Write a story involving a noise complaint.

Posted in Sad on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 45 stories

“Tone Deaf” by Rhiannon Carroll

Submitted to Contest #148

My eyes snap open, taking their time in focusing on the wall I’m facing and the floral wallpaper my landlord won’t let me change. Before the hideous off-white carnations are less blurry, I can hear him next door, my reason for waking a full hour before my alarm, bellowing along to one of the ten songs he knows; this morning, it’s Walking In Memphis, the original, not the cover by Cher. He knows the lyrics to this one at least - yesterday had been Barracuda and it was clearly not a song frequently in his repertoire. Covering my head with th...

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“Noisy Neighbors” by Richard Tallman

Submitted to Contest #148

To say that the noisy neighbors were next door, with loud arguments between a wife and her husband about one thing or another, was an overstatement. They did that of course from time to time, with pots and pans clanging, screaming and the like; but it was we who were the noisy neighbors. The four of us were living in an off-campus apartment with cheap furniture, cheap beer cans every where and a more or less constant party, if one could call it that. A party in those days was where everyone was supposed to have fun dancing and gett...

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“Taking Care” by Nina Thompson

Submitted to Contest #148

Her withered hands curled around the frosty beer bottle looked to me like the cover of a rock album. One Last Drink with the Devil, it would be called, and filled with Led-Zeppelin-esque songs about death and alcoholism.Mrs. Chambers had her dry lips pursed as she studied my apartment. I took a reluctant look around as well, trying to see my place from her perspective. The trippy posters on the wall would tell her that I smoke weed. The secondhand everything probably says that I’m a hippy, or unemployed, or both. The admittedly excessive amo...

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“Run, Mr. Bates” by Malik White

Submitted to Contest #148

The collar of my shirt was drenched with sweat, and my heart was racing faster than a jackrabbit’s. Detective Thorne walked ahead of me and led me into the interrogation room. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun and she wore a black skirt suit. “Right in here Mr. Bates. Have a seat,” she said. This was a mistake. Why did I come here? Without a second beat, I reached back for the door. Thorne grabbed my shoulder firmly, but not so firm that I couldn’t push past her. “I’m sorry, detective, I shouldn’t have come here,” I said. “Mr. B...

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“The Price of Silence” by Angela Creasy

Submitted to Contest #148

Thump, Thump, Thump, the walls were trembling uncontrollably as if fireworks were being set off in the apartment above Lara. Groaning, she threw a pillow over her head and tried to block out the noise. Nothing she did would make the sounds stop, nothing even quieted them; enough was enough, it was time to take action. The exercises were becoming far more frequent and they cost Lara about three hours of sleep that her exhausted mind desperately needed. With University exams in full swing, Lara had been up almost the entire night frantically r...

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“The Dog that Shagged Me” by BOFT V

Submitted to Contest #148

The proverbial burning of the midnight oil ensued for the deranged medical student with his nose stuffed in cocaine; except the midnight oil was the electrical bill, and the cocaine was coffee. Words like nicotinamide dinucleotide and glutathione peroxidase taunted the medical student, who only had enough energy left to stare blankly with his eyes redder than a baboon’s ass. Biochemistry used to mean something to the man, but by this time the brain of the once brilliant medical student (the term “brilliant” being loosely used to actually mea...

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“What is That?” by Arwen Bender

Submitted to Contest #148

“Arwen,” I wake up to my mom nudging me “Don’t panic, alright? But we… we think someone is in our attic.” I get out of my bed but wonder how I am supposed to stay calm? I try my best to be attentive and, well, somehow calm, but it is unsurprisingly hard to do that at twelve in the morning. I follow her to my parent’s small walk-in closet She tells me to get behind some of my dad’s clothes. “Stay here, and stay quiet. I’m going to get your sister.” she says and leaves the closet. I’m alone in here, unprotected, vulnerable. Why would she leave...

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“Accommodation drama ” by Callum McGee

Submitted to Contest #148

Bang, thump, clank, squeak. In that order. Stay in accommodation, they said. It's time to come out of your shell, they said. I grind my molars as intoxicated chuckles and bitter tobacco fumes snake through my window lining. The party-goers prowl in packs through coffee-stained university halls, sing drunken discord and slather vodka-stained fingerprints across windows. Their sticky purple cider stains cling to my shoes like velcro, leaving putrid puddles of vomit across carpets. Smooth country ...

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“Sunday Easter Sunday” by Scott Harris

Submitted to Contest #148

Sunday Easter Sunday Ronnie feels his eyes open – or does he? Is he awake? Or is he sleeping? He can’t tell, which usually means he’s dreaming. He finds comfort in that thought. Familiarity. He tries to settle into his slumber, but there’s a creeping sensation that he is awake. His delusion of unconsciousness is being replaced with a fear of consciousness. He’s certain...

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“Porkchop, Espionage, and a Mechanical Symphony” by Sparrow Aston

Submitted to Contest #148

Contains some adult humor “Chapter 9: One for the Road”, the Narrator’s voice is like cream, thick and sweet. It drips down Ted’s ear canals as his head sinks into the pillow. It’s his lone indulgence, horribly written spy fiction. But man does J Coen Daniels write excellent characters. It’s just after 9 o’clock on a Tuesday, and 100 Washington Heights winds down for the night. Ted readies himself for tonight’s chapter: pillow at perfect 45 degree angle, blanket snug but not too tight, and the light dimmed to an ambient glow. He adjusts...

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“The last "415"” by Thomas Oliver

Submitted to Contest #148

She answered the door topless. Patrolman Jim Bob White, Tybee Island’s newest cop, was responding to a noise complaint, something the police department dealt with on a nightly basis during “touron” season. Even though he was a rookie, he had already responded to several noise complaints this summer, but none like this. Tybee Island, off the coast of Georgia, is home to about 3,500 year-round residents, but around 8,000 come for their summer vacations each week and are joined each weekend by additional 2,000 day trippers from nearby Savannah...

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“The Tale of Abigail Fig” by Mike Rigby

Submitted to Contest #148

BANG! BUZZZZZZZZZ! Percy Pudders wallowed in his pathetic, rusting apartment. His mind drowned by the deafening noise above, as well as his own self-pity. Big, fat Percy Pudders; too scared to approach the man, who lived above him, to ask him to stop drilling and playing music at 1am on a Monday. No. Percy would sit and take it. Reminiscent of every aspect of his entire life. It was Percy’s 40th birthday. No big celebrations, though. Not even any cards in the post. His mother was his only family and she was long...

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“Trouble at 4B” by Sandra R

Submitted to Contest #148

Frank Leary, 68 years of age, lived in apartment 4B in a drowsy, decrepit building on the corner of Gaston and Avery. With most of his days spent reading encyclopedias and passing judgement on pedestrians who spoiled the urban view from his window, he found peace in the silent company of his one-bedroom apartment at the very end of an otherwise vacant hallway. Short, stocky, and with a figure resembling a crouchi...

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“Call of the Mild” by Rosalie Chamberlain

Submitted to Contest #148

Paige went with the defense contract story this time. That one was always a safe bet. The poor leasing office clerk looked utterly baffled as to why the Department of Homeland Security would need robotic hippopotamuses to fend off enemy submarines. Still, no minimum-wage worker wanted to tangle with the federal government just to appease the crotchety man in 31B who couldn’t hear Wheel of Fortune over the tinny braying of a computerized ungulate. The freckled twenty-something shrugged and 31B stomped back ...

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“The Shadows in 4A” by Charlene Aikens

Submitted to Contest #148

When Sam moved into apartment 4A, he was hoping for a fresh start. He was hoping to leave his past behind him and really start to live – not just exist. The west facing windows allowed him a front row seat to some of the most beautiful sunsets he had ever seen. They were almost as beautiful as the ones he witnessed while overseas. Overseas for his deployment - in which case the sunsets were the only magic around. It was never his aspiration to join the military, but it was in his blood. He didn’t want to be the one to snuff out the torch tha...

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Write a story involving a noise complaint.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 45 stories

“Tone Deaf” by Rhiannon Carroll

“Noisy Neighbors” by Richard Tallman

“Taking Care” by Nina Thompson

“Run, Mr. Bates” by Malik White

“The Price of Silence” by Angela Creasy

“The Dog that Shagged Me” by BOFT V

“What is That?” by Arwen Bender

“Accommodation drama ” by Callum McGee

“Sunday Easter Sunday” by Scott Harris

“Porkchop, Espionage, and a Mechanical Symphony” by Sparrow Aston

“The last "415"” by Thomas Oliver

“The Tale of Abigail Fig” by Mike Rigby

“Trouble at 4B” by Sandra R

“Call of the Mild” by Rosalie Chamberlain

“The Shadows in 4A” by Charlene Aikens

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about two neighbors who cannot stand each other.

Include a character in your story that is often in an apartment building, but doesn’t actually live there.

Write about a couple touring an empty apartment they might rent.

Write about an apartment building being demolished.

Contest #148

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

195

Contest entries

90

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: