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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#206: Phobias

Have you ever had that nightmare where someone is chasing you, but you can’t scream or run away? It’s a pretty common (and terrifying) bad dream, and it always makes me wonder how I’d respond in a scary moment of crisis. 


Fight, flight, or freeze? You never really know what you’re going to get until you’re in that moment, staring down the object of your fear — whether that’s losing someone you love, getting stuck in an enclosed space, being surrounded by a massive crowd, or just finding a cockroach in your bathroom.


Fear is a powerful feeling to capture in writing, so this week, join me to study this lightning-bolt emotion as it illuminates the actions of your characters.

🥇 Winner

“Shameless” by Parul Shah

We stopped leaving the garage door open when we were cooking because I told my mom the police were saying criminals had been stealing equipment from garages. My dad was away on an engineering work contract in Dubai like half the Uncles I knew, so we kids were left to help our moms with everything from house maintenance to legal compliance. Back then there was no internet and overseas phone calls to Dubai were expensive, so there were a great many things left unreported to the dads. To compensate for this lack of communication, my mom and...

79 comments 79 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Devil is in the Details” by Victoria Shellady

I was sixteen years old when they found the six bodies underneath our living room floor. I’m not one to share personal details – mostly because I have a tendency to run my mouth and say too much – but I think about that night often. Usually as I’m just crawling into bed, in that time between hazy wakefulness and deep rest. Which, if I’m being honest, I’ve never been the greatest sleeper anyway. I’m at my most productive...

30 comments 30 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Despair is also a Thing with Feathers” by Angela Ginsburg

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of suicide and self harm which some readers may find confronting.“Hope” is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul -And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -And sore must be ...

27 comments 27 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Obsolescence ” by Ellen Neuborne

I moved the coffee pot back to its place three days in a row before Adam called me on it.“Erica, what is with the appliance musical chairs?”“That’s where the coffee pot belongs.”“That’s not an immutable truth.”Nothing was, apparently.I was cool when the kids nixed the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole for Thanksgiving dinner. I smiled and agreed to replace them with roasted cauliflower and shredded brussels sprouts. And thanked my lucky stars ...

30 comments 30 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Bourne” by RJ Holmquist

The BourneBOURNE: (noun) 1. a limit or boundary 2. a goal or destinationExcerpt from the personal log of Commander Alfred Livingstone Earth Year 2492—“I have always been afraid of death. The fear has driven me, kept me moving, forced me to explore. I have always felt that if I stop searching, stop pushing the boundaries, stop discovering, death will catch me.Earthside, death feels so near. The ground I walk o...

23 comments 23 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Peace: The Soldier’s Dream” by Jia Lee

My older brother Dalton had a set of rules I needed to follow so that he could live in peace.  I was not to give him forks and knives. The only utensil he could use was a spoon, but it had to be a wooden one. He couldn’t handle metal objects. I was not to cook any dishes involving meat while he was around. He would throw up if he saw even a tiny piece of meat. I was not to leave him alone....

8 comments 8 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Character – 112 stories

Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Horror – 65 stories

Start your story with a character seeing something terrifying.

Horror – 55 stories

Write about a character in a situation where they have to be brave for someone else’s sake.

Character – 68 stories

Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Dark – 93 stories

Stories

“Shameless” by Parul Shah

We stopped leaving the garage door open when we were cooking because I told my mom the police were saying criminals had been stealing equipment from garages. My dad was away on an engineering work contract in Dubai like half the Uncles I knew, so we kids were left to help our moms with everything from house maintenance to legal compliance. Back then there was no internet and overseas phone calls to Dubai were expensive, so there were a great many things left unreported to the dads. To compensate for this lack of communication, my mom and...

79 comments 79 WINNER 🏆
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“The Belly of the Fish” by Kathleen Fine

Biting down forcefully on her lower lip, Dinah stepped the ball of her foot onto the cold, wet sand. The touch of the small grains under her feet for the first time in forty years made her catch her breath. She could feel the deep-seated memories trying to push their way out. Push their way, not out of her mind, but out of her heart.A seagull made a long call above her and she peeked up for the first time, trying to avoid the vast body of water in front of her. Focus on the bird. Focus on the bird. Squinting, sh...

36 comments 36
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“The Devil is in the Details” by Victoria Shellady

I was sixteen years old when they found the six bodies underneath our living room floor. I’m not one to share personal details – mostly because I have a tendency to run my mouth and say too much – but I think about that night often. Usually as I’m just crawling into bed, in that time between hazy wakefulness and deep rest. Which, if I’m being honest, I’ve never been the greatest sleeper anyway. I’m at my most productive...

30 comments 30 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Despair is also a Thing with Feathers” by Angela Ginsburg

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of suicide and self harm which some readers may find confronting.“Hope” is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul -And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -And sore must be ...

27 comments 27 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Care and Feeding of Monsters” by Delbert Griffith

Viya Sol looked around the mansion with distaste. She didn’t like being here, and she certainly didn’t like what she had heard about the monster who used to live here. Not that she put much credence in the old tales that some of the more senior members of the Lollipop Guild talked about. Those wizened relics of the past had many tales to tell, all the stories outrageous and all the events sounding just a little to...

40 comments 40
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“Fair Wages for a Job Well Done” by Michał Przywara

Content warning: spoilers for folk tales.The woods did not want them there. Dead leaves cracked beneath their feet and silent crows sat in judgement above. The wet reek of rotting autumn was falsely sweet, and the black mud clung to their clothes and dragged them down. The sun never reached the trails on even the brightest day, and when it set, the shadows choked the paths.Albrecht raised his torch high. The flickering orange teased the darkness and little more. It provided no warmth against the winds that promise...

46 comments 46
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“As Big as the Sky” by Aeris Walker

The mirror is no longer my friend. I can’t hide the grays, the lines, the weariness anymore–the signs that I am becoming what I always feared: old. I am not so shallow, so vain as to believe that without youth and beauty I am any less–if anything, I am more: stronger, wiser, braver. But you do not see me that way, and I can only hope someday you will. When you were young, my greatest fear ...

41 comments 41
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“The Croak Lizard Affair” by Howard Halsall

Aaaakk! Aaaakk!Wake up, Ricky! Huh! Angie, what’s—-?Shush, said Angie, fumbling for her bedside lamp. Didn’t you hear that? Hear what—-?Listen, Angie hissed, as her striped lampshade cast streaks of bright orange around their bedroom. Up there!Aaaakk! Aaaakk! croaked the lizard from its vantage point above the window.Don’t just lie there, she said, shoving her husband. Kill it!The startled creature cast a brief but dramatic shadow in the low angled light like a pantomime vi...

17 comments 17
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“Public Speaking... In Fuzzy Bedroom Slippers” by Mary Bendickson

Public Speaking...In Fuzzy Bedroom SlippersAnd the honor goes to...“Why? How? That's what I want to know. Who's great idea was it to make me the emcee.“I, I c-can't do it. I, I can't stand in front of a large room of people and, and t-talk. No way, no freakin' way. I w-would freak out. I, I w-would st-stumble all over the w-words. I, I w-would m-make a f-fool of myself. Who, who would want to listen to me. I c-can't w-write a speech. I, I'm not witty or f-funny. I'll only embarrass myse...

33 comments 33
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“Lucky Shot” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Lucky Shot may have been the sleaziest bar in Cocoa Beach, but Riley liked it. Bartenders poured drinks with a heavy hand, and on Friday nights, it was filled with Space Force cadets. Riley had been making eyes at one before a tall, clean-shaven man sat down alongside her. “You alone?” he asked. “I am now.” “I saw you earlier on the dance floor—with your friends.” “My friends have...

40 comments 40
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“Straitjacket” by Oskar Reiss

TW: Violence, mentions of suicidal thoughts, abuse and self-harmClick.   Krissi Yates pocketed the last of her equipment and squinted her eyes, the way a predator zeroes in on its prey. Oh, come on, she thought, her nervous gaze darting between her watch and the sanatorium door. Impatient, she stood herself at the entrance, which was one of corrugated iron; it was an almost baleful presence, and one that only chose to admit the most intrepid of investigators. Beware ye who ente...

3 comments 3
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“Her Other Sock” by Thom Brodkin

“There is nothing so lonely as an unmatched sock.”Thomas BrodkinWhen it comes to women, there is no one definition of beauty. Most would agree, however, if there were such a definition, it would not describe Lily.She stood just under six feet tall, had no figure to speak of, and her hair was almost the exact shade between blonde and brown, making it seem as if her hair had no defined color at all. To make matters worse, Lily’s voice had a smoker's raspiness, even thou...

12 comments 12
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“Show and Tell ” by Marty B

Tuesday is my day for drop off, and I was already running late when I rang the doorbell to pick up Janey. We needed to move fast so she could get to school on time, and I could make my 9 AM meeting. I am firm with her, I don’t want her to think she could slack off just because I don’t live with her anymore. And for me, being on time is important. Janey did not like rushing, and was not in a good mood when she climbed into the back seat. Her eyes went wide when I told her I was visiting her classroom later that day. She...

25 comments 25
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“Shimmering Silver” by Greydon Blight

And lo, it rained from the sky; ripples of blue echoed through the air akin to the early morning, as if the sun rent the veil of night. Terror enveloped me, but in wonderment that fear fast diminished. The stars of the night sky dulled in its presence as the horizon was engulfed by billowy white clouds, tinged with fiery wisps at their fringes. As the light faded and the celestial gift plummeted to earth, its descent accompanied by a shrill and discordant whistle, the ephemeral day drew to a close and yielded once more to the night. The s...

7 comments 7
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“Trinity” by Chris Miller

The thin hiss of a distant ocean rolled around the library’s barrel ceiling. I didn’t have long left to find her. We couldn’t miss our boat.  I walked past an iron staircase that corkscrewed through the floor and up to a level above. Would climbing to the upper levels offer me a better view of the library and increase my chances of finding her? The shelves of the upper levels were partially visible from...

28 comments 28
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$250

Prize money

393

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 14, 2023 EST

Won by Parul Shah 🏆

Title: Shameless

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.

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