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?

✍️ 54 stories

“Love in the Time of Apocalypse ” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Willy was in a pickle.As the electrical grid sputtered, Willy desperately tapped his computer to see if his blind date had received his spasmodic messages. Jay, the hopeless romantic at Willy’s work, had set Willy and Barbara Jean up before the remaining Arctic ice caps had melted. With rationing and queuing for breadlines and blaring air raid sirens causing pandemonium, it had been hard to find a suitable date and time to meet.Things had been chaotic at Willy’s work since the long-range missile attack and Atlant...

29 comments 29

Read story

“Lights Out, Knights Rout” by Graham Kinross

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. ...

20 comments 20

Read story

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

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 w...

34 comments 34

Read story

“A Different League” by Steve Rogers

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 Thursda...

2 comments 2

Read story

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

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 arou...

8 comments 8

Read story

“Murder in the Dark” by M Hepburn

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 w...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Don’t Matter” by Sophie F

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 ...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Blown Fuse” by KT George

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 wa...

5 comments 5

Read story

“The flip of a coin” by Erica Dorsey

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...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Thieves in the Night” by Elijah Rose

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...

0 comments 0

Read story

“When Darkness Falls” by Jed Cope

“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, disdai...

9 comments 9

Read story

“The Darkness ” by Tameka Blackwell

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 ...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Sassy” by Molly Kelash

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 ...

7 comments 7

Read story

“Memories Like Smoke” by Carmen Grey

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 s...

1 comment 1

Read story

“A hot afternoon in New York” by Stevie Burges

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 ...

9 comments 9

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Dialogue – 44 stories

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

Mystery – 84 stories

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

Character – 37 stories

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

Science Fiction – 72 stories

Contest #184

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Technical Difficulties

$250

Prize money

291

Contest entries

128

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!

Tired of MS Word?

Join the revolution and write your book in a tool designed for authors. 🙌

Includes FREE typesetting to print-ready PDF & EPUB files, track changes and collaborative editing.

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 54 stories

“Love in the Time of Apocalypse ” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“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

“Don’t Matter” by Sophie F

“Blown Fuse” by KT George

“The flip of a coin” by Erica Dorsey

“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

“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

291

Contest entries

128

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: