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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

“Blood & Water” by David King

Submitted to Contest #206

She let out an ear-stabbing screech and gripped the steering wheel with her soul. But she wasn’t strong enough. The tires of the car screamed as they veered left too sharp. Her leg was forced down onto the pedal even harder as her voice cracked mid-scream, unable to exert any more force. She was terrified, so scared that her life didn’t even flash before her eyes. She shot one last look into the passenger seat, catching a full glimpse of the cause of her tragic end. She had known all along. She knew she could have prevented this exact moment...

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“Dreamt Apparition” by Emilia Horton

Submitted to Contest #206

It was midnight when she had heard the first sound; a swift movement of air that did the bells attached to her dreamcatcher ring. At first, she didn’t think much of it, but they grew persistent with time. Yara was sat behind the desk of the small office she had built soon after she had moved into the property. It was a one bedroom house, the last in a row of seven. After her house, there was nothing but an empty open road that led to nowhere. The owner had to leave promptly, and the price was well within her budget. She had accepted th...

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“A Walk Among Death” by Paul Besancon

Submitted to Contest #206

Matthew brushed his fingers along the soft petals. Those black flowers with their deep purple stalks swayed gently in the breeze—a breeze he couldn’t particularly feel. No warmth. No cold. The gentle wind swirled around him, enveloping him in its comforting embrace. An embrace of curiosity. One questioning why he was there. The dark grey, purple and red clouds churned high above, dancing in a chaotic clash with crackling thunder. But just as the indifferent breeze around him, those harsh clouds brought no discomfort, no fear. A prick from a...

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“Tanis, Genius” by R.L. Lamm

Submitted to Contest #206

I gave myself brilliance, but not the strength to give it up. After sitting here for hours, I finally noticed that the room was filled with clocks. All were set differently; all were counting down like alarms and timers. But none of them foretold a real doomsday. Fifty-eight hours, eight minutes, 23 seconds- 24- 25 read the digital face of one timer in bloody red digital letters. One-thousand days, oh-nine hours, displayed another countdown with flaps like a calendar that click like typewriter keys when changing. From the chrome and wi...

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“Leap” by Liv Valen

Submitted to Contest #206

Leap(CW/TW: murder, blood, after-life)Our footsteps ominously echoed among the beech trees with anxiety settled in my chest. I noticed a faint rustling sound, accompanied by a gentle whisper echoing in my ear and a mysterious force in the air was embracing my soul with invisible hands. The sounds began to distort, transforming into an eerie melody, and in the distance, a church organ started playing. The cursed tune hovered around us, and I listened intently to every soft fragment of it.I felt a sense of unease, as if we were not alone on th...

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“Windy, With A Chance Of Rain” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #206

How did he know?Howdid he know?How did he bloody well know!?“You bastard! Let me go! You can’t do this to me!”For what must have been at least the tenth time, Jonathan rattled the chains and tried to break free. The gesture was futile and robbed him of precious energy, but he had to do something. Something.Anything.Anything at all to escape this dire eventuality.In a wicked twist of events, he cried.His tears of anguish and humiliation wet his cheeks and as he felt them, the crying transitioned into laughter.You bastard! ...

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“Mother and Child” by Shannon C.

Submitted to Contest #206

I saw her gently laid to rest on one of the hottest days in June that year. The year she would’ve turned 59. An orchestra of locusts and their songs filling the cloudless southern sky.I imagined it was a farewell to her, that they were wishing her all the best and letting me know she was okay. She always loved the Summer season the most. Scanning everyone’s faces, I noticed parts of their expressions missing now. As if, she took pieces of them with her. Tears rolled out of their swollen eyes and down their red tissue battered chee...

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“My Friend the Broccoli ” by Phoenix Goldman

Submitted to Contest #206

“Come on, Kevin! It’s only a piece of goddamn broccoli!” the middle school cafeteria lady screams. I nod and let out a deep sigh. “Are you crying?” She asks. My head violently shakes as I fight to hold back tears. “Come on, move it!” a classmate shouts from father back in the line. I can barely spot the impatient individual out of the corner of my right eye. They are wearing a red shirt - or maybe it’s blue, then again, who cares? “Kevin, take the broccoli or don’t, I really don’t care. But you need to make a goddamn ...

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“Little Mouse and the Prince of Spiders” by C. J. Peters

Submitted to Contest #206

The stars in the perpetual plum sky glitter green, red, blue, and gold, and when they fall, they cut like knives. There are no paths between the bare towering trees black as pitch, only the silvery mists dense as muck, which obfuscate and disorient and lead the small beasts into blackthorn bushes tall as any man or monster.Rat-faced crawlers and crow-winged fliers, any and all snatched and ensnarled and dragged deep into the bushes bearing more thorns than fruits, for the forest must feed, too.It is easy for one to become lost in these woods...

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“Requiem ” by Epiphany Moucka

Submitted to Contest #206

What if… It wasn’t a Wednesday and it was a Monday instead. You’d be going to work as usual, driving in your car and looking at the early morning fog. The sun would be painting the sky a million shades of blue and purple, red and orange, pink and yellow. You would be thinking about how glorious it all was, a testament to God’s creation, and you wouldn’t receive a text from your dad. You would continue to drive to work in the quiet, cursing when a car passes you on the highway, day-dreaming about the dark coffee you would pour yourself...

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“Emergence” by Richard Seven

Submitted to Contest #206

They came the moment day turned into night.Flits of black on black. Outlines of whooshing wings. Wafts fanned by their veering and swooping. Darkness paralyzed me and their speed and commitment awed me. I sensed them dropping from their roost below a rotting pier and zooming off to gobble as many insects as they could before daylight returned.My therapist arranged this outing to help me overcome or at least temper my dread of bats. It's called Chiroptophobia and this is a stab at immersion therapy.“They aren’t interested in you,” said Jake, ...

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“The Desert Vigil” by I.D. Marie

Submitted to Contest #206

Many believed that the desert was a desolate, lonely place. Miles of arid sand and sun-bleached brush interrupted only by spine-like mountains never seemed like a place for life. No, the desert seemed like a distant planet more than anything else: forbidding and alien. But life always found a way. Even when that barren land seemed built to keep the living away from the things not quite living and not quite dead. Maria had lived on her Abuela’s ranch her entire life. She was used to the scorching days followed by nights cool enough to chill...

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“The Dollhouse” by Zorah Starr

Submitted to Contest #206

CW: Mention of suicide, implied child abuse, mention of child death _ “After ten years, Weepingridge’s infamous ‘dollhouse’ is holding up surprisingly well…relatively speaking. Let’s hope the inside isn’t too damaged for our sake!” Ellen Goodman paused her speech to adjust her camcorder. The three-storied house sagged under the weight of its collapsing layers. The once vivid pink and white paint was faded by years of weather-related abuse. Shattered windows allowed the crisp breeze to shake the tattered remains of the inner curtains. Und...

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“Bus Ride to Humiliation” by Gloria Dawn

Submitted to Contest #206

Bus Trip to Humiliation (a true story) When I was nineteen, I lived in Winnipeg and worked in an office out near the Winnipeg Airport, on the outskirts of the city. I took the city bus to work and back each day. My stop was the very last one on the bus route before the airport. At five o'clock when I got off work, I caught the bus again for my ride back uptown. I was renting a room in a boarding house, just a few blocks from the Hudson Bay's huge block-square store on Portage Avenue, right in the heart of the city. Each night, there...

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“The Last Imaginative Diary of Dr. Freyburg” by Zeeshan Mahmud

Submitted to Contest #206

Disclaimer: Contains themes of abuse, suicide, and physical violenceHour 1There is not a drop of ink in the room. As white as a polar bear's backyard. I am dressed in ice-cold tuxedo as well. It is madness. But I know I can breeze this like a SEAL would do BUD/S. In fact, this is vacation for me. I always craved some quiet time after my Wall Street buzz wore off from back in the days.I know plenty of food will be here. I can also do pushups. Of course, I have to get used to the light to sleep.Hour 3I am craving some information. Just had the...

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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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