Set your story on a day when the sun never sets.

Posted in Dark on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 26 stories

“The Midnight Swimmers” by Howard Halsall

It was midafternoon when the local police patrol found me shivering in my swimwear on the shoreline. My weary carcass was covered with abrasions; I had dried blood matted in my hair and fingers wrinkled like anaemic prunes. “He looks rougher than road kill,” the first officer joked, wrapping a heat reflective blanket around me, as if he was covering burnt barbecue scraps in tinfoil.The second officer offers me a plastic bottle. “This’ll help you, sir.”“No, it’s too late...” I whisper.“Suit yourself, sir,” ...

32 comments 32

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“Last Light” by Michał Przywara

Melancholia never saw Hex coming as she ran down the community centre hallway. He slammed into her with enough force to send her bodily into the peeling brick wall, a blow strong enough to break a normal person’s bones. She bounced off the wall and recovered almost immediately, drawing herself up with a snarl. “What the hell, Hex–” “–shhh!–” Hex hissed at her. His wide eyes darted left and right.

20 comments 20

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“Latitude Sixty-Nine” by Thomas Graham

On March 5, 2022, a research expedition’s remote submersible spotted the wreck of HMS Endurance, sitting intact ten thousand feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea. The ship has rested there since November 21, 1915, when, after months of being trapped in pack ice, she crumpled from the pressure and sank. The history of the ship and the failed attempt of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent are well known, as all twenty-eight members of the expedition overcame improba...

21 comments 21 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Endless Day Beach and Spa” by Sharon Hancock

The invitation arrived on Tuesday; stuck between two busted samples of sunscreen that oozed and dripped in the mailbox. Sabrina frowned at the sickening sweet smell of coconut and mango as she squished the letters together and pulled them out of the box. A sticky blob of the lotion plopped onto her shirt and sat there; jiggling and glistening in the sunlight. She swiped it off; leaving a greasy smear next to the ketch...

19 comments 19

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“Nord” by Jonathan Sadler

“UFO ‘which crashed millions of years ago’ found in Greenland, conspiracy theorists claim.” ~ ‘Daily Express’ (British Tabloid), 21 September, 2020***20/6/2025 - 1200 HRS (WGST): MID SHIFT REPORT. DAILY INSPECTION OF ALL INSTRUMENTATION COMPLETE. NO ANOMALIES OR EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTIONS DETECTED...Hemming Sorenson stopped typing for a moment and reached for his thermos of rich, black coffee. He was about ha...

12 comments 12

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“Favorite School Project” by Daphne Chou

It was 1983, but not quite the version you remember.In third grade gifted class, we made these little terrariums. I thought they were the coolest. Mrs. Manchester lined us up in front of a formica table covered with newspaper, a bag of potting soil, and a box of gravel. We each got our own fishbowl and filled it up, added a lonely jade plant, spritzed water on top, and behold, we were gods. My fishbowl was green and tumbled like sea-glass, not smooth and transparent like everyone else’s.

6 comments 6

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“Sunday Morning” by Cheyenne Nicole

My eyes are shut tight as the morning sun peers its way through the curtains of my bedroom. Maybe if I close them long enough it’ll go away, or if I ignore it, it’ll just cease to exist and therefore not bother me. The start of a new day, a symbol that yesterday is over and today has only just begun. Dread rolls its way through my body starting at my ears, raking its way across my skin and settling deep in my bon...

6 comments 6

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“Solar Tech Support” by Zach Martz

“Hello, and thank you for calling the Sun, your number one supplier of light and energy in the Solar System. For quality assurance, this call may be monitored and recorded. For English, press 1. For Spanish, presione numero dos. For Martian, uhgaz rino di-di-di. For Neptune Death Squad-Speak, press EARTHMEN MUST DIE! #4.” “Thank you. If you are calling in regards to your solar energy service, press 1. For...

4 comments 4

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“Sunshine Brings the Darkness” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

It’s been 8 days since that freak electrical storm hit the town and left enough electrical ions in the atmosphere to keep the sun from setting. 8 days of around the clock sunshine. It sounded like a huge sonic boom coupled with a bit of a quake in the ground then nothing. Perfect stillness right in the middle of the day. Not even the birds could be heard chirping. It was kind of eerie. Lainie remembers walking ou...

13 comments 13

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“Happy Birthday, Old Man” by Eldon Letkeman

I stare into the sky, my hands sheltering my eyes from the bright sun. I hear the sound of the ocean waves behind me quietly lapping onto the beach. The temperature is hot as usual for this time of year. I can feel small beads of sweat coming down the edges of my forehead. The leap year has already begun. The waves would be bigger on any other day, but not Leap Year Day. I keep searching the sky looking for the thing ...

5 comments 5

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“Midnight in California” by D. Thorne

My grandmother was a woman who was stuck in her yacht club youth and insisted that everyone who did not want a life similar to her own, was either lying or delusional. She was an inspiring woman, true in tenacity and grit, and I aspired to be as self-assured as she. When I was eighteen, I decided to study abroad in the art of communication, and I could not be more ecstatic to leave the predictable life I led in Californ...

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“The day the Earth stood still” by Sameen Azmat

Fariha faked being asleep as soon as she heard footsteps coming toward her bedroom. She knew who it was. 'How many times do I have to yell at the same thing over and over again’? Her mother said while she opened the curtains of her bedroom window. 'Not again', Fariha thought to herself while her head was covered inside her blanket. 'Does anyone ever listen to me in this house? How do I change you and your brother when ...

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“A Day in the Sun” by Eva Bernal

Abbey woke the same way she had for the last five years, on her back and alone. She could see the palest of lights beginning, peeking in through the small crack between her filmy sheer curtains. Those curtains allowed her to watch the world awaken and move. She blinked her eyes rapidly, wishing for the millionth time that she could simply wipe away the tiny grains of sleep herself. She heard the soft rap...

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“One In the Well” by Alan Norcott

I looked down to my right hand, my little sister, Annie, clung to it as we looked over the edge of the well. "What do you think it is?" She asked as we kept our gaze fixed on the shimmering light that sat at the bottom. "Maybe someone dropped a knife? It kinda' looks like it's sparking though..." After a few more moments of unfulfilled curiosity, I decided to lower the makeshift bucket connected to the...

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“The Garden Of Light” by Camille Mockingjay

The Garden Of LightA day in the garden was promised to me. I was awake hours before the first sunbeam hit my kitchen window, and waiting outside the Garden Gates before half the small village even thought about breakfast. Equipped with a journal, a new pen, and a satchel to take anything that seemed even remotely special, I impatiently clicked my heels together as I tried to catch a glimpse behind the gates. All I could see was a house, bigger than perhaps half the entire village...

2 comments 2

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Set your story on a day when the sun never sets.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 26 stories

“The Midnight Swimmers” by Howard Halsall

“Last Light” by Michał Przywara

“Latitude Sixty-Nine” by Thomas Graham

“Endless Day Beach and Spa” by Sharon Hancock

“Nord” by Jonathan Sadler

“Favorite School Project” by Daphne Chou

“Sunday Morning” by Cheyenne Nicole

“Solar Tech Support” by Zach Martz

“Sunshine Brings the Darkness” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

“Happy Birthday, Old Man” by Eldon Letkeman

“Midnight in California” by D. Thorne

“The day the Earth stood still” by Sameen Azmat

“A Day in the Sun” by Eva Bernal

“One In the Well” by Alan Norcott

“The Garden Of Light” by Camille Mockingjay

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about an afternoon picnic gone wrong.

Write about a character who doesn’t want to go to sleep.

End your story with someone saying: “What a day.”

Write about light returning to a place that has been deprived of it for a long time, literally or figuratively.

Contest #138

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

249

Contest entries

158

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: