Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 47 stories

“The Sacrificial Fawn” by Rick Van Cleave

Submitted to Contest #110

“Are you ok miss?” I said as I roll down the passenger window just before getting on the 101. A woman with deep eyes and a white sheet draped around her revealed her face. “Can you ride me to San Luis Obispo?” “If you mean give you a ride, yeah sure,” I said then murmured. “I’ve given rides to much worse.” “Thank you,” she said. “Hold on, let me move some stuff. I do paper delivery and sometimes make a mess. I’ll just toss it in the back and we are goo...

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“Memories that sell” by Dionisia Lampadariou

Submitted to Contest #110

“15 euros, eh? You’ve got enough material for a 40-minute ride?” “Totally! I just got back from a trip to Murcia, you’re going to LOVE the drawings I made of the beach. Plus, I have a peach mocktail recipe I can share with you, and the lyrics from a local hit. Not to mention the airlines reviews, drama from the hotel I stayed at, restaurant-” “Okay, okay, hahah! You earned this one, come on in!” Eva made herself comfortable in the Toyota Aygo, carefully placing her cardboard sign between the car seat and the door. “Insta Museum”, it re...

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“THE HITCHHIKER” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #110

One morning while driving west on a flat stretch of road outside Abilene, Texas, I saw the stranger with his thumb out long before I stopped and offered him a lift. He thanked me politely while carefully depositing his guitar case in the back seat. He had no other bags except for a backpack that he slipped off and deposited at his feet as he got into the passenger seat. “Where are you headed?” I asked. “West,” he answered. “Me too. “ Looking directly at the guitar case, I continued, “Do you play?” “Some,” he answered and without another wo...

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“Good Girls” by Emily Olive Petit

Submitted to Contest #110

I met Maryanne when the sun was still no more’n a shy, coppery flush in the distance. The Texas highway barrelled out before me like a cat stretching its limbs halfway through a midday snooze. “To the hospital,” said Maryanne. I turned up the air conditioner before putting the car in drive. “Y’all got an emergency?” “Just visiting an old friend.” I glanced at her. She had looked harmless enough. Even so: “Y’all oughta know I have ways of defending myself, should the need arise.” “Lucky you. You try to rough me up, I ain’t got anyth...

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“The Man” by Herta X

Submitted to Contest #110

"You know what I was thinking? The dez is like a simile for the world... I mean like, many people just see nothing, but in reality there's a lot of beauty if you just look... in one of the two most beautiful countries in the world (or at least outside of Germany and Austria)""Yah, that's very true, babe :) the dez is just great!""Yah it is (: you know what else is great, or even greater?""What?""You""I love you, you know that?" he said, smiling at her lovingly and taking her hand in his."I love you too" she replied, lovingly squeezing his ha...

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“Dan and Finn” by L Mack

Submitted to Contest #110

Dirty headlights lit up a few yards ahead with a weak yellow glow, but outside Dan’s small orbit could have been outer space. Heavy darkness pressed in around him. The wipers stuttered and honked across the windshield, hardly making a dent in sheets of rain that crashed diagonally into the glass. Rain was falling and falling and falling as if trying to wash the world clean. Water sloshed under his tires and there was a swoosh every now and then as he barreled through a puddle. No cars had passed for what felt like hours, just straggly, ghost...

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“Leaving Jamie Behind” by Ariana Hagen

Submitted to Contest #110

The road was long and winding. Off in the distance, to my right, were large, rising plateaus. Everywhere else, as far as I could see, were rolling hills of flowers, Joshua trees and cactus. Springtime granted life to an otherwise desolate desert. Where normally there were only the spiked and withered dry-weather plants, gentle rains had coaxed dormant seeds into bursting forth out of the dirt. Blossoms bloomed frantically and colorfully, desperate to pollinate before they shriveled and turned to dust once more. Spring was the only time of ye...

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“Two Thumbs Up” by Marcia H.

Submitted to Contest #110

Hitchhiker’s row is what they called it. It was the part of Old Cotters Road where on any given day or night you would see only one thing besides Mr. Murphy’s cows in the pasture. A row of hitchhikers would be standing in a line thumbs up looking for a ride out of town. That’s exactly what Justin Paris saw when he drove down that country road on a hot July’s day. Justin was from Arrow Wood, a few towns away from Old Cotters Town and today he was on his way to Junction City. Junction City was the place where his new job was. He ...

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“I Say Goodbye to My XK150” by Leon Moss

Submitted to Contest #110

I’ve been stopping at Suzie’s Diner for years, all the years that I’ve been working for ‘The Office’, better known as MI24. It’s now 37 years, making me the veteran agent in The Office and giving me certain privileges: a slightly bigger paycheck and barely noticeable shorter hours. It also gives me the most difficult and the most dangerous jobs. Sometimes I think they’re trying to get rid of me in order to save on paying out my pension. Suzie’s Diner’s coffee is the best. It keeps me awake and alert; it’s not burnt and has great tast...

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“BAREFOOT ON THE ASPHALT” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #110

BAREFOOT ON THE ASPHALT What struck me, but I can say the first thing I saw of him were his bare feet on the asphalt which, at that time____it was summer, it was about 1PM, had to be hot. Two large, very big bare feet very white too, as I was going to enter the highway, with my heavy load of goods to be transported not exactly near. The boy was disheveled, dressed unkempt, his trousers and his shirt looked dirty, he had long and matted hair, dirty they too. But what was even more incredible was that he was hold...

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“That was Then, This is Now” by Brett Kellerman

Submitted to Contest #110

Don’t pick-up hitchhikers. Period. It’s not something you do nowadays. Sort of ended in the 1970’s. Or 1980’s even. Usually dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Or a sweatshirt. For points of clarity, it should be noted that a sweatshirt is now what they now call a hoodie. No change in garment design, just a change in generation. Me and my attire? I look the fifty-something hobo that I am. Redneck’s more like it. My collegiate jean jacket’s collar is totally frayed; but it blends nicely with the curls in my long blonde hair. A hippie wannabe driv...

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“I-10 to Tucson ” by Emily Hemmings

Submitted to Contest #110

Up along the side of the road there was a figure, standing, waiting patiently as if in a lineup for a movie ticket. Carol Massey had already made up her mind to pull over in order to pick up this person who was waiting oh-so patiently for two reasons: one, had some tired long-haul driver not picked her up on the side of the road so many years ago, where would she be? Not in Phoenix, that’s for sure. Not happy. She’d still be in Tucson, haunted by her gruff father and the ghost of the child she had failed. The second reason is that she kept a...

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“Everything is Fine.” by DS VACILLATION

Submitted to Contest #110

Her mother used to warn her to look out for deer around these parts; they could jump into the road and cause a nasty accident, which, aside from the possibility of killing an animal or causing personal injury, could inflict some very expensive damage on the car. For a couple of hours, it was nothing but pine trees, power lines, and overly zealous Christian billboards on this stretch of I-10, so she always kind of hoped she would see a deer just to mix up the scenery a bit. The billboards provided some entertainment at least, for being so com...

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“An Error of Judgement” by Dave Quinn

Submitted to Contest #110

He was jarred awake by an intense rush of wind carrying a gritty sand across his face, as a vehicle pulled alongside. It was a large white limousine with no livery and whose make he could not identify, in this dawn light, standing silently next to him.Amazingly, he summoned the inner strength to reach up, place his hand on the door handle and pull himself up, only to discover that it had no driver. He assumed he must be having hallucinations. He must have fallen unconscious but couldn’t recall when.As he began to muse over the smooth and sle...

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“Hitchhiking can be scary” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #110

All she could hear was the hoot of an owl eerily sounding in the distance. Her breath was like small puffs of smoke as she breathed heavily in the cold night air. Even in the car it was freezing. The moon was a sliver tonight and almost completely hidden by dark clouds - not allowing her to see anything as she peered out of the window – just black silhouettes, different shapes and sizes. The car was stopped and parked on the side of the road, her phone was almost dead but there wasn’t a signal anyway. And she felt scared. Marie had been sitt...

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Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 47 stories

“The Sacrificial Fawn” by Rick Van Cleave

“Memories that sell” by Dionisia Lampadariou

“THE HITCHHIKER” by Julia Corliss

“Good Girls” by Emily Olive Petit

“The Man” by Herta X

“Dan and Finn” by L Mack

“Leaving Jamie Behind” by Ariana Hagen

“Two Thumbs Up” by Marcia H.

“I Say Goodbye to My XK150” by Leon Moss

“BAREFOOT ON THE ASPHALT” by Mara Masolini

“That was Then, This is Now” by Brett Kellerman

“I-10 to Tucson ” by Emily Hemmings

“Everything is Fine.” by DS VACILLATION

“An Error of Judgement” by Dave Quinn

“Hitchhiking can be scary” by Valerie Preston

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a roadside diner.

Write about a couple who fall out on the road.

Write about a character on the road — and on the run.

Start your story with the line “We have plenty of time,” and/or end it with the line “We were never going to make it.”

Contest #110

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

209

Contest entries

144

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: