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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

“Razing the Franklin Apartments” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #148

The bulldozers pulled up early in the morning in front of the Franklin Apartments. By the end of the workday, the once famous apartments were gone. Nothing, but a hole in the ground. As the work crew cleared the area for the demolition at one in the afternoon, no one noticed the old man in the wheelchair and a much younger man escorting him. As the foreman signaled an "all-clear" to his crew, those gathered to watch the razing of the Franklin Apartments were awed by the flash and ancient walls as the building crumble...

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“The Lost Lady of Darcy House” by Lucy Hutt

Submitted to Contest #148

Write about an apartment building being demolished Darcy House has been known as a great many things. A grand estate, an orphanage, temporary war barracks, contemporary apartments, and, most recently, a hazard. Or so says the yellow paper haphazardly stapled to the door: unstable foundations and damp. In the words of the inspector, the house was collapsing from within. It was a somewhat unreasonable response I thought at the time and my temperament towards the topic has only worsened. Blatant disrespect to the Darcy name, ignorance of th...

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“Casa Del Mal” by Annette C

Submitted to Contest #148

I needed this apartment, not for me, but for my mind. I didn’t push her, she fell. The demolishing was said to start at 1030 on the dot so I decided to miss work to witness its demise. Actually, I haven’t been to work in over five years. At 4 am I arose from a restless night. Unable to sleep I decided to start my day, washes of memory flood my mind and drench me with mortification. She wanted to die. When I was growing up, I always wanted to live across the street in the beautiful “Casa del Mar”, but more so after the incident. She d...

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“Jimmy Martini's Dream” by Bill Gregory

Submitted to Contest #148

An Apartment Building Being Demolished. Jimmy Martinis’ Dream It had rained incessantly for a week. The city was awash across all five Boroughs. Street drainage was overwhelmed, unable to handle the deluge, causing roadways to spill onto sidewalks. Passing traffic sent waves of dirty water over helpless pedestrians, scurrying to find shelter. Public transport was severely impacted, bus timetables were in chaos, and several subways closed due to flooding. He pushed himself further back into the doorway of the boarded-up ...

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“Demo Day” by Monet B

Submitted to Contest #148

They all knew this day would come; the signs had been there for years. At first the walls started to change color. After years of various occupants and their habits, stains and various odors had begun mounting the walls. The ceilings went next, weak from the weight of numerous families relying on its sturdy wooden hold to keep them off the ground at night. Of course there were leaks as well, reminding everyone that they weren’t in paradise but that was more bearable than the elements beyond the walls. The lighting had never been the best, an...

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“Mavvith on Mierdsdale” by Carlton Wilkins

Submitted to Contest #148

WARNING: Mentions of suicide, sexual violence, and muder. My family’s home was right down the street from Mavvith Apartments. All we had to do was open up our spacious living room window that sat right behind our comfy, olive green couch and there you would get the perfect view of the monumental building. I always found myself sitting in our living room and looking out at Mavvith Apartments. In awe of it. Me, an eighteen year old Black boy, intrigued by an old apartment building that had been around since befo...

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“Did Anybody Really Live Here, by Gary Wells” by Gary Wells

Submitted to Contest #148

“Okay, Sal – time to earn those big bucks!” Sal looked down from his cab on the demolition crane. His partner, Ernie, was looking up at him with a broad smile and a pair of thumbs up. Sal gave a brief salute, then reached down and began to gently maneuver the lever that would send a 4-ton wrecking ball into the ghostly remains of the Pearlson Apartment building. A ten-story structure which had housed more than 500 people at its peak, the Pearlson was the last of four nearly identical housing units to be torn down. The first swing came aw...

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“The Rosewood” by Mark Paxson

Submitted to Contest #148

They came from all over and lived for a time at 214 Olive Street. Some lived there for decades. Others only for a few years. They all called it home. At least for a time. The complex, built in the 1950s, was small by modern standards. Just three buildings, two floors each, one unit on top and one on bottom. Arranged in an odd triangle that created an even odder courtyard in the middle. All angles and straight lines, nooks and crannies, caused by the three buildings. Every unit, the same floor plan. A bedroom, a living area, kitchen...

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“Shady Maples” by M B

Submitted to Contest #148

I don’t know what urge sent me there that evening, but I’m glad I went. They were tearing down Shady Maple Apartments - my first apartment. I pulled over to the side just to see the old building one more time and reminisce. The property was sealed off by a chain-link fence where construction - or rather demolition - workers, along with their bulldozers and backhoes, were all about the building complex. Already the car port was collapsed and the parking lot was being torn apart. Dust drifted into the air along with sounds of the ongoing d...

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“Pots and Pans ” by Tianna Mendez

Submitted to Contest #148

A crash was heard in the apartment next door. The fifth crash that has been heard today. Eric knew that his next-door neighbor was not in any danger. He knew that he was doing it on purpose. Ever since the week they both moved in, they have not gotten along. They will do whatever they can to cause the other a moment of stress or anger. In the apartment next door, Eric imagines his neighbor Calvin banging pots and pans together, or maybe he is lucky, and he is banging his head against the wall. But Eric is never lucky when it comes to Calvin....

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“Libertine Street” by Sabrina Semidei

Submitted to Contest #148

Libertine Street is a quiet place to live, most of the time. There’s a flower shop, a locksmith, a trendy café whose clientele got edgier and edgier over the years and, at the angle of Cumin Street, a pub, The Black Dolphin. With a grey painted façade and tall square windows, the place isn’t the most inviting and it is most likely that people would pass by for years before actually walking in. It took me seven months. When I finally pushed that heavy door, my Monday face on and my light résumé in hand, I was surprised not to be greeted by th...

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“Crazy Boys Upstairs” by Debra Koffski

Submitted to Contest #148

Finally got the last box unpacked in my new apartment. I had mixed feelings, on one hand I was very excited to be out on my own. On the other hand, I was terrified to be out on my own. I would start college on Monday, so I was very lucky to get everything situated before that day. My parents thought it would be better for my grades if I had my own space, and not have the noise level in a dorm. They both graduated from college, so I guess they knew. It also helped that they paid for this place for a year, and gave me a credit card to buy food...

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“The Neighbors” by Kelly DiMario

Submitted to Contest #148

I awake abruptly by a loud bang. I’m not sure what time it is or even where I am. I was dreaming that college dream again where I’m late and can’t find the final exam room. A sobering second passes and I realize my life now revolves around financial statements, not sitting in the quad at 2 p.m. studying Philosophy and gossiping with my roommates. I stifle and yawn while I utter my usual bedroom refrain, “Alexa, what time is it?” She blinks blue. “It is 1:14 am,” she replies dutifully. I prop up on my elbows and grimace as reality sets in and...

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“Tone Deaf” by Rhiannon Carroll

Submitted to Contest #148

My eyes snap open, taking their time in focusing on the wall I’m facing and the floral wallpaper my landlord won’t let me change. Before the hideous off-white carnations are less blurry, I can hear him next door, my reason for waking a full hour before my alarm, bellowing along to one of the ten songs he knows; this morning, it’s Walking In Memphis, the original, not the cover by Cher. He knows the lyrics to this one at least - yesterday had been Barracuda and it was clearly not a song frequently in his repertoire. Covering my head with th...

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“Noisy Neighbors” by Richard Tallman

Submitted to Contest #148

To say that the noisy neighbors were next door, with loud arguments between a wife and her husband about one thing or another, was an overstatement. They did that of course from time to time, with pots and pans clanging, screaming and the like; but it was we who were the noisy neighbors. The four of us were living in an off-campus apartment with cheap furniture, cheap beer cans every where and a more or less constant party, if one could call it that. A party in those days was where everyone was supposed to have fun dancing and gett...

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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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