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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

Posted in Horror on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 205 stories

“The open window” by Whalen B

Submitted to Contest #102

She was welcomed into wakefulness by a terrible chill and an even worse stink. She paused at rubbing her face to try and place the smell. It definitely wasn’t gas, thank god. Skunk..? Maybe? But no, this stink was more robust. Old smoke and long dead roadkill. It tickled her nose. She scuttled out of bed with a sigh, pausing to crack her back and regretfully leave the warmth of her blankets. The smell wasn’t that strong but unease still simmered in the back of her mind. She must’ve left a window open or something. She’d feel better after c...

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“D: Events from the life of John McDermen” by Mason Smith

Submitted to Contest #102

December 5th, 2009 - Something is dreadfully wrong with my neighbor. It seems as though he may be schizophrenic, but I'm not quite sure. When I see him outside of his house walking to work, at least that's where I believe he's going, he is quiet and stern almost like a moving statue. Yet inside his house when he is at home, I hear him screaming, a cold, dark, hollow scream. It chills my organs to hear it. I believe him to be alone when this happens. Sometimes it happens for hours, scream after scream. It has been going on for weeks now, I ev...

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“Todd and His Suit” by Riley M

Submitted to Contest #102

CW: mentions of abuse/domestic violence It was a gusty day in Cincinnati, and one too high of a temperature for Todd's pleasure. He was a delicate man, a cautious man, one with a particular way of phrasing and persuasion, one who chose his words thoughtfully and his sentences even more so. He took himself quite seriously, for when in the heat of a conversation, all eyes are upon his, waiting for the next command -- and he delivered with the utmost quality every time. No, Todd was not just a natural conversationalist; he had risen above the l...

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“The Girl with the Bowed Back” by Brammy Rajakumar

Submitted to Contest #102

She was only noticeable for how normal she was.  She smiled too much. She laughed at all the right jokes. She kept up with the witty banter.  But the one thing she never did was talk about herself.  After all, she was a listener. A giver.  She was a tree that gave shade and never received it. She was a lover, never a fighter. She was a walker, not much of a talker.  I followed her one day. Just the way kids do, when they’re curious about someone. She was in my sister’s grade, and my sister had referred to h...

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“Moonlight Living” by Charles Kenna

Submitted to Contest #102

It was a Friday when I saw him, soaring through the air. Sixteen years old, we sat at the skatepark, living in the moonlight. It was the place to be, even though none of us had ever touched a board. It was just a spot away from the parents. Our own concrete kingdom. There weren’t many of us in town, that being anyone under eighteen and over twelve, so gathering was necessary. You could always be sure to find people at the skatepark. We would sit at the top of a ramp, so steep that our legs dangled in the air. Usually me, Ronnie, and Matt. It...

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“Fear” by Rosy Arreola

Submitted to Contest #102

There are several things people are scared about. Some are afraid of spiders, some others by clowns. There is people who is afraid of the heights or about getting on a plane. And there is even people who is afraid of loving. In summary, fear comes in many forms and it depends on each one of us. I, for example, am afraid of the unknown. Not knowing is one of the worst feelings ever. But, does it even make sense? My fear? Since there are lots of things I do not know, and lots of things I am not sure if I am right about. I don’t even think that...

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“WiTh tHe sUpeRNatUraL ” by Eman Waseem

Submitted to Contest #102

He hugged the pillow in comfort with the blanket tangled around him. Laying on the bed still, Winston tried to sleep. But it seemed useless. He kept tilting to one side then the other trying to find the perfect posture to relax. But maybe it was not the right time. He threw the pillow away in madness and stared at the clock that struck 12 in the night. He had laid on the bed several hours ago, struggling to sleep. Yet, it felt like he had just woken up. Lastly, the poor soul stood up, and to his surprise, he felt a pleasant flow down his spi...

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“A due payback” by Amrita Nag

Submitted to Contest #102

Helly Light, a 23 years old cunning young lady, stood on her doorstep watching the truck unload standing across the road. Today was the day when finally someone decided to move into that old fashioned house. Hundreds of people took a tour of that house wondering why it came so cheap and easily affordable and while returning back home, they had the answer. The house was strong and standing but very old and creepy to live in. Nobody even felt comfortable enough to sit and have lunch and definitely not dinner. It was separated from the rest of ...

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“The Man” by Constantin Kulikov

Submitted to Contest #102

Harley was only 7 years old when The Man dressed in black and wearing the bleak Doctor mask, a crow like face with a pointy curved crow beak that smelled of fresh roses. Entered the house and snatched her older sister away never to return, Harley is 12 now and she is still waiting for Hanna to return. What was so strange about that moment for Harley was that despite Hanna's screaming and pleading for mercy and her hair being pulled almost of her head. Her parents did nothing, not even cried they just stared as their daughter was being ripp...

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“About Morgan” by Harper Harris

Submitted to Contest #102

Morgan Wright was a ghost.      That’s what everyone in Sequoia Heights said, anyway. I had no reason to doubt them; my neighbors, all of them older than I was, knew best. In all of my fifteen years there, I had never seen Morgan, and so all I knew of her was what everyone said.      Mr. Lansing insisted that Morgan was a ghost because she only came out at night. “She only travels in the dark,” he would tell me. “She waits ‘till the sun goes down and then she floats around all ghosty-like. Just hovers,...

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“Longing...” by Zain Faaris

Submitted to Contest #102

As the bell rings, all that spirit and energy that I and the others seemed to lack, returns. I pack my belongings and bail myself out of school, as fast as I could.Ah…..September. Evening time. The sky is lit orange, as so are the leaves in almost every tree that I could see. Warm and fuzzy, as will the supper that’ll be awaiting me with impatience. What will it be today? Pie, pizza, cookies? Regardless….I am starving.I walk briskly to my home, barely a mile away from here. In the next street, in the middle of it, lies a lush park. A place w...

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“A Window Away” by Lily Prior

Submitted to Contest #102

  TW: war, gore, death      As soon as the sun rose in the sky, Jack's eyelids rose to reveal his sparkling blue eyes . With eyes touched by the sun's morning glow, Jack's day had begun. Since he was a young boy Jack always woke up early. It was as if at his birth his parents signed a contract for his soul to the sun. As long as the sun was in the sky, Jack was awake. Jack slowly sat up in his bed and moved his legs over to hang off the edge. For the next two minutes Jack would endure the painful daily morning r...

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“A Peculiar Neighbor + An Unfortunate Crush + My Best Friend = Huh?” by Abby Grace

Submitted to Contest #102

He was a peculiar 17-year-old. Instead of the typical sports heads that go to my school, he was a musician. Instead of curly brown hair or wavy blonde hair, he had black hair with streaks of neon green. Instead of the typical Nike and Adidas sneakers, he wore black boots.  I mean, come on, who thinks like that?  These are just a few of the uncommon attributes of Harris Thompson.  Unfortunately, he lives next door to me. You’re probably thinking “Ok, so the cute musician lives next to you? How is that unfortunate?” Well, th...

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“Lost” by Laarni Odsey

Submitted to Contest #102

Thursday. He is standing at the edge of the sidewalk, his back to the road, his heels right on the periphery. One push and he would tumble back, down. If it happens, will passing cars immediately notice in the darkness of the winter evening? Yes or no, he doesn’t seem to care. Or maybe he doesn’t notice.His eyes are on the ground, looking around, but without urgency. I don’t see anything, but there’s a good chance his quarry is invisible to my naked eyes, so I watch where I place my booted feet as I walk by.When I turn the corner and walk th...

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“The Floating Apparition ” by Clara Martin

Submitted to Contest #102

On October 31, 1975, there was a strange sighting in the small town of Primrose, Alabama. Residence in the community reported seeing a floating apparition adorned in a red cloak. The mysterious creature floated into nearby woods and vanished into thin air. It was Friday evening around seven-thirty on the foggy night of Halloween. Donald Ryan and his wife Andrea were getting groceries out of the trunk of their car when they saw the strange figure. The couple's three children stared at the object outside the window of their home. The Ryan's ga...

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