Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Posted in Horror on Jul 7, 2023

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✍️ 63 stories

“The Panthos Corporation Pitch” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #206

Clair woke up with a start. She had had that damn dream again. The one where she goes to work and someone prompts her to give a presentation. Although she knew she had spent countless hours preparing, she could not remember what to say. She then realizes her slide deck has been wiped from her computer. And sometimes, the dream ends with her looking down at her body and noticing that she is naked. Clair shook her head. She needed a clear head. A clear head that was not clogged up with these nightmares.&nb...

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“The Man With The Brick Face” by J.C. Vayda

Submitted to Contest #206

Christmas Eve The family began to gather around the brick fireplace. I grabbed the old Polaroid camera from the table beside me. My daughter laughed when my dad kicked a present accidentally, causing something within it to begin singing a corny toddler’s song. “Move closer together,” I said. My mom and daughter started to take their places and smile. My younger brother was standing there unamused and ready for the picture to be over with already. My pregnant wife was trying to angle herself to hide her enlarged belly. “Oh, get over you...

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“Fragments of My Nightmare” by Angel Calixto Valera

Submitted to Contest #206

FRAGMENTS OF MY NIGHTMAREI. DRAGGING TO HELL “You again!” I said in mumble when I saw a young boy whose face and white shirt were covered with blood. He pointed to an old man beating a woman. The woman was screaming hysterically. I blinked and suddenly the man blasted a door open and forced the boy to enter the room. When the kid pleaded, the old man yelled at him, cursed him, and hauled him by his hair. He and the kid entere...

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“Hiding Place” by Patricia Casey

Submitted to Contest #206

Hiding Place In my recurring dream, I am a child, perhaps three or four years old, hiding beside a gray sofa, crouched to make myself smaller, on a hardwood floor, my eyes closed so he can't see me. Yet, he always finds me in my black-and-white dream. “There you are.” He towers over me, smiling deceptively, and I do not like it. Then, in the same dream, I am in a foyer, but this time I'm a teenager fighting to get out of the house. The doors refuse to open, and he chase...

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“A daughter's worst nightmare” by Jessica Hevican

Submitted to Contest #206

Her screams, her earth shattering screams tore through the building, jolting Violet wide awake. It took her only a moment to realise the source of those screams. It was happening again. It had been six months since the last time it had happened. Wrapping her chiffon nightgown around herself, Violet sprinted down the dimly lit hallway until she reached her daughters bedroom and flung open the door with a bang. Mia’s eyes were firmly shut. She was still fast asleep in the large four poster ‘princess’ bed that made her look every bit of t...

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“Nightmares in Colombia” by Annie (Peterson) Mendoza

Submitted to Contest #206

With each attempt to stay afloat, my lungs burned with a desperation as if they would burst. I could feel the oxygen draining from my head causing blurred vision. The shore line now melding with the night sky. I’d always thought drowning an easier way to go, but was having second thoughts. The river was the only safe place at night, when they sent out search parties for me in the forest and campos. They were fully armed with rifles, machetes, and worst of all, were convinced I was their criminal. If caught, how long would they keep me alive ...

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“Help!” by Joy Allen

Submitted to Contest #206

This morning when I dove into an oncoming ocean wave, I suddenly recalled my dream from the night before. I had dreamed of swimming in the Cape Fear River, a thing I would never do. I used to row a single skull on that river and know all too well that alligators dwell in its tea-stained waters. I saw at least one gator every time I took my boat out for a row. I had a perverse fascination with them. They repulsed me and I feared them, and yet I found myself looking for them obsessively. I stared down many a floating log, waiting to see if i...

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“The Balance Keeper” by Rudy Senecal

Submitted to Contest #206

I often ask myself if I should be where I am. If the responsibilities that I have accepted should be my own or the peoples whose life I affect. As Mark drove under the leaves of orange and brown autumn change, he slowly begins to remember my failure the night before. He remembers that he was lying in bed. He’d woken up for no detectable reason not even the feeling of pressure one feels when they need to pee in the night. It was pitch black, his alarm clock normally giving a sense of placement in the room but that was out too. Power must...

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“A Nightmare, A Curse” by Sruthi Thabati

Submitted to Contest #206

!WARNING! *Contains gore and mental instability* She woke up in a break of sweat, shrieking into the emptiness of her dark apartment. She jolts up and out of bed, heart racing, head spinning both ways. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath. It’s only 2:00 am and she should go back to sleep, she knows it. But the thoughts in her head keep her awake. It’ll come back if I fall asleep. It’ll ki- it’ll… her face falls pale as she downs a glass of ice, cold water. She slams it onto the desktop. Her breath was heavy, and she takes a shaky, de...

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“the merry-go-round” by Evie Adams

Submitted to Contest #206

“I’m an imposter.”That was what Dr. Ivana’s first patient always said. It was the same routine every time. He would knock twice on her door, take off his tweed jacket, and sit down nervously in one of the chairs in front of her desk. He would fiddle with his hands for a minute or so, never making eye contact, and then say what he always said: I’m an imposter. No greeting, no small talk, no exposition on the latest events in his life. Just, I’m an imposter.“That’s been a theme in our conversations. What do you think keeps prompting it?” Dr. I...

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“Nattie's Triumph” by Frank Lester

Submitted to Contest #206

This story contains references to physical and sexual abuse. ###The smell of mold burned her nostrils. Dank and ominous, Nattie hated the old house and hadn’t returned since she graduated from high school, but under the suspicious circumstances of her grandparents’ simultaneous deaths, she could make it through one more night – for them.While away at church camp, her parents and brothers had tragically died in an automobile accident. Eight years old at the time, they took her in and raised her until she left for college.A doz...

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“A kid’s game” by J. M

Submitted to Contest #206

I shifted on the brown leather couch, unsure of how to even allow myself to say what I came here to say. The embarrassment was settling inside me, but what came out was a yawn. ”I take it you didn’t sleep last night?” Dr. Wye tilted his head and looked at me over his glasses, but not in the judgmental way…well, I guess it was in the “judgmental” way. I was here to be judged by him in a way. Yet, he wasn’t the issue. I had been there for at least ten minutes already (or maybe a year, time was an illusion at this point), and couldn’t quite ma...

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“SINKING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #206

SINKING Evening. Sara was on her way home from work. She felt tired but above all embittered. She had had a disagreement with one of her colleagues and big words had flown between them. She had also been recalled by her boss who had guarded her for her lack of attention. “ You don’t seem to pay attention to what you’re being told. You must be more careful” He had said. And all for a job she didn’t like, that she had never liked. Yeah, why then she hadn’t left it and hadn’t looked for another one? She felt a lump of bitterness in her ...

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“What He Did That Night” by Belle Cedergreen

Submitted to Contest #206

There’s two versions of what happened that night. The first version, my loving fiance came back from work overseas to visit. We had dinner at my parents house and slept in the guest bedroom. We chatted with each other, kissing and cuddling, nothing happened that night. We fell asleep in each other's arms, my life staying in perfection. The second version, my loving fiance came back from work overseas to visit. We had dinner at my parents house and slept in the guest bedroom. We chatted with each other, kissing and cuddling, nothi...

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“Spiders” by Tiffany Snyder

Submitted to Contest #206

Spiders Oliva sits patiently waiting to be seen. With her sweaty palms clamped together that lay nervously in her lap. Her eyes on the break of tears and her mind racing with negative thoughts. She turned her attention to the room warm décor. The most magnetic item in the room was the large mahogany executive desk with unique hand carved details that brought sophistication and beauty to the room. The desk only had a few items on which included a pen holder, a snow globe with an hourglass connected to it and a notebook. Fascinated with the s...

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Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 63 stories

“The Panthos Corporation Pitch” by Madeline Honig

“The Man With The Brick Face” by J.C. Vayda

“Fragments of My Nightmare” by Angel Calixto Valera

“Hiding Place” by Patricia Casey

“A daughter's worst nightmare” by Jessica Hevican

“Nightmares in Colombia” by Annie (Peterson) Mendoza

“Help!” by Joy Allen

“The Balance Keeper” by Rudy Senecal

“A Nightmare, A Curse” by Sruthi Thabati

“the merry-go-round” by Evie Adams

“Nattie's Triumph” by Frank Lester

“A kid’s game” by J. M

“SINKING” by Mara Masolini

“What He Did That Night” by Belle Cedergreen

“Spiders” by Tiffany Snyder

🌟 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 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: