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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

“Olson’s Sweetheart” by Tsvi Jolles

Submitted to Contest #133

At the end of the war, we sat on the floor and breathed dust. Not far from us stood a burnt tank with two APCs behind it, also burnt. There was the sound of warplanes still in the air, but we knew no bombs were going to fall anymore, at least not in this round. We felt lucky. The walls near us were punctured with bullets, mostly broken and falling apart. There was no way to see the distant walls because the air was yellow and murky but we could imagine what our city looked like by now. At four-thirty in the morning of Valentine's day, t...

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“Paper Heart” by KBK Miller

Submitted to Contest #133

I stood there just looking at it. It was small with beat-up white siding and few loose shingles. I wondered why my mom insisted on staying here? I took a deep breath. It was mine now, and I mean, I get it. It was hers. It’s hard to put a price on dignity. The neighborhood was its usual vibrant self. It didn’t seem to notice the loss. I watched as two kids raced their bikes, screaming at one another with full volume. The neighbor across the street waved as she filled up a blow-up pool with what I knew was ice-cold hose water, too cold for m...

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“Hot and Spicy Cocoa Cake” by McCampbell Molly

Submitted to Contest #133

Hot and Spicy Cocoa Cake.... So, he wants chocolate, does he? Yanti pounded her fist into the bread dough. She raised her forearm over and over, her fist clenched, beating the poor dough mercilessly. She looked out the window. The snow was coming down in heavy blankets. The sky was darkening and settling in like a foul mood. Like the one she was in. Why weren’t they back? “No, Yanti,” she muttered to herself. Her head shaking dramatically and pronouncin...

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“Sweet Sickness, Literally.” by Cydney Rose

Submitted to Contest #133

Rhiannon fought to hold her book open as the wind sent the pages fluttering. Ominous clouds overhead threatened to burst at any moment, and the sand that stretched in either direction blew into her face. She sighed. Not the best day for the beach. A cacophony of laughs pulled her attention from the words of her favorite author. A group of surfers around her age trudged from the choppy waves, smiles beaming across their faces. With the weather this morning, they couldn’t have caught more than a couple waves. The three men and two women s...

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“Pillage My Heart” by Jennifer Chan

Submitted to Contest #133

Working for a villainous overlord is never easy. There are always do-gooders to vanquish, mythical monsters to set loose, and prosperous kingdoms to topple. It’s much harder, of course, when you’re also in love with said overlord, but I’ve been doing this for more than a thousand years now. In six months, I even have the option of retiring. I know I should consider myself fortunate. Not everyone henchman makes it to this point, and the severance pay is more than generous, but the prospect of giving this up fills me with dread. For the m...

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“My Valentine's Day Chocolate ” by Betsy Ellis

Submitted to Contest #133

My Valentine's Day Chocolate and How It Got Here by Elizabeth “Betsy” Ellis The synthetic fibers of the plush toys brush across my hand as I reached past them for a small box of chocolates. All of them destined for some household as a token of affection. The shelves are covered in pink, red, and so much sweetness that even Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf would be saying “Hold the sugar”. Most of it I don't bother with, but I do have a real fondness for chocolate: Classic Hershey's kisses that remind me of childhood, delicate Guylian hazelnut...

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“Orogenesis” by Julie Frederick

Submitted to Contest #133

Days before my ailing elderly grandmother passes, she appears to me in a dream. I am visiting her in a nursing home, but instead of finding her in the usual bed, she lies in a baby’s crib. And the air, rather than thick with the stench of antiseptic and death, is sweet smelling and fresh. I inhale deeply: Andes chocolate mints, her favorite, and mine. The floor is covered with their discarded emerald green wrappers. Next to her cot is an octagonal tin – the same one I so often reached into as a child – brimming with Andes mints. I unwrap one...

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“Sweeter Than Chocolate” by David Rosenkoetter

Submitted to Contest #133

Glass chards plummeted to the desk’s marble top shining like little falling stars. Jake leapt from his wooden chair and tried to catch the flower petals that also tumbled from the shelves above his head. Drops of water that the vase had contained soaked his uncut hair. What else could go wrong two days before he’d ask Emma to marry him? His computer had died that morning which meant he’d dump the latest check from the learning center’s tutoring office into buying its top-of-the-line replacement. He could build one himself from scratch. But...

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“The Mystery Heart” by Camille Alfred

Submitted to Contest #133

The Mystery Heart Camille Alfred I made the first payment on the house. I moved in on Sunday afternoon. All of my belongings were being delivered on Monday, but I was anxious to get settled before my new job started. I was alone for the first time in my life, no family, no boyfriend and no husband. A widow, with no children. I checked out the kitchen, the counters needed to be cleaned and one of the drawers was ajar. It wasn’t that way when I looked at the house a month ago. I opened the drawer and realized it was stuck fast. I o...

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“Thank You, Frank” by David Phillips

Submitted to Contest #133

It had taken Caroline almost forty-five minutes to get to the attic. Her arthritis had been acting up and pulling the stairs down from the ceiling had been chore enough, let alone making the climb. The pain forced her to pause after each step to let her knees rest, but her determination had paid off. She was now standing in a dusty, cobwebbed attic eyeing the many containers that caged the memories of her past. She found an old chair once used in the kitchen, removed some frayed, dusty stuffed animals, and took a seat. She took a few minut...

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“Did I find my Forever? ” by Naduni De Silva

Submitted to Contest #133

“Will you be my Valentine?!” I placed the banner with much difficulty in front of the sop. But honestly I kept telling my dad we don’t need a banner because if it’s the Valentines week, we would get customers. Some turn up around 11pm asking for treats. As a person who has been single for her entire 22 years of life and as a person who’s obsessed with confectionary more than love or dating, I sometimes wonder what it would feel like to fall in love and find that person who’s your forever. Thoughts aside, I’m unfortunately too busy to even th...

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“Chocolate and Oranges” by Misty Phillips

Submitted to Contest #133

“Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight…” Inventory days. They were the absolute worst. “Thirty, thirty-one—” Ding-a-ling-a-ling. I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of that bell. Most of the island was still fasting, so customers were extremely rare. I spun around to the door. There was a teenage boy, panting like mad, his whole body pressed up against the door, and I couldn’t help but give him a look-over. The first thing that caught my eye was that brilliant orange hair framing his soft, freckled face with a bandana tied around...

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“As The Truffles Cool ” by Celine Rose Marie

Submitted to Contest #133

I flick on the light, my key jangling as I pull it from the lock with a sigh, glimpsing the fresh sign I had made. Bailey’s Goodies and cannot contain my smile. I push the door closed and dump my stuff behind the counter, swiping an arm across my forehead. Owning your own business means never having a day off. It’s rough, but I’d never give it up. I move through the kitchen, pulling supplies from the neat shelves as I make my way toward the fridge at the back. The countertop cluttered with baking supplies and ingredients. I place a po...

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“A Delayed Transaction” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #133

Note from the author: There are a couple of instances of bad language in this story. *** The hall of trade was the easy part, Gail had been there as instructed, waiting to meet Gerrod in a private chamber. Frustratingly, he’d passed on details of a further meeting, this time in some fancy cake shop in the district of commerce. Infuriated by this latest setback, Gerrod thundered down the street alongside the river, back to his crew. ‘How did it go chief?’ Asked Giant. Inside the city proper, he’d been attracting many a sideways stare. A...

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“The Candy Store” by Amy Wright

Submitted to Contest #133

I’d been hiking the Southwest Coast Path in England alone for a month and was so lonely I felt raw. I wasn’t hiking that day; I had hitched a ride to St. Ives with Dave, a surfer I’d met in a hostel in Port Isaac. The night before he’d introduced me to the Teletubbies while sharing a giant joint made with a cigar roller and offered me transport to St. Ives in his weed delivery van. So I took Dave up on his offer and was almost tearfully glad of his company. We didn’t talk much as we drove, but the companionable silence was almost as good. It...

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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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