He sat alone in the old house, surrounded by memories of his family. Now they were all gone, and the silence was deafening, crushing his spirit bit by bit.
One common theme is loss. For example, 'The old man lost his wife of 50 years and now the days are just a long, lonely wait.' It shows how the absence of someone important can create great sadness.
Here's one: 'The last page of the book I was reading had my name written in blood.' Reading is usually a safe and solitary activity. But when something as sinister as your name written in blood appears on the page of a book you're reading, it creates a sense of dread. It's as if the book is somehow connected to you in a very dangerous and unknown way. It could mean that there is a malevolent force that has targeted you specifically through the book.
One could be 'I woke up to find my reflection smiling back at me, but I wasn't.' It creates an immediate sense of unease as it plays on the idea of something being wrong with one's own reflection, which is often associated with the self. It makes you wonder what has taken over your appearance.
Well, it could be that the 'cast' is about the range of emotions that these one - sentence horror stories evoke. The 'cast' may include feelings such as sudden dread, unease, and a sense of the uncanny. When we read these stories, the 'cast' of emotions is quickly and powerfully summoned, making them effective despite their brevity.