Set your story during the hottest day of the year.

Posted in Summer on Aug 2, 2024

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✍️ 87 stories

“Madness Under A Mad Sun” by Jesse Michael Berryman

Submitted to Contest #262

Ashbreath and her commander peered over a large blue pond, a searing wind blowing the precious water to life in gentle waves. She looked forward to this burning day every age, and at last here it had come again. The temperature wasn’t just slightly higher than the day before, it was unbearably hotter. Most people within the territory of Malstray would be shut inside their homes, cool rags on their faces, their windows and doors drawn shut to avoid the oppressive Sun. However, the people of Dieser were not like most others. Living amongst the...

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“SUMMER HEAT” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #262

SUMMER HEAT “It's so hot you could fry an egg on the asphalt today.” gasped Kirk Greene as he entered his house and dropped his messenger bag and mail onto the floor. His pitbull stared at him in stunned surprise. Something was not right. The mail and bag were always placed neatly on the console table just inside the front door. The mail was sorted into various categories depending on its importance and urgency, then placed into the letter trays to keep it organized. The house was only slightly cooler than the temperature outside. Kirk...

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“A Real Hot Corner” by Thomas Wetzel

Submitted to Contest #262

The tall and dark-haired NYPD officer who clicked the cuffs on Gabriel and stuffed him in the back of the patrol car clearly looked Italian and he was almost certainly from somewhere in Brooklyn or Queens based on his accent. He was a nice enough guy though and didn’t get rough or angry or anything like that, but this was Gabe’s third pop in the last year or so. They wouldn’t be seeing him out on the block for a while. He wasn’t gonna make bail. He was going to Rikers, and then somewhere up north for a while.Angel came back out and sat on th...

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“The Man at the Door” by Matt Pearson

Submitted to Contest #262

Refusing to get out of bed, Alan stared up at the ceiling fan and watched the blades spin with a low hum. His procrastination was brought on by something he tried to avoid whenever possible: family drama. Unfortunately for Alan, that was something he would have to face today. Just not in the way he expected. Alan was also not looking forward to enduring the thirty-year high temperature forecasted today. But the weather would be the least of his worries. Savannah, Alan’s seventeen-year old stepdaughter, was caught with some friends in the sch...

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“Molly” by Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #262

Work finally over, Molly scrambled her belongings together, aimed a fleeting goodbye in the direction of her colleagues, and left the office. She’d forgotten her girlfriend Grace’s birthday and though Grace hadn’t said anything that morning, Molly wanted to make it up to her with a special evening. Molly spiralled down the stairs, out of the building and practically tumbled into the street, pulling her tote bag over her right shoulder as she managed to get her left arm into her coat sleeve. She checked her watch, determined...

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“Love in a time of heat stroke” by Noah Graham

Submitted to Contest #262

**Story contains sexual references, domestic abuse and the metric system**The temperatures had been above 30 degrees Celcius all week. Jen didn't like air conditioning for ideological reasons. Air conditioners can’t actually get rid of the heat, they just move it out of your house and apartment, cooling you by warming everyone else. When the temperature was under 30, She would tell herself she was better than that, That she wouldn’t hurt others for her own comfort. When it’s over 30 she seeks shelter in public buildings with AC.Tonight she s...

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“Arizona Summer” by Cieanna Arnett

Submitted to Contest #262

The once cold bath has turned lukewarm. Marlo Blake sits in the tub, her skin turning prune-like. She clutches a copy of Wuthering Heights. Marlo sets the book down, leans over the side of the tub, and reaches for her phone on the floor. Checking the time, she sees it's been over an hour since she first entered the bathtub. She sighs and lays her head back for a moment. It’s been sitting at over one hundred and twenty degrees in Lake Havasu City for the past six days, and the power grid is failing. Most of the city has lost energ...

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“Pushing Daisies” by Horace Auldwyn

Submitted to Contest #262

As the temperature in the city rose to a historic high, Carl and his half-charred companion raced against the clock. It was just before noon on the August long-weekend and the insatiable picnic, beachgoer, and birthday party crowds were ringing up for pizza at an alarming rate. Carl had been unexpectedly dispatched by “Pepper’s Only Pizza” on 4th street and Main. Mr. Pepper was a proud man who had painstakingly built his pizzeria from the ground up. Throughout the decades his once jet-black hair greyed and his defiant stance settled into a c...

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“Hot Box” by Mike Spotten

Submitted to Contest #262

David was bored. Worse than that he was bored and it was so hot he didn’t want to move. His best friend, Brad, lived 3 streets over and it seemed too far, so instead he laid on the wooden wrap-around porch with his head hanging off the edge looking at the world upside down. The air was thick and clinging to his skin. He tried to stay as still as possible, but it wasn’t helping. He watched as sweat dripped down his forehead and dropped to the dirt below, then would count until another drop fell in the same spot. One, two, three, four, five, d...

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“HOT PLANET HOT PROPEERTY” by Frances Goulart

Submitted to Contest #262

Frances.goulart@gmail.com HOT PLANET, HOT PROPERTY “Hey, come on in, pal! You look soggy.” “No surprise. This is the hottest day of the summer of this year, or last year or the year before. Check your thermometer! “ “It’s maybe the hottest summer day ever, I’m hearing. But not in here.” “I know every August is steamy but this one is different. I swear, I’ve been sweating from my armpits and eyebrows for two days now. “It's climate change... That’s gotta be it. “ “Yeah maybe, maybe not. But whatever it is out there.&...

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“One hot summer” by Daniel Ward

Submitted to Contest #262

So every year my family has the same vacation.Dad loads the car up with all the fishing stuff, including enough rods and landing nets to supply a couple more people if we wanted to. But we don’t ask anyone else to come. His focus is on fish, not friendship.Mom brings a stack of Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen magazines. Mikey has his toy Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with their horses. I call them his cowboy dolls, but Mom and Dad say boys don’t play with dolls, so they can’t be dolls.Once Dad fills the trunk of that ’63 Galaxie with fishing s...

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“Summer Pieces of Hope” by Larissa Antonioni

Submitted to Contest #262

"You cannot put the frog in your lunch box." Aurora glanced up at me from where she crouched on the ground, a croaking amphibian clutched in her hands with bulging eyes that screamed, "save me." "But Liz, I want to take it home," she whined. &nbsp...

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“Black Onyx” by Debra Brown

Submitted to Contest #262

It was hotter than it had been in weeks and the humidity cloaked the town with its thick suffocating presence. At the top of a pale white clock tower, the bell chimed eight, resounding with melancholic peals that echoed through the busy working district below. Weathered apartments, planted above quaint specialty shops, stood in formation along a narrow street, rose high into a twilight sky. Open windows begging for relief from the heat only added tension to the already thick air as the din from the domestic chaos permeated the s...

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“Perfect Day for Ice Cream” by Anna Tolly

Submitted to Contest #262

“Did you know ice cream sales go up with murder rates?” He says between panting breaths. “What are you even talking about?” I ask, trying to hide my annoyance. I step over a large boulder and stumble but catch myself. An injury this far up would not be good. Sweat pours down my forehead and stings my eyes. “Oh, I read that once. It was talking about correlation. The ice cream doesn’t really cause the murders of course, but the both go up with heat.” Alex says before taking a long drink from his water bottle. “You know when it’s hot peo...

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“The Hunderds” by Rawge Jones

Submitted to Contest #262

I like the word hundred. I like it even more when I change the end to erd. It just sounds cool. A hunderd bucks. A hunderd pounds. A hunderd miles. I remember a day that came up all hunderds. About 35 years ago, I was in college and working for a senator that had a little gentleman's farm. A gentleman's farm is almost like a regular farm, except it exists mostly to let rich people tell their friends that they have a farm. I didn't care. It was a good gig. I could show up anytime I didn't have class. I always had something that ne...

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Set your story during the hottest day of the year.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 87 stories

“Madness Under A Mad Sun” by Jesse Michael Berryman

“SUMMER HEAT” by Glenna Agnew

“A Real Hot Corner” by Thomas Wetzel

“The Man at the Door” by Matt Pearson

“Molly” by Penelope Stansfield

“Love in a time of heat stroke” by Noah Graham

“Arizona Summer” by Cieanna Arnett

“Pushing Daisies” by Horace Auldwyn

“Hot Box” by Mike Spotten

“HOT PLANET HOT PROPEERTY” by Frances Goulart

“One hot summer” by Daniel Ward

“Summer Pieces of Hope” by Larissa Antonioni

“Black Onyx” by Debra Brown

“Perfect Day for Ice Cream” by Anna Tolly

“The Hunderds” by Rawge Jones

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a summer vacation gone wrong.

Start or end your story with a heatwave announcement.

Write about a character who is allergic to heat.

Center your story around an unexpected summer fling.

Contest #262

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

266

Contest entries

91

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: