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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

“It's Not Real” by Dafna Flieg

Submitted to Contest #206

Dafna Fliegelman                                                                                        &nb...

4 comments 4
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“Sins of the Father” by Michael Mackenzie

Submitted to Contest #206

**Language and Violence**“Sins of the Father”When they crossed the state border, a wobbling street sign with decaying letters welcomed them to New Hampshire. Cracks lined the empty highway. The guardrails were bent or absent. The thought of driving off the road and tumbling down the mountain ate at Joseph. He gripped the steering wheel, disappointed in himself that he already missed the sounds of the subways cars and bright lights of the skyscrapers and the immediate urgency and chaos of the city. He cursed beneath his breath and rubbed the ...

2 comments 2
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“The Crazy Psychologist” by Zeeshan Mahmud

Submitted to Contest #206

Disclaimer: The following contains graphic scene involving snakes as well as abuse and strong language. Reader discretion advised.Varun Sharma had life long fear of snakes. Black mambas, anacondas, rattle snakes, garter snakes and… cobras. Especially cobras. The way the fake eyes on the hood looked at one to scare away the predators was enough to induce Hitchcockian nightmare. There was once a sprite - his neighbor’s kid- who threatened to leave a box with a snake inside in front of his doorstep with mail after he accused him of stealin...

1 comment 1
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“Legs” by Brian Adams

Submitted to Contest #206

My head pounds to the rhythm of my pulse and I see dark stars creeping in at the edges of my vision. I try to steady my breathing so that I don’t pass out. My clothes cling to cold sweat. Bile is finding its way up into my throat but I can’t swallow it down because of all the cotton inside of my mouth; I swear it’s lined with cobwebs. I feel the sticky strands pulling my throat closed. I don’t want to die like this…not now.The tangled ball of upturned legs laying in the middle of the bedroom appears motionless. I feel like I’ve been watching...

3 comments 3
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“If You Can, Hold On” by Miranda Soares

Submitted to Contest #206

If You Can, Hold On By Miranda Soares (TW: Suicidal ideation, bullying, abuse references, self-harm, depression, anxiety, paranoia) Walking down a dark hallway with no end in sight. No doors, no windows, just enough light to see where you’re going. There is nothing. Just emptiness. You can’t turn around. There is nothing behind you. More darkness. The hallway has no visible finish. You just keep walking and walking. You have no other choice. Everything is dark and everything is cold. There could be monsters lurking in the shadows. You d...

0 comments 0
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“The Path” by Jeffrey Campbell

Submitted to Contest #206

Brian Carraway stared at the gas pump’s display as the numbers surged higher. He patted his left front pants pocket to make sure his checkbook was still there. He’d hoped he wasn’t going to need to travel anytime soon, but things had changed. He looked up at the sky. It was still mostly clear, with the blue heavens still showing themselves above, but they were beginning to disappear.  The fluffy, white peaceful clouds were starting to cover it up, and they had begun to change. Some had only partially turned...

0 comments 0
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“A cowboy in Wonderland ” by Lize-Mari De Bod

Submitted to Contest #206

The landscape was ever changing as usual. The three moons hung in the sky like an omen. Dust and rocks crunched under my unicorn's hooves. There was a pile of shoes. Unusual, because it is a bit early in the year for fairies to collect shoes. Here and there was a little dried out bush. In the distance the mountain range framed the nothingness. The giant frames where gold with coils.  To look at the serene view was quite relaxing, but I think I am just tired of riding for hours. Time stood still, but has already sped past and the sun was...

2 comments 2
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“Cry for Wolf” by Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #206

[Content warning: language, verbal abuse] “Mommy! Mommy! Where are you?” Annie shot up in her bed, pulling her puffy pink blanket around her, waiting for her mother to come through the door. The nightlight beside her was redundant now that the morning sun was illuminating the room. Annie looked around for Queenie, the stuffed unicorn, her trusted steed, but saw her on the other side of her room. She was too scared to go rescue her from the corner, much less question how she ended up there in the night. The sound of Annie’s racing heart...

1 comment 1
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“The Phobia rooms” by Sravanti Raviprakash

Submitted to Contest #206

The Phobia rooms.Room 1.-Trypophobia.Holes. The holes were everywhere. Turn a corner, make a left, take a right, but she couldn’t escape them. She was trapped in an endless maze filled with the one of the things she most dreaded. Twisted, crooked, deformed spots that ran along the walls of complete nothingness. Her worst nightmare. It had been days since she had arrived there, maybe a week. Why had her parents put her up to this? Bribes and wealth for exchange for their child. The conditions had been crystal clear, she’d overheard her c...

7 comments 7
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“Dark Epiphany” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #206

I remember being terrified. I was the most frightened I’d ever been in my life. Forget the monster under the bed. This was real. Just the thought of it now, it makes my breath catch somewhere in my chest and my heart swells, threatening to burst in my chest, seeking a complete end to everything in preference to what I am yet again confronted with. There had been a build up to this moment, of course there had. It was a culmination of all the components of a life. There was a feeling of inevitability as all the strands led to this p...

6 comments 6
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“Recurrence” by Angie Ashton

Submitted to Contest #206

Jackie automatically reached a hand toward her face to push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, sure as anything that they had inched down like they always did. Except now, her hand was met by only the beads of sweat rolling down her face. She hadn’t worn glasses since her sophomore year of high school, when the combination of the coke-bottle thick, plastic rimmed eye wear and the metal gleam off her braces had made for one truly horrific yearbook picture. She lowered her hand and shook off the memories. There wer...

9 comments 9
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“Hotel Minnesota” by TJ Samek

Submitted to Contest #206

Minnesotans have a special relationship with the seasons, especially winter. Being in tune with the turning of the year is a survival skill in a place where snow covers the ground for months at a time. But Cara ignored the biting below-zero windchill and the blizzard warning as she packed her car. It’s Minnesota in winter, she reasoned. There’s always snow. And she really didn’t want to wake up early the next day to drive to her cousin’s wedding.  Her scratchy throat and tight head foretold a respiratory infection, and she wanted to...

1 comment 1
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“Sotomancy” by Andrey Trofimov

Submitted to Contest #206

Sotomancy “Hey, Dina.” A young girl in her early teens was approaching her friend who was sitting on the railing of a bridge looking down at the flowing water. It was a late summer evening. Dina, who was few years older, swung her body backwards. “Hey, Brie”, she said hanging upside down. “Here I am. Came to see your superpowers.” Dina sat back on the railing and span towards her. “Supernatural abilities. Or better, call it sorcery.” She closed her eyes as if meditating and continued slowly, “I will demonstrate it to you when the time is ri...

0 comments 0
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“I hate going to work” by Jayson Monday

Submitted to Contest #206

I hate going to work. It all feels so pointless, wake up, go to work, come home, go to sleep. Why even bother repeating? It sounds stupid like my entire life has just been on this one big loop for as long as I've known and I've never been in the driver's seat. It doesn't matter though. I'll change tomorrow. I pick up my keys, my wallet, and my work uniform before I remember I forgot my phone on my bed. I run upstairs and open the door, my room devoid of light aside from the morning sun peeking through my window. It was devoid of ...

2 comments 2
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“The Sight” by Rena Aliston

Submitted to Contest #206

Her body trembled as she moved toward me, left leg limping, toes dragging along the tiled floor as she struggled to remain on her feet. Blue veins ran along her cheeks and forehead as her gray eyes stalked me.I backed away, attempting to move faster as she leaned in closer. Her mouth opened. Blood pooled out as her razor sharp teeth reflected off the overhead lights. Her jaws clamped together as she leaned into my neck.I held her back. She attempted to bite me again, opening her mouth wider. Placing my hand on her forehead, I pushed her away...

2 comments 2
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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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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