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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#272: Fright Night

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ReedsyFright to share your stories (and potentially be featured on our social accounts)!

Spooky season has arrived, and what better way to embrace this time of year than by diving into some spine-chilling writing? I’m constantly amazed by the variety of enthralling narratives we come across in this contest — from subtle, eerie stories with sinister undertones to tales that are outright macabre.

So, as one of the year's most popular holidays approaches, let’s get into the Halloween spirit and conjure up some creepy tales. Grab your coziest sweater and favorite hot drink, and let’s get writing!

This week's prompts

Write a story with the aim of scaring your reader.

Short Story – 112 stories

Start or end your story with someone running away from something, literally or metaphorically.

Dramatic – 85 stories

Write a story from the point of view of a ghost, vampire, or werewolf.

Short Story – 144 stories

Center your story around someone trying to resist their darker impulses — and they’ll either succeed or fail.

Angst – 63 stories

Write a story in which the narrator or a character says "Did you hear that?"

Short Story – 84 stories

Stories

“Baby-seat” by Allix James

Submitted to Contest #272

‘This is the baby-seat,’ said the old woman ushering Rebecca into the dusty hallway. The woman sounded foreign, and this made her nervous. It was her first job, and the house scared her. She had walked up a narrow lane, between the woods to the stead at the top of the hill where she could no longer see the town trailing orange in the misty valley below. She had found the job on the school notice board: a young family needed a babysitter for Saturday night - willing to pay ___ per hour. It was a good rate. ‘It’ll be good for you,’ said ...

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“Londolozi” by Chris Pye

Submitted to Contest #272

Londolozi Game Reserve, South Africa. I scramble to my feet and hurl myself at the tree. My legs are clumsy. My heart beats in my mouth. The tree is old and dead; the trunk grey and knobbly. I reach, fumbling for handholds. And look back. The leopard's head emerges from the bank above the river. She shakes herself. And sees me. I jump, grab onto a stub of branch and haul myself up. My boots and knees scrape on the bark. The leopard bursts up from the bank and runs after me. She leaps at the tree trunk. Reaches up a pa...

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“Immortalized” by Mark Lew

Submitted to Contest #272

My persistent nose-bleed forecasts the end. And yet, anyone who knows what I know, who has undergone the transition from blind subservience of life’s vicissitudes to the ownership of power over the brief experience of life on Earth, does not regard this inevitability as a moment to be feared. Suffice it to say, regarding this subiect—and please forgive my sudden transition into my native Romanian, for the ‘j’ sound in English in this word always grates my senses—I laugh at the notion of fading into the evanescence of memory. Not because spec...

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“What We Run From” by Maxwell Haupt

Submitted to Contest #272

The Dark Lord crept slowly through his chamber, toward the stairs. The Phantom-Chains weighed heavily on him this morning. It had taken him an hour to wrestle himself from his bed. As he shuffled toward the staircase under labored breathing, he sang. If he knew he was singing, or what it was, it was impossible to tell. Perhaps it was some ancient lullaby his mother had sung to him eons ago in their cave, trying to soothe him to sleep on some long, stormy night. But he no longer had such memories of those eons long passed. He could no longer...

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“What Gets Wrapped Up in a Coat ” by Simone H

Submitted to Contest #272

She double-checks the door's locked and steps out into the throng of people. She pulls her coat tight around her. It's her favourite one. The plum wool one with the bronze buttons. We found it at a vintage shop out in the Midlands on the hottest day of the year. She was sweating by the time she'd wriggled in and back out of it, her cheeks flushed. The place had smelt like a mix of incense and a grandmother's cupboard. The coat still smells like that no matter how many times it's been dry cleaned. We'd gone to lunch at The Farmhouse Restauran...

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“Awarewolf” by M.A. Turner

Submitted to Contest #272

TW: gore, existentialism, violence Here, time is like a fox, slipping past the cattails and over the rill to drink—lapping up my years faster than I can live them. Tennyson said that nature was “red in tooth and claw.” That's why I’m carving out the insides of a deer, wondering why I feel emptier than her. She crossed the river, clinging to her life more than I ever would.Here I am, carrying the remnants of a full life in my stomach, with the rest in my paws. I laid the meat on discarded clothing and tore a line across the top with my claws....

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“Diary Entry 1014” by Nat Fendie

Submitted to Contest #272

Life right now is multitudinous. I've gotten everything I wanted as a child. An apartment with a beautiful view, financial liberty... and someone who loves me. Really loves me. The kind of love I always wanted. Unconditionally given. Always there. Maybe that's why I'm so adamant about pushing it away because deep down, I know I don't deserve it. What is about your childhood that never leaves you? The dilapidated memories that bundle up in your conscience like a homeless person on a cold, winter's day hurling insults and ...

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“Watchers in the Woods” by Robert Rogers

Submitted to Contest #272

The night was thick with fog, each breath of air heavy and damp as Lucy and Mark wandered deeper into the woods. They had come to escape the bustle of the festival nearby, seeking a moment of solitude among the towering pines. The annual Harvest Moon Festival pulsed with laughter, music, and lights, but the couple craved a quiet reprieve. As they strolled along the narrow path, Lucy felt a strange thrill run up her spine. The trees loomed like ancient guardians, shadows shifting in the flickering light of their flashlights. A gentle breeze r...

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“Don't Say I Didn't Warn You” by D'nea Campbell

Submitted to Contest #272

Did you hear that? Just a rustle of leaves, just a stronger gust of wind. Tell yourself not to worry about it, chide yourself for being silly. Keep walking, you’re almost home. Don’t look back, don’t slow down. Pay no mind to the fact that the streetlights haven’t come on. Maybe the timer’s faulty on this street. Pay no mind to the missing moon, you can tell yourself it’s that time of month, you can tell yourself it’s hidden behind that hawthorn tree. Tell yourself that the intersection isn’t far, even as the block seems to stretch longer. Y...

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“The Gleaning of Hindsight” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #272

"Did you hear that?" Aoife spoke to no one but herself for she lived alone. "Do you hear the rush of wind and see the glorious purple-hued clouds? Hear the lightness of flower petals as they fall from the billowed softness like whispers of dreams, caught by the dew laden grass? Oh, but this night, I wish...." Aoife's voice drifted off, her attention focused on the skies.This evening was no different than any other. Each midnight, without fail, the purple clouds appeared to blush painted, dark skies. With their arrival also came the delicate ...

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“Mountain View” by Åse Pauline Thirud

Submitted to Contest #272

«Did you hear that? » As I spoke, he stopped in his movement and listened. But he did not drop the knife. We both stood still. Outside the wind forced the nearby trees to brush against the cabin roof, making a teasing sound as if daring us to go outside. His eyes found mine, questioning what I had heard while I wondered what he would do. Then I heard it again. This time he heard it too. He said nothing, but his pose changed ever so slightly. The howling was wild and distant, but it was moving. As a response, the wind took a deep breath...

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“The Haunting of Goodbye” by Valerie Silk-Kremenak

Submitted to Contest #272

The recent years of ups and downs had inevitably led to this day, but it didn’t make the hurt any easier to comprehend. After the wake concluded, my family gathered around the casket together to have a last look at our matriarch before leaving the funeral home; the funeral mass and burial would be the next morning. We wiped away tears and went home to spend the longest night of our lives awaiting the final goodbye. When my family arrived at the church the next morning, the funeral director announced that the casket was open in a small room t...

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“Skeletons” by April Brauneis

Submitted to Contest #272

Skeletons 2019 Jack sat cross-legged and warmed his hands at the small cooking fire. The leftovers of a rabbit he’d shot the previous day were warming in the skillet, along with some wild onions and flatbread. The coffee went down well, especially with some whiskey added to it. Though he is not normally comfortable with him and Leon going their separate ways, on this occasion, he is happy for some solitude. Their last job of the season had not gone well. Though there was enough in the kitty to see the gang comfortably through the winter, t...

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“On Three Occasions” by Nicholas Ventura

Submitted to Contest #272

The thump of my heart felt like a crazed raven smacking against the sides of a hollow, wooden cage. I could feel the quivering cries of the bird’s pain underneath my skin. The room was dark and it was past midnight. The light from a nearby streetlight flooded in and I could make the outlines of the door, the bedside table, and the still ceiling fan. I had rented this small house in Sacramento on a whim and it was the first night. There was a heavy weight on my chest and I felt that my legs could not move. This was not the first time that I h...

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“A Line in the City” by Craig Scott

Submitted to Contest #272

Please note, there are some references to sexual harassment, violence, and animal abuse in this story. Marites cursed as she returned her glasses to rest on the bridge of her nose. She had just wiped away the collected steam from their lenses when she looked up to see the line. Under the pale lights that ran the spine of the building’s foyer stood a motley assembly of her neighbors, their discontent voiced in tapping shoes and murmured conversation. The elevators. Again. A mechanical hiss and a breath of hot air from the bustling a...

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$250

Prize money

488

Contest entries

175

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 18, 2024 EST

Won by Mortimer Ridgewood 🏆

Title: Drone

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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