Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

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.

This week's prompts

Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Dramatic – 109 stories

Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Horror – 63 stories

Start your story with a character seeing something terrifying.

Horror – 53 stories

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

Character – 61 stories

Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Dark – 87 stories

Stories

“He’s Coming Back” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #206

I met Janie in an off-campus dive bar. She was thirty-five looking twenty-seven in a short red dress. She thought I was twenty-seven. I was twenty. “What are you studying?” She asked, not pretending to touch the drink I bought her. “Business management.” I said. She didn’t care. I told her, “I gotta get going. Got an exam tomorrow.” She put a hand around my waist as I stood up and drew me towards her bar stool. “You’re kind of shy.” “A little.” I admitted. &...

Read story

“Echoed Voices” by Trish Collard

Submitted to Contest #206

In the quiet town of Willowbrook, there lived a young woman named Amelia. She had a bright smile and a zest for life, but there was something that haunted her—the vivid nightmares that plagued her sleep. From a young age, Amelia had experienced unsettling dreams that left her shaken and anxious. The nightmares were like unwelcome visitors that infiltrated her mind during the night, leaving her feeling exhausted and fearful during the day. She longed for peaceful slumber, but her subconscious seemed determined to torment her. Amelia's nig...

Read story

“Smell of Vanilla” by Ray Samber

Submitted to Contest #206

Run! Faster! Keep going. Just keep breathing. I don’t think I’m gonna make it! Maybe I should just fall down and let him get me. She can feel her heart racing, the wind blowing in her ears, her legs burning…, her hope fading. She trips on something, a rock, and ferociously scrambles to her feet, neurotically checking behind her for any sight of him. She’s only a couple blocks away from the house and she can’t see him; she starts to think she might make it. Suddenly a hand takes her by the hair and yanks her onto her back. He drags her with h...

Read story

“Chips Ahoy” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #206

CHIPS AHOY “Is not!” hissed six-year-old Hannah to her eight-year-old brother. “There is too! I read it on the internet. We’re camping right on the Ice Age Trail and look here.” Ethan held his tablet up for his sister to see. “Ice Age Trail Bigfoot Sightings” read the title of the YouTube video. Uncertainty clouded Hannah’s face. “There’s even one video that shows how Bigfoot,” Ethan leaned closer to his sister in the backseat of their parent’s car, “sneaks into the campground at night,” lowering his voice, eyes widening, “and kidn...

Read story

“No Thank you for your service” by Fredrick Neri

Submitted to Contest #206

This story contains references to child abuse in the various forms that is done to kids not old enough to be on this website. (At least legally.) “I couldn’t go to her house because I had work the next day.” “Well sorry Markkus, but everything happens for a reason.” “Easy for you to say you’re the one with another date next weekend!” “I’d say that’s a good reason… Thank-you Markkus.” “And that was the worst thing I heard since my mom cried about her husband leaving.” I lamented wiping the chimp-glass “I never bought into th...

Read story

“The Man with No Face” by Jonah Yuhas

Submitted to Contest #206

It’s rare to remember a nightmare, but the kind of nightmare that still slithers through your mind when you’re awake are the deadly ones. Detective Rogers handed me a cup of coffee “Please, Ms. Crotts tell us what happened to you on October 31st, 1971, when you bought the old house on Main Street.” My hands are shaking as I sip my bitter-sweet coffee “It was the worst night of my life.” &nbs...

Read story

“Glass Memories” by Anabeth Faley

Submitted to Contest #206

It happened again last night. Under his feet the sidewalk cracked, a long crevice to the horizon. Sun rays bounced off the shear glass of the building now leaning above his head and over the road. His foot wedged into the pavement gap. He was trapped. Sun glare pained his eyes, searing the retina. His optic nerve pounded and beat spasms into his brain. The building broke in half over him. Like a cluster bomb the glass blasted the pavement. One of his eardrums exploded. Sharp fragments sparkled and pelted down on him like stinging hail,...

Read story

“Pregnancy Craving” by Lunar Moon

Submitted to Contest #206

In the Neolithic period of the Mediterranean, on the north coast of the African continent along the sea, a 19 year old woman named Basha lived. She had one child and was pregnant with the second, although both fathers were gone, one died of infection from a broken leg, and the other never returned from a fishing voyage. She lived in a medium-sized community with about 100 other people. Their main trade was fishing, but they also grew wheat and even had some olive trees, and a storehouse was guarded by their local chief. Basha lived with...

Read story

“Josephine & The Snake” by Courtney Caruso

Submitted to Contest #206

In the treacherous landscape of the Wild West, there was a man known as The Snake, a gangster whose wickedness spread fear through the hearts of those who crossed his path. Born with a name long forgotten, he earned his infamous moniker through his cunning and venomous nature. With an eye patch covering his left eye, a constant reminder of a past shrouded in darkness, The Snake struck fear into the hearts of even the most hardened outlaws. The Snake's journey into a life of crime began as a young boy, growing up in a destitute mining to...

Read story

“Sophie” by Dan Foster

Submitted to Contest #206

Lisa returns from an evening stroll interrupted by rain and stumbles upon a line of fire ants carrying a copper cicada molt into the woods.She walks into the cabin longing for a bath and hears dull breathing coming from a sunless corner under the stairway, and resists the urge to walk away when their eyes meet. The trembling bone-thin shape limps back to her own dark room like a maimed flesh puppet holding a ragged, stuffed giraffe called Captain Rufus by its hind leg, dangling loosely from a thread. An object hangs from the creature's flaye...

Read story

“She Tries to Run Out ” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #206

Marcus Tomlinson judged the house to be at least a hundred years old. It was not likely to have had yard work done in living memory. Carly Whitby unlocked the front door. Marcus observed the curves of her cheap rhinestoned, black dressed, figure. She looked back and blushed at him. “I’m sorry, I meant to do this before our date but I had to get the kids back to my ex. He’s a psycho creep, and a pain in my ass if I’m late on the custody times.” The door opened to reveal an elderly woman b...

Read story

“Alektorophobia” by Josh Trosclair

Submitted to Contest #206

Its presence was hard to ignore as it crept its way into the bedroom. The old wooden flooring under it creaking with every step. I pulled the wool blanket up over my face in hopes to hide myself from the beast that had just entered. If I can’t see it then it can’t see me, right? At least that's what my mama taught me when I was a little girl. After a couple seconds, the floor stopped creaking. Did it see me? Did it leave? Was it even real? My mind raced. I slowly lowered the blanket so that only my eyes peered over it. The room was dar...

Read story

“Waiting in Vain” by Daniel Fore

Submitted to Contest #206

(Dedicated to the Spirit of Robert Nesta Marley) The onyx-shaded chapel towered to the heavens; the steeple silhouette eclipsed the nearest roadway and beyond. NewFoundBelief Church. Location: Hope Road. Their motto was “Change the way your mind thinks about Religion”. The phrase sang from every billboard within a twenty-mile radius. These folks were proud of their establishment, Bob thought. The church architecture mesmerized the mind. Business appeared lucrative. Bob paused to check for sweat stains under his cream Dune t-sh...

Read story

“Pretty Box with a Bow” by Michelle Brown

Submitted to Contest #206

In the beginning Nora found Joe was normal, pleasant even. An acceptable wage, manners one would learn from attentive listening to their mothers, and a smile people found charming. Marrying him was not much of a decision. It simply happened, and although she couldn't remember being excited for much more than the prospect of a new found respect from society, Nora was sure she was not indifferent to the pleasures Joe brought. Over the time of a month, the grandeur of the honeymoon phase had settled. Although, Nora had only felt the exci...

Read story

“Big Shop” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #206

“Daddy, I’m scared!” His words are shards of glass in my heart. They bring it home to me in a way nothing else can. I’ve lied to myself so many times in an attempt to convince myself that I am not scared, that I have risen above such things. The truth is I’m about as scared as it’s possible to be, and I can feel myself coming apart at seams I never knew I had, and my collapse into chaos terrifies me. I know that I could let go right now and there would be no coming back. That I would disintegrate into a million pieces and tho...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

373

Contest entries

130

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.

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

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢