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Looking for a steady supply of horror short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6500+ Horror Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From hauntings and murderers to terrifying creatures from the deep, our collection of horror stories will have you breaking out in cold sweats. Take a look… if you dare.

Horror Short Stories – Page 227 of 434

Control

Submitted to Contest #184

TW: There is mention of death, suicide, and insanity."Mara,""Mara,""MARA,"I don't even know if I am Mara anymore. I don't think the version of me shouting knows either. That's why it has to end.Three weeks ago...Of course today is going to start off like this. I wake up to the fire alarm going off in my neighbor's apartment. She's 90 and probably shouldn't be living on her own. I've offered Mrs. Brady to live with me many times, but she never take the offer.KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Mrs. Brady?" No reply. I knock again. "Mrs. Brady?""Yes dear?" her...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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Click Click Boom

Submitted to Contest #184

5:15 p.m. Reminder for September 25, 2161: Do you want to send the video message? Cinia stared at the “yes” and “no” buttons on her computer screen. The decisive moment had arrived. The office was silent except for the cool air blowing through the vents and the hum of the fluorescent lights. All that remained was her and this decision whether to say “yes” to the reminder on her screen. Her stomach twisted as she looked out of the window. She could see the glow of the spatial anomaly burning like a second sun in the sky. Where did it lead?...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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Worded

Shortlisted for Contest #184 ⭐️

SOMEONE NEARBY HAS CHALLENGED YOU TO A GAME OF WORDED.Rob looks up from his phone as the train pulls away from the station.Standing by the door, his shoulder pressed against the handrail, he observes his fellow passengers.Eight seats face each other in the center of the carriage, occupied by commuters bathed in the glow of their smartphones and tablets and e-readers. It's busy as always and everyone is squeezed in, shoulder to shoulder. Hunched and swaying in rhythm with the train's steady progression.The next stop is City Station.To his lef...

26 likes 8 comments 8
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Insufficient RAM

Submitted to Contest #184

“That was weird.”Dani looked around at me but didn’t stop, so I picked up my step to keep pace with her. “I - uh… You ever see the Matrix?”“That old movie with John Wick in it?” Jesus, I always forget how young she is.“Yeah,” I said sarcastically, “that old movie with John Wick in it.” Taking a look over my shoulder I added, “Did you see it?”“Yeah,” she said. “We watched in your birthday.”“Right. You said Switch looked like your ex girlfriend.” There it is again. This time I stop and point it out to her. “I think the Agents must’ve changed s...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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My Terminal Analog

Submitted to Contest #184

It was difficult walking away from a digital world, but for the sake of sanity, I did just that.  I pulled out a spiral notebook, replacing my laptop and began a written analog of my experiences over the past few weeks.  What I did not expect was that the results made me invisible to my friends and acquaintances who have chosen to live their lives on social media.  Deliberately turning a page in Thoreau's Walden Pond, I retreated from the lure of the digital world.  What you are about to read is my terminal analog.  ...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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The Call of Lawanda

Submitted to Contest #184

Avi had once chided him about the GPS. “You can’t stand having a woman tell you what to do.” That little remark, made with love and in jest, nonetheless upset Jason. Because his insights about valuing the contributions, intellect and intuition of women and others was part of what had made the two of them wealthy men. So, Jason had grudgingly brought the GPS with him at Avi’s insistence, but he’d avoided turning it on until this afternoon when he realized he’d driven thirty miles in the wrong direction. He had been scheduled to speak at a hi...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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The Babysitter and the Red Button

Submitted to Contest #184

“Don’t worry. I’m sure she’s quite capable. She’s one of our best grad students. She should have no problem looking after the compound for a short while.” Edna is adept, in her professional manner, at making the best of a Zoom call. Perfectly framed in the monitor, in an executive chair set against a bookcase sparsely filled with artfully arranged books and pottery, she almost seems to be there with Harold, holding his hand. But Harold does worry. He worries about the security cameras, the automated feedings, and the environmental contr...

22 likes 5 comments 5
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Hidden in the Darkness

Submitted to Contest #184

The blackout happened years ago. At first, it seemed like a normal blackout that would get fixed in a few hours. But after a few days, the power was still off and people were starting to get worried, they shrugged it off at first thinking it was just taking longer than expected. The power never returned, however, no one had ever gotten any answers from the electricity company and soon the company stopped answering calls all together. This left everyone in the dark and confused as to why the company didn't answer them. Omri sat near the ...

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When Darkness Falls

Submitted to Contest #184

“We are all of us, afraid of the dark” he says it sadly, as though he’s delivering a terminal diagnosis, and in a way, he is. “When we’re kids, yeah,” snorts Philips. Now he’s lazily shaking his head with an economy that makes it all the more striking, “we still are. Every last one of us.” “How do you work that one out?” says Philips, disdain dripping from his words, disdain and the beginnings of aggression. There is a threat here, but it’s pathetic. Philips is showing himself to be that bully-in-waiting and I wish he’d shut up. I disl...

13 likes 9 comments 9
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The Figure

Submitted to Contest #184

Trigger Warning: Violence, some language, death "Houston, we have a problem." Martha said in a cartoon voice that seemed like a mix between Bugs Bunny, and Minnie Mouse. "Mooooooommmmmm, that's not funny. Are you going to help me or not?" Jay whined at his mother. “I said we have a problem, I'll have to e-mail your instructor this is beyond my scope." Martha straightened up from where she had been leaning behind Jay on the couch and began to walk out of the room. “Mom! But, do I still get my device time?” Jay snapped. Martha paused witho...

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Darkness Follows Where Light Leaves

Submitted to Contest #184

Blackouts are not scary until you learn that monsters exist in darkness and shadows. At least, that is what we are told to able to stomach the thought of daylight. What montharas fail to tell their milli is that monsters exist even when the lights are on.The solarplants faded around Pledge Time, right before the Light God hides away so White Goddess can shine while we sleep. When we approached Rest, the solarplants were still dark, and did not illuminate again as they should have, making it hard to prepare our last meal and move around the h...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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Don't Shoot the Messenger

Submitted to Contest #183

Content Warning: Physical violence, gore or abuse; Suicide or self harm Bernice could not hold in her excitement. Her shift only had a few minutes left. She could see her relief, Alex, outside smoking a cigarette. She stared past him, to the cars lining up on the highway. She might be a few minutes late, but she was finally going to meet Danny, the boy she had been talking to on Tinder for the last few weeks. What would his voice sound like? Would he look like his picture? What would he smell like? “E...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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What the Heart Wants, Wants the Heart Too

Submitted to Contest #183

The woman had left quite an impression on me with her uncanny eating habits. But the most attractive feature in anyone is passion—intense, unrestrained passion. In this dull, mechanical world, when someone still has a spark in the eye, that light is contagious.            What was she so enthusiastic about? Meat. Someone who can find excitement in the mundane is always a keeper. Since we’d met, on our first date, she occupied most of my mental screen time. My friends, they’d said of cou...

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Quija

Submitted to Contest #183

For as long as I can remember, I lived a cautious life, strictly on the straight and narrow. “Never trust something you don’t understand, Sharon,” my grandmother’s words echoed in my head. We, the Braverman women, weren’t the kind of people who lived on the wild side. We never took chances; no risks for us - ever. It is fair to say that we didn’t embrace the name Braverman as we should have, but we weren’t men after all. Maybe it was best to leave the bravery of life to the men. That is what I thought until I met Jonah. Whenever I saw him, t...

20 likes 5 comments 5
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Contrary

Submitted to Contest #183

“I’ve not had enough! You’ve not had your fun yet! You absolutely must keep me imprisoned here!” I laugh and that laughter is joyful and it is merry. Even my laughter? No! It is not my laughter. Inside I am wailing and gnashing my teeth and crying out for a release from this hell, but increasingly I feel those words that are not my own, the very opposite of my own, exerting an awful power over me. Those words are changing me and I don’t know whether I can stop that.  Words are my prison and I don’t know how much more...

5 likes 4 comments 4
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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