#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

“Lansky's Project” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #124

Cuba, December 1956: The look on Mr. Lansky’s face left me worried. “There’s some trouble brewing in Cobrero,” he told me.” A militant group is organizing out there and if given time, may become an obstacle for the local government. Fulgencio Batista’s hold over the people is already weak and we don’t want anything to upset it or our operations here. So, I want you to go down there and see if this is anything you can do to crush before it gets too big.” Of course, when he said operations, he meant the casinos he was overseeing in Havana....

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“Postoperative Day Three” by Maria Avisal

Submitted to Contest #124

Dalia, completely ignored by the nurse sitting at the computer outside of room 314, knocked inaudibly before easing the door open. The sky outside of Mr. Leary’s room was completely black, and the flickering lights of the city only barely visible through the fog. Eyes shifting from the window to the bed, she wrinkled her forehead in confusion upon seeing it empty. She would never admit it to the resident team, but she had been guilty of silently checking the drainage tubes and ...

3 comments 3

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“The Hungry Christmas Tree” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #124

The twenty-foot tree was magnificent! All forty-nine wee elves skipped around its base with strings of colored lights, silver tinsel, and finely crafted wooden ornaments. Its fresh, piney green scent was intoxicating, the elves buried their faces in the soft needley boughs.The elves giggled like squirrels, chattered like monkeys, and laughed like loons. As the last of the lights were lit, and the last of the ornaments hung, the elves discussed the finale…the decoration for the very tip-top. The angel was white, with tinsel hai...

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“A Summer Rain” by Miriam Esessien

Submitted to Contest #124

It was a lonely drive from work. My booming radio and thoughts, my only company. I shuddered a little in my white woolen sweater. The air was unusually chilly. I mindlessly switched from one station to another as I was beginning to lose signal and then little by little, my warm serenade turned to the sizzle of a pan. I let out a sigh of annoyance and turned off my radio. The only sound that could be heard was the lonely howl of the wind, just like my sick heart. The weather forecast did announce that it would rain later but how odd though, i...

4 comments 4

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“Roads Paved in Gold” by M.C. Romero

Submitted to Contest #124

Look back to those years I awoke each morning, disoriented, cramped, and curled up against a wood-paneled wall, thin body upon a thinner mattress, grasping for a sense of time and place through sleep’s lifting veil. Dim sun peeked through plastic blinds, taunting me to tear them open in search of answer to that persistent, daily question: what place is this? But always strange desert sand and cactus answered, seen at 55 mph, and blurring together into an unfamiliar palette of khaki browns, greens, and grays; and, always, the great deserts st...

6 comments 6

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“One One-Thousand” by Andrew Ball

Submitted to Contest #124

One One-Thousand I love her. I have always loved her. The realisation dawns on me and takes my breath away, what little I have left. I rock back on my heels and resume pumping her chest, struggling to recall my High School First Aid class from thirty years before. Her body feels cold, lifeless, fragile under my rough hands: how I imagine her corpse will feel. Light-headed from the rescue breathing, I try to bury the thought and concentrate instead on squeezing her reluctant corpuscles around her body. One one-thousand, two one-thousan...

9 comments 9

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“Her” by Jamie Kleppestø

Submitted to Contest #124

note; this story contains mental health problems and mentions self harm.Who am I? Am I important? Or am I just a nobody? My head hurt, i couldn’t think, but at the same time, a flow of thoughts was streaming into my head. Who am I really? Am I the boy I portray myself as, or am I faking it all? What if I’m faking it?! What if no one really knows me, what if I’ve been lying to everyone I know?!Oh god, I’m a terrible person, aren’t I? Why can’t I just be happy with who I am? I should be happy, there’s nothing that's stopping me from being happ...

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“A Journey of a Single Miles” by Zach Martz

Submitted to Contest #124

Logbook Entry 06-001First off, to anyone who is reading this, I would just like to say that whoever came up with the phrase, “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” can go screw himself.I almost just died. And I’m not any stronger than I was before.Also, I am NOT a morning person. Mornings are the worst. Especially this one. Well, if it was morning at all. There was no alarm clock, no angry beeping, no workday for me to get up for. Where I woke up the concept of night...

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“River Rat” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #124

What is a River Rat? Realistically, it is a four legged rodent that lives near waterways and is one of God's ickiest creatures. Being known as a rat is not very complimentary, but it does carry a connotation for fierceness of a beast that would never back down from a confrontation even in the face of certain death. After living a life where compliance was expected and predictability was the payoff, I knew it had come time to find myself. Fear of the unknown had frozen me in place for over ten years, time had come to b...

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“Tiger print” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #124

Matt was twelve, his brothers were eight, and the townhouse they played hide and seek in was four. Their father was the second owner of the still-considered-new, mostly concrete, three-story home, and this was the first time that the boys had the place to themselves. They were playing hide and seek because their dad didn’t have any toys at his house. He wasn’t the type of dad that tried to make his kids comfortable, but the brothers didn’t mind; they did more than make due. They were pleased that their father said he’d be away at the store f...

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“Met-a-farce 2030” by Suma Jayachandar

Submitted to Contest #124

In this new world, your heart can be used against you. I didn’t know it back then.I never thought I would find love in the ruins. Yet, it was where our eyes locked for the first time. You were standing like a queen near the recessed arch of the pink-hued Lotus Mahal in Hampi; your purple eyes admiring the birds carved on a pillar. I had just found my way out of the frenzied participants at the nearby elephant stables- Saturday evening crowd clamouring to get on the back of 40-year-old elephants to wage duels. It got on my nerves. I throttled...

6 comments 6

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“Amazed in a Maize Maze,” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #124

I don’t generally like going through cornfield mazes, or ‘maize mases’ as I call them. I am of an age in which I get lost easily, and can have a hard time looking for my car, it’s gray, in a shopping centre parking lot. If something is designed to confuse, it makes it that much harder for me to find my way. But my six-year-old granddaughter Mia wanted to go through it, and that made it an attractive proposition. I will try very hard for the two of us not to get l...

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“Life, Death, or Something In-Between” by Eileen Donovan

Submitted to Contest #124

Eileen Joyce Donovan Word Count: 2,300 words 75 We...

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“Tiny Bangle Where Are You?” by Kimberly Seyboldt

Submitted to Contest #124

"It's gone!" I shouted. "It's gone.!" Probably not the best words to yell out in a bank, filled with patrons, on a Friday, just before closing. All eyes were upon my panicked looking face now. There was no time to worry about that. "Now that I have everyone's attention", I cowered, "Could everyone look down around their feet?" (Now I saw the panicked looks on their faces as though they thought my pet rat had escaped my grasp) "My large diamond in my wedding ring is missing!" I had their full attention now, but felt a bit guilty lying, or sho...

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“Mango Heart” by Hamzah Malik

Submitted to Contest #124

Once upon a time, there lived a girl who was born with a shining mango instead of a heart. She was like a normal girl in every other way, apart from the peculiar ability to reach inside her own chest and pull out a ripe, glowing mango. Mango Girl's mother naturally told her to never tell anyone about this, for she feared people would abuse and ridicule her. The years rolled on, and Mango Girl became a tenacious ten year-old with a loud laugh and eyes that shone brighter than the stars. One fateful day, Mango Girl spotted a merchant selli...

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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.