Start your story with the flickering of a light.

Posted in Kids on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 97 stories

“Move Away Humans ” by Karen Lethlean

Submitted to Contest #149

Move away Humans Well into an eerie evening, as twin suns withdrew light from hills appearing to encroach air whispered, here comes night, beware! Someone should switch lights on. Sitting on verandahs, mesmerized by views off into thick trees, unhindered by walls of scrubs were hikers and their leader. Close together, enforcing one another against a sense of isolation dusky surroundings evoked. Flickering lights came over the verandahs, dulled views. The National Pa...

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“Wisp” by Jeremy Renbarger

Submitted to Contest #149

I wake up sitting on the floor with my legs crossed in complete disorienting darkness. In the distance I see a flickering light.But where am I? what was I doing? I am wearing a long sleeved t shirt, shorts, and some sneakers.It feels as if it’s empty space all around me, moderately cold, and nothing but that flickering light. I walk towards it, it’s further away then I originally thought shivering as I move closer I realize that it is a flame by how it shifts side to side and sways as if there was a small draft. Interestingly...

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“A Bone” by Allya Nosmada

Submitted to Contest #149

Darkness. It descended like a black veil on a widow, concealing from the eyes all things good and beautiful all while creating a sort of mystery. It was in this sudden gloom that a young woman got off the train at her stop and looked up to ponder the weather before she continued on. She wore no jacket, carried no umbrella, and wore no rain shoes; yet she did not move briskly to avoid the impending storm. She took her time, descending the station steps and exited out onto the desolate streets. On the street corner that she waited, the light f...

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“On/Off” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #149

On the last day of third grade, the street light over the bus stop flickered. Even if I could have climbed up two stories to tap it, that old wooden light pole would have riddled my hands and thighs with splinters. A pack of Sweet Tarts later, the light turned on in full force, but I could have counted to ten before it turned off. Then, it resumed flickering with a buzz and a crackle, a sizzle and hum. The morning air began to smell like it does after it rains, but more electric, tasting like when you put your mouth on an iron bar on the pla...

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“The Chill” by The Cantina

Submitted to Contest #149

The shadows danced along the wall as the flame flickered, mildly illuminating the darkened form in front of Magnus. This quadrupedal beast slumped over the corpse of its recent prey, he watched it in fear, feeling the freezing sweat flow down the top of his head. No, it's not a beast. Beasts are the lions and bears held in the colosseum. This was not that. This was a creature of fear. A monster. The crimson stained fur twitched as the flesh of its victim ripped from their bone by its rabid drooling jaws. Magnus’s feet were rooted to the grou...

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“A Heavy Message” by Arthur Duckworth

Submitted to Contest #149

The candle flame burned motionlessly, until it flickered with a passing draft. Shadows were momentarily illuminated in the otherwise dark room. The flame then regained its stillness. Tokugawa Ieyasu acknowledged the flame’s greeting and received the message it carried. Such a heavy message.How had it come to this? Only three people knew Ieyasu’s true location; his son Hidetada, General Ogawa Suketada and his consort Saigō no Tsubone. One of those three had betrayed his location to his enemy. True, each one had a reason to strike at Ieyasu, b...

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“The light and The Photograph” by Scott McCully

Submitted to Contest #149

In the stuffy archives of a museum there hangs a flickering light. It must be understood that the bulb is not faulty, nor is the wiring to blame. Every electrician, handy-man and janitor that has dared to answer the mystery of the flickering light has failed in the attempt. The light is little more than an oddity, something the staff ignore as they busy themselves with their daily work. Sometimes the light will brighten, sometimes it will slowly dim until the glow of the bulb's filament can barely be seen at all. To most, the light is of l...

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“Nuclear Silence” by Irene Ivy

Submitted to Contest #149

The lights on the roof of the tour bus flickered on and off as we slowed to a stop. I kept my eyes focused on the cloudy light covers until I heard the clearing of a throat, suggesting I join the rest of the group. I stepped off the last rusted step and onto the hard, frozen ground of the place my ancestors lived and died; Ukraine. The starting location for our nighttime tour of Chernobyl and the commemorative memorial was not quite what I expected. The bus discarded me and my companions in front of the Cafe Pripyat, where nature had reclaim...

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“The Dragon and The Raven.” by Eric Falvey

Submitted to Contest #149

The light from the rising sun flickered through the slits in his cheap motel blinds. The gentle breeze flowing through the open window pushed the blinds forward, creating a fluttering, rhythmic clattering as they bounced off the plaster walls bordering the window frame. He opened his eyes, softly groaning as the harshness of the light collided with his whiskey-soaked blue eyes, which were suffering the effects of his nightly ritual. He slowly sat up, blindly reaching for the nearly empty bottle of Hibiki Japanese whiskey he used as sleep aid...

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“The Storm Inside” by Keri Brugge

Submitted to Contest #149

The lights flickered in her bedroom as the storm raged on outside. The weather outside was not the only storm that was raging. In her mind a storm began to rage as well. A swirl of thoughts began to fill the silence of the night. A storm that came all too often to her and just as a meteorologist can not always predict as storm so she two never knew the precise moment that the storm would fill her mind. She grabbed her pillow tightly and rocked slowly in her bed. She didn’t wish to awake her husband; he needed his sleep. He needed his sl...

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“CSS 3 + CSS 17 + CSS 35” by Kurtis Leong

Submitted to Contest #149

As directed by the set guidelines beyond the Limitless Anything, a random flicker of light shall occur, starting the second variation of the story that occurred in the transition point between both Realities. The Garden in the Bones, a place interlocked in a prairie between two tree-filled mountains, both drowned with the embers of nostalgia. A blurred memory easily rekindled with the stimulus of sight, but still all out of the realms of reality. “I am still a servant of Time.” I started its monologue, “Not the element, Time, no o...

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“The Cunning” by Laura Eliz

Submitted to Contest #149

Trigger warning: non violent death The overhead light on my bedroom ceiling fan flickered. Odd. It didn’t often do that. It was as if someone or something was trying to send me a message. I had fallen asleep again with the light and TV on in my bedroom. It is hard to sleep, knowing that someone you love with all your heart and soul is dying. Sleep had become elusive and knowing that the cancer my Dad had was slowly killing ...

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“The Everlasting Flame” by Lilly Dreis

Submitted to Contest #149

Amenaous entered the sacred hold, lowering his hood. The light highlighted his young features, making his freckles glow like embers. The Flame flickered.Surely, it is a trick on my eyes. The Flame flicked again. He shook his head. The Flame was still brightly aglow. The Everlasting Flame causes the world to continue moving on its axis; it continues spinning among the stars and other planets. It has been lit since earlier than time. The Flame provides heat and growth for the planet, giving it life and prosperity. As FlameBearers, our job is t...

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“THAT FLICKERING OF LIGHT ON THE TOP OF THE HILL” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #149

THAT FLICKERING OF LIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE HILL “ Are you still here? Come on, it’s time to go to bed! Remember, you have to go to school at morning. You must be up at seven. I will certainly not let you lay in bed, if you are sleepy “ Diane spoke standing on the door, she did not move towards Emily, who was standing for more than an hour at the living room window, ( with) her elbows resting on the sill, her face between her hands. She seemed completely absorbed in what sh...

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“The End before the Beginning ” by Liv Howll

Submitted to Contest #149

The solitary lightbulb set into the ceiling of the small bunker flickers, threatening to cast us into complete darkness. The glinting causes the shadows cast across the cement walls to dance, the sight perhaps more chilling than darkness itself—at least in the dark you don’t see as death creeps up on you. Even after the decades of nuclear weapons looming over us like death itself—ever menacing, ever drawing nearer, but rarely paid heed to. Even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after the Cold War, after Yeltsin, after the Eastern con...

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Start your story with the flickering of a light.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 97 stories

“Move Away Humans ” by Karen Lethlean

“Wisp” by Jeremy Renbarger

“A Bone” by Allya Nosmada

“On/Off” by Mike Garrigan

“The Chill” by The Cantina

“A Heavy Message” by Arthur Duckworth

“The light and The Photograph” by Scott McCully

“Nuclear Silence” by Irene Ivy

“The Dragon and The Raven.” by Eric Falvey

“The Storm Inside” by Keri Brugge

“CSS 3 + CSS 17 + CSS 35” by Kurtis Leong

“The Cunning” by Laura Eliz

“The Everlasting Flame” by Lilly Dreis

“THAT FLICKERING OF LIGHT ON THE TOP OF THE HILL” by Mara Masolini

“The End before the Beginning ” by Liv Howll

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who is trying to convince others to play a game.

Write about two people who form a bond with each other through music.

Set your story in a town that’s teetering on the edge of something dark, literally or metaphorically.

Write a story about an unlikely group (or pair) of friends.

Contest #149

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

256

Contest entries

123

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: