Write about someone seeking an oasis in a desert — whether literally, or figuratively.

Posted in Dramatic on Aug 19, 2022

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✍️ 37 stories

“My Texas Drought Part 2” by Laura Eliz

Submitted to Contest #160

“While you are here, would you like a tour of the place?”. I had done some decorating and was excited to show someone. Luke had really come along when I felt like I was going through a dating drought and a dating desert. I needed water. I needed an oasis. I was hoping he could be that, and wanted what was happening to be the start of something. “I’d love the grand tour.” “Well, this is obviously my kitchen.” “Nice vintage looking blender, and breakfast station”. “Thank you. I found them on Amazon”. He followed me to the living room...

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“Tumbleweed” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #160

...and then the covid apocalypse started to rage. What does one do in between times? Think, daydream, and think again. Or at least I did. My mind wandered off, to the place I have come to love the most on this beautiful planet and where one day I will be buried. But not just yet. I want to tell you a story first. (and hopefully many more). Let me ask you something first: What is a place? Does it hold a memory of our absence? Or is it a memory of our presence? I was born a nomad. I don´t have a place. I remember paths in the pathless eternal ...

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“For my mind likes to create its own suffocating desert to nestle in. ” by Lit Whollytide

Submitted to Contest #160

I was suffocating. And it wasn't because of the stifling heat that surrounded us, a pair of hikers who had been trudging through the dunes and craters of the Sinai for hours. It is true that I hated the heat, and since I was a child, I dreaded the summers. It was a time for me when there was only one thing I could do: close my eyes, grit my teeth and wait for the awful heat waves to pass, uncomfortable in my own skin. I would have truly preferred to spend the month of August elsewhere than in this arid desert of the Middle East. Perhaps...

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“Making My Way to the Water ” by T W

Submitted to Contest #160

The desert sun beats down on me, burning me from the inside out. The loose grains of sand work together, trying to swallow me whole. With each step I sink further down, but still, I keep going. I am determined to find her.I have walked this path every day for months, searching for the woman that I used to be. Every day I expect to start further down the path, but there has been no progress. The rocks are in the same place, and there’s a tumbleweed that’s never been blown. The sand cascades over the dunes like golden waves. It is the only thi...

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“Only Me” by Tamy Rezepka

Submitted to Contest #160

I got lost. So freaking lost. I just can´t find my way back. Maybe if I found a new way? Is that even possible? Am I capable to create a new nonexistent path that saves me? Because I think that's what I need, be saved, but can I do it myself? Am I good enough? I really hope so, I need to. I lost myself, my essence, my touch, my desire to do things, my passion for things I loved, my genuine laughs, and the way I was supposed to continue. I don´t know what to do or how to go back to whom I was. I want that so badly, I miss myself so so much,...

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“Sam Harris and the Search for Life” by J.T. Bancroft

Submitted to Contest #160

He is hot, damp from sweat, and miserable. Sitting in the shadow of a great rock, he looks at the hostile sun. He doesn’t like the way it seems to be enjoying his misery. He looks down at his feet, trying to figure out what to do. He never paid attention in geography class, so he doesn’t know where he is. He looks around at the alien landscape. The sand is strangely red, dotted by vast, red rocks, like the one he is sitting beneath now. Mountains and valleys are visible in the distance, though he can’t tell how far away they are. To his lef...

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“Red Tent” by Nick Yim

Submitted to Contest #160

His outfit had him looking like an oval. A flat, dark egg jutting out from the side of a sand dune. All his companions had disappeared. They must have stuck closer to the trail, the map, maintained cell reception somehow or smelled their way back to the starting point. He wondered how it felt for them, right now, to be touching their lips to the steel edge of a flask, droplets of condensation perspiring off its sides, a cool and crisp necessity. His own sides were steaming, gasping for air. His skin was begging his robes for a greater s...

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Write about someone seeking an oasis in a desert — whether literally, or figuratively.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 37 stories

“My Texas Drought Part 2” by Laura Eliz

“Tumbleweed” by F.O. Morier

“For my mind likes to create its own suffocating desert to nestle in. ” by Lit Whollytide

“Making My Way to the Water ” by T W

“Only Me” by Tamy Rezepka

“Sam Harris and the Search for Life” by J.T. Bancroft

“Red Tent” by Nick Yim

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story during a drought.

Start your story with the whistle of a kettle.

Write about a character whose job is to bring water to people.

End your story with someone dancing in the rain.

Contest #160

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

266

Contest entries

109

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: