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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.

This week's prompts

Write about two neighbors who cannot stand each other.

Sad – 43 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

“Unexpected Visitor” by Tracey Camden

Submitted to Contest #148

Primrose was in the kitchen, cooking up dinner for both of the people who live in the apartment she owns. Vian was a good soul, often wrapped up in the other’s problems, but still helps out around the apartment whenever he can. Cypher, on the other hand, always never failed to get on her nerves. From bringing in the rent late, to being an absolute nuisance in general, he bothers Primrose to her everlasting nerve. Primrose was in the middle of cooking dinner for herself and her renters when she heard a crash of sorts come from upstairs...

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“Apartment 403” by Autumn-Rose Oberhammer

Submitted to Contest #148

Apartment 403 was where it all began. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and we were walking to Benny’s café for a quick bite to eat. The sidewalk was too narrow for two lovers to walk side by side, so I walked behind her. I almost crashed into her as she stopped suddenly, pointing at a for sale sign in front of a quaint apartment complex on the corner of Henwood Avenue. She gushed over how each apartment had a small wrought-iron balcony overlooking the East side river. A month later we moved in, loading the moving truck like we were r...

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“Selling Features and Bullet Points” by Parker Tolar

Submitted to Contest #148

Marissa, is struggling with a major depressive episode and self harm. Marissa and Lexi Thompson-Harold held hands as they took a left onto Vance-Jackson Street, deep within the concrete jungle of Northwest San Antonio, Texas. Their forest green Nissan Altima’s low fuel light came on during the outro of Heart’s Magic Man. The gas prices really deterred Marissa, the couple’s budgetary expert and CPA. She winced each time they unhooked the gas cap and stuck a nozzle in. They didn’t have time to stop now, and even if they did. Marissa implore...

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“Tower Apartments” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #148

505 5th Street apartment 5A at the imposing, menacing Tower apartment building is where me and my husband Jake are taking a tour of the apartment.Me and Jake are looking for a bigger apartment for our expanding family and the Tower apartments have what we are looking for. We are in luck one apartment has become available.Today me and Jake are heading to the Tower apartment building to look at the place. Jake is excited to go but me not so much.I don't know what it is but the Tower apartment building gives me this uneasy feeling. I heard so m...

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“Empty Apartment and an Empty Promise.” by Laura Eliz

Submitted to Contest #148

I have lived in some crappy apartments. I lived above a Vietnamese restaurant with a roach problem that became my roach problem, because my landlord wasn’t actually preemptively spraying the bathroom and kitchen, like he lead me to think was happening. I lived in a building where the landlord refused to do anything about the drugs being sold out of it as well as the fighting of the couple that lived and sold out of their apartment and I rente...

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“The Last Tenant” by John F. Duffy

Submitted to Contest #148

“Yo Aram!” the foreman yelled, banging a flannelled arm on the door to the basement apartment. “Open up man, we need to talk.” The foreman banged again. Footsteps on the other side of the orange door drew close, and then a series of locks dragged and scraped, before Aram appeared in an undershirt, smiling wide. “Larry, yes? What it is?” Aram asked in his thick Armenian accent. “Everyone was supposed to be out by Friday, but my guys tell me someone is still in apartment three-oh-six.” The foreman was peeking pa...

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“Jenny on the Run” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #148

Jenny on the Run It was a bitterly cold night, with biting frost and a mist hovering over Dublin’s Grand Canal. The Garda (police) patrol car cruised slowly up one side of the canal and down the other with two officers inside, one older, one younger. They crossed over the bridge onto Percy Place and as the car drove along the georgian terrace the outline of the car was reflected in the glittering water. A solitary figure stood outlined against the light on the top floor of one of the houses watching the scene. The car stopped at the end...

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“The puddle” by Andre Polm

Submitted to Contest #148

An old house reflects from the puddle. Not clearly, just enough for a small boy to notice. People pass by, too occupied by their thoughts. They never notice. The boy always becomes happy and sometimes even claps his little hands as he passes. Because the puddle looks different every time. When the sun’s out even just a little, the reflection of the old wooden apartment house gets a warm glow. He knows that every time winter comes, the old house starts looking as if it were made from delicate glass. The boy had seen the house’s reflection ...

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“Enemies” by Grace Boone

Submitted to Contest #148

(Note from the author: I appreciate all of your support and comments!) December. Chad whistled "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", as he pinned red, yellow, and green icicle lights to his porch railing. His smoky-gray two-story house was dusted with white reflecting sparkles that shimmered in Santa's sleigh's red and white lights in his yard. This year, he was going all out. No kids to mess it up, no wife to tell him it's too uneven, it was all his. But his next-door neighbor was the complete opposite. James hummed "Carol of the Bells" while he...

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“Screened In” by Kevin Alphatooni

Submitted to Contest #148

SCREENED IN By ALPHA TOONI It was the middle of July and summer season was in full swing down in the panhandle of Florida. The sun beamed with a ferocious heat, exciting the humidity to an almost impossible level. Where others would squirm and hide within the confines of their air-conditioned dwellings, Floridians embraced it. As soon as the sun rose, those at my apartment complex were out and about. In the morning, people could be seen loading up SUV’s and trucks with gear for that day’s adventure. Dogs happily played in the park with t...

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“Drunken Illusion (Creds to Zoë Page)” by M M

Submitted to Contest #148

I sat in my chair, inhaling the darkness around me as I scrolled through my phone. I glanced at the clock, passing away, to discover the day had already been refreshed onto the next. It wasn’t long until I heard a light pounding from the front door, who the hell would be at my door at this time - especially the timing. What kind of maniac goes to someone’s house out of nowhere at this time of day? I grabbed an old baseball bat from the cupboard just seconds away from the front door before cautiously approaching the individual behind my ...

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“The box in Sam’s apartment” by Paulette Salcedo

Submitted to Contest #148

In a group of friends there is always one that never invites you to their house, well that's me, I’m that friend, but I promise I have a good excuse or maybe not at all. I´ve been best friends with Sam since we were 8 years old. I can still remember that little blond girl with two long gold braids riding her bike near to me, but now, both of us are teenagers, we are like any other normal teenager, not like the ones in the tv shows, neither like the ones in the books, we’re just little kids in the body of an adult trying to survive to the cha...

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“Apartment 5A and 5B” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #148

Apartment 5B was my first apartment. It was perfect, except the mold…and the gas stove which scared me…and the overly thick carpet that felt squishy and not soft. On the plus side, it had two doors. The one at the rear of the apartment had a set of stairs with a little mini patio beside where I parked my car. Most of the apartments in the complex only had a front door, while my apartment had two doors. I loved sitting out back with Benny, my black Jack Russel Terrier, and a good book. I never used the front door. Not because I...

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“Songs From the Past” by Kristine Bone

Submitted to Contest #148

Songs From the Past - “Miss Hazel!” Miss Hazel!” Hazel Cummings walked slowly to her apartment door, shaking her head in dismay. Oh, my goodness! It just can’t be that Giselle woman again! She sighed in exasperation. This was the third time today! Peering through the peephole with one eye, Hazel saw her neighbor’s dark profile and troubled look. She sighed again, wondering what it could possibly be this time. This Giselle person was truly getting on her last nerve. First it had been an egg she wanted to borrow, then a return of a pan she...

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“The Lease In The Time Of Covid” by Deirdre Fitzpatrick

Submitted to Contest #148

The Lease In The Time Of Covid In March Covid broke out and it seemed like the opportunity for lawlessness burst wide open. Food shortages, no diapers, people hoarding and landlords showing their teeth. We had been living in a cute little house in a not so important suburb of Los Angeles for around six years and haggled every year over the legal raise of 75$ a year increase. The landlord never repaired or made and upgrades then he has the “Hutzpah” to give us an 800 dollar increase or get out when and if C...

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$250

Prize money

195

Contest entries

90

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 03, 2022 EST

Won by S.K. Wulf 🏆

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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