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Write a story with the goal of scaring your reader.

Posted in Short Story on Oct 24, 2025

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✍️ 69 stories

THE DOLL SHOP

Submitted to Contest #326

Something caught the little girl’s eye. She let go of her mother’s hand and ran back to stare at a window filled with dolls. And what dolls! They were the most human-like Sam had ever seen, and she knew her dolls well. There were so many sizes, from Barbie-like ones to big porcelain ones, all exquisitely lifelike. They were arranged around a candy-pink wooden house with three floors. “Sam! Don’t ever run like that!”“Mommy, look! Can we go in? Please, please, please!” Sam’s mother, a high-powered London lawyer who’d never cared much for toy...

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IT LIVES INSIDE THE WALLS

Submitted to Contest #326

IT LIVES INSIDE THE WALLS “If you get this.. I’m alone at my mom’s place cleaning up. I’ll be back by morning. I miss you.” The dial tone clicked and hissed, the reception crackly this far into the woods. The red evening light had faded into black, a light rain beating against the glass. The shadows of the building had taken on a strange intensity, a gloom thick enough to obscure all details. The young woman struck a match, lighting a scented candle on the dining room table. A warm orange glow lit the low ceilinged house, the plaster of th...

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Skådikyr

Submitted to Contest #326

‘Aw Jeez! Shut up!’ Sid Gregory slapped his left hand firmly on his alarm clock. The loud and piercing, almost moaning electronic beep stopped instantly. 6:30am flashed angrily at him in red neon as he tried to focus properly. ‘Bollocks. Bloody work!’ he said, rubbing his eyes. Sid wasn’t fond of his job. It was just there to help him live. Retail shopping wasn’t on his list of exciting things to do, and he couldn’t understand all the zombies who came to the mall day in day out. Also, his workmates got on his nerves, making daily life even l...

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The Graveyard Shift

Submitted to Contest #326

The moon was safely hidden behind a dark cloud, when the three men finally deemed it safe to emerge from the crypt. The body was hanging limp from the shoulder of the leader of the group, a burly man taking long and leisurely strides, not seeming to notice the dead weight. Then again, she was very thin. He carved a straight path through the graveyard, around and over old forgotten graves and patches of freshly dug soil, yet unmarked by rain. The second man, the lookout, had emerged first from the sealed vault. It took him a while to get ...

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The Twisted Child

Submitted to Contest #326

The Twisted Child He was walking so quickly, I had to struggle to keep pace with him. Prashant Gupta, was a tall, heavily built, fleshy-faced gentleman with cruel eyes. At least, they seemed that way to me. As a fourteen years old I tend to see things in black and white, not shades of grey. And Mr Gupta I didn’t like, not one bit. First of all, he always spoke to me in Hindi, not my strong suit. Secondly, he never called me by my name, it was always either ‘tu’ or ‘Ei bachche’, both of which I hate. I have a perfectly good name: Anand, what...

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The Bride

Submitted to Contest #326

CW: Brief gore, supernatural content Bernie stood from the couch, making his way to the door. He grabbed both their coats, handing Nora hers. Abuela approached holding her little dog.“Don’t forget to say goodbye to Guapito, he will miss you dearly.” Abuela said, turning her body so the ancient toothless chihuahua was closer.“Of course. Lo siento, Guapito, how could I forget you.” Bernie reached his hand out; the dog growled and bared his toothless grin. Bernie continued and stroked his back unfazed by the aggressive little dog. In his youth,...

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The Reflection at the End of the Hall

Submitted to Contest #326

The house taught her how to listen. It did not do it kindly. It did it by subtraction. The refrigerator’s low hum slowed to a long breath. The old radiator ticked in a rhythm too steady to be mechanical. Even when nothing moved, it felt like something was still moving, just out of sight. Claire stood in the narrow hallway and watched the far mirror take her in. It was a tall mirror, beveled at the edges, the kind that makes a hallway feel longer than it is. Her mother had kept it covered with a sheet. Claire remembered the way that fabric ha...

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There's Something Wrong with the Baby

Submitted to Contest #326

CW: Mental health, physical violence“I love you so much. I can’t wait for this baby to come,” Matty rubs my burgeoning belly as the tapers flicker. He made me dinner. Rose petals on the floor. Sparkling grape juice in our wedding champagne glasses.“I love you, too.” I do, really. I never thought I could love another person this much, but I do. He cooks. He cleans. He asks how he can help me. I’ve never met a more perfect man.“We have dessert waiting, tiramisu.” He smiled and hurried to the fridge, returning with my favorite dessert and two s...

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A Day Like Any Other

Submitted to Contest #326

I’m feeling a little tense today, or maybe “anxious” is the better word. It’s odd, really, because there’s nothing unusual about today. It should be like any other day, get up, brush my teeth and hair, get dressed. Then a quick cup of coffee and a slice of toast while I scroll through the reels on Facebook. After that, it’s a dash to the bus stop for the ride into the city.I work for a large real estate firm in Boston. We specialize in buying old buildings, or sometimes whole blocks, to renovate or tear down and rebuild. My job is to decide ...

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The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Submitted to Contest #326

I’ve always had a vivid imagination - or at least that’s what my parents told me. When I think about it now, ironically, I find this hard to imagine. How can you measure an imagination? It’s not like when someone dies, they do an autopsy and say, ‘Well, would you look at the size of this guy’s imagination! It’s absolutely massive!’ In reality, I think labelling a kid with a strong imagination is a way that parents make themselves feel better about the fact that their kid is a bit weird. None of this would have been an issue if we didn’t mov...

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Nightmares

Submitted to Contest #326

“Pa-” A voice called for him. His mind was foggy; he knew who it was, at least he thought he did. “Pa-” He couldn’t move; he felt small hands on his stomach, trying to shake him awake. His limbs felt heavy, fighting against every movement. “Da- Sto- ease!” The voice called again. The small hands were yanked away from him, and the scent of mildew, decay, and fire swirled around, suffocating him. He wanted to reply. No, he needed to respond; he had to help them. “PAPA STOP IT!” His eyes finally opened.A blaring alarm and a dark room greeted hi...

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Truth Among the Shadows

Submitted to Contest #326

A chilling mist more like that which I’d expect in mid-December or January than in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record enveloped me soon after I entered the Pocomoke State Forest. The sudden burst of arctic cold tossed my body forward like one of the fallen autumn leaves lining the ground and pushed me to the edge of a darkened abyss. I regained my balance just in time to avoid falling head first into an abandoned well. The frigid air actually came blowing up from the center of the hole, while everything outside the pit swelte...

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Little Children at Night

Submitted to Contest #326

The night was a dark one, silent and warm. ‘Mummy?’ she whispered. Taryn stirred in her bed and let out a small moan. ‘Yeah baby?’ she mumbled, slitting open her eyes to see the outline of her daughter standing in front of her, small and blurry. ‘I had a bad dream.’ ‘Do you want to sleep with us?’ The room fell quiet. Her daughter’s silence surprised her, that question usually met with a forceful entry into the bed that pushed Taryn closer to her husband. She willed herself to open her eyes further. ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘I think there’s som...

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The Drift

Submitted to Contest #326

A shrill, sharp alarm sliced through the void. My throat burned as oxygen, dry and a little bit stale, poured down it. I tried futilely to stifle a cough, but my body spasmed with a flurry of coughs that followed the first.I opened my eyes though my vision was blurry, like my eyes were submerged in water. I saw the shape of a face in front of me. It nodded, and the nodding was accompanied by a voice. A female voice. I felt like I should know it, but I couldn’t quite place it.“Travis?” She asked.The woman’s face was coming into focus but stil...

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The Dark That Waited

Submitted to Contest #326

The cold had settled early that week, the kind that crept into the walls and stayed there. Even inside, the air felt heavy, as though the house itself had stopped breathing. Evan had noticed how quiet everything had become lately—the usual chatter of children outside, the hum of neighbors’ televisions, even the distant rhythm of the highway. All of it had thinned, drained away, leaving a silence that didn’t feel peaceful so much as waiting. He had started leaving the radio on just to fill the rooms, but even that had begun to betray him. Sta...

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