Start or end your story with the line ‘This is my worst nightmare.’

Posted in Dialogue on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 74 stories

“Awake” by Katie Edwards

Submitted to Contest #113

“This is my worst nightmare” I sighed to myself. Every night I dreamt of the same thing. It’s like my brain doesn’t know what to do with all the information I process during the day. My brain feels like a movie theater, playing the same dream, over and over every night when I fall asleep. Sometimes the dream changes, but most of the time it’s the same thing. I’m young, old enough to walk and speak, but young enough that I can’t control my emotions. My mother is making soup, I think this time it smells like tomato. Last time I remember s...

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“An Expected and Unexpected Bad Day” by Grace Lee

Submitted to Contest #113

I knew when I woke up that morning that something was going to go wrong. Somehow I felt that in all the days of my life, today would be the worst. I stared at my ceiling, determined not to leave my bed until the last possible moment. I glanced at the clock. 7:18 am. My bus left at 7:30 and it took five minutes to walk to the bus stop. Well, five more minutes can’t hurt, I thought, turning over right as a knock sounded at my door. “Are you still in bed?!” My mother shouted at me th...

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“Replacement” by Kathy Philpott

Submitted to Contest #113

Kathy Philpott philpott.kathy@yahoo.com Replacement “This is my worst nightmare,” Kat told herself. Not only was the theater sold out, but the local newspaper reviewer was also sitting next to the show's director. Kat could see they were engaged in an animated conversation. Could they have been talking about her and how much the show needed her? It was maddening not to know, and she knew her insecurity was showing, but she couldn’t help it. Her confidence was dribbling away like a spoiled child’s ice creme cone on a hot summer's day. K...

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“Cold Painted Walls” by Netania R. Allen

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare - and it’s shaping itself right in front of me. In front of me is a chair, a bed, a broken book, and cinder block walls. The walls are cold and rough, I know because my cheek is scraping against it, though not due to my own volition. That part of the cinder block was a milky white, now mixed with red, it’s hue is an odd pink. The bed is creaky and squeaks its protestations. Its coiled bones are very old and rusty with age. Should’a drank some milk, I tell it. I laugh to myself. The bed does...

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“The Perfect Proposal” by Jules Sherwood

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare. “What do you mean it’s not here?” The clerk is looking at me with his eyebrows pinched together, worrying at his bottom lip. “We lost it,” he explains again, and my vision whites out for a second. “We’ll of course give you a full refund, or you’re more than welcome to pick out one of our ready-made designs –“ the clerk continues but I’m no longer li...

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“Snakes” by Delusional Poet

Submitted to Contest #113

"This is my worst nightmare" Max thought to himself. Completely alone Max was surrounded by hundreds of snakes. Even worse his fat body was backed into a corner. The sound of the snakes hissing sounded like someone was frying bacon. It crackled through the air. In the pile, the snakes wove under and over each-other. Cold bodies weaving in an almost endlessly hypnotic pattern. All of the snakes varied in size and color. Some reached lengths of six-seven feet. Some were all black, and some were orange with markings. The heap would've weighed m...

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“My pleasure is gone.” by Roy Harp

Submitted to Contest #113

"Pleasure is a gypsy- one night she is there, then the next day she is gone, and my anxiety and my worst nightmare is waking up knowing that she is gone forever."-Roy the DudderMy relationship with pleasure is an unusual one. I hold her hand, and I love her all together, but she is lethal, very sharp to the touch, never able to cuddle for too long, and on occasion, she draws blood, but that doesn't bother me none, its just a scratch; very superficial. And its all worth it in the end, for the prize and the end of her exitance is ple...

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“03.06.2019” by Linda Dorsett

Submitted to Contest #113

At 59 years old, Roger and I met via an online dating site. His mother still can't believe he actually used such a thing. First date was at an English pub named The Falconer. He gave me a picture of flowers he had painted. Rog was a contractor by trade and I was an administrative assistant. I was using my nickname, "Lacey". He shared with me about his late wife, Linda. I paused and told him my real name was also Linda. I was Linda once again. We had fish and chips with a few beers. After dinner, we walked around Market Night. He walked me to...

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“My Worst Nightmare” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #113

“Why am I doing this?” I ask myself. I have the instructions of how to get to the place scribbled on a piece of paper and I can’t even read my own handwriting. My friend was telling me over the phone but was obviously in a rush, and talking too quickly. It’s easy when you’re not the sleep deprived one trying to write it all down with a blunt pencil. “So that’s the address” she told me “Did you get it all ?” “Actually, what comes after 116 Brent Street?” “Not Brent Street, it is Bowen, B O W…” she started to spell it out for me. “I get ...

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“The end of the road” by Evelyn Sommer

Submitted to Contest #113

I think I died in a car crash. And I say “think” because I do not dare to express much certainty. It is the safest word, the truest word I can find. It’s like seeing it all played out through a blurry lens; I am in the dream, and I see myself, but I cannot do anything to stop what happens next. In the dream, I’m a kid again. I’m with my family in the car. We’re going to our countryside house. We always go there when the heat of the summer gets too hot to bear. It is always refreshing to feel the cool breeze kissing your skin. It’s ...

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“The Natural” by Wy Jung

Submitted to Contest #113

This is my worst nightmare. Tears of humiliation threatened to push through the slitted angry eyes looking back at her with surprise and horror from the mirror. Something inside her instructed *deep breaths jo* as she stared down the apparition before her, struggling to get a grip on this new tragic reality. With each deep breath, the darkness worked its way into her heart and filled her ribcage with unwelcomed rage and resentment. She never imagined this would be her. Fuckin Bo...

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“The Lost Weekend” by Norp Dee

Submitted to Contest #113

The coughing was deep and relentless. The huffing noises from the ventilators was hurting my head. I worked in a dermatology practice to avoid this kind of medical work. The covid ward was too much for me to handle. I wasn’t sure I could make it thru my shift. A long time ago, my granddaddy used to say something like, “the old gray mare ain’t what she used to be”. That old mare would be me right now. The noise and deaths are breaking me. I am working insane hours. It’s nine o’clock on Friday and I still have two hours left. This is m...

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“The Daily Grind” by V M

Submitted to Contest #113

“Hey!” She turns. Her face is pale, her eyes bloodshot, her tangled hair hangs over her face casting a shadow on her eyes. Staying home for over a year had taken its toll. Her brother, a young man, car keys in hand, approaches from the far end of the long apartment building hallway. “Are you ready to go?” She snaps back into reality, though her mind wasn’t ever wandering. She is standing in the doorway of her apartment, clutching half a doughnut tightly in her hand, strawberry filling trickling down her arm. She ...

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“The Forgotten Dream” by DS VACILLATION

Submitted to Contest #113

The girls are really very lovely, but for the life of me I don’t know why they’re here. I was just dozing off here in my recliner chair, so it confused me a bit when I woke up and saw them all standing around me like they’re expecting something. They’re here to see me? I look over at my friend, Jim. He’s standing by the door in the back, where he usually goes to watch the TV. He gets a better view of the screen over there, smart guy. Maybe he knows why these girls are here. “You’ve got visitors,” he says. He smiles at me. Really great guy...

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“Dreaming in Gray” by D F

Submitted to Contest #113

There was no rhyme or reason behind which dream I stepped into each night only that the door I was presented with was never my own. At times it was an intrusion to be the audience to a stranger's subconscious desires and memories that are set on repeat for eternity in hopes that the real-life outcome were to change from recorded history; at other times, a privilege to feel love in its purest form: unspoken and untainted by shame and self-doubt. I could recognize when I stepped into a dream of the same individual more than once as faces, th...

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Start or end your story with the line ‘This is my worst nightmare.’

Submissions are closed

✍️ 74 stories

“Awake” by Katie Edwards

“An Expected and Unexpected Bad Day” by Grace Lee

“Replacement” by Kathy Philpott

“Cold Painted Walls” by Netania R. Allen

“The Perfect Proposal” by Jules Sherwood

“Snakes” by Delusional Poet

“My pleasure is gone.” by Roy Harp

“03.06.2019” by Linda Dorsett

“My Worst Nightmare” by Valerie Preston

“The end of the road” by Evelyn Sommer

“The Natural” by Wy Jung

“The Lost Weekend” by Norp Dee

“The Daily Grind” by V M

“The Forgotten Dream” by DS VACILLATION

“Dreaming in Gray” by D F

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a character who believes their dreams predict the future.

Write about two people whose dreams are somehow connected.

Write a story about a character who interprets people’s dreams.

Write about a character whose dreams are portals to other worlds.

Contest #113

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

228

Contest entries

139

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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