Write about light returning to a place that has been deprived of it for a long time, literally or figuratively.

Posted in Christmas on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 89 stories

“City of Gloom” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #138

This morning was not unlike any other morning in the City of Gloom. In fact, it was difficult to distinguish if it was morning at all, for day and night look the same here. The Gloom city council is scheduled to meet later today to discuss the urgent issues at hand. Mayor Grumble heads up the committee of eight. I am the mayor’s assistant, Phineas Foghat. &n...

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“Monterey Street” by Mariah Heller

Submitted to Contest #138

She texted him again. Her secret friend. It was getting harder and harder for Ellie to go to bed at a decent time ever since she met him online. How quickly they hit it off still surprised her, despite the fact that the butterflies that have taken up residence in her belly fluttered every time her phone sent a notification. “Bling” She grabbed for the phone in a flurry and nearly knocked off the romance novel she was reading earlier. Ellie chuckled quietly to herself at the irony. She ...

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“Impermanent Seasons” by Kyla Ojalehto

Submitted to Contest #138

She woke up to see grainy clumps of shit in the cat box. It had been piling up quickly. Really, she thought, how much could such a small feline produce? More than she had signed up for. In the other corner of this L-shaped room, a pile of laundry grew madly unfolded on the floor. In ways, it was more terrifying than the amount of fecal matter in the cat box. Maybe though, these eyesores would not get to her if not for the rain. The fucking rain, it would not stop. It palpitated on the roof shingles mercilessly. So, she made a steaming m...

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“The Brightest Star” by Brielle Sutton

Submitted to Contest #138

The Sun is said to be the brightest star in the universe. I know this isn’t true because of my Boppy. His smile was so infectious, he could have a whole room of strangers laughing within seconds of walking through a door. At family gatherings he was always the light of the party. I could have stared at him for hours, awestruck by the twinkle in his eyes. One memory I specifically remember is going to Gaga’s house and baking snickerdoodle cookies with her. Boppy came home from work and took such a deep breath I thought his chest might e...

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“Legends from the Dark Side of the Hill” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #138

I’ve heard there’s a little known town in shady hollow in the Smoky Mountains where it is rumored that the sun seldom shines, if at all. Some of the locals like to gossip about how this place is Satan’s headquarters, but I don’t go in much for that. All that talk ain’t nothing but folks flapping their gums about things they don’t know nothing about. One night me and Chet were tasting some of his home brew moonshine and he started telling me about this town known as the legend from the dark side of the hill. “R...

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“Playing With Fire” by Chester Sakamoto

Submitted to Contest #138

Long ago, when the gods walked alongside mankind, there was a lesser titan known as Prometheus. While the gods held little regard for the pitiful creatures that worshipped them, Prometheus was sympathetic towards their plight and befriended as many of them as he could. Born of Iapetus, a titan, and Clymene, a nymph, his parents had been lost in the primordial war between gods and titans. It was Zeus, chief among the gods, who had dealt them the fatal blow and, taking pity on their orphaned infant son, had taken him in and rais...

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“Chipper in the Old Folks Home” by Kara Hunsdon

Submitted to Contest #138

Clouds hovered above in an ever-present gloom, while the slow stream of time ticked onward. Bennington Residential Care, the Nursing Home with the highest turnover rate of medical staff in the county, sat between two great mountains in a quiet valley. If you were to look up the definition of dreary, the cracked gray bricks that were more at home in prison, and the faded glass doors opening into the facility would be the first reference image. Working here felt more akin to being a vulture waiting for sickly animals to finally stop stirring....

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“Staying Wistful” by Connor Avila

Submitted to Contest #138

Darkness emits a comfort to me. In times of strife, worry, or complete mental undoing, all of it can be remedied through this masking of reality. My reality is unique in a way. I wake up to a room of arid, dry gray walls. The dimensions of the walls and ceiling are perfectly even and inside it is only myself, and a bed. Sound is nearly nonexistent in this prison, confined to the vibrations I create by moving around. Likewise, if I do nothing, the world reciprocates my ambition. Lacking is a peer or alternative member to create cause, to inst...

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“Age of The Void” by Rose Z.

Submitted to Contest #138

[Warning: Themes of blood and violence]The darkened sun, known as the Everwatchful Eye, peered through the veil that draped over the world in eternal night. Its gaze fell upon a mountainous basin where a battlefield raged, and a vagabond was left to die. Blood trickled onto ashen soil and congealed with remnants of dust and bone.The vagabond, Helia, sharply inhaled through clenched teeth as weary lungs expanded within a fractured rib cage. Tanned skin was tinted purple as a coolness crept into her wounds. The wind nipped at the scar across h...

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“Still Here” by V Lauria

Submitted to Contest #138

The church basement is dark. The nursery school teacher asks if there are any questions. My three year old hand shoots up. She calls on me. I might be the only one with my hand up. My question is sincere and simple. Why are you round like a planet? The teacher has no verbal response. She leaves the room as her assistant takes the helm. I know something’s wrong with my question. Still I’m disappointed to not have an answer. Give it all to Jesus is the sermon du jour. I find J...

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“Blinded By The Light” by Kara Beth Baker

Submitted to Contest #138

Title- Blinded By The Light Word count- 1070 When you’re in addiction, it’s all dark. Because even at its’ lightest, it’s still twilight, at best. That kind of light where it’s not dark yet but it’s eerily not light either. Where the world is quiet, and it’s just you and your head. You know the light exists, it’s what’s you’re looking for.. but it’s always unattainable, just out of reach. You’re always looking for that li...

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“MIST” by Aether Weaver

Submitted to Contest #138

Content Warning: This story contains mental and emotional abuse. I blinked as the last of the fluid drained from the tank, and looked out at the creature before me. It pushed a pair of lenses up its facial protrusion, the orbs behind them wide as they ran down my form and back up to my face. It asked slowly, “Can you understand me?” I watched its mouth move as it spoke. The words held meaning, but I wasn't sure why. I answered, "Yes…" “My name is Doctor Gertrude Oddilair, but you can call me Trudy. Can you say Trudy?” I thought for a ...

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“Fiat Justitia” by Sue Hunter

Submitted to Contest #138

His skin was covered with a layer of grime. Not that he could see it, mind you. It was too dark in his tiny room to see his own hands. Yet he could feel it. It was a mixture of something slimy and gritty, like sand and jelly. Just thinking about jelly made his mouth water, and soon his saliva joined the dirt on his arm. When was the last time the slot on his door opened to give him food? He’d lost all sense of time. There was some semblance of happiness, in his prison. The room...

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“Heaven and Hell” by Ashley Frerichs

Submitted to Contest #138

When the darkness takes hold, it is relentless in its grasp.This bout of black nothingness was more intense than any Audrey had experienced in the past. Her bipolar diagnosis was a distant memory now and she thought her psychiatrist had finally struck the right balance with her meds. Three years had passed since her last episode, since her dosage had been upped. Luckily, last time, the manic portion of the process had occurred on relatively stable ground. Peter was there; he was home from the rigs for the winter months. He’s the only person ...

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“Eminent Domain” by Victoria Luu

Submitted to Contest #138

What is a house if not the centre of your world; a point of refuge, of subsistence, of protection. What then does a house become when it no longer provides these things? Merely a collection of wood and stone? Perhaps a monument to the lives that passed within it—the joys and the struggles, the fears and the dreams. Or is that a tomb?All the oldest houses have gone. When one thinks of ancient houses, it is the stately manor or towering keep that comes to mind, those majestic structures built over years and upon the backs of many to withstand ...

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Write about light returning to a place that has been deprived of it for a long time, literally or figuratively.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 89 stories

“City of Gloom” by Greg Gillis

“Monterey Street” by Mariah Heller

“Impermanent Seasons” by Kyla Ojalehto

“The Brightest Star” by Brielle Sutton

“Legends from the Dark Side of the Hill” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“Playing With Fire” by Chester Sakamoto

“Chipper in the Old Folks Home” by Kara Hunsdon

“Staying Wistful” by Connor Avila

“Age of The Void” by Rose Z.

“Still Here” by V Lauria

“Blinded By The Light” by Kara Beth Baker

“MIST” by Aether Weaver

“Fiat Justitia” by Sue Hunter

“Heaven and Hell” by Ashley Frerichs

“Eminent Domain” by Victoria Luu

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story on a day when the sun never sets.

Write a story about an afternoon picnic gone wrong.

Write about a character who doesn’t want to go to sleep.

End your story with someone saying: “What a day.”

Contest #138

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

245

Contest entries

154

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: