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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#18: Pocketful of Sunshine

Pockets are where we keep items of importance: our keys, cellphone, wallet, or, if you're Bilbo Baggins, the One Ring. (And if you're Natasha Bedingfield, the sun.)

Losing or finding such items can be a strong starting point for a story. Which is why this week, we're challenging you to write a pocket-sized (aka "short") story based on a pocket-themed prompt.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character who buys a secondhand coat and then discovers something in the pocket.

Thriller and Suspense – 99 stories

Your fingers tensed around the object in your pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

Science Fiction – 44 stories

Write a story about someone cleaning out their attic. They find an old piece of clothing, and inside of its pocket is an old keepsake.

Adults – 52 stories

"It was just here!" you shout, frantically searching your pockets for the missing thing.

Funny – 31 stories

Write a story about a very skilled pickpocket. 

Character – 65 stories

Stories

“An Everyday Hero ” by Natalie Marie Stefani Rice

Submitted to Contest #18

The train comes rumbling to an abrupt stop. My head jerks slightly forward. I open my eyes, realizing I have managed to nod off again on my morning commute to the city.Looking at me you couldn't tell. Talking to me it wouldn't have dawned on you. But try and spend more than a few hours of quality time with me and I will rock your world. (Sometimes literally.)The local newspapers have called me a Modern Day Robin Hood. But I'm much more humble than that and, honestly, I try to avoid whatever press I may come across. In reality, they have the ...

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“A Pocketeer's Memory” by Hadia Abbas

Submitted to Contest #18

When I stand in the middle of a crowd, perhaps a busy street on a Monday, with hundreds of rushing locals hurrying for their jobs, from their jobs; students to their schools, from their schools; tourists roaming about with no sense of direction… I feel alive.The people around me do not notice. No, they don’t understand. They don’t feel the tingling sense of ‘being alive’ that floats in the air like dandelion fluff. The erratic emotions of errant humanity that I can taste on the tip of my tongue. The shining colors of light everybody swims in...

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“The game” by Christopher Unachukwu

Submitted to Contest #18

Looking at the wall clock, Tracy Morgan rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing clearly. It was 10:33am. She was late for work. No, she was late to being a famous scientist. Without taking a bath or breakfast, Tracy slid into a blue tight trousers and a white T-shirt. She took her car key and inserted a flash drive- the drive that contained the evidence, the drive that would change her life and that of the entire world- into her pocket. Minutes later, she was in her 1988 yellow Volkswagen's Beetle. She inserted the key into the ignition ...

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“Stone Cold” by Alyssa Shields

Submitted to Contest #18

"Do you have it?" a man whispered to another much taller than he. The shorter was lacking in muscular tone and dressed from head to toe in a grape-colored suit. The back hung down low to his knees and the undershirt sported reflective-white buttons. The way the two men leaned their shoulders into one another revealed they were much more than just acquaintances, but their stiff backs gave away the secrecy behind their words."Yes. It's in my pocket," the taller man responded, grumbling in a grave tone. He was monotonously dressed in a matching...

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“A wealthy way of living” by Lindsey Starrberri

Submitted to Contest #18

Handres Elliot Gregwend. My uncle. He died about a year ago, at 102. My mother still wonders about him.Uncle Hans was Father's brother. He was the pickpocket of the state. He never passed a block without picking something up. Once, Uncle Hans gave me a beautiful pocket watch, gold. It was perfect. He gave my brother a pretty watch, and my three sisters each got jewelry. Later, we took the accessories to a jeweler, and he told us they were real, about thirty carats each.Uncle Hans never disappointed us. Mom tells us that the only reason he be...

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“The Illusionist” by Shernel Davis

Submitted to Contest #18

Piqtur Phillips pushed back from where she had been sitting staring at the computer for the past six hours. She stood stretching out the kinks that had been gathering in her spine. It was at this time that a rookie officer opened the door. The poor man froze, his eyes dropping before snapping up to her eyes and saluting. Actually saluting. Where do they get these guys."Yes?" "Umm, sir. I mean Ma'am. That is, Ms. Phillips ma'am...""What is it?" She hadn't meant to snap at him but her patience was wearing non-existent.The officer reddened sl...

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“Love Street ” by Zee Eez

Submitted to Contest #18

The river seine really is magical, whether you witness its striking beauty in broad daylight or when the sun sets and man-made light illuminates the darkened city.Ah Paris, the city of love they say. The city of hope and dreams whatnot. A bunch of rubbish really. It's just so-tick tick tick tickAnd there goes my overused wristwatch signaling the start of my daily work. I smirk to myself as I spot a man dressed in a white coat caressing the arms of the woman beside him, they looked adorable, adorable yet sickening. She smiled up at the blonde...

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“Wyatt Wyndham” by Noah David Perry

Submitted to Contest #18

Wyatt Wyndham is not a lad you’d be quick to bring home to ma’ and pa’, and he most certainly is not the type to bring you home to his, that is, if he had either a place or parents to bring you home to at all. His parents left, or rather, he left his parents, a few years ago now, and since then, he’s never looked back, at least not in that same figurative sense, for, as his current occupation demands, looking sideways, up, down, around, and especially back, is a necessity. But, more on that later, let us first, unlike Wyatt, look back to his...

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“Luck and the Pickpocket” by Heidi Fischer

Submitted to Contest #18

I rock back and forth from my heels to my toes, just like I do each time I wait on this platform on my way to meet her. I imagine that I stand in this spot every time I’m here, and that there are grooves no one knows about that have been worn down by my feet. It makes me feel permanent and untouchable, like no matter how much time passes, my mark will be left behind.Screaming rails and a dim beam of light announces the train’s coming to relieve me from my duty of making myself eternal. Just as it does each day.And just like I do each day, I ...

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“A Passing Shadow” by Sasha Senaratne

Submitted to Contest #18

How had it come to this? Marlon Kinsman leaned against the guardrail at King’s Cross Station and watched Eleanor glide effortlessly amongst the commuters. He pictured his mother, red-faced and shouting if she were to ever find out about his pickpocketing obsession. To think he was now treating it as a game made him quiver. His family needed money—any way possible—and Marlon was the man of the house.Eleanor’s bright face popped up in front of him, derailing his train of thought. She held up a black leather wallet, her smile beaming from ear t...

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“Pickpocket” by Quinn Collins

Submitted to Contest #18

A pickpocket stole my truths from my back pocket. Now, only lies slip through my teeth. I can say my name and personal facts, but I can’t talk about memories. They become twisted and wildly untrue. When I say these things, it doesn’t even feel like I’m lying. The strangest thing about this, everyone believes the lies. No questions asked. I could make up the most unbelievable, fictional story and everyone would believe it. They don’t even just give simple, robot responses either. They seem interested, asking questions for more details. And wi...

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“IDK” by Eden Aiono

Submitted to Contest #18

Happily skipping along, Daya twirled around as she jumped into the air, causing her to bump into a middle-aged man."I'm so sorry sir!" She exclaimed and kept walking. Smirking, the sly 14-year-old pulled the gold-plated watch out of her pocket. Scanning the lakeside, Daya saw a bunch of skaters, hanging around a park bench and giggled about the little thought she just had.Ducking into a public toilet, she emerged as a completely different person. Her brown wig was nowhere in sight and her long, luscious black hair swayed around her waist. Sh...

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“The Loophole” by A.w. Karambelas

Submitted to Contest #18

Three minutes. That’s all it takes. But, I’ll tell you, it makes a world of difference.Sometimes, it’s easy. They give up the weapon, no problem. You’d be surprised how many just need someone to see them. Really see them. Others—like Jim—well, you’ve got to be a little more tactical. Can’t just kill them. That would mess with the continuum and get us all in a whole bunch of trouble—frankly, I just don’t want to try it. For these cases, I do a little of what I like to call, space-time vigilante thievery.This machine is no career. It...

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“No one can change the faith” by Mubashira Tahir

Submitted to Contest #18

starting from the beginning, Nicole's family wasn't super rich or anything, In fact she might have been the most impecunious out of all her friends, because, her single mother worked days and nights on those grueling and toilsome labour. and in account of that, Nicole couldn't do anything but wear those shabby and moth-eaten clothes, but not a single time had she complained to her mother, I mean who would be so egotistic to complain to someone, who was doing constant labour and not even for themselves.As usual, Nicole's mother had given her,...

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“That Mystery Man” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #18

THAT MYSTERY MAN            Dorothy rushed home in her red, VW Bug, speeding through yellow lights, accelerating, braking, listening to random songs on the radio. Her blond hair was frizzy and messy. “Who is this man?” she asked aloud. This photo cannot be real, she thought. She loved the coat that she had just bought for twenty dollars at the secondhand shop she frequented, and there had to be a logical explanation for what she had found in the pocket. She mostly liked this coat, b...

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$50

Prize money

291

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 06, 2019 EST

Won by Sam Lauren 🏆

Title: The Price of a Nice Guy

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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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