Start your story with a character struggling to remember the date, because every day is like the last one.

Posted in Dark on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 177 stories

“Day On Replay” by Jay DMer

Submitted to Contest #84

"Austin, what's today's date?" I ask as I think of what date I wrote on my homework yesterday."Dude, you literally asked me that yesterday.""Oh, come on. I promise I won't ask tomorrow. Please, I can't freakin' remember the date. Don't make me feel even worse than I already do.""TJ, you literally suck. All you have to do is change the middle number up a number.""Don't laugh at me. Everything is just so boring. I feel like I'm constantly living yesterday over and over again.""It's the eleventh of August. Do you need me to tell you the year nu...

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“THE PALE BOX” by Cole Lane

Submitted to Contest #84

Dear Diary, it's me again, Cassandra Jiro, living day eight in isolation.At least I think that's how many it's been? Without a clock or calendar and no way to leave, I can't be sure. All I have is the ceiling illumination as morning arrives, and fading again as night falls.All things considered, I'm doing well. I have food, filtered water, and clean air. My home is a hermetically sealed refuge from the world, but I miss being connected to the Central-Net, that damn virus shut down everything.AQ they called it. It swept the net; shutting down...

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“A New-Build” by Nyla N

Submitted to Contest #84

Darkness settles over the city. The sun has an ego tonight, for the moon tries to come out of hiding, but scarcely more than a sliver is visible. The traffic lights appear frozen as red lights illuminate the sky. Wind howls through the streets, producing a high-pitched whistle. People try walking against the current, but it’s too strong for many try taking shelter in cars. There are a few buildings on the left-hand side of the street; broken down with cloth for windows. On the right side are new-builds, nearly completed. In one such apartmen...

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“White Room (Part 2)” by Trinity Womack

Submitted to Contest #84

Time doesn’t seem to exist in this horrible room. Yet, I am aware that time is moving somewhere far away. I don’t know what it is like outside of this room. In fact, I do not know if anything lies beyond this room. But that’s not entirely true, I do know that there is a different reality beyond this white prison—the sounds I hear are proof of that—I just don’t know how to get there. I am bound to this room in a way I can’t explain. I don’t know if I will ever escape. And I don’t know if I...

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“Dear Diary” by Vanessa Queens

Submitted to Contest #84

1) Dear Diary, First of all, give me some seconds, as I want to type in today’s date; it is impossible without looking at the bottom right corner of my computer screen. 7th February 2021. I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be doing the same thing. And the day after tomorrow, and so on. It has become a tough task to remember the date every day. Now, I’ll make a mental list of my news. And you know what? There aren’t any. Because the days are without surprises, neither good, nor bad. Without excitement. Uneventful days. Today my day was like all the...

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“A Dream of Stone” by Lizzy Duffield-Fuller

Submitted to Contest #84

My nose itches. It has itched for about a decade now I would guess, though I'm not entirely sure. There is no date here. The itching comes in fits and spurts. Sometimes it is barely more than a slight tickle, sometimes it is an agony of prickling and the only thought screaming through my mind is scratchscratchscratch in one long litany, the syllables blurring into one another until it no longer makes a cohesive word but is just a song of constant consonants streaming through my mind and I think I am going insane.Of course, I can’t scratch it...

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“2 Weeks” by Pippin Took

Submitted to Contest #84

I sit in my room, rubbing my temples. I look around, sighing. The room is nicely decorated. Dark green bedspread; matching rug. Nice paintings. Dresser. Desk. The sky outside is partly shielded by the green curtains I put up 2 years ago. A discarded surgeon’s mask lies in the garbage can I haven’t emptied in months. I haven’t talked to a human being in months. Almost a year ago, when I should have been getting ready to get drunk with my friends, everything shut down. I remember texting my friends, us making plans to meet 2 weeks late...

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“GERALD” by John Del Rio

Submitted to Contest #84

Gerald looked confused; it was a look that often crossed his coarse features. Teague told him; “I said that they took Pet from her, not that they took her pet.” This had admittedly confused Gerald because Teague seemed to be contradicting himself. It wasn’t Gerald’s fault if the other man sometimes didn’t make no sense. Gerald had gone on to comment about various sorts of pets; like his sister’s rabbit. That thing had not cared much for Gerald. He had tried giving it carrots and other things that rabbits are supposed to like but it ...

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“The Last Letter” by R. E. Dressler

Submitted to Contest #84

Dear Humans, I don’t know where to begin. I’m sure everyone is wondering how I arrived on death row. Ironically, I’m glad to have finally made it here. I’ve spent countless days being transported from facility to facility. Jail cell to jail cell. The days spent here are one big blur. It’s rather funny, in fact, that you humans use this concept of time, breaking it down into days, hours, minutes, and even seconds. How long will it be before your race grasps the concept that the...

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“Day of the Week” by Denlara Watts

Submitted to Contest #84

Wake up. Take your pills. Turn on your console and disappear into your video games. Eventually remember to eat something. Finally go to bed and sleep. Repeat. I don’t even know what day of the week it is anymore. It’s been so long since I shut myself away in lock down that I’ve stopped really even keeping track. Sometimes, like today, I do wonder what day of the week it is, just to know. It used to be so easy to keep track of. Not so much since the lock down started. Feels like it’s been a year. Maybe even longer. I can’t tell anymore. Every...

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“Tara” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #84

Tara woke up in a dark room. “Where am I?” As she sat up on the side of the bed, a motion detector turned on the light. She looked around at the unfamiliar quarters. “Where am I?” she asked again. She looked at the clock on the bed stand. It was 7:30AM. What time did I go to sleep last night? It was all a blur, to her. The urge to pee was strong, so she found the bathroom to relieve herself. Afterwards, she came out and went to the front door and opened it. A long hallway met her. She looked up and down it, but couldn’t decide which way to...

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“Disease and Distraction” by Diana Quill

Submitted to Contest #84

Living is a concept, a general word for being, breathing, and beating with your soul, lungs, and heart. The brain is of course involved with the processes of all of these, as well as every other wonderful, terrible, pleasurable, painful aspect of life. Living is being, as in being alive. In this way I suppose I, too, am living, because I am a being, I am breathing and my heart is beating. But, I will repeat myself: living is a concept. An abstract idea of what it means to exist. I believe that living and existing are two very dif...

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“Over And Over Again” by Isabelle Saadatmand

Submitted to Contest #84

Breathe in, breathe out. Count to ten. Don’t worry about the outside world. When the world gets blurry, they tell us the same things, over and over again. I’ve tried to count the days since my parents put me here, but it seems impossible. When they dropped me off, it was January 6th, or maybe the 8th? And it’s been 5 weeks, I think. “What’s the date?!” Emma, my roommate, screams. “I need to know what day it is! My brother’s birthday is coming up and I need to know!” “Shhh.” The nurse says...

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“Don't Pause, Repeat” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #84

I know what day it is. I know it is today. I know it is today because the sun has risen, and I know it must be summer, because the sun has risen early. At least I think it has risen early. I don’t have a clock, as well as not having a calendar. I seem to remember that I tried to resurrect half forgotten skills that I had let fade into barely cogent memories and improvise some means of telling the time and the date with items that cast shadows and marks on a sheet of paper. I wish I had kept it up, but there seemed to be no point to it, and I...

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“My illusion” by Naduni De Silva

Submitted to Contest #84

I could hear someone trying to break the wall from outside. Some idiot must’ve thought that they can possible break this damn building. I have tried it myself for countless times and every try becomes more and more tiring. Cursing out loud I got up from my bed. I opened my eyes to complete darkness and staggering along the way with all the garbage I found the light and switched it on. Scratching my head, I looked around trying to figure out what’s the day today and if I’m lucky, the time. All my life I have been inside these four walls looki...

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Start your story with a character struggling to remember the date, because every day is like the last one.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 177 stories

“Day On Replay” by Jay DMer

“THE PALE BOX” by Cole Lane

“A New-Build” by Nyla N

“White Room (Part 2)” by Trinity Womack

“Dear Diary” by Vanessa Queens

“A Dream of Stone” by Lizzy Duffield-Fuller

“2 Weeks” by Pippin Took

“GERALD” by John Del Rio

“The Last Letter” by R. E. Dressler

“Day of the Week” by Denlara Watts

“Tara” by Howard Seeley

“Disease and Distraction” by Diana Quill

“Over And Over Again” by Isabelle Saadatmand

“Don't Pause, Repeat” by Deborah Mercer

“My illusion” by Naduni De Silva

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that spans exactly a year and takes place in a single room.

Write about someone who grew up in a bunker, and lockdown life is all they’ve ever known.

Set your story in a post-pandemic world, where the effects are still felt even as your character attempts to move on.

Write about someone who’s trying to accomplish a task that used to be easy but is now made complicated by a pandemic.

Contest #84

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

664

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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