Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Posted in Horror on Jul 7, 2023

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✍️ 63 stories

“No Thank you for your service” by Fredrick Neri

Submitted to Contest #206

This story contains references to child abuse in the various forms that is done to kids not old enough to be on this website. (At least legally.) “I couldn’t go to her house because I had work the next day.” “Well sorry Markkus, but everything happens for a reason.” “Easy for you to say you’re the one with another date next weekend!” “I’d say that’s a good reason… Thank-you Markkus.” “And that was the worst thing I heard since my mom cried about her husband leaving.” I lamented wiping the chimp-glass “I never bought into th...

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“Glass Memories” by Anabeth Faley

Submitted to Contest #206

It happened again last night. Under his feet the sidewalk cracked, a long crevice to the horizon. Sun rays bounced off the shear glass of the building now leaning above his head and over the road. His foot wedged into the pavement gap. He was trapped. Sun glare pained his eyes, searing the retina. His optic nerve pounded and beat spasms into his brain. The building broke in half over him. Like a cluster bomb the glass blasted the pavement. One of his eardrums exploded. Sharp fragments sparkled and pelted down on him like stinging hail,...

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“The Man with No Face” by Jonah Yuhas

Submitted to Contest #206

It’s rare to remember a nightmare, but the kind of nightmare that still slithers through your mind when you’re awake are the deadly ones. Detective Rogers handed me a cup of coffee “Please, Ms. Crotts tell us what happened to you on October 31st, 1971, when you bought the old house on Main Street.” My hands are shaking as I sip my bitter-sweet coffee “It was the worst night of my life.” &nbs...

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“Ballad of A Sailors Wife” by Corey Joyce Henderson

Submitted to Contest #206

The woman was a tragedy. Ever since she was a young girl, she had feared the water. The soft foam gathering on the gaping mouth of the shore, the crash and roar of waves fighting within each other, and the sickening grayish-green color which polluted the entirety of the sea sent a sickening disgust into her core. And yet, within the safety and comfort of her emerald green hills, she had been drawn, unbeknownst, to her arch nemesis. She had met him at a tavern in town. He was almost otherworldly in his presence. A tall man, well built but ...

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“He’s Coming Back” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #206

I met Janie in an off-campus dive bar. She was thirty-five looking twenty-seven in a short red dress. She thought I was twenty-seven. I was twenty. “What are you studying?” She asked, not pretending to touch the drink I bought her. “Business management.” I said. She didn’t care. I told her, “I gotta get going. Got an exam tomorrow.” She put a hand around my waist as I stood up and drew me towards her bar stool. “You’re kind of shy.” “A little.” I admitted. &...

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“A Window With Nothing Outside” by Erin Ryu

Submitted to Contest #206

(Author's Note: Reader discretion is advised! The following piece contains mentions of suicide and mental illness. Please note that this is all fiction! If you are an individual struggling with any of the aforementioned, please know that there are resources! You are not alone!) Lawrence Bradford sat silently with his hands neatly folded across his lap, moccasins locked parallel to each other and pulled inward, like the unassuming character he was. Dressed in a frayed cashmere coat and long trousers, Lawrence shifted in his plush cush...

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“Keep Going” by Kaz Ingelman

Submitted to Contest #206

I thought it would be better in California. I thought the salty sea breeze would calm my racing mind. Or, if that didn’t work, the midnight pool parties would at least distract my brain. Or maybe if the change in environment didn’t improve my mood, the therapists in the golden state would at least be more helpful than the ones in Utah. But it turns out the therapists here are just as useless but double the price. No one here knows how to help me. I’m an enigma to some of the best minds in the state. I don’t have a physical disease or a vi...

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“Gelotophobia” by Jon M

Submitted to Contest #206

All the windows were closed. That was the first thing Corrine noticed, partially because her friend loved natural sunlight. When Beth bought the place, she talked Corrine’s ear off about the floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights, all blinded today. The sun crept through tiny spaces between the vanes, the dark room covered in paper cuts of light. Beth crouched behind the door as if the sun might burn her, slamming it shut when Corrine was inside. “Do you want some coffee?” Corrine shook her head, gagging on the smell of the bitter drink br...

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“A Road Trip to Remember” by John H Tate

Submitted to Contest #206

“Spud red, spud yellow, spud …,” We were not on the road for five minutes, not out of the city limits of Huntsville, Alabama, and the spud road game had already started. It was in the late eighties; Lisa, my eldest, was eight years old, and her younger brother Phillip was two. The kids, Pam, my first wife, and I were in a pale blue 80’s model Ford Taurus. We were headed to Chatsworth, Georgia. Pam’s family lived in rural Georgia, and their family's favorite road game was “Spud.” A VW Bug was considered a spud, and the first person to spot o...

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“What Echoes in the Woods” by Sravya Lekha

Submitted to Contest #206

Damp leaves whip me in the face as I bolt through the woods. Branches leave thin scratches along my arms, held up to protect my face. I can’t see more than a few feet in front of me, where the moonlight illuminates the muddy ground. I look up at the small golden light just beyond the periphery of the woods. I don’t know what it is, but somehow I know it is my only hope. The crunching of branches behind me forces me to pick up my pace. My head is frozen forward, but I can tell whatever is chasing me is right on my heels. Panting, I ...

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“"Sometimes, All it Takes is a Name.........."” by Andy Mac

Submitted to Contest #206

Sometimes, all it takes is a name. More than likely you already have multiple names in your head already. You have names for family members, friends, colleagues, and even strangers. But I’m not talking about these names. I’m talking about names that stretch the fabric of time. They may have came into this world in the usual way, but they grew into infamy because of either their heroic, or disastrous thoughts or actions. I know a lot of these names, being a history professor at South Bay University it is sort of my business. Allow m...

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“Premonitory Dreams” by Breanna Martin

Submitted to Contest #206

My least favorite type of dreams are the ones I don't remember. They leave me somehow unsettled, as though my body remembers the dream when my mind can't. Whenever I have these dreams, the rest of the day is always the same. I go through my morning with this nagging feeling that I forgot something important. The sensation eases on the way to school, but my stomach twists into a ball as I ponder the emptiness my head floats in. The anxiety amplifies with the first bell. Slowly throughout the day, bits and pieces of the dream come back to me...

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“What's Gonna Kill Me Today? ” by Sabrina Rose

Submitted to Contest #206

He opened his eyes, awaking in a short gasp. He looked around his room; same old clothes scattered around, Bowie posters, his PS5 perfectly in place on his dresser next to his snake Sybil. Not running around a dead winter forest covered in haze, chasing a silver fox then losing it in said haze, a man in white hunting camo point-blanking a Remington at him and then he was here. He felt his pulse quake, but he shook it off. He had shit to do. Like going to school where between classes and study breaks, he'd tell others wha...

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“Say Something” by Caitlin Chisham

Submitted to Contest #206

Please note: This story contains material about suicide. Please proceed reading with caution. Thank you! “If you see something, say something.” A slogan developed for instructors to tell their pupils when crises come. Something easy to remember and expected to be the ultimate tool. It’s not that easy, isn’t it? I had my shares on the number of times I heard someone say “I can’t do this anymore”. As an empathetic person, all I want to do is to dip myself into them, soaking up their burdens and letting them breathe. The emotions are so i...

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“Waking” by Orla McGivern

Submitted to Contest #206

Irritable taps echo around the hollow house.A light, warm bubbling sound, underlays those cold, sharp raps.Andi presses her palms firmly onto the countertop, pushing all of her weight onto shaking arms, and hoping, praying, that the circles of pressure on each hand could stay constant and grounding- painful, but real. Tapping out that futile rhythm again, and again, despite her numb fingers. She focuses on that sound, ever onwards, that high pitched knocking of overgrown finger nails on smooth granite. The bubbling grows louder. Oh, of cours...

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Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 63 stories

“No Thank you for your service” by Fredrick Neri

“Glass Memories” by Anabeth Faley

“The Man with No Face” by Jonah Yuhas

“Ballad of A Sailors Wife” by Corey Joyce Henderson

“He’s Coming Back” by David B Fraser

“A Window With Nothing Outside” by Erin Ryu

“Keep Going” by Kaz Ingelman

“Gelotophobia” by Jon M

“A Road Trip to Remember” by John H Tate

“What Echoes in the Woods” by Sravya Lekha

“"Sometimes, All it Takes is a Name.........."” by Andy Mac

“Premonitory Dreams” by Breanna Martin

“What's Gonna Kill Me Today? ” by Sabrina Rose

“Say Something” by Caitlin Chisham

“Waking” by Orla McGivern

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

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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