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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#148: The Lease I Can Do

Most of us at one time or another will live in an apartment building. Whether you live in a dorm while at college, or you live in a high-rise in Manhattan, sharing a wall or two with your neighbors certainly keeps things interesting. And living in such close proximity to other people has its pros and cons — you’re never too far from help if you need it, but you’re also never too far from the party your downstairs neighbors seem to throw every weekend.

What are some of your fondest (or least fond) memories of apartment living? Use these five prompts to explore what it’s really like to live in an apartment building — or just a little too close to your neighbors for comfort.

🥇 Winner

“Two Stubborn Women” by D Kang

🏆 Winner of Contest #148

The night is thick and heavy with clouds when I paint the front of The House yellow. I paint quickly and quietly. I don’t want to wake my neighbor up. The brush goes shhh shhh against the wall and even that is loud. My feet crunch on gravel as I finish up and slip into my home. My neighbor’s cursing wakes me up in the morning. I hear fuck! and shit! I split the blinds with two fingers. The sun shines very bright and I squint to see my other neighbors file outside. They see the yellow paint and shake their heads. One of them point...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Storm of the Decade” by Zack Powell

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #148

Content warning: Swearing, mentions of deathThe worst part of the divorce a year ago wasn't losing half my stuff. Back then, I could only watch as Linda descended upon our possessions like royalty, simply pointed to the couch and the blender and my favorite bottle of shampoo, and the lawyer made it so. If we had a baby, I'm sure she would've King Solomoned that too. And I was fine with it, had come to expect that much. It was a small price to pay for my peace of mind.The worst part—what I hadn't expected—was that she would move into the hous...

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“Like Clockwork” by J.C. Lovero

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #148

If you would have told me a year ago that I’d fall in love with the noisy neighbor in Apt. 2704-110B after he had me poisoned, I wouldn’t have believed you.Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s go back to the beginning. Me: Professor Clive Hargraves of Gaslight City’s School of Magic. A refined gent and one of the last remaining practicing magicians in London. In fact, magic had fallen so out of favor that the scholars of our time, the likes of Darwin and Huxley, suggested that humans were evolving past it! Poppycock, I say!But enough abou...

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“Dust in the Air” by Shawn Wier

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #148

I can breathe.They say that it takes approximately seven years for every cell in one’s body to replace itself. This is a wildly inaccurate myth, but it’s nice to think about. It’s nice to feel like that could be the truth - that after seven years, there is no part of you that has ever been touched by the trauma you want so desperately to outlive.It isn’t, though. Many of our cells live from their initial development in the womb to the moment respiration stops, whether death comes at 100 days or 100 months or 100 years. Your permanent teeth -...

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This week's prompts

Write about two neighbors who cannot stand each other.

Sad – 42 stories

Write a story involving a noise complaint.

Sad – 45 stories

Include a character in your story that is often in an apartment building, but doesn’t actually live there.

High School – 38 stories

Write about a couple touring an empty apartment they might rent.

Narrative – 27 stories

Write about an apartment building being demolished.

Sad – 42 stories

Stories

“Two Stubborn Women” by D Kang

🏆 Winner of Contest #148

The night is thick and heavy with clouds when I paint the front of The House yellow. I paint quickly and quietly. I don’t want to wake my neighbor up. The brush goes shhh shhh against the wall and even that is loud. My feet crunch on gravel as I finish up and slip into my home. My neighbor’s cursing wakes me up in the morning. I hear fuck! and shit! I split the blinds with two fingers. The sun shines very bright and I squint to see my other neighbors file outside. They see the yellow paint and shake their heads. One of them point...

125 comments 125

Read story

“The Storm of the Decade” by Zack Powell

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #148

Content warning: Swearing, mentions of deathThe worst part of the divorce a year ago wasn't losing half my stuff. Back then, I could only watch as Linda descended upon our possessions like royalty, simply pointed to the couch and the blender and my favorite bottle of shampoo, and the lawyer made it so. If we had a baby, I'm sure she would've King Solomoned that too. And I was fine with it, had come to expect that much. It was a small price to pay for my peace of mind.The worst part—what I hadn't expected—was that she would move into the hous...

Read story

“A Perfect Lie” by Beth Jackson

Submitted to Contest #148

She’s there. She’s always bloody there. In the driveway, with her white hotpants and pink oversized tee sloping off one shoulder at a jaunty angle.I slow to a jog and wipe my forehead. My face is hot. Probably red. And blotchy. Running doesn’t agree with me.I avoid eye contact as I turn into my driveway. She’s standing by the roses, secateurs primed, deciding which beauty she’ll castrate from the bush.Their garden is all straight edges and manicured lawns. Roses and dainty flowers jostle for space in the crisp flowerbeds. All pink and perfec...

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“Three Loud Bangs on the Door” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #148

Three loud bangs on the door startle Leslie out of her reverie. The noise reverberates through her empty apartment, bouncing off the parquet floor and past the unopened moving boxes. Rattling her bones. The echoes fade but never quite disappear. They sink into the mute white walls, drown in the shadow bog under the sofa. She sets her bottle of water on the kitchen counter. Her muscles still ache, but the high of the jog is forgotten, and her sweat, pleasant a moment ago, runs cold. It’s midday but the fierce bright only creeps in through her...

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“Like Clockwork” by J.C. Lovero

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #148

If you would have told me a year ago that I’d fall in love with the noisy neighbor in Apt. 2704-110B after he had me poisoned, I wouldn’t have believed you.Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s go back to the beginning. Me: Professor Clive Hargraves of Gaslight City’s School of Magic. A refined gent and one of the last remaining practicing magicians in London. In fact, magic had fallen so out of favor that the scholars of our time, the likes of Darwin and Huxley, suggested that humans were evolving past it! Poppycock, I say!But enough abou...

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“Releasing the Spirits of The Webster” by Sharon Hancock

Submitted to Contest #148

WARNING: this one was inspired by a true crime/serial killer story you may recognize. Although the events of the story are fictional, they are graphic and might be disturbing. Before this happened, if someone had asked me to quit my job as a wrecking ball operator, I would have told them to jump in a lake. I loved my job, who wouldn’t? Watching that giant ball smash into the sturdiest walls like they were made of straw was a rush like none other, let me tell you. The sound of crumpling destructiveness, the debris explosi...

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“Every Breath You Take” by Rebekah Jordan

Submitted to Contest #148

Logan heard a faint click as she walked through the big glass door and another as she stepped inside. The noises were small and hard to latch onto, and for a moment, she thought she’d imagined them. Another click sounded as her perfectly white sneakers squeaked on the black and white tile taking her down the skinny hallway towards the bank of mailboxes. She ducked her head to rummage through her giant leather shoulder bag and nearly jumped out of her skin when Rodney appeared at her side seemingly out of nowhere. “Jes...

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“Sinatra on the Lawn” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #148

Maureen, she’s done it again. I looked outside this morning and he’s missing. Frank is missing. This is the third time this month. Every day I live in fear of that woman stealing an innocent lawn statue just to get back at me, because I told her I didn’t like her peach cobbler. Francine has lived across the street from me for thirty years and we’ve never had a problem until she invited me over a few days before Thanksgiving to try her peach cobbler. Now, truthfully, the cobbler was mushy. I don’t like throwing the word ‘mushy’ around, bu...

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“Doctor, Heal Thyself” by Glen Gabel

Submitted to Contest #148

"Doctor, heal thyself," I hear the first-year intern mumble to his cohort and the murmur of the newly degreed physicians as they leave my room.I've forgotten my case files, and my hair is windblown and drenched from the rainy walk across the street to the patient pre-op apartment tower. But as Saint Bernadette's leading psychiatrist and a woman nearing her thirtieth year in practice with the remnants of menopause clinging to my body, they don't dare say a word more. A sudden hot flash would burn through my eyes and char their careers with a ...

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“The Taming of the Prude” by Shuvayon Mukherjee

Submitted to Contest #148

Content Warning: language, sexual references, nudity (not descriptive).Vrrrttttt. Vrrrttttt. Vrrr-“Fuck off,” Mandy mumbled, backhanding her phone screen.-ttt. Vrrrttttt. Vrrrttttt. Vr-“It ain’t gonna snooze, Mands. It’s a phone call,” Brad groaned from the other side of the bed.-rrttttt. Vrrrttttt. Vrrr-“Good morning, Mandy speaking. Oh, hi Kate, how are you? Yes, of course. Oh- oh, you’re outside? No, sorry, I didn’t hear. Yes, er, yes, the viewing is still today. Would you mind- er, would you mind giving me a few moments to make some fina...

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“A Sad Song” by Kelsey H

Submitted to Contest #148

It was 2AM and daylight felt forever away. Janie lay in her bed, staring at the lines of shadow cast around the room as the sodium light outside burned ceaselessly through the slat blinds.She couldn’t sleep. The house felt new and strange and empty, and the sound of a guitar vibrated through the wall from the unit which adjoined hers. What sort of person played guitar at 2AM? It wasn’t even a tune, just a twanging sound. Like he was plucking at the strings with his fingers. A small sound, as if he was trying not to be too loud.As if on ...

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“May We Start?” by PJ Aitken

Submitted to Contest #148

Are you sitting comfortably? Why? How can you be so relaxed? That’s not what I expected. I can’t tell you this story when you’re chilled and half asleep. Stand up! COME ON! Stand up and shake your arms. That’s it, both arms, shake them like they’re covered in spiders. Faster, keep going! If you had spiders crawling around you’d be shaking much faster than that. Now shake your legs as well. Good. Shake your arms, legs and now your head as if you were made of cheese. Yes, I said cheese. Imagine that! A big old cheese person shaking about like ...

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“Dust in the Air” by Shawn Wier

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #148

I can breathe.They say that it takes approximately seven years for every cell in one’s body to replace itself. This is a wildly inaccurate myth, but it’s nice to think about. It’s nice to feel like that could be the truth - that after seven years, there is no part of you that has ever been touched by the trauma you want so desperately to outlive.It isn’t, though. Many of our cells live from their initial development in the womb to the moment respiration stops, whether death comes at 100 days or 100 months or 100 years. Your permanent teeth -...

Read story

“Beers, Wines and Spirits” by Kay Northbridge

Submitted to Contest #148

Jim’s Room. . .The Carlsberg frothed like sea foam along the green carpet until it hit an invisible boundary, stopped dead, and soaked into the fibres. The tell-tale patch on the floor darkened as Jim grabbed at a box of tissues just out of reach on the cabinet.“Bugger,” he said, wiping his hands on his jeans.“Was that the last one?” asked Claire, still sipping from her can, feet dangling over the side of her flatmate’s bed.“Last one?” Jim laughed. “There's a case of 18 under there. You’ll get the hang of it, Matie.”He shuffled his bum acros...

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“1869 Gehenna Street, Hades” by Kevin Marlow

Submitted to Contest #148

The heat erupted from the very rocks themselves. With no sun, orange light emitted from the glowing stalactites that jutted from the roof of the massive cave like giant flaming lances. Pools of sulfuric acid smoked and gurgled, belching fumes that burned the nostrils; fumaroles were burping dragons releasing acrid gases. This was 1869 Gehenna Street, Hades, just up the way from the Abyss. The apartments were carved into solid rock by wayward souls that had yet to earn a chance to hurl themselves into the eternal fire and be erased from the a...

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$250

Prize money

194

Contest entries

90

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 03, 2022 EST

Won by D Kang 🏆

Title: Two Stubborn Women

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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