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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#219: In the Panopticon

In the 18th century, philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham came up with a new way of enforcing social discipline. The Panopticon, as he called it, referred to a physical building — a prison built around a central observation tower where the guards can see all cells at all times, while the inmates never know if they are being watched or not. Much like the building, in a Panopticon society, the mere threat of surveillance or (social) repercussions is meant to encourage self-regulation and eradicate misbehavior.

This week’s prompts are inspired by different forms of surveillance, confinement, and self-monitoring. From speed cameras that may or may not be recording to judgmental inner voices, let’s explore group think, social norms, and freedom of body and soul.

This week's prompts

Write a story that includes the line “I think someone’s listening/watching.”

Dialogue – 52 stories

Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Dark – 80 stories

Write from the POV of a security guard on the night shift, sitting in front of a wall of CCTV feeds.

Dramatic – 46 stories

Write about someone who is shackled by fears of failure, until they break free.

Character – 28 stories

Write a story about someone who breaks an unwritten social rule and the consequences they face as a result.

Angst – 43 stories

Stories

“His Wounds Green” by Geir Westrul

Submitted to Contest #219

"It's not your fault." Court put his naked arm around her naked shoulders, kissed the soft skin on her long, naked neck. Really, Windsor thought, watching them through his electronic peephole, not your fault, then who's is it? Not mine, that's for damn sure, looking down at his wife and his best friend, lying there, together, tangled up in his blankets, sweating in his bed, their tanned skin on his white sheets, framed by the dark wood floor in his bedroom, an overhead shot through the hidden camera lens fro...

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“The Exodus of the Corporate Zombies” by Jonathan Page

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #219

I harbor a secret fantasy that the lot of us are undead zombies. Shuffling corpses. Slavish, insentient lumps of meat. Navigating the public transportation system by reflex, devoid of any signs of higher-level cognitive function.I am waiting on a train platform to board the Long Island Railroad. The platform of Riverhead Station is indistinguishable from the platforms of any of the multitude of other trains run by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The branching arteries all lead back to the beating heart—New York, New York—the Big App...

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“Watchers” by J.B. Redel

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #219

The asylum's security surveillance room was a claustrophobic chamber adorned with peeling wallpaper, crumbling shelves stacked with aged records, a small wooden desk, and an uncomfortable metal chair that creaked under the most minute amount of weight. A single, rotary dial telephone sat on the desk. A thick layer of dust covered every surface but the desk and chair. The dim overhead light bulb flickered sporadically, casting eerie shadows across the aging linoleum floor that peeled in the corners.The centerpiece of this dilapidated room was...

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“The Rarely Traveled Forest” by Lake Solomon

Submitted to Contest #219

She was standing there in the hot summer sun, her white dress flowing in the light breeze that blew by. She had her long, straight black hair down that day. She knew it wasn’t “respectable” to have her hair down like this but she felt as though that emerald green ribbon tied more than just her hair back. She stuck out in the vast yard, basket in hand and her gaze fixed on the open field in front of her. More than anything she wanted to go out into the world and never come back but she knew that wasn't an option for her. It would neve...

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“The Cleanse” by Lucy Joyce

Submitted to Contest #219

The sun-drenched orchestral pit was filled with the noises of instruments being discordantly tuned, and the frantic flipping of sheet music. Musicians murmured in low voices, glancing from time to time at the stage, which rose ominously behind them. The June afternoon was bright, clear, and warm. Walter was First Chair of the violin section. He wiped his sweating brow with a trembling hand. He was sick with nerves, although he was not worried about their set. The stage was in the middle of an amusement park located in the privileged first-...

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“A Woman's Glory” by Hannah P. Simmons

Submitted to Contest #219

My mother’s hair falls down her back, like waves of amber, ebbing and flowing till it reaches her waist. It drinks the warm rays of the sunlight, gently swaying in the breeze. I run up behind her, and press my face into the locks. They brush my cheeks, soft like the tufts of dandelion clutched in my tiny hand. I watch Father tuck a strand behind her ear as their foreheads touch, and I smile. My hair falls around my shoulders, flaxen strands curling this way and that, like a bird’s nest. It is woven with grass, and strands of clover fl...

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“Opening Night” by Cemi Jade Weatherford

Submitted to Contest #219

There has never been any kind of comfort here, yet it is my home. All I have ever known. Thick iron bars, cold stone. Sometimes I have wondered if I am not actually here. But some days, I know that I am. If pain is any indication of realness. Light is nothing but a vacancy. My eyes have long since adjusted. I think I was born here, but to whom, I have no idea. I've never left the cell. Never wanted to either. For the things I have heard from further within . . . Beasts. I know that's what they are. Their growling, clawing the stones. C...

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“Rec Time” by AnneMarie Miles

Submitted to Contest #219

I was never a morning person. I’d cling to my fur blankets and Egyptian cotton, pulling them up over my head at the first hint of daylight. I’d inhale the newfound darkness of my fuzzy veil and the plush promise of more precious slumber and moan myself back to sleep. If I’d had it my way, I’d wrap my consciousness up like a present and gift myself to the moon to be unwrapped every evening under its worthy gleam.I sigh at the luxurious memory. It is an ache in my body like a phantom limb, though its weight holds nothing against the absence of...

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“When Falls The Night” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #219

When Falls the the Night It was a dark and foggy night. Well, the night had started normal enough. The early fall day had pleasant temperatures but as the day turned into night the temperatures fell rapidly so as the earth cooled mist started rising and fog rolled in. The thick, soupy kind of fog. When it falls it makes the world silent and so white it is dark. Starting in the low areas and gradually filling in everywhere cutting visibility to almost nil. The nine pm drive to the energy plant turned sketchy with all the twists, turns and h...

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“Whispers in the Shadows” by Kristin Satterfield

Submitted to Contest #219

Lilah's heart raced as she darted through the dimly lit streets of Elron, the city that never truly slept. The ancient cobblestones echoed with every step she took, and the cold mist wrapped around her like a cloak. On every corner she passed tales of the past whispered.I need to get out, she thought searching in the darkness for something, anything that could help her escape her would be attacker.The echoing sounds of said attackers feet filled the air not to far away making her heart pound.Amidst the labyrinth of alleyways, she paused, her...

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“No One is Watching” by Kelly L

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #219

I think someone’s watching. I have heard that it’s normal to feel like you’re being watched after you commit a murder. Maybe it is guilt, maybe it is paranoia. Just in case it is intuition, I walk over to the windows quickly. I look around the backyard, I see nothing except night punctuated by a few Christmas lights strung around a privacy fence. Lucky we are on the second floor. I can still hear the muffled noise of the crowd downstairs. Ella, our department chair and her husband Richard always throw the faculty holiday party.&nb...

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“Among the Stars” by Daniel Allen

Submitted to Contest #219

Elise only ever wanted one thing in life; to take to the stars and soar. While other kids decorated their rooms with posters of pop stars and footballers, she collected models of the ships of the System Defence Squadron. When her classmates were busy partying or studying, Elise dragged her parents to conventions filled with starships, shuttles, and spacesuits. It was on one of those trips that she first laid eyes on the Low Orbit Combat Simulation Instrument—LOCSI, for short. The machine that would change her life.It was love at first sight—...

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“Once Upon a Time in a Prison Cell Somewhere” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #219

Once Upon a Time in a Prison Cell SomewhereHard time is not swinging away with a hammer at a pile of rocks under a hot sun. No, with fresh air, the sun, clouds, blue sky, movement, and even a pointless purpose, that would have been a blessing for Henry. He might see a flock of geese fly overhead, or hear the song of a cardinal or an oriol in the distance. With luck, he might even catch a light rain and turn his head upward to feel the hand of the real world on his face. Hard time is being stashed away in a God-forsaken concrete block pr...

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“On Being a Bad Bitch” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #219

The thing about being a bad bitch, is bad bitches make things happen. Go ahead, root for the good girl, see where that gets you. Blah, blah, blah. They go on with the same predictable, lame-ass shit—doing what they’re told—getting good grades, dating the safe guy, and following all the rules. For God’s sake, they obey curfew. I can’t even! Pitiful. No one wants to read about that shit. Now, enter the bad bitch. Voila. Drama. Intrigue. Think about it, really think about it. W...

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“Mute Discussions of Government Intrustion” by Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #219

The clunky air conditioner churned behind his head as he took in the words he was reading. “I think someone is listening.” Scribbled out in shaky, thin lines, the words on that ragged scrap of paper made Gail quickly bring his gaze up to the man who had handed it to him. He was terrible to look at. He was pale white all over his naked torso and arms, the only article of clothing on his body was a pair of grey sweatpants. His face was skeletal, like some had tried to shrink wrap it. His eyes were sunk so far into his skull that the flickering...

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$250

Prize money

249

Contest entries

113

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 13, 2023 EST

Won by Kate Hughes 🏆

Title: Cell 3.47

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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