Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Posted in Dark on Jul 7, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 87 stories

“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...

4 comments 4

Read story

“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...

0 comments 0

Read story

“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 ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“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...

4 comments 4

Read story

“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,...

1 comment 1

Read story

“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...

1 comment 1

Read story

“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...

4 comments 4

Read story

“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...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Manor in the Woods” by Allison B

Submitted to Contest #206

It had been a while since I had taken time away from work and the busy city. I decided this weekend to opt for a serene view to relax and work on the novel I had meant to write for a while. While sitting in the taxi, I looked over the reservation. The hotel was a beautiful 19th-century mansion overlooking an orchard with mountains in the distance. The pictures of the hotel had a road leading up to the premise that was a long, extensively paved driveway with towering trees on both sides, giving it a grand and majestic air. "Here w...

0 comments 0

Read story

“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...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Her Greatest Fear, Herself” by Kas Strobel

Submitted to Contest #206

Katherine shivers as she gets out of her car and immediately feels a gust of cold wind. She only stopped her car because of the human shaped ball of bright blue fire that she noticed travelling in her rearview mirror, seemingly consuming the entire road behind her in its wake. It was fire, it had to be. It makes absolutely no sense, but it’s the only explanation. She doesn’t know why she’s getting out of her car – everything in her body is screaming at her that it’s a terrible idea, she’s alone, a person on fire has been chasing her for seve...

2 comments 2

Read story

“After Golden Hour” by Breanna Dawn

Submitted to Contest #206

When she first began her slow walk home she was in a wonderful mood. It was her favorite time of day, just before the sun set for the day. It was breathtaking watching the golden light of the setting sun paint the countryside. She loved how it seemed to make the grass and leaves glow. Loved to watch the warm light flitting through the trees. So despite leaving her friends house later than she meant to, she found her self in no rush. As she walked she listened to the croaking frogs and the chirping of the b...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Mottephobia” by Daniel Scott

Submitted to Contest #206

Jed was only 6 years old, but he had the largest collection of rare insects in the continental United States. Jed had been obsessed with insects from the time he was born. Or perhaps it was shortly thereafter - very shortly thereafter. Before he turned 3, he’d learned to read from watching Sesame Street. If there had been a steady stream of insect shows on the tv, Jed probably never would have watched sesame street. But, when flipping through the channels, he’d never found anything interesting, so he just watche...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Empty Roads.” by Elijah Rose

Submitted to Contest #206

The streets were suspiciously empty. Al-Khalil was an incredibly old city with incredibly proud residents, but they were not acting so tough now that there was fighting rather than just strong words. Musa walked along in broad daylight carrying his black market M-16 in his arms and his shemagh hid his face. There was a warrant out for his arrest in another city but it simply didn’t matter. The wide road he was trudging on was usually loud with slow-moving traffic honking at each other and pedestrians going every which way. Musa cou...

0 comments 0

Read story

“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

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar 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

Contest #206

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Phobias

$250

Prize money

373

Contest entries

130

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 14, 2023 EST

Won by Parul Shah 🏆

Title: Shameless

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 87 stories

“Leap” by Liv Valen

“Dreamt Apparition” by Emilia Horton

“Valley of the Dead” by Eric Blithe

“A Walk Among Death” by Paul Besancon

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

“The Desert Vigil” by I.D. Marie

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

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

“The Manor in the Woods” by Allison B

“The Dollhouse” by Zorah Starr

“Her Greatest Fear, Herself” by Kas Strobel

“After Golden Hour” by Breanna Dawn

“Mottephobia” by Daniel Scott

“Empty Roads.” by Elijah Rose

“Hotel Minnesota” by TJ Samek

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Start your story with a character seeing something terrifying.

Write about a character in a situation where they have to be brave for someone else’s sake.

Contest #206

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

373

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: