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

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?

✍️ 100 stories

“The Encounter” by Will Oyowe

Submitted to Contest #215

+++++Sexual and uncomfortable themes that viewers may find distressing be warned++++++ Are you Rachel? I asked. Yeah, Rachel said. Dominic. Right. That's right, I replied In a gentle tone, she replied: Cool. I asked her what she wanted to drink. She said a macha latte. For myself, I ordered the decaffeinated latte coffee since caffeine makes me twitchy. Her appearance was neat and tidy with a white blouse, fair hair tucked behind her ears. She glanced at the screen of a phone. Her hands shook subtly. Meeting online as opposed to meetin...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Sins of 2-oh-7 am” by Nina Sexton

Submitted to Contest #215

San Diego suburb, CA, USA Staring at the ceiling, I lie here stuck with this feeling…someone will die. Next to me, Jake is snoring, loud as ever. No matter. I’ve been subjected to it for the last twelve years. Except, lately he’s been drinking and his apnea is worsening. Someone will die – I can’t get those three little words out of my head. The last three words she said. And then, she was gone. Why would she say that to me? And, what of the seven sins? Clearly, she must be disturbed, for she doesn’t even know me. I have never seen her befo...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Wellbeing ” by Amanda Wisdom

Submitted to Contest #215

Dear reader, When you find this, call 911. It’ll be too late, I’m sure of it, but at least you’ll be able to give their families closure, or something like that. I know none of this makes sense to you, but that’s ok. We have time right now, you and me, to get to know each other just a little. I believe that by the time you finish reading this, you’ll know me quite well. Maybe, you’ll even see me. Because when someone sees you, it can make all the difference. It can, mean everything. When someone — when everyone — do...

0 comments 0

Read story

“To Tempt a Monster” by Phantom Thief

Submitted to Contest #215

A monster can be so evil and threatening so long as it’s widely feared by people. To some, a monster is a man with a knife tainted with the crimson blood of his cheating lover. A monster can be the horned demon in legends or a pale ghost engulfed by the darkness of an abandoned home. A monster, in the most simplistic minds, can be an aloof passerby that doesn’t give the little schoolboy a high five or fist bump. But to all, there are threatening creatures in this world, skewing the perceptions of good and evil, reality and imagination: so wh...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Inner Child's Redemption ” by Sonesta Wilde

Submitted to Contest #215

The Inner Child’s RedemptionBy Sonesta WildeIn the heart of the pulsating city, Clara lived a life that many envied from afar. If only the envied could see through the veil of her troubled soul. Those closest to her sensed the tempest within. Yet, the timeless mirror her mother gave her knew her best. As dawn's light spilled into her room, Clara sat down, readying herself for the day ahead. She meticulously applied her makeup, one of the few rituals where she felt a semblance of control in her increasingly chaotic life. Looking into the...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Relief” by Malcolm Carter

Submitted to Contest #215

I'm not sure there's anything worse than having to take a shit at work. It's not like I have issues pooping or anything, but the bathrooms are so disgusting. The men's room is a smorgasbord of tobacco spit in the corners of stalls, shit smears on inconceivable surfaces, wet toilet paper everywhere, loose--and often wet--pubes, bandits of tobacco everywhere, and unflushed toilets and urinals. It's lit like a back alley, and reeks of piss and shit regardless of the time of day. And on a hot day like today, it's worse. It's beyond stressful; it...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Purgatorial” by Zachery Miller

Submitted to Contest #215

The creature sat in a huddled heap on the cold stone as it stared up at the sky. Rain beat down on it, dribbling down twisted wings and dripping from its blackening feathers to the soiled floor beneath. The rain’s rhythm echoed like footsteps and the creature twitched and cringed at their fall. It was the sound of exile, of the blood of a brother spilt upon spoiled ground, of its father weeping. The water loosened the blood from the creature’s porcelain skin and it flowed with new life down the small drainage grate in the middle of the floor...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Power of Emotions ” by Katelynn Garcia

Submitted to Contest #215

This story contains adult language and physical violence. With the audacity that could only be exhibited by someone working as a lab technician as long as he had, Jack picked up his first cerebral spinal fluid sample of the day with an ungloved hand. He had picked up more than a dozen bad habits through many years of working the same job. Today, he was trying a new technique which involved using one glove to pipette, and the other bare hand to hold the test tube.“Shit,” he mumbled. Not even ten minutes into his work, he managed to miss the t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Stepmother” by Mary Stanley

Submitted to Contest #215

The children — twins, a boy and a girl — knew they had to be be patient and quiet. And so they sat for long hours before the fire, playing with the little doll they’d made for the new baby. The twins had kept the doll a secret even from their parents, snatching scraps from their mother’s sewing box when she was out of the room. It had black buttons for eyes, strands of spun wool for hair, and a pretty nightdress made of white fabric. Day turned to night, and the night wore on, and the boy and the girl with the doll in her arms sat slumped ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Kendor Gardens” by Ioana Patricia Suleap

Submitted to Contest #215

The creak of the door as it closes seeps through his skin into his flesh. The muffled but strong touch of the metal latch – a mechanism meant to conceal, to protect – shakes him. For a moment, he saw his hand gripping the round copper handle tightly, which he had touched so many times, trying to reduce the noise caused by the rotation of the hinges and the sudden locking of the door with blue stained glass. Behind that door was home.But this sound was deafening, hardly protective, and the paint flaked off from the solid wood, its magnit...

0 comments 0

Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a haunted house.

Horror – 70 stories

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

Thriller and Suspense – 60 stories

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

Adventure – 46 stories

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

Dark – 112 stories

Contest #215

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Monstrous

$250

Prize money

388

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 15, 2023 EST

Won by Danielle Barr 🏆

Title: What Kind of Mother

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

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 Encounter” by Will Oyowe

“The Sins of 2-oh-7 am” by Nina Sexton

“Wellbeing ” by Amanda Wisdom

“To Tempt a Monster” by Phantom Thief

“The Inner Child's Redemption ” by Sonesta Wilde

“Relief” by Malcolm Carter

“Purgatorial” by Zachery Miller

“The Power of Emotions ” by Katelynn Garcia

“The Stepmother” by Mary Stanley

“Kendor Gardens” by Ioana Patricia Suleap

🌟 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 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: