Write a story that feels lonely, despite being set in a packed city.

Posted in Sad on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 230 stories

“Possible” by Grace Reardon

Submitted to Contest #59

I combed back my short hair with my fingers. It was boring and black, but had dissolved into small waves at my shoulders. I sighed as I turned to my dresser, noticing the clothes my mother had set out. As ugly as ever. I threw on the lime tank-top, and sheltered my shoulders with the puffy pink jacket. I put on the orange shorts and the blue socks that went to my knees. I stood in front of the mirror, hoping it didn’t look as bad as I felt. I saw a hideous figure stare back at me, ashamed she put her hood ...

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“New York City Blues” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #59

WARNING - Suicidal Ideation August 16, 2020 I’m here!! I can’t believe it. After all the saving and scrimping to get by, I’m here in my dream city. I love this loft. It’s worth every bit of the $2000 per month. I’m finally going to be able to write. I’m finally going to be able to pen my great American novel. Well, I better get started. August 20, 2020 I wish I’d realized the fridge in this apartment was so tiny. I’ve had to go out to the markets every day this week. Food is expensive, too. But I’m managing. Writers don’t need much. Just g...

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“One in a Million” by Taryn Holmes

Submitted to Contest #59

“Mommy, can we go in there?” “So the meeting’s on for Thursday then?” “So I said, ‘Sure, the day you grow up!’ Great, right?” “Okay, okay, will you hold off for just one moment?” I stood beneath the crossing of conversations, squished between a thin girl with the darting eyes of a squirrel and a plump man with the mustache of a walrus, waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green. Screeching taxi cabs shot by and a cacophony of honking horns was the constant background. Avoiding eye contact with the people around me, I craned my neck upward...

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“Smells Like Geriatric Despair” by Joshua Scott Hotchkin Wordpress.dungherder.com

Submitted to Contest #59

There are roughly, on average, eight thousand people per square mile in the city of Seattle. From his top floor apartment on Capitol Hill he can see a million people or more, figuratively, although only his parole officer can see him back. To everyone else in the Emerald City he is virtually invisible, thanks to the Offender Cap strapped to his head which tells others it is illegal to recognize his existence. Despite this, he cannot help but spend his days walking the streets, watching the people who are prohibited from seeing him. The ...

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“Am I Invisible? ” by Monica D

Submitted to Contest #59

“Carlos, what are you doing? Come here,” Our mom beckons to him. Carlos is my older brother... let’s just say we are very different people. “Your teacher called and said you broke the rules and when you were told to come back to school you refused.” Mom looks like she would explode Carlos never listens to her and does it anyway, but I don’t get how he always gets away with it. “Mom, Dan dared me to do it and said he would never be my friend if I didn’t. I couldn’t do anything about it,” Carlos wines. He always gets away by saying his best fr...

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“The New Girl!” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #59

(Write a story that feels lonely, despite being set in a packed city.) The morning sounds that wake me are never the birds I read about in wonderful stories about nature but rather the traffic on the boulevard in front of the house. Those unlucky people who have earlier jobs or school than I and are already on the job or on their way there, they create the humming sounds of tires on pavement and an occasional horn sounding some alert or annoyance. It is not an unpleasant sound really, but just a noise that becomes...

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“The Cottonwood Tree” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #59

He towered over the sidewalk. He had more branches than he could count and a canopy of thick, green leaves. It took six people to wrap their arms around him; at least, that’s what it said on the plaque they'd planted right next to his trunk. He couldn’t remember the last time any humans had hugged him.His friends—Douglas and Pine and Juniper—used to call him Cottonwood. The men had cut down Cottonwood’s friends long ago, when the cars started to grow and the planes started to fly. Cottonwood could barely remember his friends and that thought...

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“Marooned ” by Chandrika R Krishnan

Submitted to Contest #59

Nalini was horrified to see the water level rise and touch the borders of the brand new *Kanchipuram* silk Sari. She had worn it for just an hour on the occasion of * Diwali, the festival of lights,* a couple of days back. She had aired it out and meant to put it back inside her *Godrej* steel *almirah* but now was upset with herself and blamed her lethargy in postponing the task. With her back to the bedroom, she wasn’t to know that the damage has already been done to the saris and other valuable items stored in the lower shel...

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“Up on the Roof” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #59

[Note to readers: This story has the title Up on the Roof, but there is no roof in the story itself. However, there is an old song by the same title. It was put out by The Drifters around 1962, and you really ought to go listen to it. Just a suggestion. It kind of sets the mood here, or something. Better than that, it tells you who ‘she’ is.] There she was. Packed city, lonely as blue blazes, blasting orange heat from all of its pores into every last one of her pores. It was kind of cruel, that heat was. Swarmed all over a person, form...

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“watch” by Ari Berri

Submitted to Contest #59

Here, tall gray and black buildings line the streets. Here, hundreds of people walk on the sidewalks, rushing from place to place, looking at some type of screen. They are probaly going to work. Or maybe they are off to school. The road is filled with cars. Some yellow or black. Maybe white or silver. Maybe red. Sometimes they will be zooming past, too fast to cross, but still not exactly speeding. And sometimes they might be moving slowly creeping along the streets, slower than all the people walk. The sky is filled with thick dark rain clo...

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“Matters of the Heart” by Iris Silverman

Submitted to Contest #59

The subway station is no more crowded than usual this Friday. The smell of diesel mixed with dough from bagels wafts through the air. The grime on the floor is a mix of donut crumbs, dirt, urine, pizza grease, and soda. Saxophone notes penetrate conversations and demand space. A string breaks loudly on an electric guitar. A man with a long red beard talks to himself. Children scream at their parents. Karim Saleh isn’t hearing, smelling, or really seeing any of this today. He feels a tightness in his chest. He’s 25 years old and has just...

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“The Wrong Place at the Right Time” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #59

People jump to conclusions. I don’t blame them. I probably would myself. “Oh, Jean, it must be awful living in one of those tower blocks!” “I don’t know how you stand it! Time they were pulled down, in my opinion.” Well, I won’t pretend I wholly like living on the tenth floor of Branscombe Tower. I live in a constant state of low-level fretfulness about the lift. I worry about it breaking. I’m quite fit for my age, thank Goodness, but I doubt I could manage ten flights of stairs! And though I’m not exactly ...

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“Never Ending Story” by Bareera Samra

Submitted to Contest #59

It was very noisy in the room. Alex sat on the desk, not sure it was finally the time. He could hear the scraping of chairs and desks. The buzz of people all around him was bugging him. After a while, a loud but distant voice called putting everyone to silence but Alex couldn’t quite hear it. His ears were ringing and he was terrified of what was to come. Sure enough, when a hand came down to his desk and slammed down sheets of paper in front of him, he knew he was done for good. He remembered his father scolding then asking politely then te...

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“Table for One” by Wake Lloire

Submitted to Contest #59

Kari looked around the restaurant. It was a busy Friday night and the serving staff looked exhausted. Kari took out her notebook, something she brought to restaurants because she would rather people thought she was a restaurant reviewer than what she was in actuality. Kari had started seeing ghosts in the sandbox of her first house when she was three years old; a little boy who couldn’t explain to her why he couldn’t leave the sandbox. Kari visited him every day, and her father had been grateful for her “imaginary friend” because it had allo...

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“From the Window” by Daphne Pope

Submitted to Contest #59

You can’t watch the sunrise from my window, but you can just see the sun peeking over the skyscrapers of 52nd Street in New York City. Below, the pavement was crowded— as it always was. People walked down the dirty, dusty sidewalks, dodging taxis and eating breakfast on their way to work. A young woman was fighting with an old man in the middle of a street over who had flagged the taxi first. Other taxis honked, and their drivers screamed obscene words from their vehicles. On ...

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Write a story that feels lonely, despite being set in a packed city.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 230 stories

“Possible” by Grace Reardon

“New York City Blues” by Mustang Patty

“One in a Million” by Taryn Holmes

“Smells Like Geriatric Despair” by Joshua Scott Hotchkin Wordpress.dungherder.com

“Am I Invisible? ” by Monica D

“The New Girl!” by P. Jean

“The Cottonwood Tree” by Lani Lane

“Marooned ” by Chandrika R Krishnan

“Up on the Roof” by Kathleen March

“watch” by Ari Berri

“Matters of the Heart” by Iris Silverman

“The Wrong Place at the Right Time” by Deborah Mercer

“Never Ending Story” by Bareera Samra

“Table for One” by Wake Lloire

“From the Window” by Daphne Pope

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a couple who have just moved to a place that one person loves, and the other hates.

Write about a character arriving in a place unlike anywhere they’ve ever been.

Set your story in a place with extreme weather, but don’t use any weather-related words to describe it.

Set your story in a small town where everyone is suspicious of newcomers.

Contest #59

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

767

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: