Set your story in a drawing room.

Posted in Fiction on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 29 stories

“Running Again” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #131

Note from the author: This story contains a term referring to a mental disability that some may find offensive. The character who is thinking at the time has zero understanding of disabilities, physical or mental. * = 576A2 is a commonly used abbreviation of the date in the three kingdoms. Written longhand it would read “The five hundred and seventy sixth year of the second age.” Sir George had led them to a fine mansion in Dalanor’s merchant district. Surrounded by stone walls eight feet high and vast snow-covered gardens, it was the pe...

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“It's nothing personal ” by Gary Phipps

Submitted to Contest #131

It was about a quarter until six as the Duke impatiently glanced at the grandfather clock against the wall. It was a gift to his grandfather from the duchess of Spain some time ago. The Duke, being nearly 60 years of age, can't remember a time when that old clock wasn't in that exact same spot. He loved the nostalgia that it brought him, but part of him also resented it because he usually only looked at it when he was impatient or not looking forward to a particular moment or engagement. This was one of those times. After already having di...

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“White buds” by Arch R

Submitted to Contest #131

Lucy looked at her watch for the third time in under a minute. It wasn’t midnight yet. She took another gulp from her glass of steaming liquid and paced toward the window. She peered out, her eyes catching the fullness of the moon. Her street was as still as a lake on a windless day. She could hear her own heartbeat in the silence. She glanced back down at her watch and sucked in sharply seeing the two hands pointing toward the top. It was time. She straightened her lilac dress dotted with white buds that she had bought for this occasion a...

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“Piles of Ashes” by Bella Baillargeon

Submitted to Contest #131

It was noon when the knock at the door came.I had just finished setting the end table with the proper amount of teacups and saucers. I smoothed out the wrinkles in my pale pink dress and measured my steps to the front door.I opened the door, allowing a smile to light up my face, and slightly bowed my head at the guests, my dirty blonde hair falling in front of my face.My mother, after hearing the knock and the door open, approached me from behind and likewise smiled.Our three guests, the newest neighbors in the town of Boston, were a family ...

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“The Drawing Room” by Shirley Brand

Submitted to Contest #131

The drawing-room had once been his wife's. Carolina's, he claimed it after her death, so many years ago. During childbirth. Once it had been a place to gather, chat, laugh, enjoy. At the moment he felt very much alone. The door opened, Martha entered carrying a tray with light lunch, soup, a sandwich, coffee. a piece of ginger cake. She set it on a table that was set between two chairs. "Will there be anything else, Sir?" "No, thank you, Martha." She backed out closing the door behind her. Glancing up and down the empty hall, as if t...

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“Home” by Daina Higley

Submitted to Contest #131

The rectangular fire pit chiseled into the thick slate floor had witnessed decades of bartering, arguments settled, betrothals, rents paid, and fines levied; all of it happened here in this room. The Laird’s bench was the tallest and longest in the room, and if you weren’t there to see the Laird you waited by the fire until you were needed by someone. Always competing with the dogs, babies, or arguing neighbors, it was impossible to ever get close enough to actually feel the warmth of the fire in the stone floor, but you knew it was th...

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“Antoinette” by Phil Manders

Submitted to Contest #131

The Lawson family had been in residence at Charlesworth house for over four hundred years. Except for her loyal companion Duke, an old English Foxhound she’d kept from the last of her hunting days, Antoinette Lawson lived alone in four rooms in the east wing: a bedroom, a bathroom, a dining room and a drawing room. She had no use for a kitchen. Albert, her butler, took care of all her dietary requirements. In fact, Albert, a balding, wiry little man now in his late eighties, took care of everything.*******************************************...

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“The Bogeyman” by Prince Prose

Submitted to Contest #131

“Thank you all for meeting me here,” Orville began, unbuttoning the cuffs of his sleeves. “I know tensions are a little high, but there’s no reason we can’t all be civil for a few minutes.” He swallowed, examining the faces of the other passengers gathered around him. Mrs. Garnett was on the overstuffed sofa, a handkerchief clutched in her lap. Next to her sat Ms. Maeve, cigarette in hand. Dr. Collier was in the armchair to Mrs. Garnett’s left. Arthur sat backwards in the chair by the drafting desk, chin resting on the top rung. None...

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“The Children of Nine” by Laura Pamenter

Submitted to Contest #131

The Children of Nine Thick curtains weighed heavily against the high windows of the drawing-room. They narrowed the tunnel of light to a sliver between burgundy velvet. I had never been in the mayor’s house before, but this is exactly how I’d imagined it, dark and grand with an air of mystery, like the lair of a rich villain. All the houses on Nine street looked like they had been through a washing machine on a quick spin cycle. They were rotting, falling apart like decaying corpses. All of them, except for this grand estate, which sat ne...

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“Adara's Music Box” by Mary Fitzgerald

Submitted to Contest #131

I was visiting a friend in England who had moved into a fully restored Victorian Manor House. I was completed enthralled with it all, it was so lovely. It was all polished wood floors and claw-foot tables and huge windows with brocade draperies, and there was a fireplace in every room. I loved every square inch of it, but my favorite room was the drawing-room. It had polished wooden bookshelves lined with whatever the well-read Victorian was reading, old volumes of Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Alice’s Adventures in Wond...

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“Freud's Drawing Room” by C.B. Oates

Submitted to Contest #131

The frail-framed man lifted his legs and rested his back on the fainting couch. He folded his hands over his chest and sighed. The ceiling above was a spatter of blue and black. Its intricate pattern calmed his mind. Squinting to see the details through his round, wire-rimmed glasses proved to be a strain. He closed his eyes to relieve them. The faint smell of the cigar he had just snuffed out swirled about his head.“Tell me of your childhood, Sigmund.”Freud was surprised to hear the voice of his former colleague, Josef Breuer, but, he was a...

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“The Blue Room” by Shemzheru Tenkawur

Submitted to Contest #131

“Have you been anywhere else in the house…?” I looked puzzled at the direction of that voice, yet I was unaware of where it came from. “You hoo silly, I am over here.” I leapt to my feet desperately searching, as I scrambled to the lamp, almost knocking it over. “Hel…hello…,” I attempted to say while eagerly yanking the drawstring, that dangled from the lamp. The living room was already lit by the outside porch light, which struggled to make its way through the pane of the window—but I needed more light. “Is… is, someone there…?” My voice cr...

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“Impression, soleil levant” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #131

Wallpaper, it’s moldy green was shrieking against Claude’s eyes like nails scratching a blackboard. All around him he could only see that wallpaper encasing the rich drawing room, overshadowing the satin sofa and armchairs, the ornate desk and the piano in the corner. “Claude, mon ami, what brings you here?” Louis’s smile brimmed with cunning malice as he entered the room, while his butler hold the door open. “Bring us a fine bottle from the cellar, and two chalices” he muttered to the servant below his mustache trimmed to the utmost per...

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“Not Today, Maybe Someday” by Steff Sanisaca

Submitted to Contest #131

The room's door opens with a swish revealing darkness. There is no movement for a couple of seconds as their eyes attempt to adjust, pupils expanding. They take a feeble step forward and then another. Whoever designed this room should be sued, they think. You know? Maybe I should come back later. That doesn't sound too bad... No! today I'm feeling inspired. Today is the day I get something done. Even if pointless, something is something, no? Halfway through the room, something goes crack. That certain something is underneath their ...

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Title: Love Ain't Blind, Grief Is

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Set your story in a drawing room.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 29 stories

“Running Again” by James Grasham

“It's nothing personal ” by Gary Phipps

“White buds” by Arch R

“Piles of Ashes” by Bella Baillargeon

“The Drawing Room” by Shirley Brand

“Home” by Daina Higley

“Antoinette” by Phil Manders

“The Bogeyman” by Prince Prose

“The Children of Nine” by Laura Pamenter

“Adara's Music Box” by Mary Fitzgerald

“Freud's Drawing Room” by C.B. Oates

“The Blue Room” by Shemzheru Tenkawur

“Impression, soleil levant” by Gianluca Angelucci

“Not Today, Maybe Someday” by Steff Sanisaca

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about two characters whose first impressions of one another are wildly inaccurate.

Write a story that includes (or subverts) the enemies-to-lovers trope.

Start your story with the arrival of a new person in a town full of gossips.

Write a story about a group of sisters, or a group of brothers.

Contest #131

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

185

Contest entries

128

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: