Start your story with a home alarm system going off.

Posted in Dramatic on Jan 20, 2023

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✍️ 49 stories

“Second Chances” by Jeannette Miller

Submitted to Contest #182

TW: stalkingKayleigh tucked her long blonde hair into a black beanie, clicked off her mag flashlight, and stood pressed against the back side of Mason’s house. She watched through the window as the light came on and Mason walked sleepily down the stairs to the alarm keypad by the door. “Intruder… Intruder... Intruder...” The alarm was saying over and over in a calm husky female voice. “Fucking alarm!” She heard Mason yell over the voice of the alarm system. He punched a series of numbers into the keypad which stopped the voice and in less th...

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“Diana Princess of Themyscira, Clark Kent, and Batman” by Ksenija Rubež

Submitted to Contest #182

Sunday. Afternoon. She was immersed in And Quiet Flows the Don. She did not mind the lengthy Russian classics, overwhelmed with the never-ending tragedy. It was snowing outside. She had a coffee cup on her nightstand, which was already half empty. The thought of making more of it brought a smile to her face. The comfort of her pajamas, the softness of her bed, the — The alarm goes off. This shit again. The alarm system going off was a weekly, sometimes daily occasion. She always forgot to call someone to fix it. Checking the came...

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“Storm in the House” by Kathryn Kahn

Submitted to Contest #182

When the house alarm went off at 3 a.m., Lily was already awake. She couldn’t sleep when the winds came up at night and made the oak trees around her house twist and groan. The storms that had started the day after Christmas were still pummeling Northern California, with several more lined up over the Pacific. After years of drought, the hillsides and highways of the San Francisco Bay Area were especially vulnerable as storm after storm pounded the already waterlogged landscapes. In Lily’s neighborhood in Oakland, the city’s eponymous oak tr...

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“Playing Games” by Kasey Fisher

Submitted to Contest #182

What the hell is that noise? Like always, I struggled falling asleep, and like always, something wakes me up. But this is a first, the damn alarm is going off. Did Jenna come home? No, she always stays with Mike. Surely, this is a mistake. People don’t break into houses in Rosedale. It’s fine, you’re fine.And then the alarm stopped.It must’ve been Jenna.I wrapped my robe around me and walked to the hallway.“Jenna?”No answer.I felt a prick in my neck, and my eyelids closed. I fell back into a pair of arms, then nothing.I woke up to the sun po...

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“R&R” by Westley Smith

Submitted to Contest #182

Mark Reinhold was jolted from sleep when the house alarm went off. Shooting to his feet from the sofa, where he had been banished after his fight with his wife, Nancy, he looked around the living room confused. He didn’t recognize anything: not the coffee table, the TV on the wall, not even the sofa where he was spending the night. Where am I, his sleep-fogged mind wondered? “Mark!” Nancy yelled over the incessant beeping alarm. &n...

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“Run” by Masumi Gartman

Submitted to Contest #182

The alarm screamed angrily, frightening Maeve out of a dead slumber. She shot upright, tumbled out of tangled sheets, and stumbled half-conscious down the hall to the keypad by the front door of her grandmother's farmhouse style home. It took several tries, but after a final, desperate attempt, the house finally fell silent. Maeve took a deep breath, leaning her back against the wall, the paint cool on the exposed, fevered skin of her shoulders. “Stupid thing,” she muttered, wiping a hand across her sweat studded forehead. She’d been sick fo...

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“Study Buddy” by J.L. (Jesse) DuRona

Submitted to Contest #182

The piercing shrill filled the air, stabbing Meg’s ears like crochet needles. Pressing her palms against her ears, she screamed to the heavens. “Seriously?! Again?!” She bolted from the couch and ran down the hall, bashing her extended elbow against the wall as she went. She didn’t care—all that mattered was the noise. The white box lay flush against the wall by the front door. Meg quickly flipped open the panel, wailed on the number pad, hit the star key. The terrible sound, like a massive bird shrieking in rage, continued its sym...

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“A Teenager and a Tower of Pots” by Kara Reeves

Submitted to Contest #182

I was already alert when I heard the crash in the kitchen. I never could relax while babysitting. I couldn’t settle in on another family’s couch knowing that the parents could come home any moment and find me binging on their Doritos (they always said “eat anything”) or find me asleep and drooling on their pillow. Or, if not the parents, then my real fear: An intruder. I imagined men scoping out the house, waiting for signs of someone leaving, assuming it was empty and then finding me inside. And when they did find me inside, I had a plan. I...

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“Could be a true story” by K Dutta

Submitted to Contest #182

The preface to this story is that it is based on my current life. I am in the middle of a court case and live in fear and paranoia every day. I am also a full time family caregiver. I have a security camera set by the front door which I cannot figure out how to shut the night alarm off on. Thank god it is not mounted, otherwise the alarm would go off every time I leave the house after dark. My paranoia has always been present, this court case has amplified it by tenfold. This story could very well happen and not only to me. Please be safe. ...

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“There is a Stranger in my house” by Jennifer Jackson

Submitted to Contest #182

It was a cold, rainy night, and Abigail was home alone. The sudden sound of the home alarm startled her in the house. She quickly rose from her bed, heart racing as she reached for her phone to call the authorities. As she made her way towards the main entrance, she heard a noise coming from downstairs and knew that it must have been an intruder. Abigail fumbled around for objects that could use as a weapon should anything go wrong, before slowly making her way up towards the source of the noise. Once at the top of stairs, she peered ar...

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“Miss Emily” by Ed Wooten

Submitted to Contest #182

The ear-splitting squawking of my home alarm system going off rudely rousted me from my sleep. I sprang from my bed, located the control panel, and punched in the code to stop the irritating sound. With a degree of calm now in the house, I grabbed the Louisville Slugger from the corner near my bed and carefully walked through each room to ascertain that I was alone. I checked the back bedroom first, then the kitchen, dining room, and finally the living room. With a degree of confidence that all was secure, I flopped dow...

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“Silence” by Camille Mockingjay

Submitted to Contest #182

My toes, sockless, freeze as soon as they touch the bedroom floor. I can feel the air from the vents, reaching me from under my bed. I check the time. It’s 2:08. The dead of night, and it is silent. There is no wind blowing. There is no crackle of the house settling. The bed doesn’t creak when I stand. I wrap a blanket around me and shudder. It’s so quiet that I can hear my heart beating. I knew living alone would mean being alone. However, I didn’t realize I could get lonely so quickly. I was not used to being the only source of nois...

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“What's Going On” by Duane Schultz

Submitted to Contest #182

What’s Going On? I’m not sure exactly when this craziness all started, perhaps on that fateful day when I went down to pick up my mail in the lobby of my apartment building. This was about two weeks ago. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining, several residents visiting together in the entrance lounge area, and my neighbor Bill sharing a story with me about weird characters banging on his balcony railings at 5 am. I never heard a t...

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“One Night” by Merrie Jackson

Submitted to Contest #182

Without warning, Pheobe, a mid-height African American woman of 30 years, is startled awake one night by her home alarm system going off. Many years of listening for babies, allows her to go from deep sleep to full wakefulness to identify the threat! What is that sound? Quickly she recognized the alarm system and wonders who or what had triggered it! Ignoring the alarm, she climbs out of bed, grabs a robe, putting it on, and quietly walks down the long hallway toward the front of the hous...

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“Lucky” by Annabella Bones

Submitted to Contest #182

The alarm wailed throughout the house. Having been tucked in for the night reading by lamplight, I had nearly jumped out of my skin, it startled me so. In my nightrobe, I scrambled out of bed and shot like a bullet down the hall. The white paneled door ornated in cut-out stars and construction paper rainbows was still closed. “Lucky, stay in your room!” I shouted to my little girl, Rebecca, on the other side, knowing she would be lying wide awake in her bed beneath the purple butterfly blanket, clutching Baily Bear, frightened. Taking the st...

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Start your story with a home alarm system going off.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 49 stories

“Second Chances” by Jeannette Miller

“Diana Princess of Themyscira, Clark Kent, and Batman” by Ksenija Rubež

“Storm in the House” by Kathryn Kahn

“Playing Games” by Kasey Fisher

“R&R” by Westley Smith

“Run” by Masumi Gartman

“Study Buddy” by J.L. (Jesse) DuRona

“A Teenager and a Tower of Pots” by Kara Reeves

“Could be a true story” by K Dutta

“There is a Stranger in my house” by Jennifer Jackson

“Miss Emily” by Ed Wooten

“Silence” by Camille Mockingjay

“What's Going On” by Duane Schultz

“One Night” by Merrie Jackson

“Lucky” by Annabella Bones

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a society where everyone is constantly aware of unwanted surveillance.

Write a story where someone’s paranoia is justified.

Write about a character who wishes they could just disappear — and then they do.

Start your story with someone entering a taxi and saying ‘follow that car.’

Contest #182

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

154

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: