Write about a character breaking a rule, but for good reason.

Posted in Teens on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 38 stories

“Destination: Trouble” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #116

I closed my eyes, as I passed through the prison gates. Fear kept them shut, not daring to discover I was only dreaming. Three years behind prison walls had diminished my world to an eight by six jail cell and an open area surrounded by towering walls. To dream something bigger was almost sacrilegious. Not until I felt the cool, fresh breeze brush across my face did I dare to open them. When I did, I found myself facing a landscape stretching for miles ahead. Green carpet laid before me, to be touched at the seams by a brilliant blue sky. ...

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“The Capitol: Compromised” by Elizabeth Fenley

Submitted to Contest #116

“Get a message to Prodigal—Athena blackmailed. Go to ground.” ‘Moses’ ducked quickly into a copse of trees, pulling Felicia with her. “You asked me to meet to deliver a message for you? Jeopardizing all the conductors? Stupidly dangerous. Why Prodigal?” Moses hissed, her face an inch from Felicia’s. “He’s my brother.” Felicia lived and worked inside The Capitol and was an Underground Railroad conductor along the journey to the ‘Land of Canaan.’ Her brother Orion was a conductor at the last stop before Canaan. The Railroad helped people fleei...

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“Follow The Rules” by Lin Darroe

Submitted to Contest #116

When I was nine years old we lived on a dead end street in rural New Jersey. My Mom worked full time as my Dad had passed away a few years before and was the sole breadwinner of the family. There were four of us and we spent quite alot of time on our own. Back in those days , circa 1965 four or five children was a pretty average number of kids to have in one family . As I can recall many families had 5 children , and in grammar school I can recall that the Turner family had seventeen children , I ki...

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“A Pencil or a Pen?” by Floyd Lee

Submitted to Contest #116

John sat alone by the monkey bars. He watched the other 8th graders laughing and running around the playground. They were playing tag. Knockout. Four square. That wasn’t for him. None of it felt like… him. “I’m my own man,” he thought to himself, and no sooner had he said than a mild wave of insecurity rippled through him. Everyone around him always told him to “open up.” He always “needed” to do something—needed to be more social, to be more exciting, to be less boring, to be more like so-and-so. He was sick of it. As a fourteen-y...

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“When Fortunes Change” by Salvador Ulloa Jr.

Submitted to Contest #116

Ned searched frantically around the pool. Maybe he could find enough change to buy an ice cream, at this point anything would help. He stole a quick glance back to where his best friend was sitting wrapped in a towel. Asher was shaking despite the warmth of the day, it didn’t look like he was going to stay conscious much longer. Ned kept up his desperate search, wondering how things could have gone so wrong.****The morning had started just like dozens of other hot summer days. Ned rose from his bed a little past nine in the morning and found...

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“Dirt Is Dirt” by E. J. Wilhelm

Submitted to Contest #116

There is a dog barking. Not the sort of barking that demands play. Not the ‘Look at that! Look at that!’ sort of barking. Not angry barking. Cheyenne has never not had a dog. She knows what those all sound like, whether the dog is big or small, whether it barks like a plush toy or like its trying to shake down the moon. It’s the rapid, high-pitched, desperate yapping of a dog demanding help. She’s never heard it from her current dog, but it’s a sound that pulls at her sternum like a deep-set instinct. She stares at the bright yellow ‘PRI...

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“The Convent” by Mason Mieczkowski

Submitted to Contest #116

Dawson woke up in the woods. Curled up like a coward under a fallen tree with brush around it. He was good for now. No one was keen to the woods, they hadn’t used them, they were forbidden territory. But for Dawson, right now, the woods were the safest place for him to be. He was exploring them, just in case he needed to run. He crawled through the pickers and picked a few berries off the bush. He had eaten these blackberries before and they were...

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“To Do What Is Right” by Michael McGee

Submitted to Contest #116

A foreign princess of different race, stood alone in the tower, no one dare approach her.A trophy of war for this kingdom, and a symbol of peace for her own, her marriage to this kingdom’s prince was the unification needed to bring about the end of a bloody war. As she neared the looming door, she could hear the roar of the crowd now gathered in the city square, many of whom had lost loved ones in the bitter fighting and wished to see her dead.As the huge door crashed open, a rush of searing hot air swept past her, almost sending her off her...

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“Ginny Dietrick and Her Brush with the Law in Gainesville, GA” by Wy Jung

Submitted to Contest #116

Way back in the 1940's, I vaguely recall getting a ticket for something that had to do with parking. It's been so long ago now that honestly, I've forgotten all other details regarding the incident except that my dear husband Saul (godresthissoul) thought it amusing that I'd gotten so out of sorts about the simple infraction. He'd paid it off immediately with no further comment, though I'd insisted we should contest it. Besides that one unfortunate ticket, in all my 91 years I've steered clear of any trouble with the law. ...until today...

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“Puppy Love” by Jessica-Marie Gervais

Submitted to Contest #116

How in the world can birds be so damn cheerful in the morning? The dialogue from a strange version of one of Nick’s co-workers echoed in the most surreal office building he had ever been in. The chirps gave way to the fire alarm, and he woke in a panic. It didn’t take him long to figure out where the noise came from; grabbing his phone with a frustrated sigh, he swiped his alarm off and muttered, “Oh yeah, it’s a workday.” He stood up and stretched, moving just the tiniest bit faster than a slug. Mornings had never been easy for Nick, ev...

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“Fate of the Indisposed” by Cat Attack

Submitted to Contest #116

“I just can’t.” Jerry Thallow, a five-year police officer in Elyria, Ohio, told his comrade. “It’s not what I signed up for.”“It’s exactly what you signed up for, and you know it!” Margaret Rune retorted back. “This is part of being in the police department!” Silence awaited them as they glared at each other. “And you can’t drop out now.” She told him, almost eerily, as he was about to speak. It worked, though, and he sealed his mouth shut, the truth holding back his snarky comments. Jerry had once before been able to slide by, not bein...

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“Girl's Lost Dog” by BRAXTON TOOMATH

Submitted to Contest #116

Sonya is a 12 year old girl, an only child white hair freckles on her face. She is five feet two inches tall. “That took forever,” I said, panting “where you were,” my mom said with a soft smile. “I... I was at the park”, I said trying not to smile “ok uh I gotta go do homework bye.” I rushed to my room leaving a dust trail behind me. I got in my room and locked the door phew, Tap Tap what was that? It was my snotty 6 year old neighbor Jackie. “what do you want! I said“opening my window “did you hear about the dog show?” ‘No and I don't want...

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“Telling Touch” by Deanna Badgley

Submitted to Contest #116

TW: Story alludes to violence but does not contain any explicit content. The restaurant was relatively quiet for a Wednesday night. I keep a personal, standing reservation at this local Italian place I’m really into right now. Ever since I moved here, I've kept up this tradition, changing the restaurant after a year or so of patronage. Regardless of what’s going on in my life, I always like to treat myself to dinner once a week. I eat alone most of the time anyway, but somehow eating in a restaurant turns it into something else, lik...

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“From the Cupboard” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #116

“Peter! Have you forgotten about the Green Rule?”The pupil froze on the spot the very second Mrs. Soloway raised her voice, stopping midway between the door and the teacher’s desk as all of his classmates directed their inquisitive stares towards him. He might as well have been a frail, hopeless leaf caught in a sudden winter storm, hammered to the ground by the merciless weight of the snow falling from the skies.Truth be told, her tone had been kind and nurturing. One might even say playful. Had her words been sung to the tune of the softes...

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“Sins of the Father” by Kieran Conway

Submitted to Contest #116

Sins of the Father “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It’s been...waow, years since my last confession,” the man said, that fact obviously just dawning on him. A short, throaty chuckle from the listening side of the confessional reminded him of a department store Santa. “I’m not here to judge,” the priest said. “I’m just the middle man; now, tell me your sins” “Sin, Father,” the man said, correcting him. “I’m sorry?” “There’s just the one sin, Father.” “Go on,” the priest said hesitantly. “I killed a man, Father.” “I’m sorry?” “I kill...

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Write about a character breaking a rule, but for good reason.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 38 stories

“Destination: Trouble” by Howard Seeley

“The Capitol: Compromised” by Elizabeth Fenley

“Follow The Rules” by Lin Darroe

“A Pencil or a Pen?” by Floyd Lee

“When Fortunes Change” by Salvador Ulloa Jr.

“Dirt Is Dirt” by E. J. Wilhelm

“The Convent” by Mason Mieczkowski

“To Do What Is Right” by Michael McGee

“Ginny Dietrick and Her Brush with the Law in Gainesville, GA” by Wy Jung

“Puppy Love” by Jessica-Marie Gervais

“Fate of the Indisposed” by Cat Attack

“Girl's Lost Dog” by BRAXTON TOOMATH

“Telling Touch” by Deanna Badgley

“From the Cupboard” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

“Sins of the Father” by Kieran Conway

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character seeking forgiveness for something that happened in the past.

Start your story with someone being forbidden from doing something.

Write about a character who is being asked for their blessing, but is reluctant to give it.

Write a story that centers around a parking permit.

Contest #116

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

174

Contest entries

112

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: