Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

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✍️ 109 stories

“Keep It Together, Katie” by Christie McMahon

Submitted to Contest #206

Trigger warning: mental health, implied violence to children, some gore “Moooooom! Canaan hit me!” The voice invading the small bathroom is high pitched and whiny. Go away! I want to yell. Can’t I have just five minutes to myself? Thud, thud, thud…a little fist hammers on my bedroom door, which—I know for a fact—I locked before sneaking in here. “Mooooom! Canaan hit me again!” The emphasis on the last word implies that this wouldn’t have happened if I’d been doing a better job. One of my migraines is starting to pulse behind my left ey...

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“Requiem ” by Epiphany Moucka

Submitted to Contest #206

What if… It wasn’t a Wednesday and it was a Monday instead. You’d be going to work as usual, driving in your car and looking at the early morning fog. The sun would be painting the sky a million shades of blue and purple, red and orange, pink and yellow. You would be thinking about how glorious it all was, a testament to God’s creation, and you wouldn’t receive a text from your dad. You would continue to drive to work in the quiet, cursing when a car passes you on the highway, day-dreaming about the dark coffee you would pour yourself...

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“Beneath the Surface” by Travis Simmons

Submitted to Contest #206

“Great. We live in a haunted house.” I rolled my eyes. In my wife’s defense, the house had seen better days. It was built in the early forties, and the white exterior paint withered away to nearly nothing. Shutters that had at one time been painted black were now grey. They hung lopsidedly on rusty hinges. The front porch was missing boards, and the awning above had more holes than a screen door. The landscaping was a mess, overgrown due to years, maybe decades of neglect. “We can do an exorcism in the morning,” I said jokingly, trying ...

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“Nothing to Fear” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #206

“I’m afraid of nothing.” I look up from the notebook on my desk, peering over the rims of my reading glasses at the man reclining on thefaux-leather upholstery of my couch. “You’re not afraid of anything? Anything at all? Not death or taxes? Not big crowds, heights, or even small flying rodents?” My tone is light, but not mocking. Curious, without being pushy. “I didn’t say that.” Curtis Smith (probably not his real name, but I understand that some people feel the need for anonymity) is my newest patient, a pro bono walk-in who is clearly tr...

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“Living Fear” by Barbara Arbogast

Submitted to Contest #206

LIVING FEAR Gemma knew she was unique. Without fear and with no light, she investigated noises in dark corners of her basement. She couldn’t explain it, but she always felt odd. It was the whispers she heard in the wind. Little things animals and trees told her. Energy she saw and sensed between organisms, like spiderwebs connecting one being to another. Her differences she accepted no questions asked. Because not many people see the influence that connects everything, she rarely spoke of it to anyone. Gemma believed she was the only on...

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“It's Not Real” by Dafna Flieg

Submitted to Contest #206

Dafna Fliegelman &nb...

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“Sins of the Father” by Michael Mackenzie

Submitted to Contest #206

**Language and Violence**“Sins of the Father”When they crossed the state border, a wobbling street sign with decaying letters welcomed them to New Hampshire. Cracks lined the empty highway. The guardrails were bent or absent. The thought of driving off the road and tumbling down the mountain ate at Joseph. He gripped the steering wheel, disappointed in himself that he already missed the sounds of the subways cars and bright lights of the skyscrapers and the immediate urgency and chaos of the city. He cursed beneath his breath and rubbed the ...

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“Pulling Back the Shroud” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #206

A full night’s sleep had become virtually impossible for Jeremy Stuart since he moved into the apartment above the Barcom & Sons Mortuary three months ago. Of course, one would expect trouble resting in a building housing the remains of the dead, and possibly their spirits. Jeremy’s sleeplessness, it seemed, stemmed from much more than battling with the occult. Every time the newly-appointed funeral director attempted to close his eyes, around midnight. a loud howling sound assaulted his ears. The eerie noise, apparently coming from t...

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“Solar Eclipse” by Alice Jayden

Submitted to Contest #206

There was a time when I thought my biggest fear was spiders. Don't get me wrong, I am afraid of them, just not in the way that can qualify them as my biggest fear. It didn't even take me that long to realize. See, spiders would make me scream and jump and even cry a little if they were big enough, but at the end of the day, if it was between me and them, I could still run up and squash them, even if I did feel squeamish afterwards. I thought that the screaming and crying part was what made them my biggest fear, but then t...

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“Losing My Treasures” by Patricia Williford

Submitted to Contest #206

LOSING MY TREASURES They are coming today to take it all away. Their battalion of army ants will strip me of my possessions and my value. Their mops and brooms will wash away my defenses. They will rip the very life out of my soul and leave me without the armor that has shielded me for so long. There will be no way to protect myself. Everything that I have lovingly collected, stored away for rainy days, and caressed with my eyes and hands each day as I walk the narrow but ample pathway from room to room...

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“The Color of Mud ” by Kailyn Jones

Submitted to Contest #206

I remember what I felt. What I felt when she looked at me. She was beautiful, no doubt. Her eyes, they were brown, and I remember because I always thought a girl that beautiful would have eyes the color of the sea, just like all the clichés. Eyes the shade of sapphire skies tinged with gleaming sunsets. But hers, they were brown. Not just any brown though. They were the color of brown that holds no sense of poetic being. They were the color of mud. And as I stared into those muddy eyes, I couldn’t help but think of that old saying,...

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“Blood Brothers” by Amanda Rantanen

Submitted to Contest #206

Growing up in the seventies was about as "un-woke" as you could get. For starters, my kindergarten teacher punished a girl who probably had a learning disability by making her sit under the teacher's desk. It was an old style desk with a solid back panel and stack of drawers on the left and right. Almost daily, the poor child was forced to crawl down in the dark, cramped area and sit by the teacher's stinky feet. Back then, a lot of the older teachers wore pantyhose and heels with skirts. I would guess the child had a close up...

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“Emergence” by Richard Seven

Submitted to Contest #206

The moment day turned into night; they came.Flits of black on black. Outlines of whooshing wings. Wafting wind fanned by veering and swooping. Darkness paralyzed me and I was awed by their speed and commitment. I sensed them dropping from their roost below a rotting pier and zooming off to the trees behind us to gobble as many insects as they could before daylight returned.My therapist arranged this outing to help me overcome or at least temper my fear of bats, known as Chiroptophobia. She called it a type of immersion therapy.“They aren’t i...

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“Saponification” by Aciano St. Florent

Submitted to Contest #206

He wore the calm seawater like a thin and delicate veil. The briny film clung to his face with dreadful malice. Despite the gentleness of the water on his face - fine as a doily - the weight was intense. In this moment as he desperately fought to breach the water, he could not even remember his own name. The primal urge to survive had pressed itself against the walls of his skull and displaced any other thought. He was lying flat on his back in some forgotten tidepool formed off the coast. He could hear the break of the waves somewhere behin...

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“Coulrophobia” by Maizie Bymers

Submitted to Contest #206

Coulrophobia "Seriously, Dawn it's not the end of the world," My friend, Gia, said with a smirk on her face. I gave her the most annoyed expression I could muster. She rolled her eyes, checking the time. I looked back at the old abandoned Circus Day Care as a wave of fear shook my body. I could feel Gia's happy smile as we approached the Day Care, while I stood still frozen in fear looking around hoping someone would see us and stop us but the street we were passing by was deserted. “Seriously, Gia,” I said, mocking her sentence before. “W...

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Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 109 stories

“Keep It Together, Katie” by Christie McMahon

“Requiem ” by Epiphany Moucka

“Beneath the Surface” by Travis Simmons

“Nothing to Fear” by Ian Gonzales

“Living Fear” by Barbara Arbogast

“It's Not Real” by Dafna Flieg

“Sins of the Father” by Michael Mackenzie

“Pulling Back the Shroud” by Bob Faszczewski

“Solar Eclipse” by Alice Jayden

“Losing My Treasures” by Patricia Williford

“The Color of Mud ” by Kailyn Jones

“Blood Brothers” by Amanda Rantanen

“Emergence” by Richard Seven

“Saponification” by Aciano St. Florent

“Coulrophobia” by Maizie Bymers

🌟 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

373

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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