They Shouldn't Have Come Here Challenge Winners

When we launched They Shouldn't Have Come Here, most of us expected horror to dominate the shortlist. And while plenty of writers embraced an eerie, more unsettling side of the prompt, one of the biggest surprises was seeing how many different directions it could go.

We saw outsiders stumble into strange futures, unfamiliar cultures, magical worlds, bureaucratic nightmares and places where the rules only became clear once it was too late. That variety made this challenge a particularly fun one to judge. The entries that rose to the top understood that the real engine of the prompt wasn't simply being somewhere new, but the growing tension between a character and a world they couldn't quite make sense of.

🏆 Winners

Glitch by Lamar Wiggins

Lamar Wiggins lines up each jarring reveal with just enough space to let the confusion breathe, so you can’t help but feel that same out-of-step lurch alongside Richard.

The Story Will Choose You by Adam Kolozetti

That moment when Adam Kolozetti's outsider scribbles a few lines of his own story and accidentally unleashes a glitching monster into the library is every bit as fun, chaotic, and imaginative as it sounds.

The "Passport Bro" and The "Flight-Risk Fem." by Kristen Keenon Fisher

That quiet moment where a compliment lands wrong says more than any of Arthur and Naomi's debates. Kristen Keenon Fisher understands that sometimes the biggest culture shocks show up in the smallest interactions.

The Inspection by Aaron Morrison

Right from Kline’s queasy interaction at the security gate, you feel the outsider pressure tightening around him. Aaron Morrison locks into the prompt by letting that mounting disconnect spiral from workplace unease into something far stranger and more terrifying.

The Illegal by D. J. Reddall

D. J. Reddall nails it with sly lines about limp tacos and AI sycophancy, letting the outsider tension crackle in every exchange.

🎖️ Runners-up

• Turniptown by Michael Jefferson
• I should never have taken this job by Sam Spinelli
• The Wrong Road by Lana V Lynx
• Renewed by Sara Wilson
• The Residents by Maegan Heil
• Schmétterling by S. Schrödinger
• The Two-Second Loneliness Metric by Caitlin Charlton
• The Gamma Paradox by Isidora Luna
• The Garden of Golden Bones by K.H. Obergfoll
• Crushing Gravity by Annie
• Here We Go Again by Scott Christenson🌴
• Mõisamäe by Cristal S.
• H.O.A. by Natalie Gray
• Do Not Trust The Men In The Garden by Cali Loria
• Blanket Face by Bride of Sound

🏅 Honorable Mentions

• Fake by Rebecca Patton
• It's Always Fine Here by Paul Stewart
• A Night at Mr. Taylor's Toy Emporium by Imola Tóth
• Through a Hidden Cave by the River by Ian Read
• The Other Side of the Beach by Raistlin Allen
• Mowing Insane by Samantha Parry
• If You Go Into the Woods Today by Amos Glade
• Offness by Raine Neal
• Patience and Time by Dana Crandell
• The Dark Continent by Meredith Harmon