They live in the shadowy corners of our well‑lit world. Where reality is thinnest, where dreams curdle into nightmares, and belief becomes dangerous. This A‑to‑Z short story challenge explores ghosts, spirits, old myths, and the paranormal at the edge of reason.
Each letter delivers a new doorway into the dark. Standalone tales linked by atmosphere, dread, and the uneasy question. What happens when you look too closely at the veil?
A is for Alone on The Devil’s Doorstep
When Pete, a miner, is trapped underground, he faces not only physical peril but encounters restless spirits, ghostly apparitions, and chilling legends that come alive in the dark. As knocking echoes through the stone and spectral figures emerge, Pete must confront ancient forces and the terror of being truly alone. The story weaves Appalachian folklore, ghost stories, and supernatural suspense into a narrative of survival and belief.
B is for Brotherly Love
Do you believe?
When six‑year‑old Billy’s sister lies comatose after a tragic attempt to end her life, his world fractures into grief, fear, and unanswered questions. Each night, sleep drags him into the same unsettling dream. A lonely cabin by a whispering brook, a fire lit refuge surrounded by a forest crawling with ancient, shadowy things that hunger for the living. And every time, his sister asks the same haunting question. Do you believe?
C is for Covenant of Forgotten Dreams
Archie made a promise to Patricia years earlier. She begged him not to let her suffer the same fate as her mother, who lost her life to dementia. Trapped between honoring her wish to end her suffering, and his desire to protect her, Archie is tormented by memories and dreams filled with the shadowy figures of his past. Each leads to increasingly intense supernatural experiences.
D is for Deadwalk
On death row, time doesn’t pass- it closes in.
Awaiting his final walk at the Polunsky Unit in Texas, a condemned man counts the days not by hope, but by the certainty of what waits for him.
Since childhood, he has possessed a terrible ability. The power to slip into the in‑between, a shadowed realm that exists alongside reality, where distance collapses, essence lags, and motion is survival. A place where stopping means being found.
The in‑between is not empty.
Coming August 2026
E is for Everything That Followed
One childhood act of courage can echo for a lifetime.
When a newspaper headline drags an aging narrator back to a long-buried October afternoon, the past comes alive with terrible clarity. Everett Park was supposed to be a playground, a dusty refuge hidden from watchful parents, divided by childhood hierarchies, petty cruelties, and the unspoken laws of predators and prey.
Coming October 2026
Explore an alphabet of haunted places, broken souls, old gods, and strange realms filled with impossible choices. Every other month another door into a different nightmare will open.
Are you brave enough to enter?
Richard Schiver 