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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.

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

“Brave for Another” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #206

Brave For Another I’m a professional rodeo rider. It was a career path that I knew would be mine from when I was a child. I grew up on a farm with bulls and horses, and I went to rodeos early on in my life. One of my uncles was a rodeo rider, and I can say that he was early on a hero of mine. I wanted to be just like him. When anyone asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, I always said ‘rodeo rider’. There was never any doubt in my mind that that was what I wanted to do with my life. I fell in love w...

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“Hang the Witch” by Keira Dyer

Submitted to Contest #206

The day that the witch was meant to hang, a black cat darted across the road in front of Verity Adams’ window. Verity watched it go, hurrying across the lane and disappearing beneath her window as if it knew how cursed and unwanted it was in this town. It looked like an average black cat — like two bright green eyes in a cat-shaped void — but she knew it would be a grim reminder of what had been on the townspeople’s minds for the longest time: witches. Salem had been swept up, among other towns, in a full-blown witch hunt. Feuding ne...

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“King Cotton (and Fear)” by Bruce Friedman

Submitted to Contest #206

Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, was sitting quietly in his office in the Custom House in Richmond. It was February, 1862, and he had taken the oath of office a year earlier in Montgomery. The capital had previously been located there but the decision had been made to move to Richmond the previous May. It was a vital city for the manufacture of weapons and other war supplies and also served as the terminus for five railroads. Richmond would thus have been defended to the last man so it was deemed to be a logical place fo...

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“The Last Generation. ” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #206

Jackson Lidgefield was bravely arrested today. As the local police hauled him and his friends away, he hoped his father would bail him again. "Bailed and adjourned, don't waste my neurons!" That is all he had to say to the expectant media journalists. He had pre-alerted to the student protest this day. It had been that time of a Friday for Jackson and his coterie of protesters. They had walked away from their elitist secondary college classrooms. Changing into their trending ripped designer jeans, they had defied the authorities of their al...

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“Learning to Mountaineer” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #206

He was jumpy. I was a mousetrap, about to snap on myself in total fatalistic defeat if I looked at the big picture. I wanted only to think of what was immediately necessary. Darkness took over. I was cold and the air felt moist on my stinging cheeks. I told him we should cool our pace, be methodical.We had wanted to touch the sky, to feel alive, to hang off the side of a mountain and feel our sphincters clench in thrilling terror, and to smile in cool, blue sunshine. We did these things. We made the summit, contrary to everyone’s expectation...

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“Locked” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #206

**Caution: Curses Ahead, as well as implied malice (severity imagination dependent)**“Jesus fuck…” she thought, as she wrestled with the rusted lock on the oversized metal door. “Can’t they get a new lock? Would that be so terribly difficult?” Dana thought as she jammed the key into the hole. A dim light the color of sulfur struggled to shine above her. With a click and a clink, she managed to tug the lock open. She pulled it from the chains that wrapped through the door handles, pushing them aside. Her fingers had a light dust...

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“Stepping onto the Skywalk” by Paul Besancon

Submitted to Contest #206

The taste of vinegar soiled the roof of Jade’s dry mouth. No amount of tongue smacking would moisten her cracked lips. The harsh, Arizona desert heat wafted in from the open doors ahead of them, flooding over the throng of people standing in line. “All cellphones, purses, cameras and any other loose personal items go in the lockers!” one of the Hualapai tribe members yelled out over the loud crowd. Jade and her husband arrived at the row of cabinets, and the fear was growing ever deeper within her chest. Heart pumping and hands shaking, sh...

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“The Lighthouse Keeper” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #206

Jan Gorshhiemmer was the lighthouse keeper at Kreigh's Landing near Aillik, Newfoundland. The small jut of rock where the lighthouse sat was one of the bleakest places on God's good earth, but Jan had signed the contract and he was good to his word unlike previous keepers had been. Those that knew him, however, sensed that there was another angle on his self imposed exile at the lighthouse. Burt Decker, the town manager of Aillik, suspected there was a tragic story that followed him to this desolate forgotten c...

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“THE PRIVILEGE OF RANK” by Charles Corkery

Submitted to Contest #206

THE PRIVILEGE OF RANK The four sat around the fireplace in the impressive old library enjoying talking about old times; the closest of friends. Outside, the wintry rain was lashing down furiously, trees swaying noisily back and forth in the fierce North Yorkshire gale and it felt good to be a part of this quartet, inside, warm and cosy. The house had been in Freddie’s family for generations and, now, it was Frederick DuBarry Winthrop the 3rd who had inherited the old place and the baronetcy that came with it. His companions had b...

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“Mother Monster ” by Samantha Jones

Submitted to Contest #206

Elyse Hardy couldn’t remember quite clearly the first time her mother had turned into the monster. After all, it had been happening long before she was born, and there were stories she had to hear second hand, from her much older siblings. Her siblings had described to her how she had been a tiny baby when her mother had turned into the monster while driving them to the store, and her siblings had jumped into action, pushing their mother to the side as she snarled and bit, and they managed to get the car to the side of the road, brother stee...

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“A Request in C-Sharp Minor” by Kara Heisler

Submitted to Contest #206

Warning: Death and Supernatural ElementsMilo gulped, eyes fixated on a single point in the dark corner of his room. He blinked aggressively and rubbed his eyes with his tiny fists, hoping he was hallucinating. In all truth, the nature of what Milo saw was nothing new. But the shape of the horror in front of him was far too personal. Moonlight streamed in through a small window near Milo’s head, providing cold, distant illumination. The puppy shaped night light which should have been providing a comforting orange glow, was as dark as the...

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“I’m Gonna Take Some of this to Go” by Anthony Jeff

Submitted to Contest #206

I cannot help but remember the fever dream which was my short time of employment at the Brookings Best Buy as I currently lay in the hospital bed on the precipice of my own death. It is strange as what the mind decides to show you in your final hours, especially with situations that truly had no real impact on life or have anything to do with the situation you would find yourself in. Upon my 18th birthday I was ecstatic with my newfound adulthood and wanted to show my family I could be dependent. I have always been good with computers,...

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“The Flowers on Wulver's Peak ” by Sam Jacobsen

Submitted to Contest #206

"And the poison?" "Spreading, Damien. Like wildfire. She will not live long." The words hung like heavy cobwebs in Damien's mind, echoing for a moment before settling fully. "What must I do then, Father Gespie?" Father Gespie--a man as old and dust--sighed and ran his hand across the face of a pale woman. Groaning, the woman shifted across her sweat-drenched sheets and fell silent. "You must climb, Damien--climb a long way and then some. Up...up to Wulver's Peak. There, cut me a petal from a Black Wedonnna. Bring it to me, and she...

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“The Nightmare” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #206

Where am I? Everything is out of kilter. Is there something wrong with my eyes? I feel as though I’m looking through a pair of tubes, like looking at a TV, except everything around it is dark and out of focus.This room is strange. Maybe it’s my bedroom, but it can’t be because an office desk and chair are in the corner. Am I in a doctor’s office? Why would I be in a doctor’s office? I’m not sick.“Hello?” I scream into the void, but there is no answer. I look around for a way out and s...

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“Valley of the Dead” by Eric Blithe

Submitted to Contest #206

Lake Sis was beautiful during the day. Clear, cool waters situated in a modest valley between peaks of an unassuming mountain range. During the winter the lake and mountaintops became inaccessible, covered in thick quilts of snow; but in spring the snowmelt would swell the lake, forcing the shoreline of the pebbled beach back under the wooden pier. By summertime the water had warmed, and the broadleaf trees had regrown their full foliage, covering the trails ...

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$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!

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