Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone who purposefully causes a power outage.

Posted in Thriller and Suspense on Jun 13, 2021

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.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 146 stories

“Black as Night, Witch's Moonlight” by Debbie Ealer

Submitted to Contest #58

Black as Night, Witch Moonlight Melanie woke with a fright. She felt the iciness in the air. She knew darkness was close. Only evil spirits brought forth the coldness she felt on her skin. She knew it was not going to be a typical Tuesday morning. She knew she had some herbal magic to work with in her studio, but before she got ready for work in the studio, she needed to locate the coldness in her home. She felt the darkness in the cold and worried that someone was coming for her. Melanie fluttered from room to room. She could feel the s...

3 comments 3
Read story

“In the midst of darkness” by Skye May

Submitted to Contest #58

Monica's hands were shaking as the bitter cold cut through her thin gloves. She fumbled with the keys as she tried to unlock her car door. Her breath like a cloud in the darkness. She hears footsteps crunching against the hard snow, slowly and then coming closer, louder. Finally, she is able to get the key into the door and turns. She quickly sits down and closes the door, locking it. She doesn't see anyone around. "Were those footsteps a figment of my imagination?"As Monica sits and waits for her car window to defrost, she puts on the radi...

3 comments 3
Read story

“city lights out ” by Nani Sensei

Submitted to Contest #58

A naughty boy was set on a mission to turn off all the city lights. He was fearless and ready to show Xavier’s civilians that he wasn’t afraid to do the worst. On the planet he was born on, there was no sun. The only power source was from electricity invented by scientists. The civilians were careless and badly took advantage of the source they were given. With electricity invented, people harmed the environment and animals declining in biodiversity. But no one cared. After all, the only thing that mattered was humanity. Ever since the boy w...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Plastic Light” by Devansh Shah

Submitted to Contest #58

Plastic light is a fitting touch for a plastic life. I stared at the flickering fluorescent tubes as the men in poorly fit suits kept questioning me. Their voices played out in muffled drawls. The room is made up of off-white paint, bathroom tiled flooring and sharp corners. My head is still in whiplash, a sequence of events that occurred in less than a day, yet stretched my identity farther than all the previous twenty-four years of my life combined. “Nathan? Sir!”, one man reached over snapping his fingers, “Let’s get this all straighten...

0 comments 0
Read story

“When the Clock Strikes Ten” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #58

Kingpin Arthur is what they called him. Nobody knew what he looked like or how old he was, but everybody cowered when his name was spoken. His shadow loomed over New York City in the form of a sinister tower, one that stood menacingly at the center of the Manhattan skyline as a symbol of power and influence. While much of his life was shrouded in mystery, many speculated he had inherited his media empire from family ties. Perhaps he was related to the Dreiden Family, or the Napier Family. No wonder the man named himself after Arthurian legen...

0 comments 0
Read story

“THE ELROOK CHRONICLES PART I” by Lord Dangler

Submitted to Contest #58

THE ELROOK CHRONICLES PART I By LORD DANGLER Grylodar is the place where the elves lived, and Elrook hated it. Then again, what’s to love in an elf village when you are a goblin. Goblins were looked down upon in Grylodar, and for what? A war that ended two thousand years ago?  Elrook was just a baby when the war started; he had nothing to do with it. Now, however, he was a man.   Well, at least he will be once he completes his right of passage. He has to steal something ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Her Game” by Lory Grace

Submitted to Contest #58

The skin under my fingernails is purple. My lips are stuck together. It is just light enough to see a white haze stream from my nose with each breath. The small beep on my wristwatch tells me that I only have five minutes left to find a light switch, possibly the same amount of time it will take for me to lose all use of my hands. A small beam of pallid light filters through an ice-glazed window, giving the basement a hollow, grey glow. The horizon will soon consume the sun. I run my quivering hands against the wall. It swipes against a...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Exit stage left” by Taylor Jenkins

Submitted to Contest #58

This has to work.That was the only thing going through my head when I busted the fuze box. Over two hundred employees are usually in the office, but today there were 4. The scary thing is that one of them is a murderer.It was a Saturday and our boss assigned the four of us to clean up the office and finish any neglected work in the office. I played murder mystery with my cousins when I was a kid but I had no idea it would be so surreal one day.Lukas Conehatta was our twenty-four-year-old intern. It was his first day on the job today, he...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Lights Out” by Steve Alink

Submitted to Contest #58

Sonny is just like you. Wouldn’t you want to leave a mark on this great planet of ours? Something that would be spoken about for years or even decades? He has this dream to become famous, to be one along the line of presidents, peace makers and Hollywood stars. His parents have noticed it and played the advocates of the devil by saying that he would not be famous at all as he just didn’t have the background. ‘What background, why would I need one? I’ll create one myself. Stronger, I’m my background.’ He thought while staring at his start scr...

0 comments 0
Read story

“same night, every year” by Prescious Strawberry

Submitted to Contest #58

" Okay, Kama we don't have to do this?". Alex respond to the fact that she wanted no part of this. At all!. Alex eyeballed Hannah by that glare, Hannah absolutely Agreed with Alex. But on the other hand Grant over there was just trying not to be apart of this as well. Grant is that Teen boy that every single teen girl will fall in love with. not because of his good styles, or the way his facial expression makes every girl fall to her knees. that not what happen between Alex and Grant. How Grant came together with Alex, was a ...

3 comments 3
Read story

“THE DECEITFUL DESCENDANT” by Harsh Kakkar

Submitted to Contest #58

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO KILL HER!” she said. Sharron was the female heir to the Waldorf Crown. The Waldorfs were the corporate kings of the Atlantic City. Sharron’s brother, Adam was much rather a social worker and did not want anything to do with the family business. He was hitched to a simple girl from the suburbs named Chloe. Sharron had always been an aspiring businesswoman. When all the other girls of her age were prepping up for their annual prom party, Sharron was busy working and studying day and night to acquire the best grades and get ad...

0 comments 0
Read story

“PARTY PIECES” by Paul Rouse

Submitted to Contest #58

The voice from behind me was one I only half-recognised. I was leaning over the balcony of the hotel’s function room, glass in hand, drinking in the view, captivated by the trail of lights across the bay, and wondering how long this place would be able to retain its unique and unspoiled charm. “Mrs King,” I smiled, with all the sincerity of a game show host. "Call me Mavis," she said, smiling back, patting her blue-rinse perm into place, evidently pleased that I had remembered her from our one and only previous meeting. “This is my husband, ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Holidays are Special” by Dozzy Nika

Submitted to Contest #58

We never knew that the reason she gave us the keys to her office was to carefully move our apparatus and reagents to the Project Laboratory. She wasn’t much of a talker and she barely answered our questions if later, we could decipher the solution. We entered her office in the morning after a long walk in the tiny showers, hoping to set up a four-hour reaction before lectures began for that day and realized that the magnetic stirrer and reflux condenser were no longer on top of the wooden table near the window we performed our reactions. Tho...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Voices ” by Korbin Wilson

Submitted to Contest #58

The crack of thunder grab Joey from a deep slumber. She would normally be annoyed but the storm brewing outside saved her from a reoccurring nightmare. Joey slowly reached her arm up to the top of her head and patted to make sure her scarf she had placed there before she went to bed was still on. She would hate for her curls to be a mess in the morning. Assuring that her scarf was still Joey then leaned over to her left to turn on my neon night light that sat on her nightstand. She hit the switch,...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Miss Viola” by MaRyiah Cavender

Submitted to Contest #58

I had to hurry. She was expecting me. Anxiety and frustration lurked in my body as I stared at the closed, silver doors. The anticipation was causing my fidgeting to begin. She hated it when I was late. Miss Viola was never late. “To be on time is to be Late. To be early is to be on time.” For four years she had repeated this to me, burning the phrase into the back of my mind so hot I could see the words when I closed my eyes. I pressed the button again, knowing it wouldn’t make the elevator come any quicker. Force of an impatient habit, I ...

2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story where the power goes out on a spaceship or submarine.

Adventure – 86 stories

Write about a character who’s stuck in an elevator when the power goes out.

Thriller and Suspense – 252 stories

Write a story about someone feeling powerless.

Narrative – 284 stories

Write about a family who decides to camp out in the back yard during a power outage.

Funny – 112 stories

Contest #58

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Lights Out

$50

Prize money

880

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 11, 2020 EST

Won by Julie Bissell 🏆

Title: In the Dark

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!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢