Write a story that spans exactly a year and takes place in a single room.

Posted in Winter on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 210 stories

“The year of the pandemic” by Paloma Torres-Slavik

Submitted to Contest #84

This is a story about MY(a 10-year-old girl) feelings of the pandemic in a Journal-type style. Of course, I added the only one room thing. March (12th to be exact) So, this is scary, I spent almost a month joking about the pandemic, thinking, "It's on the other side of the world, people wouldn't be stupid enough to go over there and come back..." , carelessly. And now, BOOM, someone went to Italy, came back and people are dropping like flies. I'm stuck, at home, in this one room, this prison cell, with my sister and parents and the...

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“The Calendar” by Chris Culpepper

Submitted to Contest #84

Well, my life is over. I knew this day was coming but never expected to end up in a wastebasket with a whole year of nothing to show for it. Allow me to explain. You see, I'm a calendar. And not just any calendar, I'm an official Desk Calendar. And before you throw this away like the daily page on a calendar after the day is done, hear my side of the story. See, we calendars are all excited when we're first brought home. Coming to life on the desk when that plastic is torn off of us-ahh the breath of fresh air! I was laid on a larg...

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“Like Mother Like Daughter” by Adelina Hill

Submitted to Contest #84

They would be seventeen today. My twin daughters. Seventeen whole years in a world I knew they are safe in. It was the best decision for them after all. I sat on my cushioned stool, a leg tucked under me staring out the window as the sunlight shined in on me warming my skin. I blinked and soaked up the heat like a reptile taking a sun bath. "So, this how you're going to spend this day again?" Sable leans against my doorway . The door was closed before for a reason. Privacy didn't exist for me. It never had. I couldn't complain. I wasn't...

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“Room 414 of Addell's Hotel” by Mary Evans

Submitted to Contest #84

This is the story of room 414 in Addell's Hotel. It's on the fourth floor with a view of the cracked parking lot. The window sits above a dusty radiator and is framed by two thick brown curtains. There's an old orange armchair with grease stains on it. It's frayed on the armrests and it's little wooden feet are chipped, eaten away by years in this room.The bed is creaky and has one decorative pillow. It's orange, but a darker orange than the armchair. Above the old headboard (it's been cutting into the faded striped wallpaper, but most peopl...

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“Escape” by Jercy DG

Submitted to Contest #84

I woke up one day, surrounded by four walls with creepy things on its wall.I tried to remember how I ended up here, but-- I can't. I looked upon the frames on the wall, and I saw a family portrait that is giving me a creepy vibes. Suddenly, the light became dimmed thus, I am hearing laughs around me. I don't know where does those voices coming from but all that I want to do now is to-- escape. "Help, help me!" I shouted on top of my lungs, hoping that someone could hear me.--I was about to stood up, when I felt a heavy thing on my leg.My lef...

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“Isolation” by Carolyn Bayne

Submitted to Contest #84

Waking up and looking out of the window, the roads are wet and there is dew on the leaves, Sharon decides to make a quick cuppa, to pass the morning before she starts to work. It is that time where hardly any thing is moving, she peers out one more time and see a few lights in the houses nearby still on. Walking in to the next room, she peers out again before finishing off making tea, and put slices of bread into the toaster, getting the marmalade and butter ready, the radio is on low, enough for her to hear, the smell of the toast lingers i...

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“These four walls...” by Namadhila Akuupa

Submitted to Contest #84

"Roses are red, violets are blue.Everything is falling apart and I'm here, stuck with you." Sutton wrote in her little black leather notebook which she kept on the little brown table that stood at the corner of the room. A room she shared with her boyfriend, Charles.The year is 2020, February 12th and there's been a little gossip or rather some ''birds chirping'' in and out of town about a virus spreading, quite deadly if you ask me. There have been reported cases of infected patients however, no data as to where this virus is coming from or...

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“The Unhackable” by Ishita Nigam

Submitted to Contest #84

Jason glanced at his running shoes lying in the corner. They still looked new. They still were brand new. It had been a long time since he bought them. He hadn’t touched them since that fateful day.Jason failed to realise that it had been 364 days, to be precise, since he confined himself to this room.Jason Mitch had been a regular IT guy, who had climbed the ladder in his career until one day, he lost all his months’ of hard work to a computer hack. It was just before the most important client meeting and his company was counting on him to ...

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“Prisoner 22 Has Escaped” by Amy Jayne Conley

Submitted to Contest #84

March 23rd. Prisoner 22 had been detained, finally. Her room was ready, had been for a while. High-security, at least one guard present outside at all times. The guard needed a second guard to open the door, which hermetically sealed the room. An airflow came from a vent in the ceiling, too high and too small to get through. They could control everything. This bitch wasn’t getting out any time soon. They’d break her. They’d get to know exactly what her secrets were. The short, slight woman was carried into the room by her underarms, her han...

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“The Grief Calendar” by Favour Ahuchaogu

Submitted to Contest #84

January. He went back to the room he used to share with her after he had been discharged and the police had taken his statement. He got away with a minor wound on his forehead that was covered with a plaster. The curtains were drawn and the lights turned off the way it always was whenever they were leaving the house. It would remain like that for a long time. The harmattan breeze couldn't get in but the dust crept in from places unseen and left a thick haze on the picture on the desk. He threw a pillow at it and it fell facedown. The v...

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“My New Office” by Rajesh Patel

Submitted to Contest #84

Today, March 19th, 2020. For the first time in my life, I am working from home. I have been working for the same company for over twelve years. The option to work from home was given to me a few years ago when I became eligible due to my new role in the company. What did I do? I refused. Why? Because to work from home was too much of a distraction. Knowing that I live upstairs of a duplex that belongs to my parents. The stairs are interior. They can come see me anytime they want. I pay them a rent but it does not mean I have my...

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“The Year I knit Bears” by Charlotte Lewis

Submitted to Contest #84

It's been a really strange year. There was one lock down notice after another. Seldom enough time in between them to get out. Of course, most of the places I would go were closed anyhow. Someone else did my grocery shopping. I live in a spacious room with bath at my son's home. It's big enough for me and my two cats. They were my daughter-in-law's grandmother's cats. She went to a retirement home and the cats came to me. Sort of exchanging one old lady for another not-quite-as-old. Their names are Louis and Harry. One thing I've always don...

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“Room of Tears” by Elle Papa

Submitted to Contest #84

One would say that tears will eventually run dry,but I knew that they never stopped falling.Perhaps, this realization had been the most wistful I could have ever pondered on after over nearly a decade of knowing:not one tear ever fell the same way.On each day, I willingly walked on the fourth level of vinyl floors to practice what I yearned for nearly my entire life.The floors were as white and pure as the scrubs that protected my body— contrasted by my tied-up dark hair, brown skin, and the burgundy stethoscope hanging around my neck.Years ...

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“Opposite of Primrose ” by Lamar S

Submitted to Contest #84

Opposite of Primrose Caspian was never afraid of losing himself. He would welcome it even, to spend a day where he wasn’t him, a day where he was anyone else. Or maybe a day where he wasn’t even anyone, a fresh slab of clay for life to sculpt. And when he looked to the future, he wanted to see something. Anything instead of nothing. There was no five year projection plan for him, just a hope that suffocated his lungs at times. It was just “maybe one day”s for him and packets of ketchup he would pop as a substitute for the people ...

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“Ick Cord, a Gentleman Thief, Steals a Prison Wall” by Florian Wolf

Submitted to Contest #84

"Well, hello. May I suggest that your blue eyes fit rather well with your police uniform?" "You can rightfully do so, Mr. Cord." The policewoman approved but still handcuffed him. "It just won't get you anywhere." "Married?" "Happily married for seven years." "Now, that is interesting!" Cord laughed. The policewoman ignored his words and just pushed him into the car. The policewoman handed him over to another policewoman. "I thought I end up in prison. I can't see how this is punishment?" "A fine English gentleman, are you, despite n...

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Write a story that spans exactly a year and takes place in a single room.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 210 stories

“The year of the pandemic” by Paloma Torres-Slavik

“The Calendar” by Chris Culpepper

“Like Mother Like Daughter” by Adelina Hill

“Room 414 of Addell's Hotel” by Mary Evans

“Escape” by Jercy DG

“Isolation” by Carolyn Bayne

“These four walls...” by Namadhila Akuupa

“The Unhackable” by Ishita Nigam

“Prisoner 22 Has Escaped” by Amy Jayne Conley

“The Grief Calendar” by Favour Ahuchaogu

“My New Office” by Rajesh Patel

“The Year I knit Bears” by Charlotte Lewis

“Room of Tears” by Elle Papa

“Opposite of Primrose ” by Lamar S

“Ick Cord, a Gentleman Thief, Steals a Prison Wall” by Florian Wolf

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone who grew up in a bunker, and lockdown life is all they’ve ever known.

Set your story in a post-pandemic world, where the effects are still felt even as your character attempts to move on.

Write about someone who’s trying to accomplish a task that used to be easy but is now made complicated by a pandemic.

Start your story with a character struggling to remember the date, because every day is like the last one.

Contest #84

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

664

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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