Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Posted in Dark on Oct 6, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 82 stories

“The Executioner's Daughter” by Audrey Knox

Submitted to Contest #219

By nightfall, everyone in the town was asleep. Even the visitors who had come from far away were tucked in their rented beds in the upper floors of the sold out taverns. A cold, crisp fog covered the village like an extra blanket, as if to convince everyone to stay in bed safely at home. But it didn’t need to. Everyone knew that tomorrow was the big day. They needed their rest. The vendors would be up before down to stake out the best places to sell sausages. The sizzling meat would entice the earliest arrivals to a juicy breakfast. The b...

2 comments 2

Read story

“He Sees Through Stone” by Garr Parks

Submitted to Contest #219

Someone is playing a trick. Images appear on the sooty walls, muddling my mind and soaking my brain like a wet sponge. My vision is fuzzy, dirty as dust, fuzzy as the chocolate body moving in front of me mouthing words that I can hardly make out.Patricia, my ex-girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter, in her short pajamas with her chest jiggling like two jellyfish. "Mom-Mom-Mom."Something like that, reflections hurting my eyes.Silence. A surge of heat rolls over me, hot enough to melt veins, and then vanishes.Michelle, my leggy ex-girlfriend with ...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Last Level” by Michaela Mifsud

Submitted to Contest #219

His wrists didn’t hurt anymore – the rusty metal colliding his wrists together had undoubtedly grown accustomed to his body, for his brain stopped bothering to send signals of the pain he had once felt. Though his body was starting to betray him, he felt comfort knowing that after half a decade, there was still something clinging onto him.That’s why he didn’t feel the thin fabric on his chest ripping apart under him, nor did he feel the skin of his legs burning when he was being dragged by two guards from just his two toes. As a blindfolded ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Burden of Martyrdom” by Jack Brooks

Submitted to Contest #219

Before I would speak further of my current whereabouts and moral dilemma, there is one thing that I must make absolutely clear, perfect and unimpeachable: I, Jeremy Harrow, am an innocent man. I cannot say as to whether or not my trial was skewed by a force or party beyond my knowing; whether I accidentally spoke an error or contradiction during my long interrogation that perhaps gave credibility to my false imprisonment. I was, after all, a lonesome man from out of town, with no real friends or family within a hundred miles, temporarily mo...

3 comments 3

Read story

“A Prison of One's Own Making” by Samantha N Bishop

Submitted to Contest #219

This story contains talk of suicide and emotional/mental distressFreshly washed hair was in pigtails, and she wore a cute outfit of leopard print. There were some signs of tears and sleepiness beneath her eyes. There was a smile on her face, and it took all her energy to hide the vacant, hopeless expression that usually filled her eyes. Each step, hell, each breath she took was a major effort for her. When she spoke, her words were soft and to the point, almost as if she was afraid to speak. If approached, she would flinch, step back, and in...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Loops For James Malltano” by Rudy Senecal

Submitted to Contest #219

I woke up to air that was the beginning of a string of 30 degree starts we were supposed to have that week. As I felt that reality, I stuffed my arms under the blankets and just listened to the alarm. Rick gently shook my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see him fully clothed and with his lunch pail in hand. “Hey, I’m headed out,” he said. While the information came slowly, the result hit me like a truck and I sat u...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Guardian of Server HW5487” by Sol Le Roux

Submitted to Contest #219

Server HW5487 was my home. It was well-protected with traps and firewalls everywhere. Virtually no one could ever get in. And I could not get out. There was a reason for this protection. The information contained in Server HW5487 was highly confidential, the type of information that in the wrong hands could become deadly to the organisation that employed me. I was the guardian and caregiver of the place. For people who have never lived in a server, this can seem a bit abstract. But you can compare this virtual existence to caring for a home....

0 comments 0

Read story

“THE CELL” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #219

THE CELL I sat on the floor and felt the rough stones at my back through my thin and ragged shirt. The room was small and cramped but it really didn’t matter, I had very few possessions anyway. It was a small attachment to the house and had once been used as some kind of accessory building or storage shed, perhaps a rudimental entrance way for there was a door that led into the main house. The low roof had at one time leaked causing watermarks on the walls and a strange funky smell that I knew must be mold. We moved into the hous...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Prison Cell” by Fernando César

Submitted to Contest #219

Seven o’clock. The morning automation for the downtown Spellnorth building kicked in. The main floor doors unlocked, the common area lights came on, the air conditioner brought the temperature up from the freezing night to a more comfortable twenty-one degrees. There’s an electronic hum throughout the building, transforming the dark, cold skyscraper into a more human-friendly environment. All except the thirteenth floor. The ceiling lights never come on there. The air conditioning only works manually. Even the door to the floor requires a ke...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Behind Stone Walls” by Bella Fox

Submitted to Contest #219

I knew if I paced much more, I was liable to wear a groove in the stone floor of my cell. Unfortunately, I was too anxious to sit down. I could only see the prisoner across from me, as the other walls of my cell were simple stone. These cells had been carved out of the earth, not constructed by human hands. The prisoner across from me had his head in his hands and seemed ready to yell at me. I knew I was likely infuriating everybody with my incessant pacing in a place where the only noises were the occasional cough, but I didn’t care. “A...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Icy Breath of Too Late” by Jeremy Stevens

Submitted to Contest #219

There is this place called Too Late where nobody seems to know you but where everyone talks about you, whispering behind hands in the grocery aisle and church pew, turning slightly with sideways glance, tsk-tsk that’s him. The judge hit his gavel and Fate smiled, told you so: you have just become the other guy. Janis said that “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose” and man was she right, I’d come so far, might be going to hell in a bucket babe, but at least I’m enjoying the ride. Impervious to cold, immune to morés, ignora...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Smug Little Bomb” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #219

I wake up with a pounding headache, to find myself lying on a small metal bed of the industrial type. You know, the kind you find in a prison. Instantly alarmed, I roll over, struggling not to lose the contents of my stomach, and peer blearily around. That’s when I realize I’m in a cell. At least, I think it’s a cell. Walls of hard concrete surround me. There are no windows. The only light is a soft, diffuse glow from a recessed fixture in the ceiling, a good ten feet overhead. The only furnishings are the singularly uncomfortable cot benea...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Red” by Smriti Sudhakar

Submitted to Contest #219

tw/slight imagery of shThe bell rings and you head to your uncle’s black Subaru. You had always wondered why he chose black, perhaps to appear suave and younger than he really was.“So kiddo, how was school?” He asks promptly, same as he always does. “Fine.” You say curtly, as you always do. At this point, you are unsure of whether he asks that question because he genuinely cares or merely to satisfy some personal quota. He is silent the rest of the way, fingers thrumming against the steering wheel to the beat of whatever song ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“This is my Home” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #219

Sensitive topic warning - themes of death and imprisonment. This is my home; it's a funny kind of home. The walls are cold to the touch. They have shiny paint that covers bumpy plaster. Names are scored into it – messages that have been painted over, written and painted over again. Thoughts have been recorded there and then muted with cheap emulsion. I have scratched my own into it too, but they will soon be erased with fresh paint for the next tenant. I have four equidistant walls. If I stand up and stretch my arms like an eagle, I can to...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Solitary Confinement” by Scott Allen

Submitted to Contest #219

The weirdest thing about where they took him was that it wasn’t really a containment facility. He was actually a little offended that he was so low profile to them that they threw him in the back of what looked like a Toyota 4Runner from the 90’s without a second thought. Nothing in this tract of the globe was ultramodern(not structures, technology, or beliefs), but he never pictured war to be so…. improvised. When he signed up he always pictured war to be more straightforward than it actually was, at least in the Middle East. Instead of a s...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Dialogue – 53 stories

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

Dramatic – 47 stories

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

Character – 29 stories

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

Angst – 43 stories

Contest #219

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: In the Panopticon

$250

Prize money

254

Contest entries

114

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 13, 2023 EST

Won by Kate Hughes 🏆

Title: Cell 3.47

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Set your story in a type of prison cell.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 82 stories

“The Executioner's Daughter” by Audrey Knox

“He Sees Through Stone” by Garr Parks

“The Last Level” by Michaela Mifsud

“The Burden of Martyrdom” by Jack Brooks

“A Prison of One's Own Making” by Samantha N Bishop

“Loops For James Malltano” by Rudy Senecal

“The Guardian of Server HW5487” by Sol Le Roux

“THE CELL” by Glenna Agnew

“The Prison Cell” by Fernando César

“Behind Stone Walls” by Bella Fox

“The Icy Breath of Too Late” by Jeremy Stevens

“Smug Little Bomb” by Ian Gonzales

“Red” by Smriti Sudhakar

“This is my Home” by Keelan LaForge

“Solitary Confinement” by Scott Allen

🌟 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: