Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Posted in Dark on Oct 6, 2023

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✍️ 82 stories

“Catching killers with killers. ” by Lize-Mari De Bod

Submitted to Contest #219

We have hit a wall with this investigation. There are no eyewitnesses, no CCTV footage, no DNA and no clear pattern. We have nothing really. All we have is facts. Puzzle pieces that are so different and the same they cannot be put together. Lines that are so messy the dots cannot be connected. All we have is facts. The first body came into the lab, and we started investigating, then the second then the third until it reached nine. What was the hardest of all is that there was no pattern. The locations where the bodies were found, method of ...

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“To Live and to Die by the Law” by Joan Of Arc

Submitted to Contest #219

They say that you should count your blessings if you can sleep peacefully at night, in total silence, with no disturbances. Rare phenomenon indeed, but I am quite certain that they mean “external disturbances”, noises like cars or motorbikes, or even the occasional drunk passerby outside of their house in the middle of the night. What about internal disturbances, though? Those little voices inside your head, replaying the stories of your past like a short film in a broken camera, on repeat, again, and again, an endless loop of the mistakes y...

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“prison in a loop” by M.R. Simon

Submitted to Contest #219

Earth in 2222 doesn't exist anymore, well not as you know it. After the A.I. era, the world went on a nuclear war. A nuclear war that nobody knew who started it, but it went on for about five years. That's when a lot of us went to outer space to live peacefully. I live on my vessel, my life, my love, Evelyn is the name of my ship, she's everything to me. It's a garbage ship, we collect the debris, those non-functioning satellites, or the old ship parts floating in space. We recycle those parts, that's how we make a living out here. Believe m...

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“Waiting in an Echo” by Hosea Guy

Submitted to Contest #219

I can’t narrow it down to a particular day, minute, or hour; no, I do not remember the day you began to fade from my memory, but I know this: you are no longer a part of me. My heart once gave wind to rivers of blood that flowed only for you, but now… now the petals of your flowers lay withered and crisp on the sill of the frosted window, and I don’t even miss you. I’m holding a Polaroid of you in my two fingers. It’s of the night I told you goodbye for the last time and your hair is wet in the frame, your cheeks dotted with rain, and you d...

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“The Last Laugh” by Mark Leasure

Submitted to Contest #219

Trigger Warning: Mental Health and Depictions of Violence/Horror Devon didn’t regret punching the guard despite now knowing that he would probably die in solitary confinement. It had been at least two days now since anyone checked on him or brought him food. He no longer heard the rumbling of cell doors opening and closing, or the low hum of a group of inmates somewhere in the distance. He didn’t hear the clacking of boots as guards patrolled the corridor and he hadn’t heard any announcements over the PA. Either everyone had left or every...

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“PROTOCOL” by Penelope Stephens

Submitted to Contest #219

Before her gender transition, Piper Sanderson enjoyed going out to clubs on Friday nights, hearing new bands, meeting new people, but since she came out as trans, she has been afraid to go out, having vague fears in her mind that she will get arrested or shot. But this Friday night in August, she decides to ignore the fear, and go out anyway. She takes a shower, and puts on a black sports bra and black panties, an orange Clemson T-shirt, a short purple skirt that shows off her long, strong legs, and her trademark white linen sport...

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“Wine, Coffee, and Fire” by M B

Submitted to Contest #219

He was in some sort of prison cell, though something in the air told him it was not originally meant to be a prison cell. The scent made him think of grapes or alcohol... perhaps both. The drugged food and beverages they fed him kept him from using his full strength, at least between bouts in the arena - but it did not take away his keen senses. The prisoner growled as he thought about how he’d ended up in this current state. He thought about his life before he was a gladiator for his captor's amusement. He us...

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“A Private Word” by Keith Menendez

Submitted to Contest #219

Chico paced in the courthouse basement jail. The bailiffs forcibly removed him from the murder scene and threw him into the damp cell. Will and Chang guarded him in silence near a bright torch. Deliberate strong footfalls could be heard cascading down the stone staircase. Seravina turned the corner, holding the keys to the cell. Chico sat down on a dusty prison cot. His left knee nervously bounced up and down. "Gentlemen, please wait ...

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“Mousetrap” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #219

“What is this place?!” It was a question in name only. Really, it was Vince showing his exasperation at the situation he found himself in. “A prison of the mind!” said Don theatrically. “Shut up you wanker!” hissed Vince. Don looked like he’d been slapped hard in the face, but Vince did not regret his words. Not one bit. They’d been a long time coming. Don could be bloody annoying when he tried, and he could be just as annoying when he didn’t try. “It was just a bit of bants,” Don chided him. “Does it look like we should be...

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“The Cell” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #219

In a dimly lit room, a man sits with his back pressed against the cold, damp wall. His eyes dart around, tracing the cracks in the peeling paint as though they hold secret information he needs to know. He is convinced he is in a prison cell, a place of confinement. Overhead, the flickering fluorescent light feels like a spotlight, intensifying his paranoia. They leave no shadows in which to hide. He clutches the thin, scratchy blanket tightly around his shoulders, wrapping himself in an imaginary sanctuary of prot...

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“Fighter ” by Corrine Engels

Submitted to Contest #219

I smelled him before I saw him, thick and bitter-sweet. His movements were slow, a leg that slid easily behind him, a warped shadow. His hair was like pondweed, wild and brash, mucky black coils that covered his eyes. He was thrown into the cell next to mine, and he sank into a corner, falling asleep easily as if he were on a feather bed. He was used to this - the cold, motionless dark. I thought: He knows nothing else. He was lucky, then. I watched him for a long time (what else was ...

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“Emotion Prison” by Parsley Ascione

Submitted to Contest #219

It was dark outside the locked window of the small room. The curtains were drawn and a light layer of dust covered the wooden desk in the corner. A young girl was asleep in a rickety old bed. A beat up teddy bear gripped tightly in her small arms. She was mumbling in her sleep. Another girl in a different bed started to stir and wake up. A heavy rain started to hit the thin window. All the girls in town were kept here, in this house. The community had homes for children, where they lived away from their families. The home for girls and the h...

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“Capital Punishment - Lifetime Imprisonment” by James Gee

Submitted to Contest #219

“Heather Awling, age 24, of Ashwaubenon, WI. Murdered by Tyson Velling, August 28th, 2039. Sentenced, by a jury of his peers, to lifetime punishment. Sentence to be completed November 1st, 2042.” Tyson had been sealed into the tank for several minutes. A warm, gel-like substance had been pumped into the tank until his body was suspended inside of it. A test pulse of electricity showed that his nerves responded appropriately. His body experienced physical sensations when the right instructions were given by a scientist-looking fello...

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“Provoked” by Elizabeth Beising

Submitted to Contest #219

Joey Giordano lacked intelligence but not bravado, so on his third day in, he couldn’t help himself and asked the inmate in the next cell, “Hey, man, is it all true? Didya really do it?” A few moments of silence passed before the man on the other side of the wall responded slowly in a quiet, yet deep voice. “I’ll tell you, if you really want to know. I’m catching the chain, anyway. Yeah, I’m on my way out of here, did you know that?” Joey nodded then shook his buzz-cut head even though the two couldn’t see each other. Yes, he wanted to kn...

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“The Prison Ghost” by Misti Silvers

Submitted to Contest #219

The sound of the siren meant someone tried to make a break. Bill knew that sound too well. A few times the alarm was set off to alert the guards of an inmate trying to break free, but most of the time it was tripped. Bill had been in prison for fifteen years and counting and he watched it many times before. The guards will run and check it out and come back confused. He loved the newbies. After the first five years he started finding it funny. It happened at least once a day. The old timer guards would sometimes join the long timer inmates ...

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Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 82 stories

“Catching killers with killers. ” by Lize-Mari De Bod

“To Live and to Die by the Law” by Joan Of Arc

“prison in a loop” by M.R. Simon

“Waiting in an Echo” by Hosea Guy

“The Last Laugh” by Mark Leasure

“PROTOCOL” by Penelope Stephens

“Wine, Coffee, and Fire” by M B

“A Private Word” by Keith Menendez

“Mousetrap” by Jed Cope

“The Cell” by Ralph Aldrich

“Fighter ” by Corrine Engels

“Emotion Prison” by Parsley Ascione

“Capital Punishment - Lifetime Imprisonment” by James Gee

“Provoked” by Elizabeth Beising

“The Prison Ghost” by Misti Silvers

🌟 Similar prompts

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

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

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

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

Contest #219

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

254

Contest entries

114

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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