Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Posted in Dramatic on Sep 16, 2024

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✍️ 109 stories

“Spitting Image” by Tycho Dwelis

Submitted to Contest #206

The house stood in eerie stillness, as it always did in the winter, the back room that used to be Grant’s practically screaming its secrets. It had been so loud since he left, especially in the wintertime. He loved the snow, and the room never let me forget it. The gray clouds muted everything, especially at night, and the streetlamp outside the second-story window cast a long, ink-black shadow along the wall. I hadn’t realized that the wallpaper had started to peel where the wall met the molding. My fingers trailed along the top of the old ...

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“Embracing the Bat” by Nicki Nance

Submitted to Contest #206

I want to love you as I love all things in nature, as I love vampire lore and Gothicity, as I love true crime and horror, but our first meeting was – unnerving. ] You sailed past me uninvited, the size of an eagle – in my mind. I cleverly trapped you in the old house, jumped out of a window, locking me out and you in as darkness fell in a dangerous neighborhood. The dark, the neighborhood, the jump, and you swirled together, creating a storm of terror in my core. For weeks, I left the old house at nightfall and returned at daybreak, like a v...

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“Rehabilitation” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #206

It was the bottom of the first inning, none out, bases loaded, and I’d thrown 9 consecutive balls – the last one, a flat curveball that hit the batter square in the back, making a soft plunk that probably inflicted less pain than a locker room towel slap. Sweat dripped into my eyes, nearly blinding me in the humid July heat. I squinted towards the catcher’s sign, an upside-down middle finger, expressing the obvious: fastball for a strike.I came to the set position and paused, taking a deep breath in the hopes it might quell the disorienting ...

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“The Clown” by Louise Murray

Submitted to Contest #206

The Clown I toss and turn in my bed. I look up and see the shadowy ceiling. My eyes slowly start to close and I glance at the black of my eyelids. Slowly, I fall asleep hoping to get through the night as quickly as possible, usually, when I feel a terrible dream coming I awake in the morning in just a blink of an eye. I don’t even remember what happened in the dream. But this time was different. This time I knew it was coming and it happened. This time I was ready. I see myself standing in the middle of the road with my best friend. It’s...

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“Trauma's Nightmare” by Nature Love

Submitted to Contest #206

Reluctant to face the day ahead, I grudgingly open my eyes. I hate my job, everything about it. But mostly, I hate my boss. Bosses have too much power. They dictate and disrespect like it was their right. My boss always smiles. Her tone is always polite but never genuine. Yesterday I had to sit in a chairwhile this woman, a decade my junior, chastised me about something that wasn’t my fault. I tried toexplain, to speak up for myself but she didn’t care to hear it. Of course, she never considered she wasthe real culprit. My productivity was u...

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“HIS NAME IS FEAR” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #206

HIS NAME IS FEAR Fear! Fear and I had become long-time friends. Perhaps friends might be the wrong word for our relationship. Perhaps acquaintances, or frenemies; now there was a word that had a trendy ring to it. Maybe it was enemies. Whatever the relationship, we knew each other intimately, for we had lived together for some time now. We first met that early spring day in the hospital a year ago. I remember Jack and I laughing all the way there, pointing out the first robin of the season in the park. Watching as it cocked its head to o...

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“Twitch's Last Stand” by Frank Lester

Submitted to Contest #206

A flood of flies circled the dim light above Darcy’s garage. Glick stared down the alley to the porch light at the far end, the ruts in the gravel faintly visible. The sultry darkness hung on the trees like molasses. The shadows thrown by the light didn’t bother Glick, but Darcy’s dog scared the shit out of him.The alley a dead end and no one willing to let him cut across their property, he had to walk past Darcy’s back fence to get to his house, a two-room box at the far end of the alley he shared with his mother and baby sister. At age ten...

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“On the edge of panic.” by Aclima Fiona Ali

Submitted to Contest #206

Ethan always believed himself to be a brave and fearless person. He had faced numerous challenges and conquered them with unwavering determination. However, there was one fear that lingered deep within his heart, like a shadow waiting to envelop him. It was the fear of heights. Ever since he was a child, Ethan had been terrified of being high above the ground. The mere thought of standing on a tall building or looking down from a great height would send shivers down his spine. He had avoided situations that involved heights at all costs, lim...

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“Not to Condemn ” by Theo Benson

Submitted to Contest #206

“It would mean a lot to me if you came.” Lisa’s fingers traced the creases of the paper, once folded now flattened against the cold table. She sat with her legs crossed and tucked under her chair, too shocked to fidget as she digested her daughter’s invitation.“I have something I need to tell you,” Kayleigh had said, having sat Lisa down at their kitchen table in the unnerving way only a teenager could manage to do. Lisa’s stomach hit the floor. “Are you pregnant?”“What? No!” “Are you on drugs? Did you get kicked out of ...

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“October's Light” by Stephen Hansen

Submitted to Contest #206

Jenna Wakefield was eight, when her mother disappeared from her life. And though the memory of it had faded over time, the emotions connected to mothers passing remained locked deep and impenetrable in a place of darkness, where the lava of it consumed her better nature. It was a place she had less occasion to visit now that she was older. Still, Jenna knew the path, and the door there was never locked. It had been her father, of course, who had broken the news. Jenna took it hard, sitting in her mother’s f...

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“Rock Tumbler” by Linda Lovendahl

Submitted to Contest #206

“You want out of here? Too busy to answer a few questions, huh?” said Detective Joseph Suarez. He swiped the side of his middle-aged crooked nose, the only faulty part of what would have been a perfect Latino silhouette if it hadn’t been for too many assaults in back alleys and clandestine escapades. He used the disfigurement as evidence of how far he pushed to get what he wanted. “Not under the Fifth Amendment,” said Andy Giuseppe. He snickered with an exaggerated lift of his beard. Slowly as though daring Suarez, he slide the sleeves...

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“A happy fault” by Evie Adams

Submitted to Contest #206

Murasaki Yuki was a sad sort of girl, with a round face, long lashes, and large, melancholy eyes. She was never sure why her parents had chosen to write her given name, Yuki, with the Japanese characters for happiness. Perhaps, they had been filled with happiness at the birth of their first child so late in life, after so many years of trying. Perhaps, they had thought Yuki would be a happy child. Or perhaps they had hoped that their precious baby would bring happiness to her parents in their old age. All of these reasons seemed to...

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“Eisoptrophobia” by Daniel Shurmer

Submitted to Contest #206

As I lay in my bed, in my little box room, amongst the dust and clutter; I find my eyes unable to close, not for the dull stench of mould pervading the plastered walls or the stony mattress beneath me which pokes and prods my back with errant springs – nor the pitter-patter of winter rains against the windowpanes or the shadows of naked branches which dance against the walls like shadow puppets from spindled fingers. These distractions were not the thing that kept my mind gasping feverishly above the waves of sleep. In truth, I wished for no...

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“Bell Bottom Blues” by Sgt. Purple

Submitted to Contest #206

the day before i buried you i took the road in lonesome treading on bare'd blue byway sinking where late the choir'd swallows soft singing burdened silent footing. so why dost thou cry aloud &nbs...

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“The Chains of Regret” by Daniel Mueller

Submitted to Contest #206

To: George.Bronsteter@QuantumLeapInnovations.com Subject Line: Deciphering the ‘What If’s’ Dear George Bronsteter, What if? The ultimate dilemma that makes me freeze and wonder. What if? Each time I ask myself this dreaded question, I curl into the fetal position and gaze into the abyss. What if… It haunts me. The daunting idea that you can become whatever you want — that your wildest dreams can become true, where the world is indeed your oyster. You might be asking: ‘Why would such an idea distress yo...

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Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 109 stories

“Spitting Image” by Tycho Dwelis

“Embracing the Bat” by Nicki Nance

“Rehabilitation” by Peter Wyatt

“The Clown” by Louise Murray

“Trauma's Nightmare” by Nature Love

“HIS NAME IS FEAR” by Glenna Agnew

“Twitch's Last Stand” by Frank Lester

“On the edge of panic.” by Aclima Fiona Ali

“Not to Condemn ” by Theo Benson

“October's Light” by Stephen Hansen

“Rock Tumbler” by Linda Lovendahl

“A happy fault” by Evie Adams

“Eisoptrophobia” by Daniel Shurmer

“Bell Bottom Blues” by Sgt. Purple

“The Chains of Regret” by Daniel Mueller

🌟 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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