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

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 187 stories

“Resetting the Clock” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #96

Resetting the Clock This damned inventory count took two entire business weeks—would you believe it? Two whole weeks. I think I am totally surrounded by incompetent fools. I have a good mind to fire them all and start over from scratch. After extracting myself from this den of stupidity I have to claw my way through this insane LA freeway traffic, after stopping at my favorite bar for a quick one to drown out the day of course. Then I exit into my suburban neighbo...

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“A Deal With A Deity” by Jared Baatjes

Submitted to Contest #96

"I'm here!" I shouted to the heavens as I dropped to knees in exhaustion. I didn't know where the hell I was but this was where I was probably supposed to be. The message said go east and after a few bottles of whatever I was drowning myself in, I finally decided to listen to that damned message and go east. "Find her." Came another cryptic message. Find who? Who the hell is 'her'? "Wow, can you be even more cryptic?" I sarcastically shouted then grabbed a handful of dirt through it in the air. "Son, are you okay?" I looked up and saw ...

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“Forget About It” by Michael Martin

Submitted to Contest #96

The piercing sound of the hotel alarm clock jolted Mark awake. This was the first morning of his new life in the little town of Pine Creek. The drive here was long, and he was worn out when he arrived in town. – so much so that he couldn’t even recall arriving at the hotel or checking in. Mark chuckled to himself, feeling lucky he’d made it without passing out at the wheel. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took a moment to consider the crazy notion of moving across the country for a job. With the economy the way it was, thou...

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“A Horse of the Deepest Abyss” by Opal Knight

Submitted to Contest #96

He came on a horse borne of black wind, and hooves of obsidian, with eyes as fathomless as the void. He dismounted in the village square and walked his horse, people stopped to stare at him as he tied his horse to a post next to the bar. Inside the bar he sat on a stool and didn’t say a word to anyone, not even the barman. He wasn’t given a glass yet he was drinking from one, drinking a slightly brown and milky liquid that filled the room with the sent of spices from places beyond the sea. When he was done he placed the glass on the bar and ...

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“The Escape” by Bimal Nair

Submitted to Contest #96

It was a normal day in the small town of Decanta. It was a working day. The situation is always like people rushing to catch the trains to reach nearby city for their jobs, children going to schools, shopkeepers opening their shops, and some people who always sit near the shops or other seats available and talking about worldly matters from morning to evening.Today was the same. But even in such a hurry people didn’t miss to notice a stranger lying near the fountain located at the centre of the town. He looked as if he was beaten mercilessly...

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“Strangers at Dawn” by Ian Watkins

Submitted to Contest #96

Hux laid awake in his bed, listening to the birds singing outside of his window for a few minutes and dreading the ice cold room outside of his heavy quilt. The bright morning sun flooded his closet sized room and made him squint from its harshness. He knew he needed to get going for the day, but he was quite comfortable and more importantly warm right where he was. Fine, he thought, I reckon I’ll get up. He braced himself for the impact of the frigid morning air and threw the blanket aside. Immediately, he regretted the dec...

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“The Hitchhiker” by HBR Patel

Submitted to Contest #96

The sun called it a day and went to brighten up the other part of the globe. The farmers were in the bar for the night. One stranger walked inside the bar. 'Hey, you are not supposed to be there?' 'Oh! I didn't know that. I am sorry.' said the stranger to the overcautious villager. That village faced the problem of hitchhikers intruding on the safety of their village. They came up with a solution to identify and remove the hitchhikers from the village if the villagers found them to be drunk. The solution was simple. They placed a doo...

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“Full Loop” by George Key

Submitted to Contest #96

Full Loop by George Key I and Tim spent hot summer days as children beneath the umbrella of a weeping willow. When heavy rains came, we sailed makeshift vessels until they were devoured by the sewer drains. Those friends from our childhood are always somewhere ready to pick up right where you left off. The bond...

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“Chuma” by Clinton Siegle

Submitted to Contest #96

I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I arrived as a stranger to a town called Chuma. There I had the most wonderful dream. I had just taken a 19 hour bus ride for less than 101 miles. Note miles not kilometers, Meaning? I was on an alternative reality world. Where pounds, miles, and the sun was yellow not white. I had met some people who invited me to a party. That the party is or was for several days and nights. I did not comprehend. Why? I did not party like that. Nor in my reality did we dance for days on end. So getting off the bus. I wa...

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“Re: New Kid On The Block” by E. H.

Submitted to Contest #96

June 6th, 2012 - 11:43 am.To: Edith Summerland <edithsummer2@gmail.com>From: Tristan Donner <big_city_slicker@gmail.com>Subject: Safe and Sound.Hey Edi,I arrived @ North Falls yesterday. The drive was hell with two car sick chihuahuas, but I was able to make it up before things could get messy.I also I met my next door neighbor yesterday, and get this. I'm the first new face here since 2005. She kept nagging me about something, but I can't remember what that was... Oh! She offered me some tater tot casserole - looks disgusting, t...

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“E.T. Goes Home” by Amy Jayne Conley

Submitted to Contest #96

Reedston. Population 100. Reedston (said ‘Reston’, obviously) is a backwater corner of bumfuck nowhere, lost in the rolling hills of forgotten arable farmland. If Reedston was a spice, it would be flour. I left because I’d taken a trip to the Big City by accident. I’d been terrified, at first, regretting my decision to run away from home. But I’d done so anyway, because I, Evangeline Gabriel Thompson, was a tetchy hormonal fifteen-year-old, and I read books and ate snacks in bed even though mum told me not to. It took 30 minutes of panic to...

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“King's Creek” by Robin Biggs

Submitted to Contest #96

Ain't nobody ever comes to visit King's Creek. Ain't nothin' to see here. Nothin' to do.Don't know why they named the place after royalty. Ain't nothing royal about the people livin' here. Ain't nobody important. Drunk teenagers, unsupervised children. Sometimes those old biker men ride into town and stop at the old gas station for a fill up. But ain't nobody interested in staying.Some of us have no choice but to live the life we've been given. A life in King's Creek. I've got a house, one with a half-fenced backyard where the mutts roam fre...

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“Bill finds out about his past” by Glenn Etzwiler

Submitted to Contest #96

On a warm summer night in eighteen forty seven in a western town just outside of Texas. A stranger rolls in to town he was wearing a black cowboy hat with a black leather trench coat. The man had his head down as he road his black horse into town the man road up to the bar just on the edge of town hopped down off his horse. The saddle look brand new the sliver on the saddle shined in the moon light. He gave his horse a pet then took the rains leading the horse to the trough. As he tied the horse to a post everyone was watching him in suspi...

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“Souvenir of the Man who never existed.” by Massiel Alberto

Submitted to Contest #96

He came out of nowhere and sat down at the pub. I remember quite well his garments were ragged and dirty. He had a sad and tired look on his face when he requested a tequila shot. He drank it silently until there was nothing left. “Where do you come from?”- I asked, intrigued. It was not usual for this town to receive visitors. We knew every local and I never saw this man before. “Give me another one”- he responded, ignoring my question, as he looked around studying his surroundings. The bar was empty that night, just a couple of drun...

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“The Quickest Gun from the East” by Larry Lefkowitz

Submitted to Contest #96

The Quickest Gun from the East In November of the year 1880, Joseph Luban descended from the Southern Pacific Railroad train at Tucson in the Arizona territory, where the train had stopped for refueling and taking on supplies, before continuing to San Francisco. Joseph had planned to look over the city, but when a fellow passenger suggested that if he wanted to see “the real West,” he should travel ...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 187 stories

“Resetting the Clock” by Bob Faszczewski

“A Deal With A Deity” by Jared Baatjes

“Forget About It” by Michael Martin

“A Horse of the Deepest Abyss” by Opal Knight

“The Escape” by Bimal Nair

“Strangers at Dawn” by Ian Watkins

“The Hitchhiker” by HBR Patel

“Full Loop” by George Key

“Chuma” by Clinton Siegle

“Re: New Kid On The Block” by E. H.

“E.T. Goes Home” by Amy Jayne Conley

“King's Creek” by Robin Biggs

“Bill finds out about his past” by Glenn Etzwiler

“Souvenir of the Man who never existed.” by Massiel Alberto

“The Quickest Gun from the East” by Larry Lefkowitz

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Write about someone welcoming a stranger into their home.

Start your story in an empty guest room.

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: