Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

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✍️ 110 stories

“The Belly of the Fish” by Kathleen Fine

Submitted to Contest #206

Biting down forcefully on her lower lip, Dinah stepped the ball of her foot onto the cold, wet sand. The touch of the small grains under her feet for the first time in forty years made her catch her breath. She could feel the deep-seated memories trying to push their way out. Push their way, not out of her mind, but out of her heart.A seagull made a long call above her and she peeked up for the first time, trying to avoid the vast body of water in front of her. Focus on the bird. Focus on the bird. Squinting, she looked up at the gull flappi...

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“Despair is also a Thing with Feathers” by Angela Ginsburg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #206

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of suicide and self harm which some readers may find confronting.“Hope” is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul -And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -And sore must be the storm -That could abash the little BirdThat kept so many warm -I’ve heard it in the chillest land -And on the strangest Sea -Yet - never - in Extremity,It asked a crumb - of me.--Emily Dickinson“Elodie, baby, I’m just going to hide the knives. I’m not j...

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“Fair Wages for a Job Well Done” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #206

Content warning: spoilers for folk tales.The woods did not want them there. Dead leaves cracked beneath their feet and silent crows sat in judgement above. The wet reek of rotting autumn was falsely sweet, and the black mud clung to their clothes and dragged them down. The sun never reached the trails on even the brightest day, and when it set, the shadows choked the paths.Albrecht raised his torch high. The flickering orange teased the darkness and little more. It provided no warmth against the winds that promised winter.“Conrad!” he called...

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“As Big as the Sky” by Aeris Walker

Submitted to Contest #206

The mirror is no longer my friend. I can’t hide the grays, the lines, the weariness anymore–the signs that I am becoming what I always feared: old. I am not so shallow, so vain as to believe that without youth and beauty I am any less–if anything, I am more: stronger, wiser, braver. But you do not see me that way, and I can only hope someday you will. When you were young, my greatest fear was losing you–that I’d put you to sleep and you’d never wake up. That you’d choke on your food. That you’d be swept away in a riptide and I wasn’t fast en...

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“Public Speaking... In Fuzzy Bedroom Slippers” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #206

Public Speaking...In Fuzzy Bedroom SlippersAnd the honor goes to...“Why? How? That's what I want to know. Who's great idea was it to make me the emcee.“I, I c-can't do it. I, I can't stand in front of a large room of people and, and t-talk. No way, no freakin' way. I w-would freak out. I, I w-would st-stumble all over the w-words. I, I w-would m-make a f-fool of myself. Who, who would want to listen to me. I c-can't w-write a speech. I, I'm not witty or f-funny. I'll only embarrass myself and ruin the whole affair for everyone. D-don't make ...

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“Her Other Sock” by Thom With An H

Submitted to Contest #206

“There is nothing so lonely as an unmatched sock.”Thomas BrodkinWhen it comes to women, there is no one definition of beauty. Most would agree, however, if there were such a definition, it would not describe Lily.She stood just under six feet tall, had no figure to speak of, and her hair was almost the exact shade between blonde and brown, making it seem as if her hair had no defined color at all. To make matters worse, Lily’s voice had a smoker's raspiness, even though she hadn’t smoked a single cigarette in her entire life. However, a...

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“Obsolescence ” by Ellen Neuborne

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #206

I moved the coffee pot back to its place three days in a row before Adam called me on it.“Erica, what is with the appliance musical chairs?”“That’s where the coffee pot belongs.”“That’s not an immutable truth.”Nothing was, apparently.I was cool when the kids nixed the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole for Thanksgiving dinner. I smiled and agreed to replace them with roasted cauliflower and shredded brussels sprouts. And thanked my lucky stars they hadn’t demanded we invite a live turkey and apologize to it for years of eating its ance...

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“Rehab” by Daniel Fernandes

Submitted to Contest #206

"Hello my name is Mike not a host just a friend. We are here to help and assist it all depends. We don't judge or make fun of others. No need to anyways because we all know what it's like to suffer. Thank you all for joining to get cleaner than a bar of soap. I know the process is difficult I was once addicted to Coke. We learn from our mistakes and bounce the pain back with hope. Make a new path in life since we all fell down a brutal slope. So for those who don't know, we will go around the room. There isn't much of us here on a Friday...

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“The dangers of smoking” by Kevin Logue

Submitted to Contest #206

This is a true story.Ever been scared of the weather? Yeah, sounds stupid doesn't it? And I'm not talking about crashing thunder that rumbles mountains, or hurricane winds that take you to Oz. No, I'm talking about the start of summer, blue sky dotted with delightful fluffy clouds and a gentle breeze on your face type weather. What some might even call perfect. Well between the ages of thirteen and fifteen it scared the daylights right out of me.Probably best to start in the middle right?There I was ready for a night out at the local bowling...

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“The Words Change” by Jack Kimball

Submitted to Contest #206

“The words change,” she’d whisper to me at night in our bedroom, winter sleet against the windowpane. “They shift," she’d say, her eyes runny, terrorized, hidden in shadow.I didn’t know what she meant.My wife would come down to breakfast, not eat, just pick at her eggs, red-orange yolks. The kitchen air would crackle, an electrical charge in her presence. The smell of burnt wire. Her nails were chewed to the hub; tattered band-aids wrapped her fingers, blood seeped through. She'd left her senses by then; her face waxy, white, glistening. But...

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“Surface Tension” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #206

As the raft made its way across the river, Emerson Carver forgot his own name. He looked down into the prized water of the Philipse and couldn’t find his face. The surface was coated with gray algae and there were disturbances from the paddles pushing through the tension. He sat back down and rubbed his hands over the life vest that was too small for him. Could it really hold him up if something occurred? He tried to remember his first name. He couldn’t. He knew the last name sounded like Shaver. He was close, but would never get any closer ...

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“The Bourne” by RJ Holmquist

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #206

The BourneBOURNE: (noun) 1. a limit or boundary 2. a goal or destinationExcerpt from the personal log of Commander Alfred Livingstone Earth Year 2492—“I have always been afraid of death. The fear has driven me, kept me moving, forced me to explore. I have always felt that if I stop searching, stop pushing the boundaries, stop discovering, death will catch me.Earthside, death feels so near. The ground I walk on is made from bodies decayed eons before, the greenery and breathing things all around me rely on the death of something else to ...

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“To Lay It As It Plays” by Mike Panasitti

Submitted to Contest #206

There’s something terribly pretentious about a poem, but there’s no better voice in which to tell us when it all started than a poet’s voice.It started with the joyful wisdom and some dismally smart hypochondriac who hypothesized the death of divinity as well as the related curious notion that everything recurs. It started with him, Freddie, and with Stevie, some wheelchair-bound brainiac, who wrote a book claiming that in the instant before time and space commence, all matter is undifferentiated.One numerological year before a brief hi...

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“Painted White” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #206

Fall came. Fall goes. And then, the fall comes back.It was a favorite time for the community, and the relief from the freezing cold brought by their last visitor was as abound as the falling leaves. The reports of the lack of Hunters brought even more joy, and it felt as if peace was going to be a mainstay. For Tholan, it brought about a familiar stage of paranoia.He was keeping an eye out for the spiders.This was a time for festivities, as the harvest brought about a bounty that would last them even through the winter as their storages were...

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“Samshoblo” by Sophia Gavasheli

Submitted to Contest #206

TW: death. I learned of my father’s death on a Sunday morning, while building a Lego pirate ship with my daughter. The house felt as sterile as a hospital that morning, sickly white light filtering through the windows, Cecilia’s giggling echoing around the freshly painted walls. We were sprawled on the cool tiled floor, bright Legos scattered all around us. I smiled at my daughter as I read the instructions and she grabbed plastic bricks, clicking them into place with a grin. Cici was putting the finishing touches on the hull of...

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Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 110 stories

“The Belly of the Fish” by Kathleen Fine

“Despair is also a Thing with Feathers” by Angela Ginsburg

“Fair Wages for a Job Well Done” by Michał Przywara

“As Big as the Sky” by Aeris Walker

“Public Speaking... In Fuzzy Bedroom Slippers” by Mary Bendickson

“Her Other Sock” by Thom With An H

“Obsolescence ” by Ellen Neuborne

“Rehab” by Daniel Fernandes

“The dangers of smoking” by Kevin Logue

“The Words Change” by Jack Kimball

“Surface Tension” by Story Time

“The Bourne” by RJ Holmquist

“To Lay It As It Plays” by Mike Panasitti

“Painted White” by Steffen Lettau

“Samshoblo” by Sophia Gavasheli

🌟 Similar prompts

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.

Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Contest #206

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

377

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: