Set your story in a roadside diner.

Posted in Dystopian on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 59 stories

“Polaris: Route 43” by JM Rodgers

Submitted to Contest #110

It was getting darker down the highway, heavy cloud cover obscured a young moon and the chevrons lining the road started to glow a pale blue. Sirius’ eyes strained, despite the drop in light it was still horribly hot inside the car, the low hum of the engine had been his only company for the past eight hours and fatigue was starting to set in. No other travellers had passed by all day leaving the road completely deserted. He drove by a billboard for a Cosmo’s Diner three miles away, he could use a break so moved into the...

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“Bacon & Eggs” by Vincent Cruz

Submitted to Contest #110

I don’t recall how I got here. I blew in with the wind I think. Stumbled across the threshold and tumbled onto the linoleum of a diner on the side of the road. The street out there is laden with ash and debris like a hurricane tore through the neighborhood and lit the place on fire with matches and gasoline. I'm still trying to get my bearings. I’ve found a seat at the counter and a woman with half a face is asking if I’d like some eggs and a side of hash browns. Behind me two young men do what they can to barricade the door. It seems...

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“El Amor” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #110

Mariposa sat at the small table in the dimly lit diner better known as the Café Bohemia on the dusty road outskirts of Havana, Cuba, patiently awaiting her date's arrival. Havana, though somewhat laid back in nature, was a growing and busy city, and it was possible that Santiago had been detained by unforeseen events at La Tienda de Escritores, or The Shop of Writers, where he worked in the city. The old bus that traveled this way could have also been running late and delayed him. Either way, Mariposa reassured herself he would arrive shortl...

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“Till Death Do Us Part” by Nana H

Submitted to Contest #110

Her coffee was getting cold. Arabeth looked outside the frost-bitten window, her feet tapping against the hardwood floor. Winter in Alaska was as morbid as it could get; blankets of snow piled up on driveways and streets, and frost gnawed on the wooden frames of the glass. The only thing that stopped her from shivering were the orange lights dancing around the ceiling. From The Diner (yes, that was the name of their local diner), she could hardly see anything, but that didn't stop her from trying. She felt a frown pull at the corners of her ...

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“The Window” by Nichole Anderson

Submitted to Contest #110

John Paul had been at The Bee’s Knees Diner for two hours when he finally ordered his dinner. It was a sad plate of overdone meatloaf and lumpy mashed potatoes. He even had to ask for extra ketchup since there was barely any sauce on top of it, which is not a proper meatloaf. He wasn’t really all that hungry anyway but couldn’t think of anything else to do to pass the time. Counting the cracks starting to form in seat cushions was getting old. The waitresses were starting whisper while looking in his direction; he assumed they were not...

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“Nighthawks” by Mikayla Govern

Submitted to Contest #110

The door of Phillies lunch-room opened and a man and a woman came in arm-in-arm. They sat down at the counter. “What’s yours?” George asked them. “Go ahead hun, tell him,” the woman said to her companion. “What’s your best?” The man asked, removing his sharp derby and placing it on the counter. “Well, we got a big dinner with roast pork tenderloin but we don’t sell it after 10,” George replied. “Well it’s just past 10,” the woman protested, glancing at the clock on the wall behind the counter. “It’s slow, by about 20 mins” George ...

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“Sunlit” by Jewels Warmbrodt

Submitted to Contest #110

Sometimes she wondered if the old lady had been a spy or something. Something ridiculous, and something that would explain all the weird little tricks she knew because a librarian (as far as she understood the requirements for such a job) did not rely on one’s ability to voice act or understand Rutherford backscattering spectrometry or how to counter magnetic locks. Well, a once-a-librarian, now retired and… and now doing whatever she was also doing. Stormy grey eyes glanced over at Planty and realized that the singeing desert sun that...

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“Sal's Paradise Cafe” by Donald King

Submitted to Contest #110

I first met Dean at Sal's Paradise Cafe, the local diner, in what was the closest thing to a skid row as there was in those parts. I had more time than money on my hands, so I was nursing a tepid cup of coffee and pretending to read the tattered travel guide I'd been carrying around for years when he walked in and took the seat next to me. Carla, the waitress, took a halfhearted swipe of the counter in front of him with a damp rag and put down a paper place mat with a cartoon map of the neighborhood and list of local businesses around the ed...

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“Meet Me At Bob & Jude's” by Jethro Pili

Submitted to Contest #110

“Meet me at Bob & Jude’s,” the note read. It was signed, Dagger. I read the little note written on the back of a café receipt once more before turning into the back parking lot of Bob & Jude’s Roadside Stop, a roadside diner along a dusty, lonely Colorado road. I parked my black Impala in an open spot, put the gear in park, killed the engine, then locked my steering wheel in place. I got out, locked the door, and slammed it shut. It felt good to stand and stretch my legs. I had driven all the way from California to Colorado, which to...

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“Before She Was A Star” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #110

Before she was a star Isabella Dominguez was an ordinary girl with big dreams of being a movie and music star. The daughter of immigrants, Isabella worked day and night at Holly's roadside diner to make her dreams come true. Although it wasn't easy for Isabella, being the daughter of immigrants, but that didn't stop Isabella from pursing her dreams and working at Holly's diner gave Isabella what she needed, and what Isabella needed was an audience. Isabella began working at Holly's diner when she was fifteen to help her struggling pare...

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“A dark reunion ” by Tonatiuh Duran Meza

Submitted to Contest #110

Despite it being the early afternoon the skies above were blackened by a thick blanket of grey clouds, the lights from the gas station on the other side of the road and the modest diner on the opposite side being the only thing keeping that track of land from being completely drowned in the sudden darkness. Yet for all of that, there was not single soul in that road which passed it by, and when a crack of lighting illuminated the dark sky above, the rain started. The soft pitter-patter of raindrops falling against the window was the onl...

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“The Reckoning” by Tim Benson

Submitted to Contest #110

“The Reckoning” The Trailside Diner looked like so many small, nondescript cafes that dot the highways all over the country; white clapboard siding, an asphalt shingle roof and a tired old neon sign that was barely bright enough to read. Mark was only a few steps inside the entrance when a sturdily built red haired woman with a black apron wrapped around ample hips walked up to him. “Mornin’, hon, you can sit anywhere you’d like.” “I’m meeting someone here”, he replied, just as a man in a suede jacket, waving at him, caught his attention. “O...

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“Deadly Grits: The Dystopian Diner by Francesca Quarto” by Francesca Mohan

Submitted to Contest #110

Deadly Grits: The Dystopian Diner by Francesca Quarto The diner was set like a jewel in the surrounding ring of blackness. As it crunched under my boots, the sound of the gritty soil was magnified in the great void of endless night. I was lost and knew I’d never find my way out of the deep valley. I laughed cynically to myself, when the delusion of hope flared at seeing something other than rocks and death. Hope that I’d be rescued before I turned into just another desiccated creature lying on the scorched ground. I’...

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“Memories at the Diner” by Rachel Sotelo

Submitted to Contest #110

This was the place. It looked the same as I remembered, slightly deteriorated with time but I knew what it was, even in the dark. The Diner. I parked my new GMC Terrain in a faded parking spot facing the road and climbed out of the car. My eyes gazed across the lot of few vehicles, all the way to the forest lurking behind the building. The trees frightened me, but tonight they were going to protect me. My feet carried me to the front doors of the diner. The inside had not changed either, just withered pieces of what it used to be. An o...

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“Still Life” by Paula Chapman

Submitted to Contest #110

“Where should we go next?” I scratched my index and middle fingers, raw and red. Eczema again, because I didn’t have enough health issues. Montie stared at me. “Why can’t you plan ahead, Mason?” She sipped slowly, her pink lipstick staining the striped straw. She did everything slowly. She looked away. “Sorry. Wrong choice of words.” “Planning would be no fun.” Was my smirk enchanting or eerie? “Not to mention you’re running away again...

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Set your story in a roadside diner.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 59 stories

“Polaris: Route 43” by JM Rodgers

“Bacon & Eggs” by Vincent Cruz

“El Amor” by Cindy Calder

“Till Death Do Us Part” by Nana H

“The Window” by Nichole Anderson

“Nighthawks” by Mikayla Govern

“Sunlit” by Jewels Warmbrodt

“Sal's Paradise Cafe” by Donald King

“Meet Me At Bob & Jude's” by Jethro Pili

“Before She Was A Star” by Melinda Madrigal

“A dark reunion ” by Tonatiuh Duran Meza

“The Reckoning” by Tim Benson

“Deadly Grits: The Dystopian Diner by Francesca Quarto” by Francesca Mohan

“Memories at the Diner” by Rachel Sotelo

“Still Life” by Paula Chapman

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a couple who fall out on the road.

Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

Write about a character on the road — and on the run.

Start your story with the line “We have plenty of time,” and/or end it with the line “We were never going to make it.”

Contest #110

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

209

Contest entries

144

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: