Start your story with the lines: “The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.”

Posted in Short Story on Feb 7, 2025

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✍️ 109 stories

“Where Familiarity Forever Evades” by Patrick Sharkey

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar, I don't know how I got here. The shadow man, and his wide-brimmed hat resting above his smouldering ember eyes, chatters non-stop. It’s so dark. He skips about the room, up then down I can sense where he is from the malice which leaks from him like bad air out of a slow puncture. Last I remember, I was standing amidst the dust on the small landing fields in Malta. We had to lug sacks of flour to the mess hall, it was 78 goddam degrees in the shade and I was in no mood. The air was thick with memories, an oil...

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“My Own Two Feet” by Christine Foy Jackson

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. It wasn’t what I saw, at first, that made me realize where I was. It was the smell—something antiseptic--and a faint odor of blood. When I opened my eyes, the light washed over everything. I couldn’t take in one single image, so I closed them and opened them more slowly. I was in bed, saw my feet straining under a sheet pulled tight at the corners. They were tipped toward each other, sad and unused. I heard the voices of other people in the room. One was a man, leaned over the bed—too clos...

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“LOST MEMORIES” by MERCY CHEBET

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.The air smells of dust and something metallic, like old pennies left too long in the rain. A single lightbulb flickers overhead, casting jittery shadows on the peeling wallpaper. I push myself upright, my head throbbing. The bed beneath me is stiff, the sheets course against my skin.Where am I?I scan the room. A wooden dresser, its drawers slightly ajar. A cracked mirror leaning against the wall. A chair, overturned near the door. Nothing feels like mine. I reach for my pocket, but my finge...

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“The Midnight Tides ” by Alex Ludwick

Submitted to Contest #289

(Trigger warning: this short story observes the nature of late stage Dementia, whilst there is nothing graphic described, some may find the subject matter upsetting. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy) The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. A strange man stares at me through the screen. He reads from neatly stacked sheets of parchment, tapping them upon his desk sporadically as they lose their shape and file. An amorphous blob of beige sits before me, a spoon lies suggestively beside it. Whose clothes are these? It’s...

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“Ghost Notes” by Alex Marmalade

Submitted to Contest #289

*The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here.* The words filtered through the earbud nestled in James Mitchell's left ear, delivered in his own voice with clinical precision. He stood before a mirror in what appeared to be a hospital staff bathroom, fluorescent lights casting harsh shadows across his face. Wine-colored scrubs hung slightly loose on his frame, as if they'd been chosen for someone else. *You're experiencing an episode of Korsakoff-Wernicke encephalopathy. The condition affects your ability to form new memories. Trust n...

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“Static Reverie” by Gabriel Savage

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. There’s a dull hum of fluorescent lights flickering overhead, the kind that never quite stay on, like the world’s forgotten how to be fully awake. The bar’s a dive—grimy, the walls soaked with a history of bad decisions and stale beer. It’s just another place to drown out the noise of the outside world, or at least pretend the noise isn’t there. I find myself staring out the window, watching the headlights paint the street in that same frantic, artificial dance, like the city’s trying to s...

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“My room was familiar” by Farah Durrani

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.”A morning with humming birds and a night with stars, a place was full of happiness with beautiful moments to enjoy. People woke up to begin their lives. Some for the work, many walked their kids to schools, and some consuming food with sips of tea. There was a place called home with voices of life, where prayers were being called, laughter was echoing, and a smell of delicious food was roaming around the street. There was a girl named Fatima. Fatima, a pure soul of love and innocence, who ...

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“Whispers in the Dark” by Azra Tuna

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. Cold air snakes along my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. The walls are rough, uneven stone, slick with dampness, as if this place has been swallowed by time itself. The faintest glimmer of light seeps through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating dust motes that dance eerily in the stillness. A deep, suffocating silence clings to the air, thick and unyielding. I press my palm against the floor, feeling the jagged edges of cracked tiles beneath my fingertips. My b...

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“Tomorrow's Memory ” by Shawn Luther

Submitted to Contest #289

"The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.” He ran his hand along the fireplace mantel, his fingers brushing over framed photographs. He tilted his head, brow furrowed in thought. “I remember….remember….” He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, pressing a closed fist to his forehead. He turned toward the group of people clustered behind the lights and cameras surrounding the sound stage. “I’m sorry, can we do it again?” Even though the lighting of the scene was muted, Henry still had t...

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“THE BLANKET” by Jan Moore

Submitted to Contest #289

"The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here." Thunder had broken my sleep, the anticipation of the rain to come provoked a shiver. I open my eyes, but there is darkness. I am in a small room There is no window, a door lets just enough light from beneath it that I can see the room. The floor is dirt, damp, and smells bad. I am alone. Next to me is a blanket. It is clean and does not smell like the room.My first thought is that this must be a dream. Surely, it is not real, but it feels real. I had no answers, only questions....

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“All Kinds of Wrong” by Helen Rowlands

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. I’ll just lie here for a minute and everything will make sense, or I’ll just wake up and it’ll be a dream. And he wills himself back to sleep. But sleep won’t come, so he lies there, and lies there, eyes wide open despite himself but still it doesn’t make sense. He has worked out where he is, he remembers helping to decorate it, but that was years ago. He just doesn’t understand why he’s there now. Or how he got here. What on earth has he done? ...

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“Duped: The Anatomy of a Scam” by Louis Carufel

Submitted to Contest #289

Duped: The Anatomy of a Scamby Louis Carufel Note: Below is an exchange of emails. Some names have been redacted because that’s what they do on real police reports. Day 15:45 a.m.Louis, hi. Do you have a minute because I would like to ask you something quickly. Steve 6:30 a.m.Good morning, Steve. I do have a minute and many more, so feel free to call any time you like. I'm home. Louis 6:31 a.m.I hope you're doing good! My apologies for not giving you a call about this, but I'm dealing with a pretty nasty throat infection at...

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“HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN AN UNFAMILIAR ROOM” by Frances Goulart

Submitted to Contest #289

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN AN UNFAMILIAR ROOM “Hello? Where am I? This room is so strange. This can’t be a hotel room. This broken-down chair and me are the only things here! How did I get here and where is here ANYWAY? This can’t be a dream. . Should I pinch myself? Does that work? Probably not and anyway, I felt that pinch. It feels like I’m pretty high up. I hate heights. My God, it’s only 8 am. Why am I not sitting at the breakfast table? Why are the windows all taped up? Has someone moved ...

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“Piles of VHS Tapes” by Nicolas Wood

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. I lay curled up on a thick green leather couch. After twisting and stretching for about ten minutes, I take a deep breath and relish in the comfort of those soft yet firm sofa cushions that have molded to the shape of my body during the night, I guess. I wake up in that strange room, but feel not the slightest bit anxious - which is quite a strange feeling for a neurotic. The room is desperately quiet. The dark blue light of a winter morning cracks through a narrow-gaped window on the top ...

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“White Rooms” by Brandon Jeun Hei Ho

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. To my left and right, I see smooth, concrete walls painted an ivory white. In front of me, there is a silver-tinted mirror stretching the length of the wall horizontally. Oddly enough, I feel as if I should be panicking, but I'm not. There is a soft buzzing in my heart that keeps me from thinking too hard about my situation, and my whole body feels warm as if I have some sort of whole body fever. In front of me, there is a stainless steel table taking up most of the room. It is smooth, an...

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Start your story with the lines: “The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.”

Submissions are closed

✍️ 109 stories

“Where Familiarity Forever Evades” by Patrick Sharkey

“My Own Two Feet” by Christine Foy Jackson

“LOST MEMORIES” by MERCY CHEBET

“The Midnight Tides ” by Alex Ludwick

“Ghost Notes” by Alex Marmalade

“Static Reverie” by Gabriel Savage

“My room was familiar” by Farah Durrani

“Whispers in the Dark” by Azra Tuna

“Tomorrow's Memory ” by Shawn Luther

“THE BLANKET” by Jan Moore

“All Kinds of Wrong” by Helen Rowlands

“Duped: The Anatomy of a Scam” by Louis Carufel

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN AN UNFAMILIAR ROOM” by Frances Goulart

“Piles of VHS Tapes” by Nicolas Wood

“White Rooms” by Brandon Jeun Hei Ho

🌟 Similar prompts

Write your story as text messages or an online conversation between two characters — and at least one of them isn’t who they say they are.

Write an open-ended story in which your character’s fate is uncertain.

Write a story in which a character discovers that a truth they've believed their whole life is either false or not the whole story.

Your character is getting changed in the bathroom of a nightclub or restaurant, then emerges looking completely different. Why?

Contest #289

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

364

Contest entries

155

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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