#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

“Lightless” by Anoush Hovnanian

Submitted to Contest #124

I 4:00 am I can’t sleep. Sometimes sleep won’t come to you. No matter what you do to catch it. No matter how hard you try. Sleep won’t come. If Luna was there, she would probably tell me sleep is not something you can order around. She would tell me this, in that soothing voice of hers. That sleep never comes to the ones who wish to catch it. But Luna is not here. 4:05 am Still can’t sleep. She would surely tell me a tale never to forget, which would instantly fade away. She would tell me about a flock of birds, flying far away from it a...

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“In The Icy Hands of Time” by Angela Govender

Submitted to Contest #124

A gust of wind drove down the valley, grazing my feet. I stood firmly, inhaling a mix of icy wind with nostalgic memories. I felt lethargic and sounded like a panting dog. It was the first path I have ever taken in life that was bestrewed with rocks and not litter. I felt a sense of purity, and I could tell my mind would be cleared after our hike. I could tell I would be able to face whatever happened that day. It is not every day that you get to do things and cross them out your bucket list. All around me were the sweetest of voices whisp...

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“Whirl Wind Romance” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #124

TW: Tornado aftermath and loss. Lyle awoke in a gloom and in pain. Damp earth made him shiver. Pressure pinned him down. Ragged plywood. Had he been buried alive? Their house come down on them? “Amy…? Hello?” It came out more of a croak. No response. He ached. Every joint cried for relief. His skin burned. Splinters tore at him. He couldn’t move. Cool air flowed. He called out, and coughed. Something pressed him into the ground. He groped at the damp earth, trying to gain room to maneuver. He dragged himself toward the brighter gloo...

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“A Case of Arthuritis” by Mae Siu-Wai Stroshane

Submitted to Contest #124

My name is Doctor Edgar B. Shallows, Jr. and I work in the ER at Cornwall Medical Center. We're down in what's called the Combat Zone, where hookers and drug dealers prowl the streets, suburban guys sneak into the peep shows and sex shops, and guns are as plentiful as cotton candy. You can practically set your watch by the police sirens. Our hospital specializes in major trauma cases. We're trained to spring into action with our lifesaving drugs, clamps and defibrillators, yards and yards of thread and bandages, and IV lines that can barre...

21 comments 21

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“Endling” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #124

Frayed around the edges, crinkled through the middle, and faded with time, dirt, and blood, the map sat next to her on the edge of the rooftop as she looked through her binoculars and kicked her feet in the hot summer wind. There had been a time when the city below bustled with life, but now there were only rotting cars, rolling fields of trash, and tornados of smog as far as the eye could see. When the land was alive, there had been smells of cooking meat, car exhaust, body o...

4 comments 4

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“A Meeting of the Minds. ” by Eric Falvey

Submitted to Contest #124

*TW* LanguageIt was a dreary Saturday. Of course, everyday had become a bit dreary for me these days. Stuck in the mundane, a spectacular waste of braincells and potential. Wasted away and living the life of a settler. That's what I call them, the people who build their life on repetition and consistency. The kind who work at the same job for 50 years, thinking that their hard work and servitude ACTUALLY means something to the rich pricks who own the company. The kind of people that live their entire lives with the goal of getting married to...

6 comments 6

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“The Doorknob Rock” by MichElle Colpo

Submitted to Contest #124

“Why’re you crying?” I tried to keep my voice level and free of annoyance as I watched Theo sift through the rocks in the stream, sniffling and wiping his nose on the hem of his jacket. You could line his pockets with Kleenex boxes and he’d still wipe his snot-riddled nose on his dirty green jacket sleeve. “B-b-because they threw it in here!” His voice wobbled in his high-pitched squeak. He didn’t meet my eye, ...

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“The Forbidden Search” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #124

Armin stood proud on the deck of Widow’s Hope, letting the cool spray fall on his face, wondering if her old Captain would believe where she was headed now. The drunken old fool enjoyed cards too much, that was a dangerous thing when Armin came to sit at his table. It hadn’t even taken him a full evening to unburden the man of his gold, his ship, and his dignity, leaving him a poor lonely wretch slumped in the corner of his favourite inn. Now Armin set her course for an unknown island located somewhere in the clear sea. Legend said it cont...

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“Helper of Mankind” by Jamie Gregory

Submitted to Contest #124

On the morning of my sixteenth birthday, I was jolted awake by the discordant sounds of a car horn blaring outside and my mom’s fists banging on my bedroom door. I rolled over in bed with the agility of a sloth. 5:53 am — my birth minute. Happy birthday to me, I thought grudgingly. Mom’s voice, teetering between stern and panicky tones, shouted at me through the door, “Sasha, are you awake? The taxi is here to take you to your HCTA. Sasha? C’mon, hurry up. You know what happens if you don’t show up for the HCTA.” I was all too fami...

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“As Children Do” by Kerry-Anne Furno

Submitted to Contest #124

“Ninety-Seven, Ninety-Eight, Ninety-Nine, ONE HUNDRED. Ready or not! HERE I COME!” I spun out of the corner I had smushed my face into. The herringbone parquet flooring glows golden, reflecting the light from the hallway lamps. My Mary-Janes slap against it as I run towards the giant mahogany staircase. I reach the carpet covered stairway and start thundering up them with the abandon of youth and enthusiasm. As I run, the crystal tear drops of the chandelier tinkle as they vibrate and shake from the force of my passage. Mrs McIntosh, the hou...

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“Directions” by James Wesikittel

Submitted to Contest #124

Julia glared at the frozen map on her phone; the words ‘No Service’ stubbornly clung to the corner of the screen. “Dammit,” she shouted. “Where the hell is this place?” Moments later, she pulled into an old, rundown gas station. Reluctantly eyeing the peeling paint and cracked windows framing the flickering ‘open’ sign—she could almost hear her mother’s voice lecturing her about judging books by their covers—Julia took a deep breath, grabbed her purse, and made her way inside. “Mornin’,” said the grizzled old man standing behind th...

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“Racial Union” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #124

Kandahar is relatively big province in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a nation everybody that is alive in this world knows. Yeah, I said if you are alive for if not for the pandemic, most of us don’t really know what is going on in our families let alone our neighborhood, nation and the world. I recall my days in service when they used to organize those Mr. and Mrs. camp like they call the competition. It is modelled after the miss world pageant where the organizers ask questions as braw and brain test to determine who is something outside mu...

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“Hanging Chad” by Bruce Friedman

Submitted to Contest #124

Warning: violence with sexual themes.“Back in the day, a case like this would have been cut-and-dried, wrapped up in a day or two. We would have called it suicide by hanging — end of story. These days, however, everything’s more complicated. In my opinion, what we see here is not a suicide nor is it a murder. However, and because of who the victim is, there will be demands in the department to call it murder.”Cassie Mulroy was speaking to me, quietly but firmly. She was the lead detective in the police department. She had been serving for mo...

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“Mary's Girl Child” by Michael Regan

Submitted to Contest #124

Sept, 1983Mary Richardson stood at her kitchen window watching the evening sun play on the leaves of the grove of poplar that screened her house from the road. It was late September, the leaves were in their full autumn glory - for the first time in her life, she felt at peace. Slowly going over in her mind all the things that had led her to this place.Raised on a farm just outside Val Marie, Saskatchewan, the only child of a family broken by years of drought. Pregnant at an early age, moving to Lethbridge Alberta in 1947 after losing the ba...

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“The Power of the Rainbow” by Deborah Elliott

Submitted to Contest #124

The Power of the Rainbow Deborah Elliott The ground shook, gray clouds boiled in the heavens, and the sea crashed into the shore with rock-shattering power. Rain was falling in great torrents, and the bitter wind was snapping and biting without mercy. The woman’s bones were weary and her resolve brittle, but still, she wrapped her cloak about her and put one foot in front of the other. The earth rolled and cracked; it spewed hot ashes that terrified her. The drifting cinders singed her skin. Repeatedly she stumb...

3 comments 3

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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.