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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone welcoming a stranger into their home.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 161 stories

“Richard Stays With Us” by John Carpenter

Submitted to Contest #96

CW: suicide  *** It was a day in spring, near the end of the school year. That was the day that Richard put his knife to his throat. The Principal of the High School was called to the home where Richard was staying, to see if he could talk Richard out of suicide.   It was Senior Skip Day at the High School, so I was home the whole day, when somehow word got to me that something was going on at the Slade’s. I knew Richard from school, and we had become friends. We went on the lake in an old beat up boat I had, which I named “Captain...

4 comments 4
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“A Story by the Candlelight” by Drei Etsocal

Submitted to Contest #96

"Suspension of classes is still effective until further notice," an announcer from our town's local radio said as the typhoon left our town already but the signal warning is still active. Dad turned off the radio and looked at us. "Since we have no electricity, we might as well pretend we're camping tonight." "This would probably work even if we just have candles and mosquito coils." Kuya (how we call male elder siblings) Sean smiled at Dad and sat like an Indian on our sofa bed solely made of foam. "Sit straight campers, leader's orders...

6 comments 6
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“Was it a true love ?” by Tariq Saeed

Submitted to Contest #96

Busy washing clothes ,since morning, My elder brother Afzal,continuesly taking out his suits and matching his ties "Rani ,I think this tie goes with my suit” Afzal came towards washing bay. .”Are you going some where special? “No, wonna take out some stills ”Afzal answered very freely.These still would be a great reminiscence of me.” l won't collect, his wife is admitted in hospital and he is thinking of the stills, what happened to this man ,?His words took me for a while.photographer took out his pics in different styles and fram...

2 comments 2
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“Stranger to Me” by Lauren Hulme

Submitted to Contest #96

“Mum?” Muriel called out through the house. She peered around the corner of the hallway but all it revealed was a sitting room. Dark and empty. The floral couch cushions were fluffed and pristine. No one had sat on them for some time. “Where has she gone now?” she mused to herself. Her mother had wanted her to do something, she was sure of it. But for the life of her she could not recall. Did the laundry need to be done? Or was it dinner that she needed to prepare?  If she couldn’t figure out what her mother had actually wanted...

2 comments 2
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“Feline Meets Canine” by Valerie June

Submitted to Contest #96

It was a dare. A dare given to me by Hermes to make a pair of ex-lovers, specifically mortals, fall in love. It was utterly impossible to turn him down, though I knew the dare was seemingly impossible to perform.Love is love and, though I’d never admit it, even I can’t fully tame the heart. It had its own language that I was only partly skilled in. I should know. After all, I was the goddess of love.I regret making that choice now that I’m here, attempting to do the impossible. My temper was to blame for my rash acceptance of the dare. In th...

96 comments 96
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“Uncle Theodore” by Lavender Blue

Submitted to Contest #96

UNCLE THEODORE Uncle Theodore is coming to live with us. I've never met him before and now he's going to live with us. Every day. All day. And all night. I've got to share my room with my brother now. He's 9 and I'm 13 and it sucks. All my friends have their own rooms but not me. I have to share with Willy the Whiner. All he does is whine and complain about everything. And he doesn't understand privacy or personal space. But his old room is going to Uncle Theodore now and we're going to be roommates like it or not. And with me it's not. ...

2 comments 2
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“"Zeus" in disguise” by Sharmishtha Saha

Submitted to Contest #96

Today something happened, something very unusual, very uncanny. I was sitting with my laptop open on the tea table, when I saw the new writing prompt popped up on my Reedsey page. The prompt said about a word “Xenia”. I immediately fell in love with the word. The small word weighed really heavy, not only full of knowledge about ancient Greek mythology but many more aspects relatable to our day to day life, some we see and some we just ignore or overlook. I went into a deep thought at once. Yes it’s easy for me to wander in my thoughts with n...

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“A Brush With the Captain” by Eric Miller

Submitted to Contest #96

April 18th, 1775I can do no more repair work on the boats today, I must rest. It’s been a full five years since a British musket ball struck me in the back and came to rest in my kidney. Five years since the surgeon cut it out through my chest, leaving me with wounds that have never fully healed. Some days there’s fever, other days pain. On the worst days, like today, I am stricken with both. I am weak with fever, and have no desire for food or drink. I can do no more today, I must recover. My hands tremble as I lock...

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“Forced Friendliness” by Kinley Oppenheimer

Submitted to Contest #96

Rain poured onto the roof, pounding the shutters of the house just as hard as my heart was inside my chest. The stranger on my doorstep huddled against the wall, unaware of my curious eyes watching from the nearby window. Their dark cloak, damp and ragged, clung to their shoulders as rain narrowly missed their hunched back. A deep breath is exhaled before I open the door. "Can I help you?" "Let me in," the stranger croaked. Completely taken aback, I was only able to blink at them. No 'please,' no 'if it's no trouble to you,' just 'let me i...

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“Choose” by Hans B

Submitted to Contest #96

The wind howled and the old wooden shutters banged against the house. "I should have fastened them but it is too late now. I wasn’t about to go out there and get drenched to avoid a bit of extra noise. They will be fine, they have seen far worse. Now that new leak that developed in the bedroom is another matter. I didn’t know if I would be able to sleep with a slow steady drip into a pail. I just shut the door and found another room to spend the night. First thing tomorrow I hope to find that leak and patch it, once the rain lets up. This...

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“Never Let A Frying Pan Near Your Head” by Sirius Pureza

Submitted to Contest #96

It’s a very good idea, to be sure.  A very wise idea.  One that I did not take into consideration as the cook of the house creeped toward me with the frying pan. She had not let me in; in fact she had been very much against it. But the owners of the house didn’t want to be fried themselves by Zeus, so they let me in. Thanks to them, I was in this terrible house.  They let me in, but they wouldn’t let me out. Never, in a million years, would I have asked to come into this house if I actually knew what was inside. Like many othe...

2 comments 2
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“It Happened One Evening” by Ruth Smith

Submitted to Contest #96

It was a dark and stormy night when my life was shattered.It all started innocuous at first. We were eating dinner, George and I. I had planned the night as a quiet, romantic meal with candles, flowers, and our best dinnerware. I set the table with a fine white linen tablecloth, my good cloth napkins, the real silver flatware I inherited from my grandmother, and our crystal champagne glasses we purchased on our honeymoon in Paris.I was serving George's favorite foods; filet mignon with fried onions and mushrooms, fresh green beans cooked in ...

2 comments 2
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“Strange Love” by Ryuto Bradley

Submitted to Contest #96

Evan’s POV9:45 PM*ding dong* I heard the front doorbell ring, but I wasn’t expecting anyone today. I got up and walked towards the door. I opened it a little and saw a man around my height, he wore a black hoodie and black sweats. His hair was a messy blonde color and he had the most beautiful blue eyes “c-can I come in?” the man asked, his voice was rough yet soft at the same time “uhh…sure” I moved out of his way and he walked inside “here follow me” I closed the door and walked to the living room, him following suit. I sat down but he was...

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“Impressions” by Ann Layne

Submitted to Contest #96

   Jesus said whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you did for me. Reading Mother Theresa and all her work with the sick, destitute, and poor, makes you understand that she took this scripture literally. What it must feel like to help so many people. Most of us have a hard enough time helping ourselves. But there are countless others that are poor and hungry in need of help. You here stories like the “Blindside” but somehow we just go on with our daily lives. I mean who would let a strang...

2 comments 2
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“The Host's Confession” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #96

A lone cabin in the woods, that’s what he’d been reduced to. The angled and desiccated logs barely holding his home together seemed more like a prison than anything else, and leaked the heat of his pitiful fire out into the snowy forest around him. The only food in the house was an old loaf of bread and some cheese he’d managed to steal from town a few weeks ago. Otherwise the horizontal surfaces of the main room in his cabin were littered with empty bottles of Everclear. He’d dilute it with water from the lake, though it was still strong en...

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🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about strangers becoming friends, or friends becoming strangers.

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Start your story with the arrival of a strange visitor in a small town.

Horror – 187 stories

Start your story in an empty guest room.

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Write about a character who has to rely on the hospitality of strangers.

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Contest #96

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This week's theme: Xenia

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