Start your story in an empty guest room.

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 152 stories

“unoccupied” by R E

Guest rooms were always hiding things. No one starts out wanting a guest room. It’s usually an office first, but then you got fired and can’t look at it anymore, so you throw a bed in it that you’ll never sleep in. Sometimes it’s a kid’s room, but they’ve moved out into a college dorm room. It used to be storage but then the divorce happened leaving it depressingly empty. A studio for recording music but the bass player ...

174 comments 174 WINNER 🏆

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“Maybe it’s bedbugs, maybe it’s -” by Kathleen `Woods

The room is empty of life, as far as the observer is concerned. Though such an assessment would be willfully ignorant of the veritable metropolis of insect life beneath the bed. They are unaware of their long accepted voyeur, as they luxuriate among themselves hidden from the light. The observer watches on thinking, ‘I should really deal with what’s under the bed.’ But this is all the observer could really think at that moment, as they didn’t know where they were.They woke alone a litt...

19 comments 19

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“Sandrita” by Rhondalise Mitza

The smell of homemade fried chicken and small, microwaved okra wafted in through Sandrita’s window. She sat behind her curtain and watched her neighbors run from their apartment to the car. They were helping their mom get the groceries, and even though Sandrita knew it was a small thing in their day, she wished she could help someone carry food into the kitchen. She wished she could put on her mother’s big high...

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“petunia” by Batool Hussain

Psychopath. Psychopath. Psychopath. You’re sitting in a small room with paint peeling out from the walls. The only thing talking back to your physic talks is your echo. You look around for water and get up to fetch some, only to realize there is nothing around. They call you a psychopath. Your shirt is always torn and the pants you wear are too baggy for you. There are dar...

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“That One Midnight” by Aiden Otaktay

Ryan laid on the bed in the empty guest room. It had nothing in it except for a wall clock and the bed. He was lost in the book he was reading, but the doorbell pulled him out of the endless depth of the engaging story. "Who could that be?" he thought as he walked up to the front door. He proceeded to unlock the door and was frozen when he saw a girl standing in front of him. She looked scared, and her ...

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“Unexpected” by Trina Ann Pion 🍀🌹🍀

A ruckus in the hallway startled Cate Carter awake from a fitful sleep full of bloodshed and heartbreak. The ten-year-old’s compact frame stiffened as she strained to hear the strange voices squabbling from outside the guest bedroom door. Two distinct voices clashed and attacked each other, but Cate failed to decipher what the dispute was over. When a third voice joined in the chaotic commotion, her heart clung to her ribcage, holding on for dear life. It was only once Cate identified the three voices as ...

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“I am not here” by Austin Diaz

The definition of a guest room: a bedroom in a house for visitors to sleep in. I am not, however, sleeping here. It is four in the morning, and I have not slept. Also, it is unclear if I am still a visitor or if I ever was. Two of the four criteria, then, are not fulfilled. It is a bedroom, and this bedroom is in a house, specifically Grandmother’s house. A short description...

13 comments 13 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Rosa Mori” by 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕥 ☾

Author's Note: I don't really like this story but it's my first step to get back into writing again... so constructive criticism is always appreciated!!! Rosa Mori is Latin for 'dying rose' which you would later make sense of towards the end :) Thank you to Ruth for helping me fix my grammatical errors!We were moving again. My dad had left us to confinement within the empty barriers of that cold, unforgiving room. That room bound me through its dead walls, walls that lay a pale grey as those suitcases...

629 comments 629

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“Come To Visit” by Monica June

No one has stayed in my house for a long time. They used to come, back then. But now no one will even call anymore. I wish they would just stay for a couple of days, then they could see how I changed up the wallpaper in all the rooms. I switched the bedsheets, too. Now each room has a different sheet on it’s bed. I did that one day, just to switch it up. I rearranged the lamps, and hung up a different picture in each room. I redesigned until I realized that I had designed them by color. There was a blue ...

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“Pulling Threads” by R K

At the beginning of each summer, there was the necessary trip to the hardware store to comb through the aisles for glue traps. Each year, she counted how many traps were needed, based on what she found as she bent over couch-backs, crawled into corners, and reached behind bookcases to pull out the previous year’s traps. There were wolf spiders mostly, but occasionally a centipede, who had wandered onto the sm...

4 comments 4 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“The Four Post Majestic Bed” by Geshanie Dias Desinghe

It all happened in that Lonely Guestroom as she stood there.The tall slender figure of Namali stood looking at the door at the end of the Corridor with thousands of memories gushing and rushing into her head. Namali started walking the corridor.She approach the door at the end of the corridor. She held the broad brass door knob and pushed the door open. A single ray of sunlighet and rushed through the parted curtain brightening the entire room. She entered the Guestroom allowing the door to close by itself.&nb...

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“Temor” by 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙞 ☾

As I glanced back one last time at the empty room, tears flooded my eyes. The room that once used to be used when my parents had childish arguments was now empty. The guest bedroom was probably the one we used the least, but probably the closest to our hearts. The deep red suitcases distracted from the once pastel blue walls which looked like a gloomy sky. We had to move houses after my dad left us… It’s been tough but I think I’m getting the hang of this.“¿Listo para ir?” My mum said.“Io penso di essere”We...

27 comments 27

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“The Masterpiece” by Silver Pen: Temporarily Inactive

TW: PTSD, suicidal thoughts. The bedroom is white. Empty, lonely, and white. The color of absence. I hate it. Have you ever felt alone? I certainly do, even as Winnie walks in, her maroon sweater sharply contrasting against the stifling walls. “How are you?” She asks softly. I clench my fists. She doesn’t understand. They never understand...

6 comments 6

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“Mythology” by The Manticore

cw: murder, implied abuse, mentions of suicideEidos had been left alone before but this was probably the first time there was a locked door involved. And she didn’t know when she could unlock it. She didn’t know when she could be safe.She stood stricken in the middle of the floor, damp from the last time it had been mopped, hands by her side. Her hands were stinging, the fingernails close to the quick and beaded with pearled blood. <...

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“JOSH” by Aman Fatima

Aaron walks behind his real estate agent as he shows him the whole house. The house is two spacious floors, 24 hours water and electricity and has a beautiful lawn. As Aaron walks through the house he thinks the rent is affordable and the place is amazing. At the end of the tour Aaron’s agent brings him to one final room at the far end of the house on the ground floor. “Why is this room empty?” Aaron as...

18 comments 18

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Title: unoccupied

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Start your story in an empty guest room.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 152 stories

“unoccupied” by R E

“Maybe it’s bedbugs, maybe it’s -” by Kathleen `Woods

“Sandrita” by Rhondalise Mitza

“petunia” by Batool Hussain

“That One Midnight” by Aiden Otaktay

“Unexpected” by Trina Ann Pion 🍀🌹🍀

“I am not here” by Austin Diaz

“Rosa Mori” by 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕥 ☾

“Come To Visit” by Monica June

“Pulling Threads” by R K

“The Four Post Majestic Bed” by Geshanie Dias Desinghe

“Temor” by 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙞 ☾

“The Masterpiece” by Silver Pen: Temporarily Inactive

“Mythology” by The Manticore

“JOSH” by Aman Fatima

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about strangers becoming friends, or friends becoming strangers.

Start your story with the arrival of a strange visitor in a small town.

Write about someone welcoming a stranger into their home.

Write about a character who has to rely on the hospitality of strangers.

Contest #96

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

871

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: