Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Posted in Horror on Jul 7, 2023

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✍️ 63 stories

“My Nightmare” by Douglas Amos

Submitted to Contest #206

I woke staring at the ceiling, sweating, shaking, scared. The dream was haunting me, so much so, I was afraid to fall asleep. I readied myself for the day. Showered, shaved, had breakfast and set off to work. The routine was becoming boring for me. I needed an adventure of sorts, so I planned a weekend getaway. I settled on a weekend with my girlfriend, Janet. I was from the other side of the tracks and was not the favorite person to go visiting. Resting on the sofa, tired and worn out from the nightmare, dozed off. I...

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“Recurring Nightmare” by Anastasia Martin

Submitted to Contest #206

I am awakened to the angry echoing of heavy chains clanging together somewhere near by. I open my eyes, but it's as if they are still closed. All I can see is absolute darkness and nothingness. I strain my eyes anyway attempting to peer through the pitch in the direction from which I think the sound may be coming. I feel a little disoriented and there is a persistent throbbing like someone swinging a spiked mace at the center of my skull from the inside. Every time those damn chains, wherever they are, come together ...

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“Tricky Dicky” by Ash Egan

Submitted to Contest #206

Arnold had seen the shadow man before. Though these days, he couldn't believe it.It was a Christmas that stood out in the otherwise fuzzy snapshots of his childhood memory.Withered tinsel in the dining room, strung limply from tobacco-stained wallpaper. A table littered with the remains of a meal and smudged half-empty glasses. Tornados of laughter, shouting and strained conversation overpowering a small staticky television in the corner.Later, the itch of thick wool blankets and the soft amber glow of streetlights through a bedroom window.A...

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“Scaredy-Cat” by Marissa Yates

Submitted to Contest #206

Trigger warning: Missing child The day it happened I was five and wearing the light-up sneakers I had begged my mom for during our shopping trip last week. Well, actually I had begged for the ones with my favorite superhero, but they were more expensive and Mom had negotiated me down to generic ones with a character that was just slightly wrong in a way I couldn’t put my finger on. But it didn’t matter, because they lit up, and light-up shoes made you fast. Everyone knew it. Gabriel had gotten a pair last year for Christmas, and he...

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“Panic” by Willow Patte

Submitted to Contest #206

Content warning: this piece discusses themes of trauma. ‘See you later, Olivia!’ I said, leaving my friend’s house for a band rehearsal. Recently, a lot of new construction work has popped up in the area. Almost everywhere you look, something old has been taken down, making room for the new. I believe it’s best to combine the past and future. The past is where we came from, but we must keep moving forward; otherwise, we’re stuck, repeating old patterns, stuck in continuous cycles of pain. I started towards the long path tow...

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“Anxiety Dreams” by Cassie Gibson

Submitted to Contest #206

Have you ever heard that old superstition that if you dream the same thing three times you’ll die? I am sure that’s not true, I’ve been having the same dreams for years and yet here I am. I know they are dreams now, at some point part of me will wake up and flag a warning, hey we’ve been here before. Time to wake up. Doors not locking, running from zombies, running from life sucking ghosts, not being able to run. Teeth falling out, being back at school, being naked back at school - I guess all the usual features of an unquiet night. So...

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“Nineteenth” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #206

It was always going to be the nineteenth. As a teenager, he expected that he would die in his nineteenth year. Not when he was nineteen. That would be past the time that had been allotted to him. Never would he admit to another soul, his disappointment at living beyond his nineteenth birthday. He knew he should be thankful for the reprieve and the extra life it afforded him, but he didn't know why the plan had changed. He didn’t know what it was that he had done wrong, this made him feel smaller. He no longer measured up. He’d fa...

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“The Turned” by A. Gray

Submitted to Contest #206

Trigger Warnings: Sexual violence, physical violence, gore and multiple mentions of blood. The cracks were beginning to show. Gabrial’s eyes were shot red with blood, the purple shadows under his eyes told everyone he met that he hadn’t slept in his coffin for days. He was beginning to drift unconsciously between day and night but at least for now he could rely on the comforts of the castle that was now his new home. He could rely on the servants and his new family to ensure fresh blood, warmed, iced or however he liked, was provided for him...

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“A Surrealist's Worst Nightmare” by James Fritz

Submitted to Contest #206

I grasp a champagne flute as I saunter around my art exhibition at the Met. Everybody who’s somebody is here for the grand opening. Dealers, collectors, curators. My Surrealist paintings cover the walls. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding roughshod over a planet-sized baseball. A pinball machine with skyscrapers for flippers. The interior of an office building in which everybody who works there has a lampshade and lightbulb for a head. There’s no in-between when it comes to my art. You either love i...

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“Somniphobia” by Flash Gonzalez

Submitted to Contest #206

Content Warnings: abuse, mentions of drugging and somniphobia *** Somniphobia, the irrational fear of sleep. It was an unnecessary fear, a fear that didn’t make sense, or at least that’s what people who didn’t suffer from this fear said, but it was a completely different story for someone who actually had it. It was a cold moonless night. The wind was howling and shaking the windows of the house. Corey Young stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, he heard the constant ticking of a clock echoing throughout the room. He was a...

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“Is It Though?” by Lyndz Yahn

Submitted to Contest #206

It was as though he were in a story, just a character on a page, no real strife, just words on a page. At least that’s how he felt, sitting on the cold clammy ground in the foggy cemetery on a stereotypical, cloudy, full-moon Halloween night. It was not of his own volition that he was there, and although most would say he signed up for this, he in fact been contracted without his knowing, and therefore, considered this a kidnapping and hostage situation. He had no idea where the cemetery was, or even the name of the one's grave he stood on, ...

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“What a nightmare!!!” by David Nwachinemelu

Submitted to Contest #206

The sound echoed again, and this time, it felt like it was coming from my left. Oblivious to the absence of footwear, I pressed on, heedless of the pain inflicted by sharp thorns piercing my vulnerable soles. This was the third time I ran like this. It had been going on for what felt like three hours, just like a loop, each more scary than the last. To aggravate things, with each loop, a brutal delusion would enclasp me, convincing me that freedom was within my grasp, only to push me back into the devastating depths of this termless nightmar...

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“The Mother” by Miss String

Submitted to Contest #206

Run. I wake up in a daze, that one word echoing in my mind. I’m breathing heavily, like I just had ran a mile. Beads of sweat gather upon my forehead. Even though it was early morning, the summer heat surrounds my body, similar to a thick fog. I lay there for a moment longer, clutching my sheets so tightly my knuckles turn white. I sit up slowly once my heartbeat returns to a normal pace. My initial panic waking up was fleeting, but it left an impression on me. I feel as if I forgot something important, something about my dream last night. T...

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“Snake on a Brain” by Sam Lambe

Submitted to Contest #206

The sky was filled with grey clouds when Nate Loren, his wife Misty and their son Enzo pulled up to the rusty iron gates. There was no security booth, or any buzzer in sight. Nate had unfastened his seatbelt and was about to get out of their bright yellow Volkswagen when the gates creaked open. He drove slowly through the gates, there was nobody in sight as they drove toward the front door of the ‘Hospital for the Psychologically Challenged’ building. A man with dark black hair smiled at them as they neared the entrance. He wore a white co...

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“ANXIETY - Flashback of a Nightmare” by Charles Frederick

Submitted to Contest #206

The origin of Amafa's ancient kingdom is as mystical as the first person that set foot in this extraordinarily weird dynasty. It is a unique animal kingdom that boasts of all types of creatures known to man: big, small, cuddly, and not-so-cuddly, ugly, beasts of all shapes and sizes. To many, Amafa was the real Biblical kingdom of Eden where creation was allegedly conceived thousands of years ago. The difference is that life in Amafa is full of high-edged tension, mysteries, and tales of the unknown that is incredibly dangerous a...

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Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 63 stories

“My Nightmare” by Douglas Amos

“Recurring Nightmare” by Anastasia Martin

“Tricky Dicky” by Ash Egan

“Scaredy-Cat” by Marissa Yates

“Panic” by Willow Patte

“Anxiety Dreams” by Cassie Gibson

“Nineteenth” by Jed Cope

“The Turned” by A. Gray

“A Surrealist's Worst Nightmare” by James Fritz

“Somniphobia” by Flash Gonzalez

“Is It Though?” by Lyndz Yahn

“What a nightmare!!!” by David Nwachinemelu

“The Mother” by Miss String

“Snake on a Brain” by Sam Lambe

“ANXIETY - Flashback of a Nightmare” by Charles Frederick

🌟 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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