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

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?

✍️ 177 stories

“Mirrors” by Sidhaarth Suresh

Submitted to Contest #84

The mortar and pestle made a gratifying sound, like that of crepitus, but on repeat. The mortar tilted and its contents sprinkled out in grains and gobbets into a piece of rolling paper laid on the glossy perlato marble slab. Zain stuck a filter: made from a business card a life insurance agent had slid under the doors of every flat in his apartment house when lockdown became imminent. He rolled the paper, and with a gentle flick of his tongue and a twist, he sealed the joint. He kept himself engrossed in this activity and rolled a further t...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Well Enough” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #84

Is it Sunday? There’s not as much traffic as yesterday on the street…It’s windy. No, it’s Thursday. I’m thirsty too – let’s go and have a coffee…This joke used to be funny. But that was when I was not yet almost completely deaf, and when I thought I would live for a thousand years.And here I am, waiting to die. I’m so sad and lonely. All I have to look forward to is… nothing. Not even the thought of the next meal excites me. Only cooking it, does. I used to love my food… the kitchen was my domain… I baked up a storm during the weekends, and ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Land Ho” by Artemis Rowan

Submitted to Contest #84

What day is it? Ever since we made it out to sea I can't seem to find my bearings. There's no land in sight. There’s water. Tons and tons of water everywhere I look. Isabelle said we would stop in the States somewhere in about a week. We ran into a few issues with choppy water, so we may have lost time. Has it been a week? Has it been longer? I can't remember. How many sunrises and sunsets have I seen on this boat since we fled Toronto and went east? I don't remember. But I do remember that we fled because the police were after her again. ...

4 comments 4

Read story

“The "To Do" List” by Moira Christensen

Submitted to Contest #84

The “To Do” List Today is a Sunday, the only reason I know that is correct is when I put the television on, and the channels are showing religious programs. Thank goodness the television knows what day of the week it is, because I am struggling to do so. I have no idea what the date is, there was no real need to know any more as one day is the same as another. The pandemic hit early in the year, I don’t remember the date, and it seems to have been so long ago. And then not long after, the lockdown. According to the...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Möbius Man” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #84

Trigger warning: suicide The guardsman’s tall, jet black, bearskin hat bristled in the moist London air as he marched out to the rod iron gates of Buckingham Palace to address the situation. His face was almost as red as his dress uniform and his voice was as stern as his old headmaster. “Get back! Do not climb on the fence!”The school kids backed away, giggling and taking selfies or social media videos. He stomped his foot twice, did a smart about face, shouldered hi...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Of Inconsequence” by M Daly

Submitted to Contest #84

‘Can you tell me what day of the week it is, Mr Sedgwick?’ The young woman in the white coat asks me. Again. ‘Yes. You asked me yesterday, and yesterday I told you it was Tuesday. But you said it wasn’t. You said it was Monday and I said that that couldn’t be true because the day before you had asked me what day it was and I had told you it was Monday.’ I can actually feel my blood pressure rising. These professionals talk to the rest of us like we’ve a black hole where a brain should be. ‘It’s Wednesday.’ I say confidently. Doctor Wha...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Wonky Smiles” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #84

I hear the alarm buzzing and groan as I flail at it. After a few attempts I manage to hit the button to get it to shut up, but my bed is warm. I know I shouldn’t, but I pull my arm back under and curl up in the duvet, just relaxing for a few minutes. “Bloody Mondays,” I mumble. I often talk to myself, just for the sake of hearing a voice, and if I get into a conversation it stops me from drifting off again. Rolling over I blink at the ceiling. “Wait. Is it Monday? Or Tuesday? What happened yesterday?” The answer to that is nothing, wh...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Imp” by Roth Sassin (inactive)

Submitted to Contest #84

Every day is the same.I get up and put on my spacesuit. I choose from my assortment of hats. Then I go onto the ship. I do all the tasks along with a few others. Then I go back to the Dorms and sleep until the next day. We have the same food every day.And there is no calendar. So I do not know the year, the month, the day. There is no clock. I use the food to measure time. They deliver the food when we are sleeping, and when we are working. When we wake up and when we finish tasks we get to eat. The food is always cold.Today someone new...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Ballad of Gerry Clifford: Another Day in Purgatory” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #84

Another Day in Purgatory Ida’s Vampire “Help me! Oh, for God’s sake, somebody help me! There’s a vampire in my room!” It was 4:15 in the morning, and up until that moment, things had been quiet at Candlelight Ridge Care Center. Night nurse Ace Murray, who had dozed while working on his never-ending charting, snapped to attention, banging his knee on the desk as he jerked awake. Security guard Thomas Octavian, who had ducked into the day room for “a wee kip” before starting his last set of rounds, came to with a snort from his uncomfortable p...

0 comments 0

Read story

“live a little” by Morgan Elliott

Submitted to Contest #84

What day is it? I lost my calendar, don't have enough money for a phone AND we're in the middle of a pandemic so I can't go anywhere to ask. Every single morning I wake up brush my teeth for one minute and forty five seconds, then I shower for 45 minutes and get dressed in 15. I do my hair in a low ponytail; but not before blow drying it! Then at 7:30 in the morning grubhub comes to my apartment and delivers bob evans pancakes with a black coffee at my door. Everyday is the exact same, and the problem is... I don't remember what day quaranti...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Pregnant and alone ” by Priscilla Lewis

Submitted to Contest #84

I swear I just know how to pick them. I guess I should start from the beginning, Lisa is my name or as my daughter calls me mom, I had her when I was eighteen her father flat out left me in the cold I mean we was never together in a relationship or anything he was more like a fuck buddy. Nevertheless it hurt like hell when he said he wasn't the father and if he was he didn't want nothing to do with her or me and hung up on me, I did my best to give my baby girl everything she needed, I mean I went into big stores and stole out of them I'm no...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Don't Look Under the Rug” by Addam Goldman

Submitted to Contest #84

It was the middle of the night, and Dan couldn’t sleep. This was nothing new for him; every night for the last 15 years, his bladder had needled him awake at the witching hour—that time when all the clubbers have gone back home, and the city rests before clambering back to life for another busy morning. It was the one hour every night when New York City was impossibly quiet.He softly sat up and massaged his trembling right hand. He tried to remember the date, but was unsuccessful. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the days had begun to blend tog...

7 comments 7

Read story

“ Oh well, here we go again” by Emma Bates

Submitted to Contest #84

The shrill beeping of the mechanical alarm clock wakes me up dutifully as always. As my hands scramble to find the offending device, I hear the sweet melody of birds singing. Silly me, when have I ever thought the chirping of birds were sweet? Or melodic? This pandemic is doing things to me, I am almost sure of it. Scratch that, I am hundred percent certain of it. Look at my slowly dwindling sanity for instance, yesterday I found myself apologizing to the rubbish bin for knocking it over.Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I try to ge...

13 comments 13

Read story

“Bird flying” by ITS ME JEANNE S.

Submitted to Contest #84

There’s no sound on earth quite like a bird flying into a sliding glass door. Unlike the white noise of mass extinctions and vanishing rainforests, the singular thud of delicate avian bones against shatter-resistant Duraplex glass is impossible to ignore. It's the sound of the natural and man-made worlds colliding, like the off-key fervor of a bronze temple gong struck by a fresh-faced initiate. Burt Frumbder was savoring the second sip of his first cup of coffee when this one-of-a-kind sound made him jump, spilling this same cup of coffee. ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“After High School” by Samantha Brooks

Submitted to Contest #84

Monday, day 1: I woke up at noon. It's been a month since high school ended. And three weeks since I got rejected by my two dream schools. I had no back up, nothing else lined up. I was depending on this to work out, I had high hopes that everything would fall into place, and two months from now I'd be on campus. But now, I don't even know what I'll be doing in two months. Hopefully, a job. Wednesday, day 9: I applied for multiple jobs, and only got a call back for one. Good old, reliable McDonald's. Everyone gets their first job th...

3 comments 3

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Winter – 210 stories

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

Sad – 82 stories

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

Narrative – 115 stories

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

Narrative – 80 stories

Contest #84

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: A Year In

$50

Prize money

664

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 12, 2021 EST

Won by Evelyn Kill 🏆

Title: How the Fish Survive

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

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 177 stories

“Mirrors” by Sidhaarth Suresh

“Well Enough” by Tanja Cilia

“Land Ho” by Artemis Rowan

“The "To Do" List” by Moira Christensen

“Möbius Man” by David Brown

“Of Inconsequence” by M Daly

“Wonky Smiles” by Iona Cottle

“Imp” by Roth Sassin (inactive)

“The Ballad of Gerry Clifford: Another Day in Purgatory” by Cara H

“live a little” by Morgan Elliott

“Pregnant and alone ” by Priscilla Lewis

“Don't Look Under the Rug” by Addam Goldman

“ Oh well, here we go again” by Emma Bates

“Bird flying” by ITS ME JEANNE S.

“After High School” by Samantha Brooks

🌟 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 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: