Write a story set in a city where the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.

Posted in Horror on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 187 stories

“Childhood: Lost and Found” by Aditi Yadav

Submitted to Contest #92

01 October 2020Mumbai, the city of fulfilling the dreams was never a quiet place. The busy roads, honking of vehicles, people rushing towards railway stations to catch the local trains, people going to work, everyone wants to work at faster pace. The 21st century is all about accomplishing more and more. With hustle- bustle all around, one can estimate how time flies in the “City of Work”. One can yearn for stillness but the time flies. No second is same as previous one; repercussion of being surrounded by workaholics all around.With sea fac...

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“Torchlight” by Risha Tevins

Submitted to Contest #92

The darkness hides secrets, but sometimes, it also holds a small measure of comfort. The power goes out on Friday night, plunging the city into total darkness. It’s large shadow, seemingly cast by the footprints of a giant, overwhelming, and only eclipsed by the pale ring of the moon. (Sickly, ill light standing alone against the void; a single person standing tall, defying judgement before wrathful armies. There’s something fascinating about that that holds your attention, makes you breathless.)There’s barely a whisper of warning ...

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“The Screechers” by Ella Garrett

Submitted to Contest #92

“Katie? Where are you? They’re coming!” I scream from underneath my bed. The Screechers are coming, I can hear them. I hear their loud and piercing roars, and they are miles away. “Im coming!” She yells from the other side of the house. I hear her running to my room. She ducks and crawls underneath my bed, shaking. I can hear and feel her heavily breathing on my neck. Katie is 10. She’s small, and mighty. Not scared of most things. When the Screechers come up from their layers a couple times a year, it scares her. Like, most peopl...

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“Power Out” by Chia Qin

Submitted to Contest #92

It’s 7pm. The train station is extremely crowded. Everyone is rushing around, some rushing to get home to spend time with their loved ones. Everyone is in a hurry. Then lightning strikes and the lights go out. The trains stop working. For a split second there’s an unusual silence in the air. Disbelief and shock paralyses the people. Then comes the hysteria as some of them start yelling and shouting. There’s an announcement coming from the loudspeaker “Please keep calm while we attempt to restore the power. In the meantime, all train services...

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“Blackout Nightmares” by V. Saladin

Submitted to Contest #92

“It’s cloudy today, huh?” My mother woke me up by opening my curtains, letting in what little sunlight there was on that fateful Tuesday morning. That should’ve told us, I guess, since we see rain and storms often here and it was all cloudy. I thought nothing of it, though, and laid in bed for a bit. ‘God, I don’t want to get up, just let me lay here forever,’ I thought. I never was easily woken up, I valued my sleep more than a librarian valued their books. I yelled, “UGGGGHHH, LET ME DIE IN DARKNESS” my mother just rolled her eyes at my an...

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“Do you take Truth or Dare?” by Wizard Oblivion

Submitted to Contest #92

Sam threw an empty can at Tom, "Dork, pass me the popcorn." In a dull demeanor, Tom continued to surf through Netflix, ignoring Sam. Sam yelled, "Hey, fart-face, Can't you hear me?" Mike interjected, "Tom doesn't listen to jackasses." Mike then hooted and laughed, making Sam's face red with embarrassment and anger. Milly stood up, "Cut it off, guys," and passed popcorn to Sam. Mike jeered, "I present to you all the mother of our group, Milly." Milly made a hopeless attempt to fake laugh and replied, "This mother was there when yo...

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“Blackouts and Harassing the Mayor” by RIC .

Submitted to Contest #92

She dreamt a lot about sheep. Not counting sheep. Weird, bipedal sheep bleating at each other in the bowels of hell. She was dreaming about the sheep crowding around a single messy desk with a single sheep desperately shuffling and shifting through papers. Some of his documents sliding off the side of the best and spontaneously combusting on the ground. “Vincent,” she said. Th...

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“Golden Dragon” by Robin ✿

Submitted to Contest #92

James sighed. He looked outside the window, sitting on his bed. It was night, a deep blue and black painted with white stars. But that wasn't the end. There was clouds, grey-black clouds, and it was pouring. It was pouring so much, that James had to close the window before any water could manage to come in. The rain looked no more like rain, but a fog entering the city. He tried to spot the nearest building, but the fog tried to block the view of everything, and was successful. James hopped off his bed and turned on the light. Just as he was...

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“Fallen Lines, and Burning Fire” by Eric Deitch

Submitted to Contest #92

I’ll preface this story with the fact that it is all true. I live in Spokane, Washington. Have a nice house, surrounded by large pine trees. One day, my wife and I were leaving our school to go pick up our daughter and the weather turned dark. The wind almost blew my car sideways as I drove home. It was as close to being in a hurricane/typhoon of which I haven’t seen outside of South-East Asia. As I struggled to control my car in the now darkness, rain and wind pummeling us, I managed to get my daughter home from her school. Immediately, I t...

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“The Power Outage” by Pamela Berglund

Submitted to Contest #92

Have you ever noticed the reaction of strangers getting on an elevator? They look up (or down) to ensure that they have successfully avoided having the doors shut closed before they are safely inside. Next they press the button by the floor number they wish to get off, and then glance at all the other buttons on the wall, the open door/close door button (which symbol opens or closes the door) and they usually notice whether the elevator has a thirteenth floor. Finally, they will stand closest to the back of the elevator to ...

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“Jet black” by Crys Auphelia

Submitted to Contest #92

Everyday used to be filled with light. So much joy and happiness. We've used to go out and play, not once were we afraid. Till it happened. The lights grew darker till it was nothing but darkness. The sidewalks and traffic lights didn't decorate the night again. All the powers were cut off, preventing us from ever communicating with everyone else. Everyone was afraid of the dark. Even during broad daylight, not once did they stepped outside. It got worse when nighttime came. Windows closed, doors locked and no noises. Complete eerie si...

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“UP NEPA” by Lukmon Anigilaje

Submitted to Contest #92

Have you ever been to Lagos, the only city in Nigeria with an English name "Lagos" and local name "Eko"?. Have you been to Lagos, the most populated city in Africa?. Have you ever been so previledged to visit Lagos in the sweet month of march? "You know I haven't" was the only response I could give, I couldn't understand the sudden infinite questions James was asking me, could it be something I said? Oh I remember just few minutes before his rain of questions I had shouted "UP NEPA" , nothing is wrong in me saying that. It's what ...

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“Beauty was ugly” by Abhishek Kumar

Submitted to Contest #92

Imagine yourself to reside in a city, where flowers smell could be acknowledged, where the Sun rays coming far from the heaven makes you feel relaxed, where every next morning when you wake gets more energized than the previous day, where everyone's happy and contented and lie in the lap of mother nature; encircled with the beauty of the Himalayas, dressed with the stillness and ever flowing nature of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra and covered with the blessings of great monks of Buddha and Shiva... wouldn't such place be no less than a heav...

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“Boy Crazy” by Mia Manns

Submitted to Contest #92

The whole city was talking about the blackout, even though by today’s standards the internet was taking its baby steps. Alyson’s computer shut off around the time Marlon came over to tell her. The phone wouldn’t have worked anyway. The power was dead. No MSN Messenger chat, no cell towers, no nothing. Somehow Marlon had a way of getting to Aly’s house the second anything happened. Maybe word of mouth was faster back then. He came to get her because stores were still open on Main Street even though the power was out. In the middle of the af...

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“Where The Power Is” by Bob E

Submitted to Contest #92

That night there was a power cut. They’d been getting more and more regular in recent weeks, so I wasn’t all that surprised when the living room, the whole house, the street beyond it, were plunged into darkness. I imagined the whole city falling into submerged, building by building, street by street, suburb by suburb, dominoes of illumination toppling. I knew there was a torch on the windowsill for just such an occasion as this, not to mention candles and matches in a kitchen drawer, but I didn’t go to them. Instead, I chose the darkness. I...

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Write a story set in a city where the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 187 stories

“Childhood: Lost and Found” by Aditi Yadav

“Torchlight” by Risha Tevins

“The Screechers” by Ella Garrett

“Power Out” by Chia Qin

“Blackout Nightmares” by V. Saladin

“Do you take Truth or Dare?” by Wizard Oblivion

“Blackouts and Harassing the Mayor” by RIC .

“Golden Dragon” by Robin ✿

“Fallen Lines, and Burning Fire” by Eric Deitch

“The Power Outage” by Pamela Berglund

“Jet black” by Crys Auphelia

“UP NEPA” by Lukmon Anigilaje

“Beauty was ugly” by Abhishek Kumar

“Boy Crazy” by Mia Manns

“Where The Power Is” by Bob E

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that begins in the light and ends in darkness, or the other way around.

End your story with a truth coming to light.

Set your story in a countryside house that’s filled with shadows.

Write about a character who thinks they have a sun allergy.

Contest #92

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

1051

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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