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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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

“Cat in a Candy Store” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #133

Pepper peeked out from under the counter and groaned as he spied the woman setting up the Hallmark display with heart adorned cards. ‘Valentine’s Day, ugh. Humans are so tiresome.’ The woman was Candace and she owned Candy’s Sweet Shoppe. Pepper the rat’s ash grey fur puffed and his white whiskers bristled uncontrollably. They did that when he was annoyed. Pepper scurried across the pink linoleum beneath the counter, across the floor to under the shelves. From there he was able to see the calendar on the wall. ‘Gads...

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“Croft's Wondrous Confections” by Jordan Caves-Callarman

Submitted to Contest #133

The bell above the door jangled softly as Timothy entered the shop. He stood by the doorway, uncertain. The place was empty, not a customer or employee in sight, and stepping in from all the busyness and noise of the city made the sudden silence seem jarring.It was an old-fashioned sort of candy store, all gleaming brass and polished wood, and tall shelves loaded with jars of treats. A few large light bulbs dangled down from the ceiling above, their coils glowing a baleful orange, but the stingy illumination they provided only seemed to deep...

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“Secret Admirer” by Prince Prose

Submitted to Contest #133

Habits were hard to break. Waking up at the same time every day, always ordering the same coffee, taking the same route to and from work. Ian was guilty of all of these, and others. He was fortunate enough–or unfortunate?--that his walk home from work took him along main street. It was nice looking in all the shop windows, seeing how everything changed as the seasons went by and waving to all the familiar employees as he passed. Until three months ago, when the ‘For Lease’ sign on the window of the only empty storefront was removed. ...

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“High Noon and the Box” by Kathy Tauber

Submitted to Contest #133

High Noon and the BoxThe man, sitting on the new vinyl bench, is impeccably dressed in an aged tweed sport coat with worn leather elbow patches, a starched yellowed shirt with a button-down collar, and her favorite tie, a wide, navy and gold one with a flawless knot. His khaki pants droop when he stands, but the wing tip shoes, as ancient as the coat, are polished to a mirrored finish. On his lap, his thin, wrinkled hands gently hold a small square pink box with a matching polka dot bow. He’s attentive to it. When the wind blows a ...

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“Second Best” by Rae Matthews

Submitted to Contest #133

Olivia was only thirteen years old when her father passed away on a somber evening in her family's home. Ten short years ago on Valentine's Day, February the fourteenth, he disappeared from her world. Valentine's Day would never be the same for her. It was a day she would not ever forget and would always detest. She thought this year would be the same as all the others. She would pretend it was just another day exactly as she had done in the past years. She was already preparing herself now that the dreaded day was onl...

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“My Search Lead Me Here” by Eric Ang

Submitted to Contest #133

For the last year I’ve been searching for the perfect treat. Since January of 2021, I’ve been practicing the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting to keep my insulin hormone levels low, all in an effort to lose weight, namely belly fat. It has worked pretty well for me so far. I’ve lost 30 pounds on this 47-year-old body, much of it around my midsection. And honestly, I've never felt better.Keto is a low carb, high fat and moderate protein diet that attempts to signal to the body that fat is the fuel source to use for e...

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“Something Dark... and Chocolate” by Heather McGuire

Submitted to Contest #133

Denise is short— petite, she calls herself. She has a slight build with soft, sagging skin the color of puddy and the slow, measured movements that seem feline in their calculated precision. Paul often thinks of her as cat-like, slinking around the house, eyeing him with belittling glares, claws sharp and at the ready. Paul used to wonder how someone so small could make life so miserable. Now he knows that size has nothing to do with it. He knows that vicious words can be hurled from small mouths, that they will find and pier...

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“Attic Letters” by Jalissa Mooney

Submitted to Contest #133

Attic Letters By Jalissa Mooney Half a century of dust had been collecting up in this attic and now it was taking its revenge out on me, as I stuffed an old, broken doll into a black garbage bag. My grandmother was moving into a nursing home in a month and the house she had lived in for over fifty years would be going to her eldest son and daughter-in-law. Everyone was given a task to complete within the month to help get the house ready and I had the pleasure of being assigned the attic. Looking around I could spot old boxes, vintage cloth...

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“Cutting an Artery” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #133

Cutting an Artery “Curb appeal” really didn’t exist on the outside of the rundown cabin, so it had one strike against it even before Tom Cupiskin opened the creaky front door. Then, after gingerly ascending the crooked front steps, he peeled back several layers of cobwebs and turned the ancient doo...

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“The Farm” by Kimberly McCune

Submitted to Contest #133

The Farm By Kimberly McCune I probably shouldn’t be up here. I am going to get in so much trouble if I get caught. Looking out the small window, I see my grandparents still out by the barn watching the horses. Scooting back on the attic floor, I look around at all the boxes. It’s surprisingly neat for being an attic. Clean with a little dust but no cobwebs or dust bunnies. Wonder why that is. I can’t ask or they’ll know I was up here when I’m not supposed to be. &n...

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“Hearts of Mine” by Kev Neylon

Submitted to Contest #133

I don’t know why it always fell to me to clear the loft out. I’m the wrong size and shape for it to start with. Well over six feet tall and quite a way north of twenty stone. Clambering up the ladder and squeezing through the loft hatch is always awkward. And once up there I need a crash helmet to protect my thick head from the low eaves. Apart from a three feet wide strip down the middle, there is nowhere I can stand up straight up there. And of course, everything is stored off of that strip, in the low, dark, angled corners. Additional...

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“Sylvia's Number” by Dave Bede

Submitted to Contest #133

Jerry heard his mother in the hallway a second too late to avoid getting caught red-handed, perched on his desk chair with one hand deep in the reaches of the top shelf of his closet. “What are you doing in there, sweetheart?” she asked from the doorway. “Oh, nothing!” Jerry said much too emphatically, even he could hear that as he let go of the contraband magazine and pulled his hand out. Along the way he knocked something out of place that he couldn’t make out in the darkness, and it came tumbling out – an old heart-shaped box. “I hope...

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“Love and a Fantasy” by Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #133

“I’ll just have a coffee and a blueberry muffin, please.” His voice was gruff, sandy at the edges and yet soft on the consonants. He brushed jet black hair onto his face to obscure his dark brown eyes from the server. She jotted his order down and smiled at him, just barely parting full lips to reveal crystalline white teeth. It was a smile which tore his mind in two. “Is that all?” Her voice was throaty and velvet textured, with just the hint of a New York accent on a few of her vowels. “Yes,” he said quietly, giving her a nod...

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“Girl Crush” by Lisa Quinn

Submitted to Contest #133

“Sally, do you realize that Monday is Valentine’s Day”? Wendy yells across the across the hallway to her friend, who was busy shoving her jacket into her locker. Making sure her books did not fall out, as they have in the past laugh out loud. “When they are too serious, what the heck are we ever going to do”? As both girls realized they were running out of time, the final bell warning rings. Sally yells over to Wendy ”tell your parents that you are spending the weekend with me”. They both hug each other in the middle of the hallway, and run ...

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“Dearest Monnie” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #133

There had to have been over a hundred photographs strewn across the floor, all of which were enveloped in memories with varying emotions. They were destined for a large and thick album Sergeant Plundell was holding on his lap while he sat with his back to the desk in Commandant Westheimer’s office. He felt like a child again, putting together an album of pictures he found interesting or delightful. Ever since he knew he was in love with a young lady named Monnie Abberton, he had wanted to give that album to her. Sadly, that album was back ...

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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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