Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Posted in Dark on Jul 7, 2023

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✍️ 87 stories

“Hello, Old Friend” by Beatrice Gomes

Submitted to Contest #206

You know how it feels when someone is watching you? They’re just out of sight or maybe hiding in your peripherals, but you know they’re there. It feels like I’m being watched…but I feel this all around me. It feels like a million eyes staring at me from all angles. I can’t see them, but somehow I just know they can see me… and they know what I’m thinking, too. I shiver and this awful feeling courses through me. I look down to find that I’m covered in goosebumps while beads of sweat drip down my forehead. My hands feel impossibly cold...

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“Quantum's Toll” by A. L. V.

Submitted to Contest #206

The superstitious people of Jitter Hills blame the unexplained disappearances on a local myth known as Quantum’s Toll. Of the sixty thousand people to have ever lived here, over a thousand have gone missing. Every year in school, at least one student cannot be accounted for and it’s the buzz of the semester. Freshman year, it was Juno Smith, our class vice president. Sophomore year, it was Diana Brown from the Archery Team. Junior year, it was Vesta Schwarz who shared a home with three foster kids. I've wondered who the unlucky duck would ...

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“Gimme!” by Retro Bolic

Submitted to Contest #206

“Theseo, I want your nose. Mine is awful, deviated septum, and it doesn’t look good in any light except the dark. You’ve had yours long enough.” I shook my head. “Have you ever traded?” he asked. I never liked him—Goldeus—but he always came around to my apartment, and every time he looked different. This time he had golden hair that swirled down to his broad shoulders. “I only ask because, well, you seem quite fortunate. Put together, in a way.” I had received that comment before, back when I was ten. Another child asked for my e...

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“From Where You Dream” by Dora Acosta

Submitted to Contest #206

I’m awake this time. At least, I think I am. This place looks like my room and feels like my bed and sheets, but everything is a little moist. Am I sweating? Was I dreaming? Two minutes ago, I think this place caught on fire. But now I feel cold all over. I pull my sheets up closer to me. I scan the room, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness. My drapes flutter. Is my window open? I never sleep with it open. What time is it? I search for my alarm clock but can’t find it. It should be on my nightstand. I used my hands to feel around. Mayb...

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“The Infinite Wisdom of Great Mother” by Renee Maxdon

Submitted to Contest #206

The man’s bloodshot eyes dart wildly around the dimly lit cellar, spittle flies from his chapped lips as he grunts, and his strength wanes as he strains against the black iron shackles. Sunlight spills through the grated window but it is too weak to warm the dank stone floor. The room is drafty, thick with the tang of the sea, but it is spacious and impeccably clean. The man appears not to see me, or at least register me as a threat; my small stature, advanced age and gender tend to have that effect. I take in the sight of him. The atte...

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“Nothing Left” by Chad DeMasse

Submitted to Contest #206

You get out of school on a Friday. It’s the last day of school, and it’s hot. The summer had just begun. You're hanging out with some friends at a pizza place. It starts to get into the evening, and you decide you want to go to the mall to meet up with some more friends. You get up with your friends and walk outside the pizza place and you realize something is different. Everything seems empty. You turn around and....your friends are gone. The pizza place is empty. The lights are on, but the place is empty. The smell of the food is still the...

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“5421 Pine Needle Lane” by KATHERINE HOLDEN

Submitted to Contest #206

It costs a lot of money to get your shit together. Too much, actually. That’s how all of this started. The money was good. Not great, but good. I had never had this much money. Every week, the cash and checks appeared in my mailbox, carefully filled out with my name and signed in a spidery signature that did not resemble any human letters. When the cash and checks first started showing up, my boyfriend did not ask nor did I tell him what had happened tha...

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“End of the Night ” by Lenore Corbeau

Submitted to Contest #206

TW: Mentions of abuse, violence, and suicide. The old man laid flat on his back. Up and down, phlegm caught in his throat, his chest heaved, pushed breath through the tube of his c-pap machine. Outside, the darkest hour before dawn, still the grainy film of night's shadow hummed in the air, all gray. The thick drapes hung over the sole window, parted just barely. A weak ray of silver dripped out into the brown carpet; Maybe the moon, more likely a street lamp or a neighbor up busy, far, far too early. It was not enough to break...

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“The smog” by Jelly 1010

Submitted to Contest #206

The Reverend Potter’s and the victims The dark night was cold and distant in the Luxe desert with only the purple flames from the factory vents being the only visible signs of heat, it feels like a rising uptake of the nightly warrens. A damnable ritual that takes the luck from people you truly hated, a nightly sight these days. The issue with hate is that it makes no sense, and it has both an inferiority and superiority complex. Hate comes from a fear of someone better will come along and ruin the myth of hate’s inherent superiority. T...

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“Dear, Julie” by Malori Rachko

Submitted to Contest #206

Dear, Julie I’m addressing this letter to you in the hopes that when you read it, you’ll better understand why I did what I did to you and hopefully forgive me. Do you remember that one dream I told you about? The one set in the antique shop? Well, if you don’t, it’s the one where I met that older man. I remember strolling into his shop, the wooden planks creaking under my feet. A few rays of sun casted onto the floor, illuminating the layers of dust collecting onto the shelves. The oddest little trinkets… things I could never explain lined ...

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“The Laughing Man” by Virgil Winters

Submitted to Contest #206

TW: this is a story with an unreliable narrator who is suffering through various illnesses such as personality disorders, schizophrenia, auditory and visual hallucinations, and other mind altering illnesses. There is also brief mention of deep subjects such as emotional trauma, kidnapping, and multiple dead bodies. Images flash through my head at rapid speeds. A burning casket. Lavender plants. Shades of yellows and blues. A laughing man. Nothing prepares me for those. I lose my balance quickly. Landing on the ground doesn’t help...

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“I Try to See Green Where I See Purple” by Carina Caccia

Submitted to Contest #206

We don’t know what’s the matter with me, but we know why I’m in bed and not at work. I lie here staring up at the white gotelé ceiling, but I can’t be sure it’s white; I can’t be sure of anything, really. Maybe the ceiling is like the green curtains that still glow purple no matter how hard I look; I could glare a hole through these dreadful, frenetic curtains, and they would never be green. I glance up at the lifeless clock on the wall, the limp hands forever indicating six o’clock. I don’t know why I still look, why I anticipate change. H...

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“A Nightly Walk” by Autumn Weiler

Submitted to Contest #206

“I can’t sleep.” Aerin rose from the mattress, sliding out of the covers and making to grab their phone. The time was 11:45. It wasn’t unusual for Aerin to find themself awake late at night. There was something comforting about the quiet brought by the dark. Aerin was content staying awake until the crack of dawn, opting for hardly any sleep most nights. However, tomorrow was an important day. Aerin had a job interview that couldn’t be missed. There had been struggles to make ends meet, even with the previous job. Now that Aerin had been lai...

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“All I have is the wind” by Robert Hart

Submitted to Contest #206

The wind’s susurration in the abandoned streets, the distant hiss and drag of the shingle beach are my world. The long dry fountain in the square hosts no bird, no lizard. Through the drowse days, the sun chases limping shadows through my laneways, beneath my arches. Still sleeping, a shiver rouses me partway from the doze; recognition trembles at the edge of consciousness, but sensation sinks to emptiness. The breeze fades and the moon pursues softer shadows. Lulled by the steady breathing sea, the fleeting itch fades, a phantasm of lonelin...

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“He Knows the Building” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #206

“The building is closed.” Altenhafen announced from a dark reception desk lit only with a reading lamp. Ginny approached in her uniform and placed her flashlight on the counter. “Final Line Security.” Altenhafen picked up the flashlight with his thumb and finger like it was a dead rat and handed it back to Ginny. “Where is Karl Bhaur?” He asked. “We’re separated. The company’s in my name. So, you have a contract with me, not Karl Bhaur. You won’t be seeing Karl Bhaur.” S...

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Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 87 stories

“Hello, Old Friend” by Beatrice Gomes

“Quantum's Toll” by A. L. V.

“Gimme!” by Retro Bolic

“From Where You Dream” by Dora Acosta

“The Infinite Wisdom of Great Mother” by Renee Maxdon

“Nothing Left” by Chad DeMasse

“5421 Pine Needle Lane” by KATHERINE HOLDEN

“End of the Night ” by Lenore Corbeau

“The smog” by Jelly 1010

“Dear, Julie” by Malori Rachko

“The Laughing Man” by Virgil Winters

“I Try to See Green Where I See Purple” by Carina Caccia

“A Nightly Walk” by Autumn Weiler

“All I have is the wind” by Robert Hart

“He Knows the Building” by David B Fraser

🌟 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 🏆

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