Start your story with a description of the cold, using lots of sensory detail.

Posted in Winter on Dec 1, 2023

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✍️ 65 stories

“It Was The Cold” by Zoë Page

Submitted to Contest #227

I felt it like a thousand fingers everywhere. All of my body given away, outside, intruding inside – inside, within my throat, lungs, getting at my brain. The fingers stroked, tickled, caressed; they were persistent, slowly unravelling me. They left me bare, just a wild, pale, struggling shape. They scratched until they drew not blood, but memories. I had felt it all many times before, the feeling of not owning yourself. It was cruelly familiar: a reoccurring nightmare in both the sleeping and waking world. But never had it come so clo...

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“Snow” by Olivia Pilas

Submitted to Contest #227

The little flakes of snow twinkle down around me, blissfully falling on my face. Leaning back, I stick out my tongue, playing a game of chance with the unique rainfall. The wind is calm as the light flurry dances around my head. The soft but bitter cold nips at my bare neck. In just a moment, I’m able to watch a single lucky snowflake sway down to my tongue, where it disappears into nothing. After the first, more start to follow, painting a frigid layer of water in my mouth. Douf. A dense object hits the back of my jacket. The vibration...

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“The cold is slow” by Lauriane PIERRE

Submitted to Contest #227

The air was crisp with snow that formed a fluffy blanket over the landscape - mountain range and blue sky after last night's snowfall. It left a prickle on the skin, like little needles prodding the body, looking for warmth to draw slowly but surely away from your members. Your blood tried its best to keep the cold away from you, by diverting resources, making your core the warmest possible. It left your toes, your fingers, your ears, and your nose defenseless. Red. A stark contrast against the desaturated whites, gray, and blues around you....

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“Christmas Cheer, Canines, and Coffee: A Cozy Pine Ridge Morning” by Ashley Benware

Submitted to Contest #227

In the heart of Pine Ridge, where winters wrapped the town in a crystalline shroud, Anya stepped out into the biting embrace of a cold morning. The frigid hold of winter tightened its grip on the small town, leaving a crystalline world draped in glistening frost. The frosty morning air bit into every exposed inch of skin, a stark reminder that nature's breath was unyielding. The trees, skeletal sentinels against the gray, pink, and purple canvas of the sky, stood adorned with a delicate lace of hoarfrost. The slightest breeze sent cascades...

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“Cold As Ice ” by Cara Couch

Submitted to Contest #227

It’s so cold I can almost feel my limbs turning to stone. The bitter wind slices up against my face as I pull the thin scarf over my rosy cheeks. The wind carries with it a sprinkle of snow, but even that pricks my skin like hot knives. I shuffle through the abandoned streets, thick with a shimmering blanket of snow, my breath clouding the air as I huff. The air is thick and heavy, as if the white storm clouds above me have descended too close and are choking the atmosphere. But despite the cold, despite the chill running up my s...

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“Dearest Lily” by Sophie Parmaby

Submitted to Contest #227

Dearest Lily, I got here yesterday, but the cold has already infiltrated my joints making this letter difficult to write, among other things. The tingling and light ache has overtaken my extremities in a way that makes me crave for warmth almost as much as I crave for a hearty meal. Every breath I take, knives pierce my lungs, ceasing their function. The cold itself would not be so unbearable if not for the wind that I swear could turn any living thing solid to stone, but not before a slow torturous process of slicing the armored skin bit by...

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“A Winter Walk” by Lynn Matchett

Submitted to Contest #227

Journal Entry- December 4, 1993- A Winter Walk I step out my front door and take a deep breath. I feel the cold air move into my lungs before blowing it out. The warm air is smoky white as it rises above me. I love the cold. This may not be a popular opinion but there is something truly magical about wintertime. Yesterday brought a soft, beautiful snowfall so this morning is all about getting outside and enjoying the elements. My mother already texted me with a reminder to make sure I wear my boots, hat and winter coat. ...

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“Carve Your Name into My Heart” by Needs Chocolate

Submitted to Contest #227

The 911 missing person call from the Sunnyside Nursing Home came in at 8:45 PM on Christmas Eve. My partner and I had signed on for the extra holiday shift because we didn't have a family waiting at home for us. We were just a couple of twice-divorced, bitter single folks counting down the hours to retirement, living on donuts, coffee, and adrenalin. As we headed toward the outskirts of town where the Nursing Home was located, the heavily falling snow made the roads slippery, and visibility was low. There were better nights than this for a...

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“Winter’s Old Friend” by Sophia Kunkle

Submitted to Contest #227

I’m sitting curled up in my bed, looking up from my book for a brief moment to take in the view that is outside. It’s the perfect day to read; everything is being covered in snow, a cup of warm hot chocolate by my side and ready to drink. The first snow of the season is not a big surprise, living in Boston. I forced myself up out of my unmade and messy bed for the first time today, realizing that it has just turned noon, and walked to the dull stone fireplace in my living room. I live in a small cottage in Massachusetts. It’s nothing big, bu...

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“Snowbound” by Dalal Abu Diab

Submitted to Contest #227

Gasp. The sharp gust of air felt bitter in his throat, the icicles that had practically grown on him shattering as his face contorted. Groan. He moved, every so slightly. The blood rushing back into his system. He was a different kind of cold, the kind where you feel so beyond numb that you begin spasming. He sat up in the snow, the movement alone requiring a large amount of energy. All around were sheets and sheets of white snow. It covered everything in his line of sight; trees, grass, rocks - hell, even the sun if that...

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“My Feet Were Frozen” by Lila Hooton

Submitted to Contest #227

Her heartless glare went through me, her eerie blue eyes radiating an icy atmosphere throughout our house. I felt it thoroughly; the frigidity impaling my heart, leaving it alone to bleed and eventually freeze my soul. As she stared, her mouth began to tremble, as if the coldness in her heart was leaking throughout her and taking over her body, rendering it unable to resist its hostile temptations. There was a long pause. Then a stutter. Then finally, all hell as I knew it came loose. She began to scream a bloodthirsty, clamouring scream; sh...

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“Unburdening” by Christopher Wallace

Submitted to Contest #227

Ice floes surrounded me as the water temperature dipped to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. My toes curled, and the rest of my body shriveled inward, seeking the warmth of my heart which beat faster and faster. I was acutely aware of every breath as I struggled to breathe at a normal pace. The water was translucent, and yet, at the same time, seemed to be nearly a perfect blue. I shut my eyes, trying to relax and keep the cold at bay as I’d been taught. It was weird, the air around me even felt colder than normal too, so I opened my eyes and breathed ...

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“The Picnic” by Steven Lebowski

Submitted to Contest #227

The air was crisp and sharp as I inhaled. It had snowed earlier, as it always did for half the year in this godforsaken place. The snow always left the city in a haze; heavy, droning gray clouds bleared the skies, and dirty snow blended with dull buildings along the horizon. The entire city carried a depressing mood that leached onto its inhabitants. I wasn’t immune to this, especially not today. I pulled my hood over my stinging face, resenting the wind that never rested as it barraged me with another sudden gust. I hated coming here, wher...

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“A Cold, Dark Place” by Jeremy Stevens

Submitted to Contest #227

What do you know of loneliness? How familiar are you with the hollow emptiness that holds hands with abandonment, of that crippling ache as numbing as the chill that seeps through the thin windows, that causes the bubble-wrap insulation to crinkle with each frosty breath of December? The beer cans line the wall of the cracked closet in which I now huddle in the far corner; crouched like Gollum, my precious, my nocturnal eyes like saucers in this mineshaft that spans the length of the bedroom without a bed, my radar ears attuned to all foreig...

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“To Calm A Blizzard” by James Gaffy

Submitted to Contest #227

The ice crystals in my veins snap with each clench of my frozen fingers. Every time I open my hand, the ember of heat is dashed out by the greedy wind. More than anything, I want to shove my hands in my pockets, but if I slip with them there, I know that I’ll shatter into a million pieces on the icy asphalt. The tire won’t change itself. I think to myself, skidding along the side of my tiny car to the trunk. The cracked and shrunk rubber had sprung a leak months ago, but a twenty-dollar patch job had kept the old thing rolling until today. ...

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Start your story with a description of the cold, using lots of sensory detail.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 65 stories

“It Was The Cold” by Zoë Page

“Snow” by Olivia Pilas

“The cold is slow” by Lauriane PIERRE

“Christmas Cheer, Canines, and Coffee: A Cozy Pine Ridge Morning” by Ashley Benware

“Cold As Ice ” by Cara Couch

“Dearest Lily” by Sophie Parmaby

“A Winter Walk” by Lynn Matchett

“Carve Your Name into My Heart” by Needs Chocolate

“Winter’s Old Friend” by Sophia Kunkle

“Snowbound” by Dalal Abu Diab

“My Feet Were Frozen” by Lila Hooton

“Unburdening” by Christopher Wallace

“The Picnic” by Steven Lebowski

“A Cold, Dark Place” by Jeremy Stevens

“To Calm A Blizzard” by James Gaffy

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone looking out the window and seeing the first snowfall of the season.

Write a story where someone shares a cup of hot chocolate with a friend.

Your character hates the holidays, and jets out of town every year — but a historic snow storm means that this time, they can’t make their escape.

Write about a character emerging from hibernation, whether literally or metaphorically.

Contest #227

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

299

Contest entries

130

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: