Set your story during a complete city or nation-wide blackout.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Feb 3, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 52 stories

“Lights Out, Knights Rout” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #184

Hear ye, hear ye; swearing, violence, battle and death follow, and some nudity if that helps? Sir Danielle Longbow had her hands one hand on Lupita Smith’s cheek, the other groping the witch’s backside. The knight’s teeth nibbled playfully at her lover’s ear as they writhed on their four poster bed. The contrast of Danielle’s snow white skin against Lupita’s was stark in the orange firelight. The muscles of the knight’s arms were matched only by the witch’s thighs. Bot...

20 comments 20

Read story

“Life is what happens when things go awry” by Viga Boland

Submitted to Contest #184

I smiled, but inwardly, I was seething.“Is there any chance you could put those phones away while we share our first dinner together since Covid?” I asked my two adult daughters and son-in-law. “Surely this is more important than whoever’s on the other side of that screen.”“Sure mom,” replied Brynn. “Was just checking the pet camera to see where Misha is. She’s curled up on the couch as usual…”As if I cared where the darn cat was!I tried not to glare at Valerie as she clicked off her iPhone. “I just sent Alex’s mom and dad a photo of this de...

34 comments 34

Read story

“A Different League” by Steve Rogers

Submitted to Contest #184

The blackout started at eight thirty-nine exactly and the knock on the door came around one hour later. Jess had been streaming My Fair Lady, watching it with her nine-year-old son, Paul. Before the film had started Jess had looked out of the window of her tiny two-bedroom apartment, in Jackson Heights, New York. It was a wintery, moonless late January evening and Jess and Paul had been mostly inside since Thursday. Only venturing out to the corner store to get milk and what supplies she could afford. Now, with no wind and no cloud cover th...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Hesitant, the Responsible, and the Victors” by Miriam Rhodes

Submitted to Contest #184

The protagonist was running… the airplane was coming… it hit the ground… everything went black. “Wait! Is that how they’re going to end the episode?” I turned to my husband in utter shock. The screen had gone entirely black and was showing no signs of glowing back to life. “They can’t do that. I can’t wait a whole other week to find out what happens next. I just can’t!” My husband freed his arm from around my shoulders and reached for the controls. He powered them back on, the little button glowing to life in ...

8 comments 8

Read story

“Murder in the Dark” by M Hepburn

Submitted to Contest #184

Silence. And not the good kind of silence either. The kind of silence that hurts your ears. The kind of silence that makes your heart drop and your stomach do flips. The kind of silence that makes you feel so queasy you need to sit down. There was just one problem, I could not see where to sit down. I could not see anything. Nothing at all. The blackout had started around 50 minutes ago and it just so happened that it was almost exactly 51 minutes ago that I had witnessed a murder. The murder of a stranger, yet I felt as if I had known...

4 comments 4

Read story

“The flip of a coin” by Erica Dorsey

Submitted to Contest #184

Everybody knows that it’s not supposed to snow in fucking Texas. Every year the weatherman forecasts snowy weather…… and every year there’s not a speck of snow on the gotdamn grown Those were the rules. Snowy weather was just an excuse to have snow days to call off from work and school. They were supposed to be relaxing. However, that meant that Slushy Jackson was not supposed to trudging through four foot deep snow, in the middle of gotdamn nowhere, and searching for a winter spirit. Okay, to be fair– Everything started a couple of weeks ag...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Don’t Matter” by Sophie F

Submitted to Contest #184

What happened shouldn't be surprising, considering this happens every time. And yet, the sight of my brother lying on the ground dead makes me want to lie down next to him and die too. In my city, blackouts are more common than car crashes. No one knows why they happen, but every time the lights go out everyone knows that someone's gonna die. The blackouts started in March last year. It's now June, and the 15 month anniversary of the first death. She wasn't even from here, but I guess place of origin doesn't matter for most killers. She u...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Blown Fuse” by KT George

Submitted to Contest #184

Be bold. Be brave. Be unafraid. Don't dream your life. Live your dream. It's not about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself. Donovan had these sayings and more plastered all around his house, office, and even his Toyota Corolla's bumper. That's where the habit formed. He'd accidentally backed into a light pole, scuffing the plastic and paint. He didn't want to turn the damage into his insurance for fear they would raise his rates. Later that day, he saw his first life quotes sticker at a convenience store and decided it...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Thieves in the Night” by Elijah Rose

Submitted to Contest #184

Mazen was used to Rami asking strange tasks. Mazen was paid to get things done quietly and not ask questions, and a man who paid well and on time was something a day laborer like Mazen very desperately needed when he met Rami, who even taught him how to shoot with a rifle. They actually met through Mazen's sister, Adara, whose profession over the past few years was never spoken aloud. Rami never had any interest in Adara's services, but instead paid her to attend parties as a favor for clan leaders and government officials where she would bo...

0 comments 0

Read story

“When Darkness Falls” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #184

“We are all of us, afraid of the dark” he says it sadly, as though he’s delivering a terminal diagnosis, and in a way, he is. “When we’re kids, yeah,” snorts Philips. Now he’s lazily shaking his head with an economy that makes it all the more striking, “we still are. Every last one of us.” “How do you work that one out?” says Philips, disdain dripping from his words, disdain and the beginnings of aggression. There is a threat here, but it’s pathetic. Philips is showing himself to be that bully-in-waiting and I wish he’d shut up. I disl...

9 comments 9

Read story

“The Darkness ” by Tameka Blackwell

Submitted to Contest #184

Hello, hello, can anybody hear me"? Yells Bryan as he tremors in fear of the darkness "NO one can hear you!" Kelly said while pacing back and forth, trying to figure out a plan to get out of the Darkness and to some light. Stuck in the city of Tennessee in the middle of nowhere. Bryan reached into his pants pocket to grab his phone; when he opened it, he noticed it only had 3 bars left. While he knew that 3 percent of a battery wouldn't last long, he smiled and shined the light on Kelly. "Look, we have some light," Kelly's...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Sassy” by Molly Kelash

Submitted to Contest #184

CW-slight hint of suicidal thinking, some swear wordsSweet sax strains of "Stormy Weather" swell and fall, taking the edge off my aching loneliness for a moment.But my classic jazz downloads fail to distract me from my level six pain this morning. They never help with pain, but I like to tell the few people I still talk to in the flesh other than doctors that they do, that music is a pain management strategy, a mindfulness tactic I employ alongside my daily rainbow of drugs. These caring folks crease their brows, nod ooh and a...

7 comments 7

Read story

“Memories Like Smoke” by Carmen Grey

Submitted to Contest #184

Arya Locke glanced down at the knife in her hands. It trembled slightly and she tightened her grip.Thinking too hard could seal her fate. Thinking too little was just as deadly a mistake.She walked over to the window, in reflection.Dusk was arriving on slow currents, the sun setting: a distant orb of orange. The sky hueing to dimmer shades, fading down into the grey buildings and the few sad trees, with green heads bowed in their lonely sorrow. The only ones sentenced to this monotoned and strangely empty street.She hadn’t always hated New Y...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Church of the Green Comet” by Mark Baxter

Submitted to Contest #184

It was the Babylon Day party that started it all. If I hadn’t gone to Harry’s party marking five long, hard years since the events of Babylon Day, when the blackout started, I wouldn’t be writing this letter. But … But it was, after all, the fifth anniversary of the start of the blackout, which everyone called Babylon Day. The theme of the party was, of course, Babylon V. Everyone came as their favorite alien ambassador. How could I resist? Things were finally settling down to the new normal. The electrical power industry had gotten used...

2 comments 2

Read story

“A hot afternoon in New York” by Stevie Burges

Submitted to Contest #184

A hot afternoon in New YorkIn the searing heat of an August afternoon in 2003, I popped into a Barnes and Noble bookstore near Broadway in Manhattan. I was at the end of my initial two-day visit to NY before meeting with Will and his wife to swap locations and go to Avalon, New Jersey.The plan was to meet Will at the World Trade Centre (WTC) on Thursday, 14th August, after he’d finished work, at about 6 o’clock. We both worked for the same global financial company. I was located in London, and Will was based in our new corpora...

9 comments 9

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone saying “Houston, we have a problem.”

Dialogue – 41 stories

Write a story about a character who is experiencing glitches in their reality.

Mystery – 82 stories

Write about someone who has chosen to disconnect and live an analog life.

Character – 36 stories

Write a story where a character has to decide whether to press the button or not.

Science Fiction – 70 stories

Contest #184

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Technical Difficulties

$250

Prize money

281

Contest entries

121

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 10, 2023 EST

Won by Michelle Oliver 🏆

Title: All the Lonely People

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Set your story during a complete city or nation-wide blackout.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 52 stories

“Lights Out, Knights Rout” by Graham Kinross

“Life is what happens when things go awry” by Viga Boland

“A Different League” by Steve Rogers

“The Hesitant, the Responsible, and the Victors” by Miriam Rhodes

“Murder in the Dark” by M Hepburn

“The flip of a coin” by Erica Dorsey

“Don’t Matter” by Sophie F

“Blown Fuse” by KT George

“Thieves in the Night” by Elijah Rose

“When Darkness Falls” by Jed Cope

“The Darkness ” by Tameka Blackwell

“Sassy” by Molly Kelash

“Memories Like Smoke” by Carmen Grey

“The Church of the Green Comet” by Mark Baxter

“A hot afternoon in New York” by Stevie Burges

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone saying “Houston, we have a problem.”

Write a story about a character who is experiencing glitches in their reality.

Write about someone who has chosen to disconnect and live an analog life.

Write a story where a character has to decide whether to press the button or not.

Contest #184

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

281

Contest entries

121

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: