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#133: Chocolate Box

Next Monday is Valentine’s Day, which means chocolate boxes are popping up in stores everywhere. The sweet association between cocoa and romance began with the Mayans and Aztecs, but it only became a hallmark of Valentine’s Day when British confectionery giant Cadbury introduced the first ever heart-shaped gift boxes in the 1860s.

Today, chocolate is inseparable from this occasion in many parts of the world: in Japan, some give homemade chocolate to their loved ones; in Ghana, February 14th is National Chocolate Day. And we’re joining the fun with this week’s set of delicious chocolate-inspired prompts. Take your pick!

This week's prompts

Write about someone going on a search for a specific type (or brand) of chocolate.

Middle School – 24 stories

Start your story with a character finding an old heart-shaped box in their house.

Valentine's Day – 78 stories

Set your story in a confectionery shop.

Middle School – 40 stories

Write a story about someone making a gift (chocolate or otherwise) for a loved one.

Valentine's Day – 36 stories

Write about a character who finds Valentine’s Day sickly sweet.

Valentine's Day – 26 stories

Stories

“The Heart-shaped Box” by Val Hickey

Submitted to Contest #133

The box is kept in the second drawer of my bureau, along with a cerulean blue silk tie rolled into a neat round, a gold Cartier watch, a Waterman fountain pen, and some coins from my travels. I’m rather proud to say that the box’s heart-shaped form is still intact since it has been carefully transferred time and again into at least five bureaus over the thirty years since Maya gave it to me on Valentine’s Day in our tenth grade English class. I was a newcomer to school and Whitebridge that year. Maya was open-hearted, slightly pla...

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“CHOCOLATE HEART” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #133

CHOCOLATE HEART She had found it rummaging in an old warm-eaten chest relegated to the attic. As soon as Marianna had the red box in her hands, after pulling it out of the pile of junk where ( into which) it was ______pieces of fabric, balls of wool, crochet hooks, scissors, hairpins, zippers, ribbons, spools of thread….._____she felt her heartbeat speeding up with emotion. That heart shaped box, of modest size, was made of cardboard, a white cardboard yellowed over time. The top ( the upper half) of the box wa...

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“ENDURING LOVE” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #133

Rosa hadn’t expected to inherit the rambling old Victorian house and its contents after her great grandmother Rosina’s passing, since Gran, as she called her, had never spoken of her plans for the house once she was dead. Nevertheless, Rosa did inherit and here she was exploring in the attic. With trembling hands, she lifted the heart-shaped, rosewood box from the drawer where she found it in Gran’s chest which had been moved at some point into the attic. She held the box in her hands and remembered the story she had been told so many years ...

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“Reassembly ” by Sidharth Shankar

Submitted to Contest #133

Mahan swept the broom along the dim and dusty attic, pushing the same clump of dust around that he had been for several minutes. The late evening sunlight poured in through the thick windows, painting the attic with dark and light tiger like stripes. Mahan turned his shoulder to the sunlight and pushed the clump of dust into the darkness. He then joined it there, brooding. After a while, his mother noticed what he was doing. “Hey,” she said, pausing in her own sweeping. “I see you there. You’ve been pushing that same dust ball ...

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“And They Were Roommates” by W.D. Pierce

Submitted to Contest #133

TW: Strong language, violence, mature themes. Reader discretion advised.My lungs are screaming for air, my legs are seizing and my heart aches with every breath. But I don't care, because I'm scared shitless.And that overwhelming fear is what carries me the last leg of the trip to the bus stop. I hop though the door, scan my bus pass and take a seat, attracting stares as I collapse on the bench. Finally, after my breathing returns to a normal pace, I begin to feel the weight of how insane this night has been.I'm gonna need fucking thera...

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“Like a big kid in a sweet shop” by Rebecca Stack

Submitted to Contest #133

The bell on the shop door dings as Margaret enters; wandering around the shop she studies each available sweet and chocolates so closely as if she is peering at them through a magnifying glass. Each step she takes further into the confectionery shop, she is soaking in the smells, the colors, the many varieties. Her mouth-watering as she breathes in the many different scents, she is not exactly sure what she is looking for. As a young girl long ago, in the happiest times of her life, she vaguely remembers a sweet that she loved so ...

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“The City Girl” by Jodi Johnson-Meyers

Submitted to Contest #133

The City Girl Snap! Snap! Snap! Bony fingers sliced through Clara’s reverie. She didn’t have to look up to know whose body possessed those claws. Although only in her thirties, Agnes’ hands defied her age. The enamel of her fingernails showed thick, yellowed and rippled from years of vitamin and iron deficiencies. Her thin, translucent skin stretched taught, obscene and white over her knuckles, making Clara’s stomach turn sickly at the sight of them. Her knuckles protruded so prominently they made you think they were going to pop out of he...

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“Chocolatevia” by Jana Wilde

Submitted to Contest #133

There is no better aroma than that of chocolate. The way it envelopes you like a warm hug, like the warmth of a fire on a chilly night. The scent alone makes even the most disciplined eaters crave for it. Fragrant like the comfort of home, chocolate has the ability to induce feelings of content, putting you at ease. Chocolate is my romance, my religion, my life. I walk into Chocolatevia and lighten as cream and butter, vanilla and caramel and cocoa, toasted nuts and dried fruit, all swirl in the warm air around me and I am home. It ...

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“Chocolate Girls” by Sparrow Rose

Submitted to Contest #133

I watched her die in a confectionary shop. Of course, it wasn’t much of a surprise in the first place - nor was she the first to die there - but it still sort of stung. If I’m being honest, her utter and complete trust in me was the most shocking bit of the entire story. When she first walked in, her absolute naivety was almost like a stab in the heart. Those words she spoke to me still stick with me to this day. “You guys sell chocolate here, right?” The absolute audacity. How a single girl could hold so much absolute idiocy is something...

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“A Picture of Love” by Miri Primm

Submitted to Contest #133

The sun broke through the clouds and painted its warmth on my cheeks. The street was abuzz with couples and families, out and about for the holiday. It was a scene of people walking hand in hand across the pavement, peaking into the shops, restaurants and boutiques that lined the street, all adorned with hearts, ribbons, and even a violinist outside of a bistro. The musician cradled the instrument lovingly on her shoulder as she carried the bow across the strings. She was adorable in her black and white striped shirt and black pants. I dropp...

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“Just Desserts” by Virtual Chesse Emporium

Submitted to Contest #133

TW: Mentions of Abuse and DeathThe scent of strawberries and cooked sugar wafted through the air. Customers eagerly waited as Miss Flora set freshly made strawberry crepes out for display. They were absolutely gorgeous, the bright red berries and sweet cream cushioned in a golden brown crust. Miss Flora smoothed her apron and smiled at the crowd.“Alright dears,” she said cheerily, “Everyone wanting strawberry crepes can come forward!” People swarmed the counter, waving money in the air as they called for different desserts. Crepes, cupcakes,...

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“Sour Love” by Vincent Paiement Désilets

Submitted to Contest #133

One day, the sun left and never came back. Now it’s dark and cold all the time. I don’t mind the dark because mommy and daddy used to put me in a little room with no light when I annoyed them by bringing too many dead animals inside. Even when I brought alive ones for friendship, mom still complained and hit me with the discipline flower. The discipline flower was a big rose with many little spikes. She said it was a loving way to make me learn because it was a flower and flowers are beautiful. Daddy almost never hit me. He didn’t care. But,...

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“The scrapbook ” by Hannah Free

Submitted to Contest #133

I look at the floor around me, what had been my black and white tile kitchen floor earlier that morning had now turned into a sea of 20 years worth of memories. Photos, tickets and notes flooded the space surrounding me. Our anniversary was fast approaching and I had decided to take it upon myself to hand make my present this year, I’d never been all that creative but I wanted to do something special so I was willing to give it a go. This year I’d be putting together a scrapbook for him, hoping to fill each page with our memories, like a sto...

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“This is Not a Love Story” by Lou Jackson

Submitted to Contest #133

There is a package sitting on my bed. I find it when I drop my bag on the floor after work, ready to go to the kitchen and wash my hands. Initially, I am a little annoyed. I don’t want a parcel from outside touching my quilt. Barb must have put it there, and I consider talking to her about it, but after the bath towel incident, I don’t want to bother her. On closer inspection the package does not have a shipping label, so maybe Barb wrapped it herself, in which case I don’t mind it being on my bed. Oh. My name is written on the brown pape...

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“I’m Going to Live with You Forever” by Andrew Sweet

Submitted to Contest #133

Caution: This is not a love story. Well, it kind of is. But mostly, this is a story about losing a life without dying, but never losing hope.Scene IThin fingers shook the crochet needles, one against the other, as the man, thirty going on sixty, looped then pulled at the thick forest-green yarn with pink crochet needles. One was pink anyway. The other was missing some of its coating, giving it a blotchy pinkish-gray appearance as he circled it it deftly around and pulled another loop through. His breath came in bursts of steam that hung in t...

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$250

Prize money

204

Contest entries

121

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 18, 2022 EST

Won by Stephanie Kaye 🏆

Title: Mythes

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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