Write about a character who everyone thinks is guilty of something terrible, but isn’t.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Jul 16, 2021

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✍️ 179 stories

“Plead My Case” by Joe Bob

Submitted to Contest #70

A bright light shone in my eyes."All right, perp. What do you have to say?"I blinked. "Um, what's going on?""What do you mean, what's going on? You were caught red-handed at the biggest crime of the century."I was shocked. What?! I didn't do any crime! I was literally walking through the furniture store when... I'm not sure. It's fuzzy, but I think I sat down on one of the recliners and took a nap or something, but I didn't break the law."I'm sorry...what's your name?" I asked as innocently as I could."That's Sir to you!""Okay, sir, I'm sorr...

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“Boogeyman” by Ximena Chavez

Submitted to Contest #70

My vision became hazier by the second and the only thing that I could make out of it was the scary lady with a gun in her hand that stopped short in front of me. I listened to the weary sirens in the distance and the cries for help sounding somewhere far from here. I felt like I was losing myself, like I was dying. I could only faintly remember what happened before I blacked out. I remember a girl. A young one. She was about 11 years old with blue-gray eyes and long black hair. I remember her saying only one thing to me. It was a name. A nam...

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“Shattered Refuge” by A. S.

Submitted to Contest #70

Once they are gone, they never come back. Shattered moonlight drips across the crowded square. Pouring down buildings. Slipping through even the tiniest cracks. Fiery lights flicker up to where the moonlight ends. Trickling from crowded bars and street vendor’s carts. An explosion of multi-colored lights and rhythmic music fill the small square. With all the distraction, it is difficult the notice the small figure winding through the crowd. Head bowed; black sweatshirt pulled over unruly curls. Sweat slicked fingers are enfolded in rivulet...

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“Elia Wilkins, Falsely Accused of Murder” by ✰ 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐞 ✰

Submitted to Contest #70

EliaA body laid sprawled out on the ground in front of me. A dagger tumbled out of my hand and clattered to the ground. I stood there, shocked, my face turned ghost white. I heard sirens wailing in the distance, but I couldn’t move. I stared at the body of my best friend and watched the blood run down his forehead. A cop grabbed my arms and held them firmly behind my back. I couldn’t argue, I couldn’t speak. My mouth felt like all the life had been sucked out of it. All the words, thoughts, and music. Gone. A man with a freshly pre...

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“You'll Never Open the Door” by Sunshine (:

Submitted to Contest #70

I didn’t do it. Imagine. Me. Out of all people. They sure think I did it. But I did not. Never in a million years. Never in a lifetime. My sister has been missing for a year now. It’s her 1st year anniversary of the day someone took her from me. But I wasn’t that someone. I’m still locked up. Still breathing though. I collapse onto the concrete floor of the jail cell. If only she’d have listened to me. It was a dark night. I told her to go to bed. I floated off to sleep on the living room couch. I woke up hearing muffled scr...

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“In the shadows” by Ramla Ali

Submitted to Contest #70

Trigger warning: suicide Miranda turned the key,her brain still in shock of how close she had come to being killed by the mob at the front of her house. It had been a long day and she was just glad to have made it home safe and sound. She screamed when her phone rang. Everything that was happening had made her very jumpy. She knew it was just one of those reporters who wanted to ask her about the death of her husband and so she switched it off . There had been many of those lately after her husband was found hanging from the ceiling o...

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“Condemning the New Guy” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #70

Condemning the New Guy.I didn’t really know him. No one in our high school class did. He had moved into our small town in August just before school started. It is late November now, and we are still calling him ‘New Guy’. The rest of us had all grown up together, so he probably would be New Guy for quite some time.I was surprised to see him at the Friday night school dance. As far as I knew, he had not been to one before. He would be easy to spot as he is rather tall. When he sat down beside me, I didn’t know what to...

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“"𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓" 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅” by 💖♎ℂℍℝ𝕀𝕊𝕋𝕐 ℍ𝕆𝔽𝔽𝕄𝔸ℕℕ♎💖

Submitted to Contest #70

When Michelle woke up, it was like a normal day… The only thing to make it different was the party she had gone to the night before. She had refused to go to parties in the past. She had been afraid she would get drunk and get arrested or have a wreck, but Jeremy, her best friend, had a party at his house. She had stayed many nights there, the two of them talking for hours, so she knew she was safe.She decided to take a shower before leaving for her house. She got out and dried off, putting her clothes on, she realized she hadn't heard anyth...

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“The Count” by Chris Wagner

Submitted to Contest #70

Ashley and I had just won a game show, and were on our way to fetch the prize money when we heard a scream. Someone in the neighboring studio had just uncovered a dead body. The victim: A contestant from a cooking show called Shadow Chef. African American, female, overweight. The body had been completely drained of blood. I spotted two small puncture wounds in the neck. She had been wearing a cross, but it lay on a broken chain a couple feet away. You could see red marks where it got yanked off. The wom...

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“Trouble at Cripple Creek” by Jason Morgan

Submitted to Contest #70

Trouble at Cripple CreekIn the distance was the first water they had seen in four days. Billy led the way, as usual, with Frank and his wife, Celeste, followed, riding double. The blistering sun beat down on them, and the desolate, god forsaken desert was trying to kill them. The Chihuahuan Desert is a rocky, mountainous place, not a desert of sand and cacti. Tall sandstone cliffs, with a rusty reddish hue were scattered across the landscape, as the trio crossed into the New Mexico Territory. They were looking ...

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“Guilty Until Proven Innocent” by Trinity Womack

Submitted to Contest #70

“I didn’t kill her.” “Tell that to the judge, kid.” The police officer said and shoved her into the back of the police car. Funny, when she was younger, she had always wondered what it was like in the back of a police car, but now sitting in one she wondered why she ever cared. Holly tried to move her arms, but the handcuffs prevented most of her movements. How had she gone from being a college student with excellent grades and a lovi...

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“Innocent…ish” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #70

"I'm sorry, but you're not the right person for the position." Her plastic smile did nothing to hide the fear in her eyes. I was used to the look. It was a look that said, “Please don’t carve me up!” Never mind that I never did such a thing, and anyone with enough intelligence to do any research would know that. Whatever. If their HR isn't smart enough to do that, I don't want to work for them, anyway. I've told myself that lie so many times I'm starting to believe it. If the media hadn't gotten involved from the beginning it wouldn't be l...

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“The Potter Massacre of 1860” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #70

Trigger warning: rape One of the township’s deputies relieved his partner for the night shift at the four-cell jail. He brought along a shallow plate of lukewarm campfire beans and a single dry biscuit for the small lockup’s sole resident. Securing the keys his partner handed him to his gun belt, he slid the meager dinner through a horizontal slot in the cell door and onto a low table. The prisoner’s face remained unmoved and hidden behind his long blond bangs as he slouched against the cold stone wall on the bottom bunk. The d...

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“The Sin” by Swarnabha Chandra

Submitted to Contest #70

Robert Grayson sat in his armchair in his warm and cozy house after a rather long and exhausting day at work. He leaned into the armchair and sipped his evening tea. He was about take a second sip when there came a knock on the front door. He got up and opened the door. Standing on the porch was a tall and lean man with jet black hair and a thin mustache. He was dressed in a brown overcoat that looked dirty and shabby as if he had been travelling for many days. “Good evening, Mr. Grayson. Sorry for my unexpected arrival. My name is Jas...

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“Ejected” by Amalee Bowen

Submitted to Contest #70

The corridor is unnaturally quiet as I head out of the cafeteria back towards the lab for my shift, still picking out the remnants of the, frankly disappointing, sandwich from between my teeth. I hear the clank and creak of the metal floor beneath my boots and I even notice the ever present hum of the craft’s engines and electricity. It’s always there but indiscernible at most times, the way you don’t hear your heartbeat or your breathing unless something changes. I pause in the corridor, a creeping feeling crawling over me. There’s n...

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Write about a character who everyone thinks is guilty of something terrible, but isn’t.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 179 stories

“Plead My Case” by Joe Bob

“Boogeyman” by Ximena Chavez

“Shattered Refuge” by A. S.

“Elia Wilkins, Falsely Accused of Murder” by ✰ 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐞 ✰

“You'll Never Open the Door” by Sunshine (:

“In the shadows” by Ramla Ali

“Condemning the New Guy” by John Steckley

“"𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓" 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅” by 💖♎ℂℍℝ𝕀𝕊𝕋𝕐 ℍ𝕆𝔽𝔽𝕄𝔸ℕℕ♎💖

“The Count” by Chris Wagner

“Trouble at Cripple Creek” by Jason Morgan

“Guilty Until Proven Innocent” by Trinity Womack

“Innocent…ish” by Sjan Evardsson

“The Potter Massacre of 1860” by David Brown

“The Sin” by Swarnabha Chandra

“Ejected” by Amalee Bowen

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone who’s so obsessed with a goal that it leads to the destruction of their closest relationship.

Write about someone trying to atone for a mistake they’ll never be able to fix.

Write about two people who know they’ve made a mistake, and one of them wants to tell the truth but the other wants to lie about it.

Write about a character who’s so afraid of making the wrong choice that their indecision ruins the very thing they were hoping to keep safe.

Contest #70

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

731

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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