Start your story in an empty guest room.

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 150 stories

“The Waiting Room” by Mary Tuffin

Submitted to Contest #96

I’m sitting in a grey scruffy chair that has become flat and hard. It’s old and tethered like the faded floral wallpaper. I begin to get what the sad and old furniture feels like. I’m in an empty waiting room except for a kind woman at the desk, at a beaten pawn shop waiting for some reassurance. Or in other words, money for my wedding ring. I never wanted the divorce but after the suggestion was given by my wife, the idea was evident and reasonable. I had just never seen it before. The only fresh youthful looking thing in this ...

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“A Dream At My Granny's Home” by Raja Mukherjee

Submitted to Contest #96

It was late 90s to be precisely 1998. I was living with my parents in a small town called Bankura,West Bengal. I was studying in 12th standard and I really love to be at home. All was going smoothly. But that summer has something planned for me. I loved my grand-mom but didn't go to her because of my hectic study schedules. Another thing that was not allowing us to go there. It was 400 kms away from our town and the communication to that village was also very poor those days. I was missing her really. Perhaps she was also thinking of me,her ...

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“The Love Of His Life” by Donna Quiroz

Submitted to Contest #96

#96 XENIA 2259 words The Love of His Life She shuddered as she looked into a room, the guest room, she supposed, although she had known it by many other names since the home’s construction in 1993. "That room up there", the "empty room", "his old room", "Dad’s room", until finally, "the guest room". It was just a small room probably 12 foot by ten, with a regular size closet that had sliding wooden doors, the cheap kind that always had to be reset on the track above. It was bigger than a jail cell, but for one of the family’s members, ...

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“The Guest House” by Ravi Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #96

The Guest House I was sitting on my favourite seat, near the edge of the well when I heard the sound of a car stopping at the gate, followed by laughter and merry voices indicating the arrival of a group of tourists. Soon I heard the sound of the door opening. The well at the edge of which I was sitting was in the rear of the bungalow. It was very deep and had not been cleaned for the last twenty years. There was an accumulation of dead, rotting leaves in its water the stench from which came up in waves. I was however way beyond being affect...

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“Improvisational Inventory” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #96

There is something about twilight that sets the stage for improvisation. Inventing a place where things can retreat back into a shell of anonymity, where choices can be prioritized, remembered, forgotten, dismissed, as having no longer the hold on you they once did. Of course that is fantasy. We do not have the power or will to transform the past to suit the present, yet, it is more than transformation, because conversion is simply rearranging facts to provide a basis for becoming oblivious to reality. Reality is the wit...

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“Milkha, Milkha” by Anthony David M

Submitted to Contest #96

There had been no one in our guest room for a while now. It was looking sterile and uninviting. I went and changed the bed linen. I looked in the washroom and toilet to make sure they are clean. Changed the towels and the toiletries and walked back to the bedroom. It looked and smelt aseptic, devoid of any character, I thought. Other tasks beckoned me, so I left the room to attend to work in the kitchen. &nbs...

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“The Bad Day” by Michaela Dennean

Submitted to Contest #96

I look around the dark, completely furnished yet still empty bedroom of my childhood. It looks just the same as it did twenty-five years ago when the Bad Day happened. It looks as if the Bad Day never happened. As if time had just stood still and let this room stay on pause while the rest of the world changed. The top two drawers of the dresser in the corner are open, just as I had left them, clothes spewing out. My purple diary lies on the rickety old desk, the pink feather pen still lying next to it. A row of teddy bears stand on the floo...

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“Carter S ❤️ Hazel H” by Paige P

Submitted to Contest #96

Carter Fredrick Shore, a computer programmer, awoke drowsily to the sound of the screeching alarm clock, lazily moving around in the relatively empty guest room of a friend’s, technically Hazel’s brother, Duke and his own wife, Laurel. It was nearing 6:30 a.m. and the sun was starting to streak in through the blinds. It was the first of October in the Lone Star State; he’d officially been without her for more than 243.3 days. It still took every single ounce of strength he had left to get out of bed in the mornings, and to force himself to g...

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“The Valley. ” by Anthony Booker

Submitted to Contest #96

Eddie knelt in the middle of the empty guest room, hand broken at his side, blood dripping from his torn lips and broken nose and just before the bullet tore through his head, he smiled at the drawing of the butterflies, his daughter had crayoned onto the wallpaper. They were beaut....... The shot rang out and there were not even birds to disturb in the trees. One week earlier.......Eddie knew that the town was dying. Soon, it would be drowning. He looked up at the last section of the dam being built into place, overshadowing the valley with...

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“Think Pink” by Honey Sunni

Submitted to Contest #96

I dragged my feet across the thin carpet placed unevenly above the slab of cement. Each step felt heavier as I followed my mother to the empty room, my prison. "See, I told you that Mexican wasn't good for you. You should have listened to me when I said that man doesn't give a damn about you" her voice increased with more malice as she continued on. Honestly, this is the most she has spoken to me if ever. She always runs her mouth when it's to ridicule my choices in life which made me feel like a burden in my relationship with him an...

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“Lost” by Charie Pinemiss

Submitted to Contest #96

May 18, 1984, 4:39 AM Stafford Mansion The Stafford Mansion was quiet and dark. Peaceful, even. The guest room hadn't been touched for 18 years, if the thin layer of dust over everything inside wasn't any indication. That was mostly because the Staffords didn't have guests over very often. The only reason that they would ever use the guest room would be because of their little 12-year old daughter, Estelle. Estelle loved to have friends over, but they never got to stay the night. It's not like they ever wanted to either. The Stafford Man...

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“Cosmic Karma” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #96

I’m a guest in my own bedroom. Normally, a thought like that would make me chuckle, but the awkward sparseness of the room grounded me in reality. My queen bed with the dark blue comforter and two almost flat pillows had been replaced with a short twin bed with orange fleece bedding that did not go with the tan carpet. This room used to have so much more in it. The bed was now against the opposite wall and all of my furniture was sold after mom and dad died. I didn’t want to deal with anything in this house after my pa...

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“The Home and the Homemaker ” by Crystal Bacon

Submitted to Contest #96

A long, abandoned farm house in the middle of nowhere waited, through years, changing seasons, and the inevitable encroachment of nature. It waited for breath and heart beats. Memories of laughter and life echoed through its lonely halls. It stood alone, in stoic silence for so long that it eventually lost itself in a sort of deep sleep. Until the day she returned. It knew her instantly, though she was a woman now. How many years had it been? It couldn’t be sure but she was just a girl when it last saw her. She had to thrust all of ...

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“JAZZ BERY” by Smita PATHAK

Submitted to Contest #96

After 10 long years…here they were together again; Buzz, Jacob, Ben and Ryan. They were waiting for someone in the empty guest room of Hotel Montecito, the most extravagant and prestigious hotel of its time. The Large oval room with magnificent mural painted walls, Double heighted Ceiling with delicate and antique glittering hangings which almost touched the diamond polished marble floors, the Central spiral water fountain spurting out musical shapes at intervals; all gave a feeling of massive eternity contributing to a magnanimous feel...

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“Everyone Handles Grief Differently” by Olivia Stevens

Submitted to Contest #96

**Content Warning! Before reading please know this short story has themes of self harm, death, depression/medication. Please read at your own discretion, and know this is a work of fiction. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 Help is always available. I looked around my Aunt’s empty guest bedroom. There was quite literally nothing in the room save for a small, twin sized bed and a dresser. I smoothed the comforter on the bed and sat atop the untouched blanket. I took a deep breath and smelled the clean air in the room- it r...

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Start your story in an empty guest room.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 150 stories

“The Waiting Room” by Mary Tuffin

“A Dream At My Granny's Home” by Raja Mukherjee

“The Love Of His Life” by Donna Quiroz

“The Guest House” by Ravi Srivastava

“Improvisational Inventory” by Joe Swanson

“Milkha, Milkha” by Anthony David M

“The Bad Day” by Michaela Dennean

“Carter S ❤️ Hazel H” by Paige P

“The Valley. ” by Anthony Booker

“Think Pink” by Honey Sunni

“Lost” by Charie Pinemiss

“Cosmic Karma” by Elizabeth Maxson

“The Home and the Homemaker ” by Crystal Bacon

“JAZZ BERY” by Smita PATHAK

“Everyone Handles Grief Differently” by Olivia Stevens

🌟 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

858

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: