Write about someone keeping track of time with tally marks on a wall — until one day they discover that all the marks are gone.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 133 stories

“Into The Leviathan’s Maw” by Elle Clark

Submitted to Contest #74

The bioluminescent ribs arch high above, spanning the sky. Leathery skin behind them stretches taut and cuts off whatever view there might be. Twisting around the bones are vines of darkness, occasionally bridging the gaps between to link the only sources of light in my world. In the early days, I had tried to use the vines to climb high enough to survey my environment, but they were as brittle as hope and as sharp as disappointment. I always fell, my hands crisscrossed with thin lines of blood. Now, I simply watch them growing, slowly ...

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“250 Days” by Iona Cottle

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #74

Esme sat and watched the sun pass across her room, just as she did every day, waiting for the right time. That wasn’t to say that she watched it all day, every day, although she did spend a lot of her time – probably more than most – just watching the box of light trek across her painted wall. It wasn’t as though there was all that much else to do. During the morning, when the light was best, she did draw and read, but after her lunch arrived through the little flap in the middle of her door, she’d settle into her large armchair and watc...

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“Always and Forever” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #74

“Maggie?” “Magdalena?” “I’m coming, give me a second,” I yell at Mom, pulling up the world map to its original position to hide the marks behind it. I guess I have to cut it off after lunch. You always knew that Mom meant business when she called me Magdalena. Rarely anyone called me that anymore, being the mouthful that it is. Except for him, who always said that it was beautiful. I hear footsteps coming towards my room, and I try to fix the map quicker, but my fingers fumble and it doesn’t loop around perfectly. Mom comes in t...

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“Graphite Lines” by ℂ𝕒𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕒 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕨 🏳️‍🌈 (inactive For The Summer)

Submitted to Contest #74

The sound of the graphite point scraping against cement. Drawing a line. Placing a hand on the cold wall. Pulling it away and inspecting the black dust. Is it ash or graphite? Her home had burned. She had been put here. She wore clothes of rags. Her hair was uneven and dirty. Her eyes had once been full of life and beauty. Now, they were empty. Devoid of what had been there. Once a week she showered. Once a day she ate. Once a month she gazed out the window, just to tell herself there was still beauty in the world. Once a year she got to go ...

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“How long has it been?” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #74

I yawned lazily, realizing that it must be nighttime out there. Well, maybe, or maybe not, I mentally debated for a few moments before reverting to laziness. I'm tired which means it's sleep time. I had been inside the bunker for so long, in this windowless, not too hot, not too cold place, that my body had forgotten all about the rhythms of the outside world. Picking up the metal nail, I climbed up the dangerously positioned ladder I had propped against the wall. It was the end of the world, and I didn't think it mattered i...

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“Tallys” by ◦•●◉✿ 𝓑𝓵𝔁𝔁𝓲𝓲 ✿◉●•◦

Submitted to Contest #74

“The first tally mark ever! How exciting.” Baby Brianna exclaimed. “Mom, I’ve picked up a hobby of adding a tally mark every day! My goal is to keep this going for as long as I can. Then, I’m going to count my tally marks.” Hope soared in her chest at the thought of tallying marks for her whole life. She’d be the first ever person, too! “That’s nice, hon. Although, you can’t possibly sit right by that paper and wait for the day to pass by, can you? Perhaps draw while waiting for...

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“Suicide pact” by Coco Longstaff

Submitted to Contest #74

Every Friday, my parents cook the most delicious turkey that has ever existed on Earth. They use natural ingredients that I have never heard of before. Every time they make it, I ask them for the recipe. They just never tell me. Instead, they looks at me with a smile mixed with sadness and joy, and tell me that one day, when their time has come to pass, they will tell me. Tell me the Secret Ingredient. This is the routine that happens every week, every Friday.Little do they know that their time will be my time too.Although I know that my par...

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“White Room” by Trinity Womack

Submitted to Contest #74

272. Days. That was how long I have been trapped in this room. I don’t even know what this room is. All I know is that I have been stuck here for a very long time. The room is white. White walls. White tiles on the floor. A white bed with bleached white sheets. White light. So much white that it’s sickening to even look around. The only things that are not white are the marks I have written on the wall. I don’t even know how I wrote those since I have no pen, but somehow the marks are ther...

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“Counter of Smiles” by Jasey Lovegood

Submitted to Contest #74

Counter of Smiles“And… There we go! That makes one hundred and fifty-seven smiles!” I step back from my wall, that’s a big whiteboard, and admire my large number of tally marks. The tally marks are to count how many times I’ve made people smile. So far, I’ve been counting for seven months, nine weeks, and twenty-two days. I always make sure I record the latest number in my book, just in case. My best friend, Eclipse, always asks me if it’s hard to keep track, and I tell her it’s not because I have a really good memory. My other best friends,...

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“The Mark on the wall” by Aman Fatima

Submitted to Contest #74

The sun rose again, from where Nathan couldn’t tell. How many days had passed since he lost everything, since he was the only one remaining he couldn’t tell. What he could tell was the number of days that had passed since he was put in the room with no way out except a small window. The tally marks on the wall signified the rise of the sun he could see from the window. The tally marks showed that a year had passed, 1 year of his life had been spent alone. All Nathan knew was the wall and the marks nothing else, nothing else had mattered, jus...

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“all gone” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

Submitted to Contest #74

I reached for the small rock that I had been using to mark the red brick wall. A week has already passed. 7 short vertical lines left tiny indents in the worn down brick. The wall had been there practically forever. It didn’t serve an actual purpose but it did give us a place to sit. I came here everyday after it happened to mark the days she was gone. It wasn’t fair but there was nothing I could do about it. She didn’t deserve to take her final breaths against a dirty wall. It was hot, we were only outside for barely 20 minutes....

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“Farewell the Crickets Sang” by Philip Alexander

Submitted to Contest #74

Five years ago the despondent, grim-faced prisoner was found guilty of treason, contesting a corrupt law that only favoured the rich, the greedy and the malicious. In his mind, the concept of power should have been divided equally amongst the town, to the joyous people, and dispensed like a wheel of cheese, for all the mouths in the village to feast upon uniformly, but it wasn’t meant to be. “You call yourself a king!? The people are starving, and you sit on your pompous throne fattened like a rotten boar! You’re a no good rat!” Cauldro...

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“Hell?” by Annette Lovewind

Submitted to Contest #74

I add another tally to the wall. There were so many I lost count or was too lazy to count them anymore. I’m trapped in this room and I have no idea why. It’s like this medieval jail cell but with a few upgrades. There is no dirt floor, instead a cold stone one, I have a window but it’s so small I can just see the few sun rays that peek through when the sun is setting or rising I have no idea but I know I’m not underground. I just add a tally for when it happens. Stone walls, A wooden door that is locked, nobody comes in and it has never open...

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“End of Days” by Carrie O'Keefe

Submitted to Contest #74

Soft light cascaded into my cavern that had lit up my wall of tally marks. I took in a deep breath of salty air and added one more tally to it. One year, two months, and twenty days since my boat capsized in the treacherous storm. Luckily enough I was able to find land. The day I took off I was so pissed that I did not turn on my boats tracker. I just wanted to leave everything behind and not be disturbed by anybody, I didn’t tell a single person I was taking off either. So, off I went by myself into the mysterious big blue. The beer and l...

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“Tallying The Cell” by 𝛦ǀ𐌉𝓪 𝕽. 𝖩. 𝙎.

Submitted to Contest #74

The chalk, white and crumbling, more fit to be called powder than a writing tool, squeaked as it moved along the blue tile. “Three-hundred-fifty,” Scallia paused, her brain going momentarily blank. “Five.” She stepped back and admired the work, a line. A simple, 1 and ½ inch, white line, standing out against the blue tile. Scallia hated the color. The calm, relaxed tint that wouldn’t go away. No matter how many times she yelled at it to do so. Always blue, always tile. The hideous texture covered everything. “Look at that, ...

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Write about someone keeping track of time with tally marks on a wall — until one day they discover that all the marks are gone.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 133 stories

“Into The Leviathan’s Maw” by Elle Clark

“250 Days” by Iona Cottle

“Always and Forever” by Writer Maniac

“Graphite Lines” by ℂ𝕒𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕒 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕨 🏳️‍🌈 (inactive For The Summer)

“How long has it been?” by Moon Lion

“Tallys” by ◦•●◉✿ 𝓑𝓵𝔁𝔁𝓲𝓲 ✿◉●•◦

“Suicide pact” by Coco Longstaff

“White Room” by Trinity Womack

“Counter of Smiles” by Jasey Lovegood

“The Mark on the wall” by Aman Fatima

“all gone” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

“Farewell the Crickets Sang” by Philip Alexander

“Hell?” by Annette Lovewind

“End of Days” by Carrie O'Keefe

“Tallying The Cell” by 𝛦ǀ𐌉𝓪 𝕽. 𝖩. 𝙎.

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone scrambling to finish a goal in the last few hours of the year.

Write a story that takes place across ten days.

Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.

Write a story in the form of a top-ten list.

Contest #74

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

727

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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