The Knock After Sunset
A Monday Ink Prompt for those who know every good story starts with someone you shouldn’t open the door for.
It always starts the same way — the soft knock that shouldn’t exist in the silence of midnight. The one that sounds like a heartbeat you’ve been trying to forget. You tell yourself it’s the wind, a branch, a trick of nerves. But deep down, you already know: someone has come looking for the truth you buried.
The beauty of the “knock after sunset” isn’t in what’s outside the door — it’s in the choice. To open it, or not. To face the person (or memory) waiting in the dark. Every story, at its core, begins with that moment: the decision to turn the handle.
This week’s prompt asks you to linger in that moment.
Nothing good ever comes from a knock at the door after dark.
Especially when the person on the porch already knows what’s buried beneath your floorboards.
Write the scene:
Who’s knocking? What secret are they after? And what’s the one lie your character can’t afford to tell?
🖤 Genre vibes: Dark Romance • Gothic Mystery • Psychological Twist
🕯️ Bonus challenge: End with a single-sentence truth that undoes the lie.
✒️ Author’s Note
Let this one simmer. Write the creak of the floorboards, the weight of the silence, the pulse in your character’s throat. Play with sensory detail — the smell of rain, the chill of old wood, the flicker of candlelight across a guilty face. The story doesn’t need a monster to be terrifying; sometimes, all it takes is the sound of a familiar voice saying your name from the other side of the door.
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🌒 Step Through the Door
Loved this week’s prompt? The story doesn’t end here.
🖋️ I answered “The Knock After Sunset” as a personal essay — a reflection on what it really means to open the door to your own truth.
✨ Read the full piece on Author KL Adams Blog— my creative home on WordPress, where each Substack spark becomes something deeper, darker, and more human.
Go on. The candle’s still burning.
→ Read the Essay on Author KL Adams Blog