Set your story in a silent house by the sea.

Posted in Dystopian on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 61 stories

“This House” by Steve Ryan

Submitted to Contest #119

It’s early in the morning. I can see the ocean through the kitchen window. The water hits the shore forcefully, but the sound is blocked by the soundproof windows we’d put in a few years ago. At this hour, the house is so quiet, you can hear a pin drop. In fact, it’s like this at every hour. Ever since that boat accident last summer. The whole family was there. My parents. My little sister and older brother. Even the family dog, Jackson. We rented a speed boat, something my father had wanted to do for a long time. He liked to think of himse...

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“The Cottage and the Lighthouse” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #119

Though the waves crashed against the cliffside and the wind battered the thin walls of the old cottage, Cindy Davis didn’t stop smiling and set the table in her kitchen for one. She couldn’t hear it anyway. The lights had gone out, but she had a plethora of candles just for this occasion. Every time she went out to the market, she bought a few candles, especially if there were new scents out. Something about the dancing yellow flame enchanted her. It was so frantic, so desperate to escape its shackles, and yet so playful. She liked to put he...

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“The General” by Ben Rounds

Submitted to Contest #119

Mariano moved his hand around the inside of the bowl. Chary of the freshwater in his runoff barrel he was washing up in the same briney stuff which moved all around the little beach hut; the sound of surf swishing through the two rooms in time to his movement. Inverting the bowl he leaned it against the wall next to the mug, balanced on a mat of rough wearing linen. White tide lines rimmed both, as ragged as the un-hemmed cuffs of his khaki beachcombers. Invisible on the bowl, still glistening from the tub, Mariano kn...

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“Clamshells” by Shirley Brand

Submitted to Contest #119

KD listened from behind closed eyes, covers pulled to her chin. It sounded like the clacking of cha-chas, flamingo dancers used them. She lay in silence another few minutes. "Damn what is that?" She threw back the covers. "Who's there?" She pulled on her robe, moved towards the french doors she had left ajar, wanting to hear the ocean as she fell asleep. "Who's there?" Pushing the screen door open she stepped onto the giant deck, that huge out over the cliffs, a hundred feet above the ocean. She knew no one could climb up those cliffs and ...

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“RETURN” by Chris Holland

Submitted to Contest #119

The narrow unpaved road cut a contour through the ocean shrub-land. Snaking along the side of the headland it gave spectacular views of the turquoise ocean below. The road was barely wide enough to accommodate two vehicles side by side and small lay byes had been cut into the road at intervals to allow them to pass. The rough track the only access to the weekend fishing shacks and a handful of permanent residents with dwellings nestled along the rocky shore. There were no more than a dozen properties along the 20-kilometre eastern shore; loc...

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“Degrees of Sound” by Tedcor Obli

Submitted to Contest #119

There is no such thing as silence, only degrees of sound. When one imagines sound, or noise, they imagine loud things. Cities, concerts, car crashes. Sudden or prolonged high degrees of sound. When one imagines silence, they may picture many things. Empty woods, a nighttime street, a cemetery. When Ben made the decision to take a vacation in a small isolated house on the seaside in Maine, he had certainly imagined silence. Instead, there was just a different degree of noise. The world outside did not stay silent in the absence of hum...

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“In the silence of the waves” by Edward Savage

Submitted to Contest #119

Brook Chine Cottage, BrookGreen, Isle of Wight, England, 7th September 1793 My dearest sister Mathilde, I am trusting to God that this missive reaches you without being intercepted by the authorities, as I have no wish to place you and Antoine in any more danger than you already are from having a brother on the Committee’s proscribed list. As you will note from the address, I have at last reached England and some safety, albeit I still have some distance to go to reach Uncle Michel in Oxford. After three months of weary, fraught travel, o...

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“Insanely Serene” by Ariel Clark

Submitted to Contest #119

*TW: violence towards women and sexual assaultIt sat atop the sand dunes lost and forgotten, but still appeared to have some semblance of maintenance. There were shutters that needed repair and many areas on the exterior begging a fresh coat of paint. It had been whipped by the salty sea air for ages and with the right touch and some elbow grease, she could be the ultimate getaway cottage.Annie had already made up her mind that this was home before ever entering the house. It was as if something was pulling her there and her impulsive nature...

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“The Lighthouse on Cape Eden” by Jen Chi

Submitted to Contest #119

I breathed in deeply, letting the fresh air fill my lungs. It didn't choke me like the city air or leave a strange film in my throat. I could taste the salt on the back of my tongue. It was oxygen rich due to the evergreen mountains behind me. The bluffs towering over the ocean.I relished in the sight of the grayish blue water foaming and tossing up spray. Despite the cold bite of winter and the harsh wind that nipped at my skin, I felt calm looking at it. Safe even.'Angry Seas' is what my father called it; When the Pacific Ocean churned and...

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“Cabin on Lake Elderwise Cove” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #119

If you have ever been to Lake Elderwise, there is a cove and in that cove there is a cabin which has become my solitude since my wife passed two years ago from cancer. We found this secluded place a few months before she passed tucked in the Adirondack Mountains where there are often more geese than people. Having invested my pension, I was able to buy the cabin that had a dock to launch my boat. The cove provided me with the privacy I had always desired. Elenore was more of a socialite, but she ended up falling in love with this plac...

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“Glimpse” by Yel Hipolito

Submitted to Contest #119

This isn’t the time and the place to die… She's had her head down for quite some time now. Just the cold, gray, granite floor staring back at her, meeting her blurry vision. Her back aches from the long hours of being curled in on herself - like an armadillo in defense. Her hands wrapped around her knees, holding them up and stopping them from buckling even more. Fingers gripping the tattered hem of her sleeves, hoping she could hide her vulnerable self from harm. The ticking of the clock stopped a long time ago. Or maybe just minutes ago?...

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“Silent House by the Sea” by Lesley Snider

Submitted to Contest #119

She lives in a silent house by the sea. Blue waves swell and break, swiftly rushing up onto the shore in front of her as she looks out into the horizon. Birds dot the sky, singing their morning song, and their bright eyes twinkle in the sunlight. The wind rustles through the trees, weaving in and out of their leaves in an intricate dance, yet, not a sound can be heard. He lives in a silent house by the sea. The moon is high and the night is dark when he stumbles home with empty bottles that clatter in the wind but do not make a sound...

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“The Cabin” by Eddie Hurricane

Submitted to Contest #119

The light of the sun was just coming through the windshield as we began the drive to the cabin. The air was crisp and cool, a little too cool, so we turned on the heater in the car and we held hands as we set off to the east, towards the rising sun. The bright pinks and oranges of the sky gave off a quiet and peaceful feeling as we sat warmly in the car over hills and by the farms that bordered either side of the road. As the sun climbed, so did the altitude of the land and so did our moods. You opened up your canvas bag and brought out two ...

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“STARLING'S HOUSE BY THE SEA” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #119

Starling loved the sea. She loved it in all its moods—tranquil, boisterous, angry, storming, soothing. She often walked along the shore looking to see what gifts the sea tossed up for her to find. She lived alone in a small silent house nestled amongst the palm trees that lined the shore in clumps. She found the house on one of her wanderings along the shore. At the time, she hadn’t expected to stay on the island, but then the telegram arrived and her world changed forever. She had no home or family awaiting her return. All were lost in th...

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“The Silence and the Sea” by L.B Rinker

Submitted to Contest #119

It wasn’t the dozens of seagulls on my deck that bothered me. They had grown accustomed to the sweet bread my wife would leave out for them, and I was quite accustomed to their flapping, and squawking, and shitting, but I had no sweet bread to give them, the stove had gone cold a long time ago.. I would have killed to hear the train whistle of a kettle my mother-in-law had given to us, but it sat collecting dust on one of the burners… It wasn’t the leaky faucet in our guest bathroom that bothered me eith...

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Set your story in a silent house by the sea.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 61 stories

“This House” by Steve Ryan

“The Cottage and the Lighthouse” by Dhruv Srivastava

“The General” by Ben Rounds

“Clamshells” by Shirley Brand

“RETURN” by Chris Holland

“Degrees of Sound” by Tedcor Obli

“In the silence of the waves” by Edward Savage

“Insanely Serene” by Ariel Clark

“The Lighthouse on Cape Eden” by Jen Chi

“Cabin on Lake Elderwise Cove” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“Glimpse” by Yel Hipolito

“Silent House by the Sea” by Lesley Snider

“The Cabin” by Eddie Hurricane

“STARLING'S HOUSE BY THE SEA” by Julia Corliss

“The Silence and the Sea” by L.B Rinker

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with an unusual sound being heard.

Start your story with a character saying “Listen, …”

Write a story inspired by a piece of music (without using any lyrics).

Write a story that involves eavesdropping.

Contest #119

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

232

Contest entries

160

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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