Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Posted in Dark on Oct 6, 2023

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✍️ 82 stories

“Kin Cage” by Rado Randriamamonjy

Submitted to Contest #219

“Surely, riding a cat is certain death,” Dante thought. The little guy's mind was whirling after the unnerving conversation he'd had with his father. “These zealots,” he said to himself, “going wherever the pack tells them without a thought as to why, or what consequences might await."The sky over the abandoned farm was churning with cold, gray clouds. Withered, brown leaves fluttered across his four feet as Dante skittered across the old homestead. He was never one to walk in the old and dried footprints of others simply beca...

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“Cigarette scars” by J.O Small

Submitted to Contest #219

Cigarette scars, By J.O.Small It was a nice cell. I suppose, as cells go, it was positively luxurious. It had a window, for one, and curtains. The bed was somewhere between a single and a double, big enough for two pillows side by side. The privy was around a corner behind another curtain, out of sight completely. It was plastic, not metal. I had a private shower too. The walls were clean, the paint new. They were a calming light grey colour. Instead of bars I had a real door, albeit a metal one with a large window in it. Both wind...

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“Queen's Orders” by Avery Borman

Submitted to Contest #219

“Let’s go, Amara. We need to get out of here.” All of a sudden a siren starts to go off. A hidden door in the wall flies open and we see a lot of guards with swords and weapons ready to kill us. We run through the door we are now standing by and run quickly down the hallway. Andrew is holding onto my hand and dragging me because he can run way faster than me. We make sharp turns around the corners and I bang into the walls sometimes when I lose my balance. We finally reach the door to the dungeon hallway and burst through it. We conti...

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“The Woman” by Elle Green

Submitted to Contest #219

The woman opened her eyes. She lay across the metal floor, cool against her skin through the thin linen tunic and pants, vaguely soothing against her bruises. Laying on her side where they'd left her after the last interrogation, she couldn't stop staring at her hand: plump, blue flesh that reflected an ever slightly glowing aura against the silvery floor. She turned her fingers over, looking for any sign of the former brown pigment. Earlier today they had stood her in this same cell, put a hand on her chest and shoved the brown color of her...

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“Just in a Cell” by Cecelia Crowley

Submitted to Contest #219

No one can forgive me for what I’ve done. Or so she tells me in the stillest of night, with the calmest of breath. She says they know too much to let me go on unpunished, for that is why I am here, all alone among the cold, dark, and muffled cell. I am locked in here, at all hours of the day and all hours of the night. There is all but me, a rusted bucket, a twin-size mattress with a flattened, stained pillow, and a very small, very square window. The window never opens from the inside, as it is permanently locked, however, although the guar...

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“Cycle 126” by H.M. Bishop

Submitted to Contest #219

“Let’s go Becca! You’ve got this honey!” Jacob Malson pumped his fist in excitement as his seventeen-year-old daughter sprinted down the soccer field. Her lanky frame moved gracefully toward the goalkeeper, each stride with a singular purpose of advancing toward her mark. Watching, Jacob couldn’t help but marvel at how she had changed through the years. He could still see his little pig-tailed girl running along with the other children like a flock of starlings after the ball and laughing heartily with every adorable trip and stumble. PING. ...

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“Dark Cell” by Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #219

It had been a week since the screaming had stopped. He was not grateful for that fact, as his neighbours ear piercing wails were the only thing helping him keep track of time down here. The walls of his cell were closed tightly around him so he could not move and, with the exception of what could struggle through the barred trap door sitting well above him, it was pitch black. He couldn’t see or move. He could smell just fine, but the only stench that penetrated the all encompassing wall of darkness around him was heavy rot and whatever bits...

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“One Way Out” by Veronique Racine

Submitted to Contest #219

(trigger warning: violence) Mo wasn’t sleeping when they came. These days sleep did not come to him as easily, and it wasn’t only because his wife had to use the restroom every two hours , being so close to the due date. Problems just seemed to pile up, worries gnawed at him day and night, and his own thoughts appalled him. He had always been the strong one… His father had told him, long ago: “Some men are born to be boys all their lives, live in the moment, never ponder on the consequences of their actions, thinkin...

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“Tired Of Being What You Want Me To Be” by Courtney Millard

Submitted to Contest #219

SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING: Emotional AbuseThe police are at the door, I have three unanswered messages sat in my inbox and my evening is about to go from hellish to the worst night of my life. First I hear the stomping of their boots as they march up the stairs, then I hear the conversations between them. Finally I hear the calls from dispatch over their radios as they arrive at my bedroom door with my delirious mother in tow. Mothers can come in many different forms, I just happened to be dealt one that has made it her personal mission to i...

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“Golden Shackles: A Djinn's Story” by Holly Herson

Submitted to Contest #219

Content warnings: Mental health, discussion of wanting self-harm/suicidal ideation, some physical violence _____________________________________ Let me tell you a tale, dear masters. It is much roomier there than you would think. Sure, there’s not space for much furniture, or any furniture actually, and my ethereal self fills the entire “room” beyond its capacity. But hey, it's home. Call it what you will, humans have names for these things, but I have grown quite accustomed to the captivity. The darkness, the unending silence, the...

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“Cerebral Cage” by Lizy Campbell

Submitted to Contest #219

I stand here in the wide open field of flowers tickling my ankles and shins, yet I am trapped, frozen. I do not feel the sun on my face, melting away the blues in the songs I hear.I want to scream, nothing but air escapes my lips. Heart beating out of my chest, this is it, I think, this is the beginning of death."Hey, are you okay?" A voice in the distance I hear. Sirens off in the distance, coming for me.A touch it feels so near, yet I am behind an invisible barrier of bars, that I cannot escape."Help me!" My mind pleads, yet I am having a ...

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“Bills Phantom ” by Korinne H.

Submitted to Contest #219

I've been in these pants for... too long. Been in this house for too long. Alone for too long. Stop procrastinating. Change your pants. I sulk off the sofa, aiming my feet towards the bathroom...the bathroom? Why am I in the bathroom? Pants. I need pants. Stepping out of the bathroom, I shake my head, trying to wake. I don’t. Sluggishly, I then step towards the dresser, an old, rickety sorta creature. Locating the pant drawer I reach for the handle."Ow!"A sharp pinch to my fingertip. It's a splinter. This wakes me up. Rubbing my ey...

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“No Way Out?” by Raven West

Submitted to Contest #219

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" "Shut up, Chuck. We're not going to die." If he doesn't quit his whining, I'll kill him myself, Melanie thought as she ran her fingers along the concrete blocks feeling for an opening. "Katie, can you find any cracks on your side of the room?" "No, Mel. However Wyatt built this place, he made sure whoever or whatever he put in here wouldn't be able to get out." Katie tried to clear the dust away from an area on the floor next to Eric and Chuck, who had already resigned to their fate several minutes earlier...

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“La Marche Funèbre ” by Analisa Gonzalez

Submitted to Contest #219

Day 1,017, InsidePeter starts every morning with coffee. When he had creamer, he poured two in. When there was sugar, he put in half a scoop. He has neither, and tomorrow, he will be out of beans. Peter does not let this deter him from routine. He brings the cup to his lips. In a few seconds, he will make some variation of a comment about the taste, usually how watered down it is. The lights flicker on. Peter seems to be in a good mood, today. “Good morning, Peter,” I say.Peter grunts in response. “Play me something.” I d...

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“Who's Undercover?” by Sae Luy

Submitted to Contest #219

Having formed a mournfully disciplined line, they were forced to absorb the main guard's instructions. "We have one of our undercover guys confined in one of your cells. But obviously, I got no intention to tell you which one. You must know better than tryna think about something shady."When the weighty metal doors closed behind each inmate, there was literally no one who could go to sleep in their double cells, confronted by a lingering sense of suspicion directed towards their cellmates.After all, everyone here was a prisoner of the state....

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Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 82 stories

“Kin Cage” by Rado Randriamamonjy

“Cigarette scars” by J.O Small

“Queen's Orders” by Avery Borman

“The Woman” by Elle Green

“Just in a Cell” by Cecelia Crowley

“Cycle 126” by H.M. Bishop

“Dark Cell” by Cade Holter

“One Way Out” by Veronique Racine

“Tired Of Being What You Want Me To Be” by Courtney Millard

“Golden Shackles: A Djinn's Story” by Holly Herson

“Cerebral Cage” by Lizy Campbell

“Bills Phantom ” by Korinne H.

“No Way Out?” by Raven West

“La Marche Funèbre ” by Analisa Gonzalez

“Who's Undercover?” by Sae Luy

🌟 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 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: