Imagine a world where exploration is forbidden, and write a story about a character who defies this rule to satisfy their innate curiosity.

Posted in Dystopian on Apr 19, 2024

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✍️ 60 stories

“DANGER: UNSTABLE GROUND” by Madeline McCourt

🏆 Winner of Contest #247

Do not ever step foot on the ground. Charlie had been told this his entire life, but it never really sunk in. He didn’t understand the deep-seated fear everyone else seemed to harbor. He thought it was incredible, a beautiful problem to be solved. Until he was laying on the floor of the lab staring at the ceiling and blinking away tears. The first time Charlie ever saw the ground consume a person he’d been twelve. What the tree-top teachers referred to as “live mummification” was a quick, disturbing process. Dirt crawling over skin to creat...

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“Red Means Stop” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #247

Pulling off my boots, I stood them up in the tall grass next to the bucket. Taking off my woolen socks one at a time, I rolled them up and carefully placed them down as well. I then gathered the excess material of my dress, expertly tying it into a knot at my hip. I sighed, reaching for my fishing pole as I stepped into the cool creek.I hoped the waters would work their magic to calm my nerves as I had become more distraught with each passing day. Being the first daughter of my father’s first wife, I was highly sought aft...

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“Cities Always Sleeping” by Milly Orie

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #247

Winnie didn’t know what a city was like. She asked me about them, one night, her voice floating up from the bottom bunk in the darkness, drowning in the sea of cricket song. The windows were open, like they were every evening. We might as well have been sleeping out in the swamp for all the noise. Leaves rustled as frogs trilled to one another, and the heavy air vibrated with the wings of moths and mosquitos–but we were safe from them. The screens were closed. The sounds of the marsh were our lullaby. They also hid conver...

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“A Belly Full of Apples” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #247

Well, explain to me what it was doing on the tree if I wasn’t meant to eat it? I had a long, hard day, Adam. If you remember correctly, you were supposed to name all the animals with tails, while I handled the green ones. The next thing I know, you’re passed out by the water circle taking yet another one of your naps. That left me to come up with all those names, and by the time I was done, I was famished. The apple tree is the closest to the water hole, and that’s why I picked an apple. It was convenient. I wasn’t deliberately trying to dis...

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“The Endless Horizon” by Julia Zhipa Philippova

Submitted to Contest #247

- Luna, we need to go. Do you hear me? Luna?A small girl stood at the big round window, looking into the distance. The sun was going down slowly, making the red sand bright and lighting it with golden sparks. She was amazed at how the wind was swirling the sand grains, whooshing them up and down. She put her palm on the window and moved closer. Her nose almost touched the glass, which became wet from her breath. She was staring at how the wind became stronger and stronger as the sun went down. It was almost dark when somebody placed their ha...

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“Educating Anne” by Ty Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #247

Under the cloak of darkness, Anne sneaks from her father’s house and follows the Wharfe River upstream heading into town. The moon is full and bright, lighting her way. The sounds of frogs singing and crickets chirping keep her company as her bare feet squish along the wet ground. Anne is on her way to do something while she still has time to do it. She turns eighteen next year and her father has been doubling his efforts to find her a husband. What she is about to do goes against society as a whole in 15th century England. She doesn’t know ...

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“Outside the Fence” by Brian Haddad

Submitted to Contest #247

"Need I remind you of the severe penalties we face if we're caught outside the fence?" Rignon was barking at Caprin through a clenched jaw. She looked over at him and smiled. A glistening sheen of sweat streamed down his forehead and temples. "If you're nervous, just go home. I can manage on my own." She gazed out at the fields beyond the fence, savoring the beating of her own heart, soaking in the still morning air. She'd spent the better part of the last year finding every opportunity she could to stand at the fence and gaze out at the lan...

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“Restricting Words” by Khadija S. Mohammad

Submitted to Contest #247

Sakura whirled round at the sound of familiar footsteps, to see her closest friend, Yuto, running towards her – chased by the Restriction, which were only a few metres behind him. She opened her mouth to say something before realising that what she wanted to ask, What's happening? – or more accurately, Why are they trying to get you? – wasn't one of her speech options. She made do with a surprised open of her eyes accompanied by a questioning raise of her eyebrows.Thankfully, Yuto understood what she was trying to say. He pointed to his mout...

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“Splendid Isolation” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #247

There it is. At least I think that’s it, though it might be a cloud bank. Or land, shrouded in mist. Anyway, it's beautiful, and it’s my future.It’s only eighteen miles away, but at this very moment it might as well be eighteen thousand. I’ve heard that people used to swim there in the old days – cover themselves in goose fat against the cold, then breast-stroke the whole distance. They’d have a boat beside them for support, which seems a little senseless; why didn’t they simply get in the boat?I’m going by boat myself, not sure when. I’ve g...

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“The Brambles” by Bethany Walters

Submitted to Contest #247

Rhea slipped quietly past the guards at the front gate. It was well past midnight and if she was caught another demerit would be added to her file. She was a wispy sort of girl that most people ignored when they walked by, so getting past the guards at the gate was relatively simple, as long as she stayed in the shadows. As inconspicuous as she was, it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t run into a patrol while out in the forest. The risk was necessary because she needed to know about life outside the walls.Rhea lived in a community called the Bra...

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“30 minutes” by Renate Buchner

Submitted to Contest #247

I rubbed my chilly thighs with my palms after spending so much time kneeling on wet, dewy grass; even the smallest movement of my legs hurt."Where are you, Lena?" I brushed the branches away to have a clear view of Hangar 2. I felt a thrill of warmth rush through my body as I saw the silhouette of the small, two-seat Robinson R22 Helicopter through the path lights.A short distance away, there was a rustling sound that made my pulse skip a beat. I crouched even lower, nearly lying on the ground. The sound approached gently. I paused my b...

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“Outside” by TE Wetzel

Submitted to Contest #247

The man with the black tattoo lettering on each side of his neck reading 24731-JAM, known to his small circle of friends simply as “Jam”, awoke at the same time that he did every day. The clock on the wall read 06:00 but that was a purely arbitrary number that simply signified when the strobing fluorescent overhead lighting and the piercing audible alarm would simultaneously activate, ending his all-too-brief daily respite from the sweat and the toil and the tedium of his waking hours.He sat up, cleared his throat slightly, took a sip of bot...

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“Protocol” by John Werner

Submitted to Contest #247

The instruments are supposed to help me understand what I’m seeing, but they fail tremendously in this regard. I learned very quickly, yet quite a bit too late, that their data collection was not in service to me but to those back home. The instruments produce calculations and extrapolate theoretical what-ifs to translate to scientists millions of miles away. They then transmit it away, as if I’m not even here. The reality of the situation is that I’ve been training my whole life for this. Ever since I was small. I would look up into the sky...

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“I'm With the Banned” by Jeremy Stevens

Submitted to Contest #247

This story contains leftist political hot-buttons. Do not proceed if you are easily offended.“Do you promise you won’t leave me?”“Baby, how many times I gotta say it?”“More times than you have.”“I promise. I’m not going to leave you.”“It’s just…everyone I’ve ever loved has left.”“I am not everyone.”“And if we do this…”“Ssshhh…you talk too much.”“Just, go slow, ‘kay?”“You got nothing to fear.”-----“And you met him, where?”“At the dugout…”“I mean, where, the first time?”“Online.”“Where online?”“CuddlesClub. He said he was fifteen though…”“And ...

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“A Life Beyond” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #247

Warning… You are approaching the barrier, do not proceed… Warning… A hundred miles from his city centre dwelling, and several hundred yards from where he’d abandoned his one-person laser travelling pod, Enz entered the ‘no-go’ zone, setting off the alarm. The sun was already blackening, soon it would be eclipsed, and the lights which flashed and beamed before him, blue and amber from various levels on the high mirrored walls, would turn everything around him such a sickly shade of intense it would bring the city to a halt. Circuits frozen, p...

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Ended on 23:59 - Apr 26, 2024 EST

Won by Madeline McCourt 🏆

Title: DANGER: UNSTABLE GROUND

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Imagine a world where exploration is forbidden, and write a story about a character who defies this rule to satisfy their innate curiosity.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 60 stories

“DANGER: UNSTABLE GROUND” by Madeline McCourt

“Red Means Stop” by Hannah Lynn

“Cities Always Sleeping” by Milly Orie

“A Belly Full of Apples” by Story Time

“The Endless Horizon” by Julia Zhipa Philippova

“Educating Anne” by Ty Warmbrodt

“Outside the Fence” by Brian Haddad

“Restricting Words” by Khadija S. Mohammad

“Splendid Isolation” by PJ Town

“The Brambles” by Bethany Walters

“30 minutes” by Renate Buchner

“Outside” by TE Wetzel

“Protocol” by John Werner

“I'm With the Banned” by Jeremy Stevens

“A Life Beyond” by Carol Stewart

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in the form of diary entries, written by an explorer as they make their way through what they thought was an untouched location.

Set your story on a spaceship exploring the far reaches of space when something goes wrong.

Center your story around a character’s personal exploration, whether it's trying a new hobby, visiting an unfamiliar place, or learning something completely new.

Write a narrative about a group of scientists exploring the deepest parts of the ocean.

Contest #247

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

260

Contest entries

102

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: