Set your story in a labyrinth that holds a secret.

Posted in Dark on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 31 stories

“Abject” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #124

—an exploding key? What a terrible thing to invent. He lied on his side, in shock and in pain, and curled into a little ball. Just then, he stood there, staring at nothing in particular. Perhaps he heard something in the background, something so close to being recognizable that he needed to stop the figure out where he heard it before. Or maybe there was something about the color of the corridor in which he walked—burgundy that transitions into black the further you look—that reminded him of a feeling he once had, but he couldn’t qui...

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“The labyrinth and the shadow” by Red Dragon

Submitted to Contest #124

It was cold, so cold. He walked on, both arms clutching at himself for any shred of warmth, the thin clothes he had on, scant protection against the chill, the chill nibbling away right down to his bones. Bare feet bleeding and he walked on and on and on. On either side of him thick hedges towered over him, their dark green leaves almost seeming to absorb the white light that fell on them. Quite a bit taller than him, on either side of a wide graveled path that he kept walking on bare feet. Above the labyrinth, right in what he presume...

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“The Elf Labyrinth” by Bati Cruz

Submitted to Contest #124

You are standing in front of the toy store. It’s closed now. White, fluffy snow is falling on your hat; and white, fluffy snow is on the ground, piled up to cover your ankles. You can see your breath—it fogs the window of the store. But when the fogginess clears out, you can see inside. There is a little toy train circling around the track surrounding a beautiful Christmas tree. Surrounding the tree, there is a village of elves, with many dozens of houses and crooked little streets, forming what looks like a labyrinth. All the elves are smil...

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“A Twinkle in His Eye” by Danielle Willsher

Submitted to Contest #124

Steam rose up, filtering through the drain into the cold night air. The silhouette of a man with his hands resting gently on his hips came into view. His thick winter furry collared coat turned up; his casual faded jeans looked good on his statuesque figure. His engaging smile and enthusiastic handshake felt familiar; more like meeting an old friend than a stranger for the first time. Chris had lived on the streets too long now where few people cared whether you lived or died. This generous gesture touched him deeply. There was a charis...

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“Labyrinth of the Mind” by David Ajala

Submitted to Contest #124

I was born at the bottom of the pit with many others like me. A massive writhing pit that churned us out in our millions. Some don’t make it more than a few seconds before they dissolve into dust and ashes. Some make it a few minutes. They develop limbs, their eyes are aglow with wonder and purpose and just like that, their string is cut and all that is left is ashes. I was born in a particular group of seven. In the first moments of my birth, I huddled with my brothers and sisters expecting our eventual demise. The first minute, the seco...

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“The Labyrinth Of Belle Harbor” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #124

Secret Passages, secret chambers, mysterious pathways, the labyrinth of Belle Harbor has haunted the town for generations and no one dares to investigate. Belle Harbor, a tiny little fishing town of 500 people have lived with a dark secret since the founding of the town, a secret that scares people to their very core, one that no one dares talk about. One person in Belle Harbor dares to do the unthinkable and goes to the labyrinth of Belle Harbor. Kadence Morgan, an investigative journalist has venture to Belle Harbor to investigate th...

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“Forensic Hypnosis” by JL Nash

Submitted to Contest #124

Four, three, two, one, drop down, down deeper and deeper. ‘Is there an A?’ I turn left. I see Aunty Jan’s wedding and the shoes her husband wears which say ‘help’ on the soles and I spell them out loud in the church. ‘Is there a B?’ No. I’m on another curve of my dad’s first car. I am 4. It’s a mess in here. I can’t see any way ahead. I can’t find what you want. You steer me but all I see is silence. It has a shape, a texture, a sound. I see nothing. ‘Is there a C?’ I smell the red polish used on the stone floor at the boarding school I kn...

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“Parting the Clouds” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #124

Each step forward in the dark forest brought Joe Stinson face to face with another mysterious turn. He had driven around the entire afternoon trying to uncover the path to the ramshackle “mansion” that he thought would form the foundation of his future retreat on the Eastern Shore. Joe’s afternoon adventure, however, quickly caused a confrontation more complicated than the twists and turns of his own troubled personality. For six months he had fought off the effects of t...

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“Me and my mirror” by Ajaykrishna Rajesh

Submitted to Contest #124

Whatever that can go wrong went wrong for Ram on that fateful day. In the morning, he was fired from his job for showing up five minutes late. In the afternoon, his wallet, with all his money, and his phone was stolen. In the evening, his girlfriend dumped him, and in the process, went out without paying for the snacks, which he had to repay by giving the watch and asking the owner of the restaurant to have his watch until he repays the ill, to which the owner happily accepted. It was almost 7 PM in the evening when he came home. After stari...

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“Inti” by K W

Submitted to Contest #124

The air is different in Peru. You breathe in the Incan civilization with the smell of hot ají peppers frying on an open flame in the market. This particular market had no name. I passed under a sign that simply read “mercado” and stepped into a new world. I wandered through the rows of shops. People were selling everything from bootleg copies of movies to knock-off designer sunglasses. A large tiled counter stood in the back corner, and an old woman on the other side butchered chicken with a cleaver and a strong set of hands. The market, a...

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“The Plaque” by Judah LoVato

Submitted to Contest #124

On the wall there was a plaque: “Where are those who have gone before us? Have they gone to the Field and planted roses, Have they lain themselves down among traveling stones Do they turn to dust from flesh and bones?” She read the plaque aloud, then lay her hand on the stone wall. She looked tired, as though her legs were to ready to give out. Light from the torches along the walls augmented the exhaustion in her face. “We’ve a long way, yet.” I said, “I’ll carry you awhile.” “But we're out of food- of water, you'll tire out.” “I'...

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“The Labyrinth” by Shark Rider

Submitted to Contest #124

I think my biggest fear of all is that I’ll never be remembered because in the end, what could I ever do that will make me be remembered forever. This world I live in isn’t like yours. Sure everything on Earth is the same to some extent, but last time I checked, your world didn’t have people jumping through portals entering ancient, magical labyrinths. A long, long, long time ago... a gate opened inside our world. At the time, no one understood what the thing even was. One day, a scientist documented all his findings in a file sent back t...

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“Fever Dreams” by Nathan Greenebaum

Submitted to Contest #124

I don’t, as a rule, have nightmares. Not anymore. They’d been more common when I was a child; dreams of walking into a nest of spiders, or of being chased by an unseen pursuer - although the latter kind was more thrilling than truly frightening, running through a landscape of ever-shifting and impossible architecture. Certainly, I almost never have dreams about monsters.But I did have a cluster of bad dreams a while back at the height of a cryptic illness which turned out, eventually, to be a simple infection in the gut, but which at the tim...

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“Race for Extinction” by Edward Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #124

Race to Extinction By Edward Hamilton It was a weird situation. I was completely naked in a glass cube, but the glass was white and very sturdy. I had been trying to find a door of some kind for the past hour. I had no luck. I gave up and sat waiting. The wall to the cube disappeared, exposing a long stone block tunnel leading straight into darkness. I stepped out of the smooth cube onto the dirt floor. It smelled like a rainforest, except their was a faint smell of cheeseburgers. The sam...

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“Inside the Mind” by Candace Shattuck

Submitted to Contest #124

Hello, my name is Magyk. I am making this recording to record my experiences for my own record of healing. It is the 11th day of December and today, on my healing journey my counselor asked me to go on a meditative journey to the inside of my mind or at least how I view the inside of my mind. This should be interesting. That’s what I plan to do. Let’s breathe. In…and out…in…and out… Everything goes dark. Now I find myself standing at the entrance to a huge labyrinth. Well, this isn’t what I was expecting. When I was younger I always saw the ...

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Set your story in a labyrinth that holds a secret.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 31 stories

“Abject” by Jarrel Jefferson

“The labyrinth and the shadow” by Red Dragon

“The Elf Labyrinth” by Bati Cruz

“A Twinkle in His Eye” by Danielle Willsher

“Labyrinth of the Mind” by David Ajala

“The Labyrinth Of Belle Harbor” by Melinda Madrigal

“Forensic Hypnosis” by JL Nash

“Parting the Clouds” by Bob Faszczewski

“Me and my mirror” by Ajaykrishna Rajesh

“Inti” by K W

“The Plaque” by Judah LoVato

“The Labyrinth” by Shark Rider

“Fever Dreams” by Nathan Greenebaum

“Race for Extinction” by Edward Hamilton

“Inside the Mind” by Candace Shattuck

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a character in search of something or someone.

Start your story with someone trying to read a map.

Write a story where two characters are playing hide and seek, literally or metaphorically.

End your story with someone finding themselves.

Contest #124

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

226

Contest entries

147

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: