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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#185: Hoarding Away

Much like dragons, people love a good hoard. Whether it’s money, objects, or even people, collecting can be a hobby — or an obsession. Our collections might be a maximalist hodge-podge shoved into every nook and cranny, a meticulously organized catalog with every item neatly labeled, or they may not even be tangible at all. Junk or riches, thoughts or feelings, even if we don’t know it, we might be unconsciously clinging on to something.

This week’s prompts evoke treasure troves, keepsakes, and whatever it is that compels us to hold on tightly.

This week's prompts

Write a story about someone who doesn’t know how to let go.

Dramatic – 121 stories

Someone’s beloved collection is destroyed. How do they react?

Adults – 25 stories

Start a story with someone saying, “It’s mine, and you can’t have it!”

Dialogue – 25 stories

Write about a dragon who doesn’t know what to do with their hoard anymore.

Fantasy – 63 stories

Set all or part of your story in a jam-packed storage unit.

Mystery – 46 stories

Stories

“The Passing of Ten Hearts” by David B Fraser

Submitted to Contest #185

Ten Hearts inched on her belly across the mountain cave floor. She rested her scaly chin on the mounds of gold and jewels. Their power to cool her anger, to calm her with their sparkle was waning. She believed she might be dying. She cocked one slitted eye to the ceiling. The other eye was milky and almost completely closed by its third eyelid. She could hear the men and their metal above. Always their movements vibrating through the earth. It had gotten worse in the past few centuries, like wasps that won’t leave the ear al...

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“Dragon and Lava” by Alcase Lorraine Tatum

Submitted to Contest #185

“Mama, mama come look at me, look what I made!” “One minute baby,” I chuckled as a small hand wrapped around my arm and leaned with all the weight a little boy could offer towards a living room happily cluttered with toys and trinkets. A cobbled path of multicolored Legos and an audience of dolls invited me closer to what looked like a deconstructed couch garnished with sheets from my own bedroom. Oh boy, I stared in awe, partially in shock of the perilous chaos that was my living room, and yet extremely impressed with how resourceful a five...

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“He Swallowed His Fire” by Suzanne Seely

Submitted to Contest #185

Once upon a time in a faraway land, high on a mountaintop overlooking the tiny village of Elderberry, lived a fire-breathing dragon named Fillibert.” Legend had it that Fillibert had been hatched from an egg that glittered like an enormous crystal in the sunlight. The crystal was said to have given Fillibert his ferocious fire.Dragons are, by nature, hoarders, so, often their lairs became as thick as berry brambles with treasures! Fillibert didn’t hoard gold or art or magic li...

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“Lonely Treasure” by Chrissy Matić

Submitted to Contest #185

Tithenai was the runt of the dragonbrood, so he learned early to take what he could get. It was one of many valuable lessons that he had learned since the day he crawled from his shattered eggshell into a world of teeth and malice, though he’d had to teach himself. A wretched creature, he might be called, but one who survived. The other six who had spawned with him fought over and eventually claimed—some more triumphantly than others—the best caverns in the vast mountain lair. Therein they would lie sprawled among vast treasures gained from ...

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“The Shoe Queen” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #185

The Shoe Queen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------How many pairs of shoes did you give away? When? Yesterday. Only ten, but I cleaned out the closet last month when my sister and her godmother visited; they both took home five pairs. Ma, you have a problem! No, you are about to have a problem if you talk about my shoes. I moved almost all of the store inventory to the storage unit, and now it’s jammed-packed, but I will not bring the shoes back to your house: thirty years and the same complaints,...

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“Oh! The legends you find in my mind.” by David Drake

Submitted to Contest #185

“Ye present clans of the Eyinase! Hear and gather! Your Majesty brings you tidings to bend all round ears!” All four-legs of the clans raced to hear what King Myru had to declare. Rumors that the hated, barbaric Mosirus of the surrounding cardboard mounds and walls plotted against the beauteous bounty that was the birth land of Eyinase had abounded in recent spans, so the Visier advised the rotund White King to address their concerns. Especially the burgeoning females awaiting birth. The Land of Eyinase had grown considerably in the long ag...

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“Egypt in a Box” by Frameen W

Submitted to Contest #185

Egypt in a BoxWith a clang the door of the abandoned storage unit swung open.“It's been three years since she left me, two since she died. And this is all she bloody left to show for it” The father said with a grimace. “What a mess” the son said in dejected tone. “I told you we should have just handed this damned thing over to the lot owner for auction.” “I know dad I just… Its mom you know, and she was barely there for those last few years before she went missing. When I did talk to her she was always so absent minded, I just want to know w...

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“Him Again” by Agatha W

Submitted to Contest #185

It’s been ten days and three hours since I last saw him. I’m dancing by myself to his favorite song. I wish he was here, with me. They are still looking for him. I remember when I called to report him missing, how I told them he hadn’t come home that night. It was a rush of red and blue, sirens screaming and lights cutting through the black of night. One by one our neighbors woke up and migrated out onto their porches, all of them craning their necks to see what all the commotion was about. They asked me all sorts of questions. When w...

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“A story is never enough” by Milena Todorova

Submitted to Contest #185

A story can be too long or too short, appropriate or gross, inspiring or frustrating, digging in or flying away. There are all kinds of stories. But a story is never enough. My mother is a story-keeper. Like all mothers, I guess. They have lived for eternity and their memories are no longer the let-me-tell-you-what-happened prompts but rather well-packed novels with a beginning, an end and a moral. Always. I think that my mother was born a mother. And being born a mother, her job has always been to collect stories, sort them ...

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“364” by Amrita Pramanik

Submitted to Contest #185

*mental health, suicide364 days. That’s how long it’s been. Yet I can still feel the adrenaline pumping through me—metal bending and breaking in the ways it wasn’t made to do so—the blood on my tongue. Everything turned upside down, literally and figuratively. The horror. The fade into black like a movie transitioning into the credits. And there are a lot of credits. The first time she cried. Long nights spent singing lullabies. Cooing and preening. Then nothingness. No one talks about what happens after. The guilt of survival is worse than ...

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“Soul Singers” by Jennifer Addison

Submitted to Contest #185

Soul Singers “Aliana! We’re not allowed up there until after dark!” Janisa swam behind her sister, flicking her shimmering tail as fast as she could to catch up. “I know, but I thought I saw another one!” “Do they usually come to us this early?” “They can come anytime. We have to stay ready.” “Where did you see one?” “Up on the bridge, like always. Well, I thought he would’ve been here by now. Wait, yep. Here he comes, over there.” The two mermaids sprang into action, a streamlined movement through the warm, salty waters to the...

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“A Dead Promise” by Evan Lockard

Submitted to Contest #185

She promised. Elliot and Lynn rested in the slightly damp grass of his backyard, staring at the black sky dotted with glittering speckles of light. It was much too late for them to be awake, but they didn’t care. Elliot fiddled with the collar of his shirt as Lynn mumbled something to herself. Suddenly, her face changed, and her tone turned serious. “El, I gotta talk to you about something.” Elliot felt his stomach drop and sat up next to her. “What’s wrong?” “I’m not gonna go to your school next year....

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“The Bookkeeper” by Rachel Sides

Submitted to Contest #185

Bellamy had always been fond of reading. Throughout his schooling, he was nose-deep in some sort of fantastical novel or brushing up on his seemingly everlasting knowledge of sharks by reading the most up-and-coming research publications about his favorite finned fish of the sea. It only made sense for him to own what he loved most in the world -- books. He collected books from his travels in his early adulthood, his school books from as far back as he could remember, and local bookshops that carried his favorite classics like Dracula&n...

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“A Hoarding Gentleman ” by Ruby Pix

Submitted to Contest #185

"A person once told me, hoarding is being greedy," said a tall man in a black suit. He jet-black hair was smooth and pinned back, and he was wearing a pair of white gloves embellished with blue gemstones. And on his wrist, a watch. The man stands beside a wooden table; a sheet covers it as it occasionally shakes. His surroundings consisted of: broken glass shards covered in liquid spillage from the shattered jars containing a yellowish and green fluid. The wooden walls and floors are covered with animalistic markings, and there is on...

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“It's Mine, You Can't Have It” by Karen Snell

Submitted to Contest #185

“Whoa, that’s great rock pile! There must be a thousand rocks in there. And some of them are huge. I could really use those to fill in the hole where we are going to lay the concrete slab for our house.” “Oh no. These rocks are like my friends, we’ve been through a lot together. I wouldn’t let you drop them under a concrete slab!” I was taken aback that the old lady was going to hold out on giving me those rocks...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

138

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 17, 2023 EST

Won by Lynda Williams 🏆

Title: Jesus and Jockeys

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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