Write a story where someone sees the shadow of someone standing behind them.

Posted in Mystery on Oct 21, 2022

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✍️ 62 stories

“The Visit” by Alexander Blackie

Submitted to Contest #169

The candle on the bedside table flickered briefly. Afraid of the dark since a small child, I could not find the solace of sleep without the security of light. ‘Oh no, please do not go out!’ I pleaded terrified of waking alone and defenceless in darkness. I sat up in bed to check if the candle needed replacing. It did not. Only half consumed, its flame burned steadily as if recognizing how much I needed its comfort. ‘Thank you.’ I breathed. Neck muscles relaxed as relief flooded through me. I watched the candle flame grow brighter mesmeri...

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“The longing” by C P

Submitted to Contest #169

The shadow of the leaves, cast upon the road, swung gently to the autumn breeze. I leaned over the window and looked up at the tree with its golden leaves preparing for the fall. As I watched, the wind gushed for a moment, and the first leaf of the season’s fall snapped from the tree and hurled, guided by the breeze, towards the window, hit the windowpane, slid down it and settled on the sill. It was the lustrous crimson colored red-oak leaf with its curved edges culminating in jagged pointed tips. I gently blew over the leaf and watched it ...

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“ At Dawn There Are Poppies” by Lisa Rose

Submitted to Contest #169

This story contains sensitive themes including: mental health, grief, death, and blood. At Dawn There Are Poppies On the last night of August, when the hazy summer heat blurred toward an autumn chill, Emily found a single poppy growing in the woods behind the house. A spot of sunset in the dark of the forest floor, the red-orange blossom shone like blood among the ragged brown pine needles. Emily dropped the plastic container she had been carrying so quickly that the tender, late-summer blackberries burst like fresh bruises on t...

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“My last breath ” by Sam Smith

Submitted to Contest #169

My breath stocked is my lungs, I could hear a whining noise inside my body but it couldn't come out of my mouth, I felt my pupil became larger than normal , I wanted to move but my legs were heavier than ever , for a minute I thought I am paralyzed, tried to find something anything could connect me to out of this situation but everything was nonsense to what I was in, I searched around my body in a circle by my hand to find something but what could I do with those around me , throw them to unknown subject, find something sharp perhaps kill ...

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“Haunted Mansion” by Rebecca Stack

Submitted to Contest #169

Stepping out in to the courtyard, the air feels thin; the coldness bitter, night is coming. The darkness is beginning to fall; inch by inch it creeps along the floor. Nothing can stop it, there is no hiding from it. Soon everything that once was in light will be in full darkness. Rose had agreed to come to this old Mansion House with her friend Lucy, “come on, come along, it will be fun” she had said “it is a haunted tour, with creepy facts and true stories about the past.” Reluctantly she had tagged along, walking along...

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“Dead Horses” by Lizzie Hudson

Submitted to Contest #169

Dead Horses She took in the air: sweet, fall-dried grass and fresh tossed earth, a whiff of sharp pine nearby. Her nightgown kissed her bare legs in the breeze. A shadow registered briefly behind her, she could hear shadows now, and she felt for its hand. Her other hand clung to the handle of a short leash. When she heard the thunder, she thought at first it was the dog’s growl. Her white eyes could not see the lightning’s quick flash that drowned the white stones below in a whiter spotlight, a row of uneven teeth in a little smile. D...

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“A Second Shadow” by Rose Gresh

Submitted to Contest #169

Shadows moved with the sun. There was no shadow without light–a natural balance the world set in motion eons ago–and everything: all people, places, creatures, and things, could cast one with ease. Lucy Whitlock had two. Her original shadow behaved as a shadow should. It moved like hands on a clock around her body, lengthening in the legs to an awkward degree when the sun was at a certain angle and shrinking as the light sank lower in the sky. Her second shadow–one Lucy earned when she was six years old–stayed fixed, roo...

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“The Shadow That Stalks” by A Carter

Submitted to Contest #169

Walking home alone from her friend's annual Halloween seance party, eighteen year old Lisa Davis tried to banter the scary images from her mind. "What happened to her eyes?" She thought, but quickly said, "No, I will not think about that anymore! It wasn't real. Just a mean, cruel prank!" This Halloween night was a bit more festive in comparison to last year. The suburban neighborhood of Dulai Cove felt cool and crisp; and it pulsed with the sound of crickets. Flourishing in colors of yellow and orange, remnants of autumn leaves were scatter...

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“Malcolm's Shadow” by Mollie Rodgers

Submitted to Contest #169

Content Warning: Drugs, Suicidal Ideation It was the briskness with which the man’s feet consumed the sidewalk that advertised him as an interloper.The city had abandoned these streets and like all street orphans, they’d fallen in with a bad crowd. With plenty to run from in this neighborhood but nowhere to run to, its residents meandered through their days and if something caught up with them, it was no great pity for it had only been a matter of time. There was no good reason to visit it.Jethro Washington with his no good reason cut right ...

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“Matches” by Miss Anonymous

Submitted to Contest #169

The power went out. Again. Sally fumbled around for the matchbox on the counter and clumsily struck a match on the rough side of it. The little flickering light swallowed up most of her tiny dark apartment in a faint orange glow. Stupid power grid. What am I even paying taxes for? They said they shut the power off because of the snowstorms. Personally, Sally thought that the power company was just incompetent and couldn’t fix the lines fast enough, but saying that wasn’t going to help anything. &nb...

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“The Ambulance” by Andrew Evans

Submitted to Contest #169

The Ambulance by Andrew Evans As i ran, it was as though my own shadow was standing behind me. I felt it. Like a soul watcher. Ready to split. A crossroads must be approaching. One of those decisions you don't think about but could have implications later. Left or right? Backwards or forwards? Walk or run? Go out? Stay in? Fate decides what happens after our initial choices. That is where our control ends. Destiny is never in our hands and its best if we come to peace with that and crack on. I had decided to go for a run this evening...

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“Talking to Shadows” by Katherine Saltwell

Submitted to Contest #169

“Hello friend, where were you?” The shadow man didn’t say anything. Just waved, silent, cold as ice on the back of Lana’s neck. “I know, I haven’t been talking to you as much anymore. I- I can’t stand to look in the mirror, you know?” The shadow man nodded, tilting his head in a sympathetic way. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m ok. Or I will be. It was just hard for a hot minute. I’m sorry.” The shadow man reached out from behind me, reaching for my shoulder, but he was a shadow, he couldn’t touch anything. It seemed so lonely. Except for Si...

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“Appurtenant ” by Phelps Bean

Submitted to Contest #169

Through the fogged window, light pours over half the room casting craggy figures on the closet doors. From the corner of his eye, twinkling condensation dances on the windowpane, tempting him to look again. With strained focus, Jonathan stares straight ahead attempting to ignore the window, refusing to cast a fruitless glance at the bedside clock – he knows it is well past midnight. He keeps his withered gaze fixed on the ceiling, listening to the ambient purr of air conditioning. The stark streaks of light from outside bleach the fl...

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“The Shadow Knows” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #169

I will be so glad when the guys at the dealer finally finish repairing my car I don’t mind going home from the bar late at night when I can drive home. All I have to do is try to drive like I haven’t been drinking. But walking these streets late at night is kind of creepy. I should have sacrificed my pride and asked someone to drive me home, but I really didn’t want any of the jokers I hang around with make some comment of my being afraid to walk home in the da...

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“The Priest's Wife” by Marian Lemont

Submitted to Contest #169

Father Andrew sat in a small kitchen of the empty Assumption Church rectory as he scribbled last-minute notes into the edges of that week’s homily. The morning sun crept threateningly across the table as he worked, alerting him to the impending morning mass he must preside over shortly. His arthritic, wrinkled fingers moved shakily over his notepad, the freshly-inked words bleeding together as he placed the pen down to survey his newest additions. The clack of heels behind him. A figure behind him cut a shadow across his table, ...

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Write a story where someone sees the shadow of someone standing behind them.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 62 stories

“The Visit” by Alexander Blackie

“The longing” by C P

“ At Dawn There Are Poppies” by Lisa Rose

“My last breath ” by Sam Smith

“Haunted Mansion” by Rebecca Stack

“Dead Horses” by Lizzie Hudson

“A Second Shadow” by Rose Gresh

“The Shadow That Stalks” by A Carter

“Malcolm's Shadow” by Mollie Rodgers

“Matches” by Miss Anonymous

“The Ambulance” by Andrew Evans

“Talking to Shadows” by Katherine Saltwell

“Appurtenant ” by Phelps Bean

“The Shadow Knows” by John Steckley

“The Priest's Wife” by Marian Lemont

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with a character encountering a black cat.

Start your story with a blast of lightning casting a graveyard in a flash of brief, white light.

Write about someone finding a monster under their bed.

Write a murder story where the murder weapon is the knife used to carve a pumpkin.

Contest #169

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

253

Contest entries

109

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: