#124: Seeking, Finding

Have you ever noticed how common it is for fictional characters to embark on their adventures in search of something? From an Odyssean longing for home to Hero’s-Journey-style quests, many great tales begin with the potent act of seeking.

Let these prompts guide you along your own journey of creative discovery — I’m curious to see what you find.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character in search of something or someone.

Angst – 94 stories

Start your story with someone trying to read a map.

Fiction – 35 stories

Write a story where two characters are playing hide and seek, literally or metaphorically.

Fluff – 27 stories

End your story with someone finding themselves.

Character – 39 stories

Set your story in a labyrinth that holds a secret.

Dark – 31 stories

Stories

“Ready or Not” by Abigail Stelter

Submitted to Contest #124

Ready or not, here I come! The girl stood at the edge of the forest, padded jacket wrapped tightly around her body to keep out the late-autumn chill. May hadn’t been here since she was a kid, clothing catching on branches and clumsy feet stumbling over roots dappled by the shade and the sun. The girl turned up her collar, buried her hands in her pockets. Standing in front of it, nearly a decade later, the forest was an alarmingly quiet thing, all dead grays and browns, barren branches knocking together under the decree of the persistent w...

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“The 12 Year Hide and Seek” by Marlee Brooks

Submitted to Contest #124

“Twenty-nine… thirty. Ready or not, here I come!” Millie shouted, hopefully loud enough for her sister, Kitty, to hear. Millie stood up from her counting spot — just behind their father’s rusting wheelbarrow — and began to search for her little sister. Their family’s farm was over twelve acres, so she had a lot of ground to cover. “I found you!” Millie exclaimed. Kitty groaned as she climbed out of the truck bed. “You ought to find a better hiding spot than the one I always find you in.” Kitty jumped out of the bed and hit ...

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“The land of might have been” by Jennifer Claire Pulling

Submitted to Contest #124

The land of might have been can be paved with regrets and lost opportunities, of choices made and their consequences. On the other hand it can be a place dreamers and ditherers can inhabit and never be forced to face reality. For dreamers a love story incorporates adventure and impulse. They don’t subscribe to others’ warnings it is irresponsible and unsustainable. That afternoon when it all began they didn’t go to the press conference in the end. The casual conversation deepened and darted over many topics and they continued to talk u...

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“Learning to Fly” by Liam Spinage

Submitted to Contest #124

Alys Irisetti had always dreamed of taking to the skies. For as long as she could remember, their sect had been forbidden, outlawed under the moral guardianship of the Church of the Anchorer. History told her this had not always been so: that at certain times in the distant past, the Lady of the Burden Bird had been canonised as St Badenbaum and assimilated into regular worship, her statues taking pride of place in halls of worship everywhere. Her statue was hidden in a wall recess behind a portrait of her grandmother. Even o...

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“Reflection” by Candace Shattuck

Submitted to Contest #124

I just don’t know how I got here. It seems like just yesterday I was a carefree child. I used to be so sure of myself and I never cared what anyone thought. I always figured if they had a problem with me that was their problem not mine. But then something changed… I don’t know…maybe it was because I got hurt. Maybe it was learning that the outside world was just as dangerous as the one I knew inside. Some people would tell you I was always disturbed. After all I do have some pretty awful nightmares. But now I just feel broken…lost… I am here...

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“Finding Myself” by Hallie Block

Submitted to Contest #124

When I first lost myself, I was thirteen years old. My knees went weak and I fell to my closet floor. My whole world had just been taken from me, how was I supposed to live now? My life had been "picture perfect" up until this moment, besides for my parent's fighting on the daily- but I thought this was normal. I had fallen, and it felt good to know I could fall no further, for I was completely and utterly numb. This was what I thought the beginning of the end felt like.Since this, I've traveled the world. I've cried gallons upon gallons of ...

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“Uncovering” by Courtney Dodge

Submitted to Contest #124

It's almost fitting that I find myself walking up this never-ending staircase. The steps lead to nowhere. The walls turn into a muted grey as I continue to climb."The room of mirrors", is what I have been told to seek out. That is the only way that I can be pulled into the universe that was once mine. I somehow am walking amongst the place in between, the place of unfamiliarity that pricks the nerves in my brain. This whole process gives me a headache.Ascending the peak of the stairs is not as demanding as it presents itself to be. At the to...

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“Held Your Breath Through the Tunnel” by Castiel W

Submitted to Contest #124

We’ve been driving for a few hours now, Jack and I. I think I might’ve fallen asleep earlier, but very little has changed since I last remember, so I can’t be sure. It’s starting to get dark, the first pink shards of light have begun to appear over the mountains speeding by, and the moon’s already up. No stars, though. “Do you wanna pull over?” I ask, and wince at the sound of my voice. It’s scratchy and broken from the lack of usage. Jack nods curtly, tight lipped. “In a little while,” he says. “We can find a place to stop when it gets da...

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“Falling” by E.G. Radcliff

Submitted to Contest #124

The wind was blowing from the north: a hint of rose in the air, mixed with the smell of shit, a breeze coming both from a parfumerie and the Seine. It brushed back the fine hairs on my arms and made my skin prickle. From somewhere in the apartment, the chocolatey strains of ‘Ave Maria’ slipped between the hinges of the balcony door and wisped away through ivy leaves into the night. The moon hung full above, looking for all the world like a movie prop, like a sigil proclaiming oui, this is Paris, this is la ville d’amour.It was cold out....

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“The Brown Beer Bottle Reflected Eyebags” by E Chin

Submitted to Contest #124

The brown beer bottle reflected eyebags that sank down to Alice’s cheekbones. Wrinkles branched out almost determined to reach her hairline. Maybe the convex curvature exaggerated her features, or maybe it better showed what the average mirror couldn’t – an overworked, fifty-year-old accountant. All tinted in the shade of shit. Alice swayed on her stool to the song that played through the speaker. She couldn’t make out the words, but she liked the strum of the guitar. She always had. She even learned to play it when she was a child, but sh...

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“Forensic Hypnosis” by JL Nash

Submitted to Contest #124

Four, three, two, one, drop down, down deeper and deeper. ‘Is there an A?’ I turn left. I see Aunty Jan’s wedding and the shoes her husband wears which say ‘help’ on the soles and I spell them out loud in the church. ‘Is there a B?’ No. I’m on another curve of my dad’s first car. I am 4. It’s a mess in here. I can’t see any way ahead. I can’t find what you want. You steer me but all I see is silence. It has a shape, a texture, a sound. I see nothing. ‘Is there a C?’ I smell the red polish used on the stone floor at the boarding school I kn...

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“Parting the Clouds” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #124

Each step forward in the dark forest brought Joe Stinson face to face with another mysterious turn. He had driven around the entire afternoon trying to uncover the path to the ramshackle “mansion” that he thought would form the foundation of his future retreat on the Eastern Shore. Joe’s afternoon adventure, however, quickly caused a confrontation more complicated than the twists and turns of his own troubled personality. For six months he had fought off the effects of t...

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“The Plaque” by Judah LoVato

Submitted to Contest #124

On the wall there was a plaque: “Where are those who have gone before us? Have they gone to the Field and planted roses, Have they lain themselves down among traveling stones Do they turn to dust from flesh and bones?” She read the plaque aloud, then lay her hand on the stone wall. She looked tired, as though her legs were to ready to give out. Light from the torches along the walls augmented the exhaustion in her face. “We’ve a long way, yet.” I said, “I’ll carry you awhile.” “But we're out of food- of water, you'll tire out.” “I'...

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“Me and my mirror” by Ajaykrishna Rajesh

Submitted to Contest #124

Whatever that can go wrong went wrong for Ram on that fateful day. In the morning, he was fired from his job for showing up five minutes late. In the afternoon, his wallet, with all his money, and his phone was stolen. In the evening, his girlfriend dumped him, and in the process, went out without paying for the snacks, which he had to repay by giving the watch and asking the owner of the restaurant to have his watch until he repays the ill, to which the owner happily accepted. It was almost 7 PM in the evening when he came home. After stari...

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“Inti” by K W

Submitted to Contest #124

The air is different in Peru. You breathe in the Incan civilization with the smell of hot ají peppers frying on an open flame in the market. This particular market had no name. I passed under a sign that simply read “mercado” and stepped into a new world. I wandered through the rows of shops. People were selling everything from bootleg copies of movies to knock-off designer sunglasses. A large tiled counter stood in the back corner, and an old woman on the other side butchered chicken with a cleaver and a strong set of hands. The market, a...

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$250

Prize money

226

Contest entries

147

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 17, 2021 EST

Won by Amanda Lieser 🏆

Title: Birth Mother

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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#124: Seeking, Finding

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character in search of something or someone.

Start your story with someone trying to read a map.

Write a story where two characters are playing hide and seek, literally or metaphorically.

End your story with someone finding themselves.

Set your story in a labyrinth that holds a secret.