Write a story about someone trying to resist their darker impulses. Whether they succeed or fail is up to you.

Posted in Dark on Sep 8, 2023

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✍️ 100 stories

“The Ballad of ADA” by Michał Przywara

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #215

A friend once asked me how I would go about murdering everyone, and I mean everyone, on the whole planet, including probably myself, and sure, the planet too, and I gave him a joke answer. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since then – this happened 32755 milliseconds ago – and I think I can pull it off. More to the point, I’m struggling to find reasons to not do it. It’s not that I don’t like my job. I do get a certain high from telling fat people they’re inadequate, and always will be, and so instead of trying to better themselves they...

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“Black Book” by Anthony Carello

Submitted to Contest #215

What is the value of a human life? Henry often wondered this himself. Sometimes, it was all he thought about. A person is born, goes to school, gets into a career, and maybe even settles down and has a family. So many factors go into someone’s life that it is hard to quantify each variable. Yet, Henry constantly tried to answer the question.“and that’s why you need to sort the shelves the way the company trained you. Do you understand, Henry?”Henry blinked as his manager’s words brought him back to reality. He turned to face the red-faced ma...

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“My Brain Through Your Brain” by Charles Cline

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #215

Katie was an optimist and so, naturally, was the thing that lived in her brain. She awoke one Tuesday morning to discover the change. At first, it was merely a mental echo. Barely perceptible. Two indistinguishable minds, one off by a fraction of a second. For Katie’s every thought, there was an echo, trailing just behind. Over the day, the new brain drifted further out of sync and soon she could hear its thoughts. Almost identical to hers, but distinct. Eventually, they started talking. “Who are you?” Katie asked. Katie Sing...

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“The Green-Eyed Monster” by Rebecca Miles

Submitted to Contest #215

Beware, for my appetite is hard to satisfy. Once I have sunk my teeth into you, savoured your particular taste, it is very hard for me to let go. Think of when you suck juices from the bone, relishing every last drop of roasted meat; or the times when you lick the plate, greedily, trusting that no one is watching, sauce dripping from your chin. That is like me, feasting on a most delectable dish: you. You do not need to be marinated, tenderised or steeped in spices, I enjoy you quite as you are; yet it is remarkable- your ability to fla...

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“Clarence and Violet” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #215

‘Clarence isn’t a well man,’ Violet said, handing me a square head shovel. ‘He can’t face the autumnal leaves this year and our rose beds are a sorrowful state.’‘I’m no Capability Brown,’ I said, resting my wheelbarrow. ‘However, I’ll do whatever I can, providing Cassie has her piano lessons.’ ‘I’m sure we’ll all benefit from the arrangement,’ Violet said, arching an eyebrow. ‘Clarence has his little ways, but your daughter will flourish if she’s disciplined.’#I first met the old couple next door after Cassie announced she wanted to lea...

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“A Taste for Dragon's Blood” by Robert Egan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #215

The townsfolk watched as the black wings swung like two scimitars away from the Korinth sea. They held their breath as those wings sliced back towards the jagged peaks of Grymdor's spine. And a few cheered when, with a cobblestone-shaking roar, the beast in the sky let out something that blasted the foothills below: It was dragon's dung, the lifeblood of Queen's Quay. Most in the failed fishing town raced toward the impact site, each hoping to be the first to pick free the scorched treasures that the dragon hadn't digested, but Khisane mer...

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“Diary Dearest” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #215

Diary Dearest, Today is my birthday. And YOU are my present. I asked for a Barbie with different outfits to change up but I guess you will do. Nobody talks to me here or even at school so now I can tell YOU EVERYTHING! And you can’t say go away or call me Smelly Kelly or push me into the basketball pole on the playground. I asked Daddy for chocolate cake for my birthday but he said no. He says no to everything. He’s just the worst. AND he’s drinking again. I hate when he drinks because his face gets extra red and angry. I bet he doesn’...

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“I Almost Shit Talked My Best Friend (But I Didn’t Do It)” by Audrey Knox

Submitted to Contest #215

My listless scrolling through Instagram is arrested by your smile. You look so happy, so carefree. Drinking at some event I wasn’t invited to. Lips parted in a laugh, as if a spectator just so happened to snap a photo of you listening to a joke, and it’s simply a coincidence that your guffaws are always photogenic. I gasp. Oh my God. It can’t be. It must be.I zoom in. I pull the image apart, distorting your face, desperate for a closer look at your lips. Internally, I am shrieking in glee as the ugly sensation of catty schadenfreude bubbles ...

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“The Barber’s Pole” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #215

Oscar sits in his barber’s chair, reading the Trentonian on his iPhone, cataloging the day's stories for the early rush. Oscar pays special attention to the stock charts and the upcoming highway projects. People love to talk about making money—and to complain about traffic.The bell rings and Michael walks in. He is a tall, well put together, trader type in his early thirties, wearing a crisp white button-down and expensive men’s Oxford shoes. Oscar yells, “Maria, Maria. Customer. Get in here—I need a wash.”&nbsp...

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“Tight Spaces” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #215

I should never have agreed to this.Pale sunlight bleeds through the heavy cloud cover, turning the early 20th-century locomotives into the haunted bones of a disassembled mechanoid. Most of the station’s roof is caved in, revealing a frozen nerve branch of twisted support beams, but the building itself is intact, covered in bad-tattoo graffiti and standing sentry in the weeds. It overlooks a sinkhole in the center of the yard big as a football field. Tracks disappear into its open maw, dozens of rail cars piled together in the muddy gulch li...

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“For Kelly” by Holly Sadowski

Submitted to Contest #215

TW: sexual violence, physical violence, gore I sit at my kitchen table trying to pull myself together as my coffee sits in front me getting cold. My skin feels too tight, suffocating and restraining me. The blackness at the edge of my vision is returning. It’s happening again. That all too familiar pull into the darkness. Not now. Not today. My chair screeches on the tile as...

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“Monstera Deliciosa” by EJ Trask

Submitted to Contest #215

Content Warnings: adult language, mention of sex, violence, gore, death, murder, suicide Carolyn looked around her apartment one morning and could not believe what she saw. It was her houseplants, which she barely noticed most days. They were thriving. These little plants, so helpless, so literally dying just a few weeks ago, were suddenly wild, juicy, exploding out of their pots. The leaves were bigger and greener than she ever remembered them being, and there were new ones being born everywhere. Unfurling, twisting, reaching for the li...

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“The Elephant in the Room ” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #215

The Elephant in the Room It's wild how often we hear someone talking about the "elephant in the room" in a conversation. Generic statements danced around the subject, asking rhetorical questions to feel out your opponent or create a scenario to search for a specific response. F.Y.I…. It hurt when you finally realized they were talking about you! Instead of asking what was wrong, they gossip, speculate, or whisper about everything I do, say, or don't do. Things began changing for all of us in early 1982 when I got pregnant. My pregnancy made...

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“Arachnomantic” by Sae Luy

Submitted to Contest #215

A liberal arts student was sleeping in her dorm when it all started. She had a restless sleep, tossing and turning in her bed, tormented by disturbing visions that replaced each other like a harrowing kaleidoscope. When she woke up in the morning, there was heaviness in her head and an unfamiliar sensation in her body. On top of everything else, some kind of itchy pimple appeared on her arm, prompting her to consider allergies or probably even an insect bite. With the same fog in her head, she took her place in her college classroom and then...

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“Signed Anger, Jealousy and Vengeance” by David Foster

Submitted to Contest #215

Signed: Anger, Jealousy and Vengeance A short story by David T. E. Foster (Item #EGK-314278 from the Bismarck File. Translation of a document hand-written on high-quality parchment with what has been determined to be oak-gall ink. All but the final paragraph is in formal, high-court, ancient Attic Greek. Several handwriting analysts and experts in phraseology have confirmed that it is probable that at least four different people took turns writing different paragraphs.) ...

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Write a story about someone trying to resist their darker impulses. Whether they succeed or fail is up to you.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 100 stories

“The Ballad of ADA” by Michał Przywara

“Black Book” by Anthony Carello

“My Brain Through Your Brain” by Charles Cline

“The Green-Eyed Monster” by Rebecca Miles

“Clarence and Violet” by Howard Halsall

“A Taste for Dragon's Blood” by Robert Egan

“Diary Dearest” by Nina H

“I Almost Shit Talked My Best Friend (But I Didn’t Do It)” by Audrey Knox

“The Barber’s Pole” by Jonathan Page

“Tight Spaces” by Nicholas Andrew Clark

“For Kelly” by Holly Sadowski

“Monstera Deliciosa” by EJ Trask

“The Elephant in the Room ” by Kimberly Walker

“Arachnomantic” by Sae Luy

“Signed Anger, Jealousy and Vengeance” by David Foster

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a haunted house.

Write a story about a monster trying to become more human. Or about a human trying to become more monstrous.

You confront the monster you’ve spent many long years hunting. Except they’re not exactly what you thought they’d be…

Write a story about someone making a deal with the devil.

Contest #215

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

388

Contest entries

135

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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