was called ...

3 comments 3
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“I Saw a Star” by Nicholas Greene

Submitted to Contest #274

When he was eight years old, Sam watched a movie he wasn’t supposed to see. He still remembers the details vividly, even if he can’t remember the movie’s title. The scene was etched into his mind like a memory he couldn’t shake, a memory that resurfaced at odd times, years later, when he’d least expect it. It wasn’t a scary movie, not exactly, but there was something chilling about what he’d seen—a popular TV actor, a kid only a few years older than Sam himself, drowning on screen in a way that felt disturbingly real. He’d been watching it o...

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“The Shimmery Translucent Steps” by Katherine Walker

Submitted to Contest #274

The foot traffic in the mall was heavy with the holidays right around the corner. Santa’s Coming to Town could be heard through the mall speakers. Store windows were frosted with snowflakes to highlight suitable presents for under trees. Sara assuredly strolled past the clothing, jewelry, and shoe stores while swinging her purchases with each step. The remainder of this shopping trip was all about books now. And the store she wanted was on the lower level.Sara ticked off gift ideas in her head while she strolled along the concourse. Occasion...

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“A Minty Whiff on a Yellow Wave ” by Shameema Binte Rahman

Submitted to Contest #274

"But close friends?! Like, a friend I can tell anything without feeling ashamed or inferior? No, I don't have such a one.” Back home in my Water Lily Land, my father had many friends. They used to come to our house, hang out for a long time, and talk about many things. I didn’t understand the subject of topics, they were just words and sounds to me, but I can now remember their curved bodies trilling with laughter. They liked to drink a lot of tea. Their faces were always bright like happy cats, cheerful like blue periwinkles. My mother...

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“Perfect timing” by Paul Simpkin

Submitted to Contest #274

Dear Uncle Colin, I am sitting here in a branch of my favourite coffee shop with three hours to fill in before the interview so I thought I would drop you a quick letter. It is funny to think that you are the only person that I send letters to nowadays. With all my other friends and relatives I usually communicate by email or what’s app but I know that for obvious reasons you prefer letters. Letters are more special, aren’t they? When you sit down to put your thoughts on paper it means that you care about the person you are writing to and yo...

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