Set your story during a drought.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Aug 19, 2022

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✍️ 72 stories

“When The Dry Spell Ends or: The Myth of Maggie” by Lauryn Gibson

Submitted to Contest #160

I first met Maggie in the summer before high school. I was schlepping across the quad, leaving my mother to buy textbooks and uniforms in my place as I went to check the thing I dreaded the most… my first ever class schedule. Knowing this was severely make-or-break only added to the pubescent anxiety, and the black clothing meant to shield me from the perception of my peers was working against me in the sweatiest way possible. Deep in my own thoughts and fears, I was not paying very close attention to others. Enter: Maggie. ...

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“Thirst” by Liam Hartt

Submitted to Contest #160

Thirst. The last dog still alive in the area was observing Karl carefully sipping from his glass of water sat under the porch of his porch. The dog was looking around constantly with wide eyes, searching for a new source of water. The last remaining drops evaporated under Karl’s tongue when he suddenly noticed the dog looking at an approaching figure and barking wildly. When Karl saw the source of the dog’s excitement he realized that an old man was approaching him begging for help. “Can I help you?” he said to the man in front of him, doubt...

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“One foot in front of the other” by Lucia Whitely

Submitted to Contest #160

Balancing across the cracked ground. A thin line to walk. Feet burning hot, soles pressing firmly onto the cracked baked surface. Another one hundred yards, roughly to go. Sounds of your breathing only. Pain racks you from head to toe but you walk on. You must. Your mind cannot wander as one false step and the precious drops of water you have been carrying will trickle away. Sucked into the dehydrated ground and again thirst will come for you. The thin stretch of ground you balance on acts as a bridge across the dried-up ravine, which has ...

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“Sin and Drought” by Marie White

Submitted to Contest #160

She slammed the electric bill onto the maple table. Missing a leg but too expensive to replace and, therefore, propped up by dog-eared paperbacks, it wobbled. Arden stopped fiddling with his glucose meter to turn toward her and scowl. She sighed. “We can’t let this keep going on.” “What do you want me to do? I can’t make it rain.” If only he, or a...

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“Breach of Contract” by M.M. Ricain

Submitted to Contest #160

Leslie sat on a lone chair outside, large umbrella opened wide over her head. She stared out at the familiar grey-brown metropolitan hellscape, the bright noon sun overhead making the air shimmer with heat. Hotlanta, the city used to be called in jest. I’m sure it was never this hot back then Leslie mused. A familiar rattling in the distance broke through her thoughts, announcing the arrival of the much-needed water. It’d been particularly bad this time–usually there was drop of rain when skies overhead churned with thunder and flashed wit...

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“TRANSMIGRATION” by R. J. Garron

Submitted to Contest #160

Netikka gazed across the room at the congregation. Anxiety weighed on her heart as she contemplated whether the final ritual would yield the desired results. It was necessary however, and to avoid it was to die miserably. Her eyes shifted to the windows; outside was pitch black. It was in the dead of a windless night, the air stale from parchment and a silence that overshadowed the waning hours. Rituals like this were redundant, especially when under the tutelage of the village shaman, but thi...

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“And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea” by Rachel Dokko

Submitted to Contest #160

“And then, as never on land, he knows the truth that his world is a water world, a planet dominated by its covering mantle of ocean, in which continents are but transient intrusions of land above the surface of the all-encircling sea.” ~ Rachel Carson Two slick gray bodies came to the fading edge where my waves crashed against the beach, a now blinding white expanse of jagged crystals piled into salt dunes that replaced the once smooth sand of the island coast. The first body had a white spot on the back of its head. It was round, like an...

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“The Liquid of Life” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #160

He passed her the canteen and she took it hastily with her gloved hand. “Just a sip” he told her “We don’t have much left in it. They were fighting against time and the opponent was winning. “Are we going to get it done before the dust storm do you think?” she asked him, licking her chaffed and dry lips and then pulling her kerchief up. “Dunno” was his short reply – “just keep going”. They had been out in the paddock since early morning fixing up the fences that the wild horses had destroyed. The sheep had been temporarily houses on their ne...

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“The river of Babylon” by Becca Fox

Submitted to Contest #160

A fictional reflection on the Hanging Gardens of Babylo Nothing is possible without water. I reflect on my life and am grateful that I haven’t had to know this sooner, in all of my 70 years. Nothing is possible without water. I’ve never wanted for anything, let alone water. My life has been one of excess and relaxation. Fresh bread, meat, succulent fruit, sweets, and honey. Rich wine, doting, attention. I’ve never had to care about anything. The burn of worry in my chest is one I’ve experienced so rarely, I thought I was having a heart attac...

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“What You Leave Behind” by Melissa Lee

Submitted to Contest #160

“Mom! Mom!” I woke abruptly to the panicked whisper of my ten-year-old, Benji, who was also shaking my shoulder. Adrenaline shot my body upright and I grabbed his hands, which had started to move toward his temples. Pulling out his hair was a fairly new development, gradually worsening after the death of his father, my husband, six months ago. He had started with pulling out eyebrows, then eyelashes, and had recently started with the hair at his temples. Fear bloomed in my chest, but I shoved it down and gentled my grip...

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“For the Want of a Nail” by Brian Bywater

Submitted to Contest #160

FOR THE WANT OF A NAIL The Ancient Mariner said ‘Water water everywhere and all the boards did shrink, water water everywhere nor any a drop to drink. How can that be? I hear you ask, well the reason is not what you think. The tap came off in the kitchen the one over the washing up sink Stupid, stupid me!! I had nothing to do with killing an albatross yet here I am spending valuable time making up a poem about an absolute disaster in my own home. It was the thought of the boards shrinking that did it. Polished wood floors and water...

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“Dry” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #160

The sun washes through the land from the moment it opens its uncaring eye, intensifying and flexing its might as the day goes on. For the goliath of fire, the day is barely the blink of an eye, for the tiny miracles on the surface of the planet who rely upon that ball of fire for their very existence, it is interminable. The magnifying glass of this endless Summer burns the land and the little boy holding the glass, under which all the living creatures scurry, cares nothing for the game he plays. It is as though he left some while ago, dis...

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Set your story during a drought.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 72 stories

“When The Dry Spell Ends or: The Myth of Maggie” by Lauryn Gibson

“Thirst” by Liam Hartt

“One foot in front of the other” by Lucia Whitely

“Sin and Drought” by Marie White

“Breach of Contract” by M.M. Ricain

“TRANSMIGRATION” by R. J. Garron

“And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea” by Rachel Dokko

“The Liquid of Life” by Valerie Preston

“The river of Babylon” by Becca Fox

“What You Leave Behind” by Melissa Lee

“For the Want of a Nail” by Brian Bywater

“Dry” by Jed Cope

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone seeking an oasis in a desert — whether literally, or figuratively.

Start your story with the whistle of a kettle.

Write about a character whose job is to bring water to people.

End your story with someone dancing in the rain.

Contest #160

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

266

Contest entries

109

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: