Write a story about people preparing for Y2K.

Posted in Dramatic on Jan 10, 2025

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✍️ 31 stories

“Twenty-Three Minutes” by Alex Marmalade

Submitted to Contest #285

John MacIntyre slumps at a battered landline in the NYPD’s Twenty-Sixth Precinct on December 31st, 1999, 10:37 p.m. While revelers pack Times Square awaiting the new millennium, he’s tethered to a squealing phone. The overhead clock ticks too slowly. Most nights, he’d roll with the usual calls—drunk fights, noise complaints—but tonight, the Y2K hysteria means an onslaught of doomsday questions. He’d rather be anywhere else, but a shoulder injury keeps him on desk duty.He answers a call from a man fretting that at midnight, computers might tr...

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“THE COUNTDOWN ” by Maria Barrett

Submitted to Contest #285

It was December 31, 1999, and the world was bracing for the impending doom of Y2K. The media had been hyping the supposed apocalypse for months, warning of widespread power outages, food shortages, and societal collapse. In the small town of Oakdale, USA, the residents were taking the threat seriously. Some had stocked up on canned goods and bottled water, while others had built bunkers and purchased generators. At the local hardware store, owner Tom Harris was doing a brisk business in Y2K survival gear. "I've never seen anything like it," ...

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“Life's Essentials” by Angela Schorr

Submitted to Contest #285

Like an ominous warning that life as we knew it could end at any moment, the grocery store’s Mazak crackled amid the humming fluorescent lights overhead. If anything went wrong with the Y2K transition, we could be plunged into chaos. An unimaginable apocalypse might begin at midnight.I checked my watch: 11:15 PM. Only forty-five minutes left to grab essentials and prepare for the worst. I looked down at my laden cart and realized one thing was missing: toilet paper.Oh no. The picked-over and scattered bins of fruits and vegetables sent my he...

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“The Lily Under the Umbrella ” by Sonia So

Submitted to Contest #285

In the shadowy alleys of 1950s Hong Kong, where the air hangs heavy with the scent of frying oil and unfulfilled dreams, David exists as a mere cog in the relentless machinery of a bustling Chinese eatery. A man in his late twenties, David possesses a sturdy frame and an unassuming demeanor, with tousled dark hair that often falls into his eyes. His work-worn hands tell the story of a life spent in labor, yet there is a sensitivity to him that sets him apart from his surroundings. His deep-set eyes, a rich brown, reflect both determination a...

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“Things Fall Apart” by Elliot Smith

Submitted to Contest #285

Amongst the tall grass and sedges in the front yard lay rain-rotted petrol canisters, rusted oil drums, a defunct motorbike beneath tarpaulin and the husk of a white Ford Transit, hoisted on a jack with the tyres removed. I watched from the window as dad thanked the delivery bloke and waved him off. The pickup truck’s rear wheels fishtailed in the mud as he pulled out of our drive and onto the A1028, past the boarded-up shell of our local pub. Dad stepped back and stood for a few seconds with hi...

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“December, 1999 ” by Holden Wennekers

Submitted to Contest #285

December, 1999 - John & Joana Dunkin were losin’ their gosh-darned marbles over the news reports on the TVs claimin’ the world was gonna end the night of the ball drop. Neither one of ‘em had the intellect to understand what sorta “bug” was gonna ruin everything - nor the foresight to comprehend that perhaps, all would be swell and everything would be fine. John had lost his job down at the travel agency, and Joana had been outta work since before the previous New Year - back when the scares of the “Why-Two something’ Bug” had all been a...

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“Count Down to Y2K ” by Louise Arnott

Submitted to Contest #285

As Channel 8 broadcast the countdown to 1999, Edith, a long retired computer programmer, laid aside Y2K: Your Personal Survival Guide. Sipping a glass of red wine, and munching on hot, buttered popcorn she mulled over what she had been reading. The general consensus of the residents of Hipsennees Retirement Villa was “the new year will come with or without me, no reason to stay up, listening to excited fools count back from ten. Why waste valuable sleeping time?” Edith was the exception. She was firm in her belief next year would be a far di...

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“the hour upon the stage” by David Lim

Submitted to Contest #285

“What do you mean you threw it all away?!” I should’ve known this would happen, the flashing of rectangular cuts one after another on Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube shorts, multi-camera-roll, like goggles clipped onto your nose as you watched the world live its life by seconds and minutes and snapshots of celebrities and Vogue magazines and whispers of that style on the runway that blew into a holler, a crashing storm. A wave turned roaring and unstoppable, the flood of vintage wear reimagined into all the mainstream clothing brands – you ...

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“Countdown to Midnight” by Virginia King

Submitted to Contest #285

As 1999 came to a close, there was an unusual atmosphere that permeated the streets of Maplewood. A hint of unpredictability permeated every encounter, strategy, and hushed discourse; this was no ordinary holiday cheer. There was apprehension that the world's computers may crash and throw civilization into disarray as the Y2K deadline approached. Neighbors in the quiet cul-de-sac of Elmwood Drive who had previously engaged in only casual small talk were now drawn together by a common sense of anxiety. As the "millennium bug" loomed on the ho...

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“Ants” by Sophie Fawley

Submitted to Contest #285

TW: blood, dissociation, troubled perceptions of reality Five “... so this monk gets told to swim down to the seabed and unhook the anchor from whatever it’s caught on. But when he does, he realises it’s caught on a bell tower, and then looks down and sees all of these other monks looking up at him. And the weird thing is, they’re not swimming or anything. They’re just going about their lives. And they’re looking up at him as if he’s the strange one, as if he’s just flown down out of the sky. Anyway, he lives with them for a year, and ...

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“Remember When Y2K Was a Thing?” by Lady Senie

Submitted to Contest #285

Vanessa could barely breathe in this crowded store with all these shoppers turned psychopaths in her way. And every breath was a putrid mix of BO, sweat, and sickly sweet perfumes and aftershaves meant to cover the stench of sweat and body odor. Fights broke out in the aisles over the last package of toilet paper and can of soup. Why, oh why, did she volunteer to do a last minute run for her mother on New Years Eve? “Slim pickings,” her older brother said while stirring her clear of a fistfight that had broken out over a battered flat ...

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“Unclaimed Pancakes” by Jamie M

Submitted to Contest #285

**TW: Animal Suffering** 31 December 1999 Wandering the streets as a puppy, Pancakes saw families in the park. Their laughter and cheer were as painful to him as it was joyous to them. He didn’t fault the dogs' joy or obliviousness that he was tucked behind the trashcan nearby, observing them and how he wanted to be like them. He only dreamt of the day he would have a family, too. He had been on his own for so long, without his siblings, without a pack, and no guidance to get a family. As it turned out, a twist of fate would resolve this for...

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“Y2Gay” by Eva Meeva

Submitted to Contest #285

Leanne tried to resist the urge to look at her watch. She held a torch up to her copy of Snow Crash. Her eyes moved down the page but she wasn’t taking anything in. Not that it mattered, she could practically write the manuscript word for word from memory. She had been waiting for Stevie for almost an hour and she felt uneasy about the night ahead. She was sure Stevie had bailed by the time she caught sight of the familiar leather trench coat moving up through the trees, illuminated by the moon. It wasn’t unusual for Stevie to be late;...

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“Where's the Zima?” by Amy Esper

Submitted to Contest #285

It’s New Year’s Eve and we’ve got to be ready for the turn of the century. The double zero year is going to cause a worldwide crash in technology like we’ve never seen before. What were we thinking building our whole world on the backs of computers? I read that article in the TIMES and I just knew in my bones this is going to be the end, like the Viking outpost that vanished in Greenland. No one knows what happened to them and in a millennia if we still have archeologists they might be just as baffled when they find all of our remains. At mi...

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“Seize The Last Day” by Jay Dotson

Submitted to Contest #285

December 31, 1999.12:00 P.M.Half a day left of normality, peace, and the planes staying in the sky. Yet, it seemed, no one knew this but Alicia Upshaw. The “Millenium Bug” had been the only thing on her mind since the end of summer. A third-year Harvard computer science major, Alicia was uniquely knowledgeable in just how interwoven her field of study had become in the fabric of modern civilization, and just how screwed humanity would be if the Y2K panic was even partially accurate. No matter how much her roommate, professors, or family reas...

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Write a story about people preparing for Y2K.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 31 stories

“Twenty-Three Minutes” by Alex Marmalade

“THE COUNTDOWN ” by Maria Barrett

“Life's Essentials” by Angela Schorr

“The Lily Under the Umbrella ” by Sonia So

“Things Fall Apart” by Elliot Smith

“December, 1999 ” by Holden Wennekers

“Count Down to Y2K ” by Louise Arnott

“the hour upon the stage” by David Lim

“Countdown to Midnight” by Virginia King

“Ants” by Sophie Fawley

“Remember When Y2K Was a Thing?” by Lady Senie

“Unclaimed Pancakes” by Jamie M

“Y2Gay” by Eva Meeva

“Where's the Zima?” by Amy Esper

“Seize The Last Day” by Jay Dotson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in the form of a landline phone conversation.

Write a story from the POV of a now-defunct piece of technology.

Write a story in which someone time-travels 25 years or more into the past.

Write a story with a character or the narrator saying “I remember…”

Contest #285

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

430

Contest entries

147

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: