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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#281: The Fright Before Christmas

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

With less than two weeks left until Christmas, I’ve been filling my days with cozy activities that are perfect for the festive season. While baking, caroling, and wrapping gifts are pretty standard for this time of the year, I also enjoy doing something a bit unexpected with my friends: holding creepy holiday movie marathons.

With that in mind, here are five prompts inspired by eerie holiday classics like Krampus and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Snuggle up with your thickest blanket and get started on a tale of regret, longing, love, horror, mystery — whatever you fancy! Good luck, and happy holidays to all those who celebrate!

This week's prompts

Write about a mysterious guest who arrives at a party — but no one knows who they are.

Dramatic – 60 stories

Start or end your story with someone receiving a strange — and possibly sinister — gift.

Dramatic – 54 stories

Write a story from the POV of a non-human character.

Short Story – 103 stories

Set your story during the coldest day of the year.

Short Story – 52 stories

Write a story that includes the line “Be careful what you wish for.”

Dramatic – 40 stories

Stories

“Chill of the Unseen” by Brianne Knodel

Submitted to Contest #281

Note: There is a theme of death in this story. It’s the coldest day of the year. No one but her can feel the chill. The way it lodges itself deep inside her soul. The ominous feeling of dread. It’s the coldest day of the year, but it’s not actually cold outside. It’s her, not them. It’s the coldest day of the year—someone save her. Alora knew she was different. It’s not something she could explain but she knew. It’s the way shadows and lights played tricks on her that aren’t quite tricks making it look like creatures lurked there. Or ho...

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“Unleashed” by Kim Bridges

Submitted to Contest #281

Jeb woke to the sound of barking. Outside his bedroom window, a partial moon hung in the black winter sky. Jeb looked at the clock: 12:23 am, 8℉, by far the coldest night of the year. His wife Kate had taken Buster, their aging yellow lab, out before coming to bed. Since Jeb had to wake early for work, he hadn’t waited up for them to get back. But if Kate had already taken the dog out, why was Buster now barking at the back door? Jeb reached across the side of the bed where Kate’s warm body should have been laying and felt nothi...

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“The Cat and the Claus” by C.B. Tannon

Submitted to Contest #281

Scoop, grunt, thwump was the rhythm of his work as he dug the grave. He was interrupted when his pocket buzzed and a tinny rendition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas echoed around the dark cemetery. Matt squatted down behind a headstone, swiping a numb finger at the luminous screen, cursing that this had happened to him on the coldest night of the year. He peeked up, surveying. No one there, just black silhouettes of snow-topped headstones looking like some huge, macabre game of whack-a-mole. He put the phone to his ear.‘Hello? Mr. Delaney?’...

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“Judgement Day ” by Mary Avella

Submitted to Contest #281

It’s the coldest day of the year, with temperatures at ten degrees Fahrenheit. Snow blankets the ground, with only the salt-covered roads a different color than white. It’s my year to host Christmas Eve for the family and everything needs to be perfect. I add more wood to the fireplace and adjust the stockings. On my way to the kitchen, I check the grandfather clock in the corner of the hallway. Half an hour till the party starts. I rearrange plates of cookies and carry them into the dining room, coordinating them into colorful patterns, whe...

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“The Silver coin” by Noor Khan

Submitted to Contest #281

Lena had heard the legend a thousand times, like all the children in the village. Her grandmother, with her gray hair pulled into a tight bun, would sit by the hearth, her face wrinkled with age, and tell the same stories she had been told when she was young. These were the kinds of tales that made you shiver with fear, but also stirred something deep inside, a longing for more. In particular, there was one story that always caught Lena’s attention—the story of the silver coin. The coin, according to the legend, was said to grant any wish, n...

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“Be Careful What You Wish For ” by Toby Doncaster

Submitted to Contest #281

I couldn't get over her. Her smell, her form, the feel of her hair...it was all so arresting.It was her smile that first got me. Beaming, open, warm and yet... beguiling. As if she had a secret. And yet, it was a secret she was willing to share. With someone special. With me, maybe.We sat in the plane for 12 hours and chatted about everything. Her plans for the future, my career dreams, our family history and what it was like, living in the Soviet Union. "You can never imagine it," she said. "Well, I'll have to go and have a look f...

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“The Tappner Inn” by J.L. Cleary

Submitted to Contest #281

The haunting melody of Carol of the Bells drifted softly through the car, its eerie notes mingling with the muffled whispers of the storm. Outside, snow fell relentlessly, swallowing the road in an endless white abyss. It was impossible to tell where the pavement ended and the wilderness began—our only compass, the skeletal outline of trees that seemed to hover like ghosts in the distance. My knuckles ached, bone-white against the wheel, my grip unyielding as if sheer force could keep us tethered to the treacherous ground. The tires sk...

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“The Wishing Well” by Chyna Wells

Submitted to Contest #281

The wind howled through the skeletal branches of the ancient forest as Clara stepped cautiously into the clearing. A rotting, weathered sign leaned against a gnarled tree, its faded lettering barely legible in the dim light: “The Wishing Well.” The legend had drawn her here, despite every instinct that told her to stay away. It was said that the well would grant a single wish to those desperate enough to brave the woods. The well stood at the clearing’s center, its stones slick with moss and years of decay. The air felt heavy, like the fores...

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“The Shadow of the Yule Beast” by Makayla Bunchek

Submitted to Contest #281

CW: Graphic descriptions In the shadows of the night, there isn’t a single eye open, a single person wandering, or a single peep within each home. The only sound is the soft snoring of the families in bed, yet, deep within the shadows of the home is the one thing children fear.“He knows when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake”, a song we always associate with Kris Kringle. Yet, there is another that hides in the shadows. Deep in the night, when all are whisked...

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“Party Foul” by Jane Flautt

Submitted to Contest #281

The Kelleys’ holiday party took place like clockwork every year, and, like clockwork, it was as predictable and mindlessly boring as Mrs. Pope’s small talk in the churchyard after Sunday services. So, understandably, Merriam did not want to go. Not a bit. She pleaded with her parents: “Just say I’m sick!” “We said that when you missed the Halloween party.” “Well, then I’ve relapsed, or whatever! I don’t care what you have to say, just let me go to Kyle’s party instead!” “No.” And that was that, as far as Mr. and Mrs. Brook thought. So ...

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“Sixty Years Ago, She Came” by Sandrine Boniface

Submitted to Contest #281

We can hear the wind howling—a mournful sound rattling the cabin’s windows. The fire in the earth paints an orange glow across the faces as the six friends huddle closer under the blankets.Outside, the snow is piling up heavily, a pristine blanket muffling the world.It is Christmas Eve, and Ethan and his friends, like every year, decided to celebrate Christmas with Ghost Stories.“OK,” Ethan started, “Did I already tell you about my grandmother, Rose?”“The one who was almost killed?” asked Lucie.“Yes,” Ethan continued, “I will tell you what h...

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“The Stranger at Winter's Hearth” by Ken Ng

Submitted to Contest #281

It was Christmas Eve in the small, snow-cloaked town of Bellingham, where warm lights spilled from frosted windows and the air hummed with the faint echo of carols. At the grand old manor of the Van Houts, the wealthiest family in town, a lavish Christmas party was in full swing. The ballroom sparkled with gilded garlands, towering evergreens adorned with silver and crimson baubles, and a roaring hearth that bathed everything in a golden glow.The townsfolk mingled, wine glasses in hand, laughter and music intertwining as snow began to fall o...

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“SolaCelestial” by Kira Akina

Submitted to Contest #281

A grand chandelier dangling with crystals lights up the immense ballroom with cool lighting. Suspended from the highest tier, at the center of the glass ceiling that opens up to the starry night, it twinkles as if it were a cluster of stars. Enclaved by a gradual spiral staircase-like ascension of upper floors, the ballroom is the centerpiece of the ground floor. White gardenias, orchids, and lilies paint the pillars, and wisteria pour out from the vases. Silver and gold sparkle throughout the room like moonlight on a lake. Anticipation fill...

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“The Wanderers” by Africa Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #281

The boy was squatting next to the creek, he had his hand in the water and was moving the water slowly. His mother called him, she screamed his name, but he seemed to be hypnotized by the water. She was running as fast as she could but the distance seemed to get bigger with every step. When she finally was in front of him, across the creek; she screamed his name again, he moved his ears as an animal would, one to one side, the other in the other direction.He slowly looked up, his eyes were two hollow circles, unnaturally round and with no ey...

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“Christmas Visitors” by Barry Brown

Submitted to Contest #281

Clomp, clomp, clomping boots on boards got louder, then stopped. They scraped and clomped in time with each other, and then out, and then back in again suggesting multiple stompers. Inside, the groggy sleeper expected the next sound to be three dull thuds on the dense door to his low sod building. He expected some nonsense that could wait until morning. He had already been rousted once this frigid night by a visitor seeking stalls, hay, and a warmish loft in the simple stables behind the soddy. His eyes jerked open when the expect...

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$250

Prize money

309

Contest entries

154

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 20, 2024 EST

Won by Karissa W 🏆

Title: The Counter and the Coal

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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