Set your story in an unlikely sanctuary.

Posted in High School on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 34 stories

“The Unlikely Outlet Into my Life” by Nichole Cormier

Submitted to Contest #146

It was like looking through a window. The young woman looking back just didn't remind me of something familiar. Not right away anyhow. Somehow; I was strange to myself. I was unsure of how this had come to my mind, but it was there none the less. It was somehow surreal. It was a mystery to my thoughts. It was like I was there but unable to reach myself. I couldn't even begin to understand why this was. Not in these moments that I'm standing there and looking at myself in the mirror. Only it isn't a mirror and I'm not standing. I'm sitting ...

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“Escape From Waverly Hills Sanitorium ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #146

He was a patient at the Kentucky Waverly Hills Sanitorium where the walls are still stained with blood in some places and the ghosts of former patients still wander the halls. The police surrounded the abandoned building that had closed its doors in 1961 after multiple reports of patient abuse and maltreatment using electroshock as punishment and frontal lobotomies to placate those patients with a record of violent or any sort of antisocial behavior. Looking down on the scramble of activity in the courtyard in front of th...

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“Almost a Year” by William Nielsen

Submitted to Contest #146

Sensitive content warning: reference to self-harm and suicide, reference to alcohol/substance abuse. Paige sat herself down on the rocky riverbank. Her legs dangled over the edge, swinging idle over the torrent of water flowing by, and by, and by… The sun had been making its slow descent, teetering down to dance along the horizon, the evening stretched out for a near-impossible number of hours by the northern latitude. Ducks splashed in the river, diving and rising to break through the water’s surface. A loon called in the distance, its ...

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“Catching My Breath” by Betsy T

Submitted to Contest #146

It’s supposed to rain early in the morning, so I load up my car the night before check out. I move quickly because it’s cold out, carrying one bin at a time down the dark side path to the main driveway where my car is parked. For two weeks I’ve been renting a small cottage in the back of a beautiful large home in the Southern California woods, a few miles from my own home. The cottage has a studio layout where the kitchen is visible from the bed. There is a small back room with a desk and a bunk bed where my kids slept on the days I ...

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“Are You Going to Be Long?” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #146

“Are you going to be long?’ “I think maybe so. I have a lot of work to do here. I can’t rush it” “Okay, I’ll go downstairs then.” This interchange has become something of a ritual between my wife and me. We’ve even performed it in our local bar, much to the laughing delight of some of the customers who know us well, and know about my strange writer’s sanctuary. The Ritual Begins The ritual had something of a strange beginning (as if the continuance of i...

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“The Onerous Journey” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #146

The Onerous Journey I had been peregrinating for four days through the western wilderness, and the weather remained unusually mild for this geographical location. This is a cleansing journey to wash away all remnants of my past and my miserable, innumerable failures. Literally everything I ever attempted to accomplish deteriorated—not just a tiny sample of personal inadequacies, but a total fiasco. I loathe every minute particle of my useless existence and abhorrent self, and have elected to stay clear of the human race for the remainder ...

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“We take what remains” by Ava Raim

Submitted to Contest #146

The cool wind whistles through the narrow passageways, paradoxically causing a trickle of sweat to drip down my back. A storm is coming, and there is no way to predict the damage it will leave in its wake.The everpresent dust swirls upwards in thick motes, making me cough uncontrollably. I squeeze my eyes tight, knowing what is about to happen. This is a bad one. After nine weeks, five days, seven hours, twenty-eight minutes, and who knows how many seconds, I’ve learned to tell the difference between a brief stirring of the air around me and...

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“Legend.” by Andrew Hamrick

Submitted to Contest #146

Legend Bench seats covered in dark green laminate type stuff. The green covers the brown laminate stuff that would get hot and burn. The green gets hot but stops before your legs turn red. The green does have a bad aftertaste unlike the brown which had almost zero, just a hint of gum or candy that may have been touching it last. The gum on the floor and under the seats add texture and color. A bit of squish if recent and soon to be a hard immovable mass if it's been a week or so. The runway down the middle is silver with black...

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“THE WHEEL OF THE MILL” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #146

THE WHEEL OF THE MILL The building had been abandoned for years . It was rather ruined. The plaster was peeling and falling apart , leaving the bricks in the open. ( exposed) The roof tiles were broken. The windows, without the shutters and even the glass, looked like empty holes. It had been a water mill for almost half a century. The driving wheel was still on the stream, where however no water was flowing since long time. Attached to the mill there were the miller’s house. After the...

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“TWINS” by Gloria Murray

Submitted to Contest #146

1102wds TWINS Walking on legs like a zombie, eyes clouded with the film of tears, throat with a large pit stuck inside causing me to swallow over and over, I moved slowly toward the casket shrouded in white gauze...

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“Monsters of Bomarzo ” by Sandra Russo

Submitted to Contest #146

Fear. The ultimate emotion. Primordial. The human instincts whether real or perceived have given us all the ability to react swiftly with a startled heart, clammy palms or the nostalgic goosebumps up our arms triggered by a sight, a sound or even a thought. It was this emotion that predominantly occupied the thoughts of Vicino Orisini, the Duke of Bomarzo. Haunted by his 11 years in service to the Papal Army. War is the most certain way to form traumatic triggers. Triggers that cause the sudden influx of shock to a system based on memo...

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“Michigan Peaches” by Sarah Fast

Submitted to Contest #146

She knew that underneath the gradient red to yellow skin, the apple would be equally sweet and tart. Its heaviness told her it was perfectly ripe; the juice would run down her chin when she bit into it, just like when she was seven and snacking on apples she’d picked from her grandparents’ orchards. Alex set the apple down and picked up another. Lighter, with a small bruise that just cupped the pad of her thumb. It was tempting to press in and see how deep the bruise went, see if she could break the skin with just the force of her thumb...

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“Run Short Story” by Michelle Reid

Submitted to Contest #146

The land is flat, and the winds blow strange. I see the bird of death circling outside my window over a hurt rabbit waiting for it to die. Way in the distance I see the lights faint for the city. I hear the wind blow cool and whirling in the attic. I turn to the fields looking out the window of my room and see a figure walking through the high wheat slowly at first and then clutching to his hat to block the strong wind. He stops to look up as if to see which direction he is going in and he catches sight of me in the window. I step back not k...

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“Final Sanctuary” by Donna Kennedy

Submitted to Contest #146

Final Sanctuary I began looking for something special, something that I didn’t even understand, when I was a small child. My parents were not happy together, my father drank, and my mother suffered, and I sought refuge from their misery. You could find me in the hall closet, burrowed in the nest of fallen coats, attempting to hide in the solitude of the dark, cramped space. Or in the cellar among the damp smells or one of the trees that lined our property. It remained the same until I left home, me seeking shelter from their misery and fai...

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“"Simply love"” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #146

I was always more than happy to oblige when Margeth called me and asked me to make her happy. That meant, she wanted me to come over for a weekend. She lived far from trafficked roads in a lovely cabin. She was a little sad when I got there. She had to put down diseased trees. There was so much regret in her voice, she felt like she euthanized the trees. - “They were endangering the house.” She said while a tear rolled over her cheek. In her company, I found a measure of solace for the pain from haunting childhood wounds. We could talk for h...

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Set your story in an unlikely sanctuary.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 34 stories

“The Unlikely Outlet Into my Life” by Nichole Cormier

“Escape From Waverly Hills Sanitorium ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“Almost a Year” by William Nielsen

“Catching My Breath” by Betsy T

“Are You Going to Be Long?” by John Steckley

“The Onerous Journey” by Karen Leidy

“We take what remains” by Ava Raim

“Legend.” by Andrew Hamrick

“THE WHEEL OF THE MILL” by Mara Masolini

“TWINS” by Gloria Murray

“Monsters of Bomarzo ” by Sandra Russo

“Michigan Peaches” by Sarah Fast

“Run Short Story” by Michelle Reid

“Final Sanctuary” by Donna Kennedy

“"Simply love"” by F.O. Morier

🌟 Similar prompts

Write from the point of view of a character writing a letter to their past or future self.

Write about a character attempting to meditate or do something mindfully.

Write about a character discovering a surprising strength in either themself or another.

Start your story during a team building exercise.

Contest #146

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

215

Contest entries

134

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: