Start your story with someone finding an object labeled with their name.

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 37 stories

“Order of the Cosmos” by Gini Swancy

Submitted to Contest #130

The growl from the guys, working in the backroom, likely means that they’ve discovered a donation that is more trash than charity. I’ve been working in this thrift store for the past few years, the one behind the Piggly Wiggly, that raises money for the no-kill animal shelter. It isn’t like this was my life aspiration, but when I visited the shelter in search of a canine companion, the sad, sweet faces of the too many dogs broke my heart. I started volunteering just one day a week, which quickly morphed into being offered a very low paying,...

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“Macy Blue” by Jessica Reese

Submitted to Contest #130

Macy Blue Macy picked up the rock sitting at her feet. It was a smooth one like the ones she would find at the beach in her hometown. She ran her soft fingers over the grey-blue stone and turned it over. The rock nearly melted in her hands when she read the inscription: Macy Blue. She hugged the smooth stone in her palms and plopped down on the nearest bench. Her chest moved in and out as she searched her mind for how this stone knew her name. The name her father called her. This park would have never known him. It lived in Brooklyn, New Yo...

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“jar.” by Vivian Garroway

Submitted to Contest #130

It was a hot summer's day, and Katharine Bennett had been cleaning out a cluttered kitchen cupboard when she came across a jar that she had never seen before. It caught her eye, as there was a label on it, a white rectangular sticker that had her name neatly scrawled across it. It wasn't her mother's handwriting, her father's, nor was it her own. Clutching the jar in her hand, she slowly climbed down the step-stool that she had been precariously balancing on. The jar wasn't made of clear glass, it was yellow porcelain, with pink detailin...

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“Intimate Objects” by Thomas Graham

Submitted to Contest #130

I don’t usually pick up trash from the street. Maybe it was the newness of the little piece of cardboard that made me grab it. It wasn’t rumpled or soiled, and its corners were still sharp. That’s probably why I picked it up—unsullied, it begged to be rescued from the rubbish around it.The side that caught my attention was entirely blank, its color an unremarkable business-buff. It was slightly bigger than a business card—it would fit in a wallet. Unlike a business card, attached to one side was a small loop of elastic string.I flipped over ...

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“Taken from the other side” by Jarrod V

Submitted to Contest #130

“Sir, I believe yesterday’s experiment yielded some rather interesting results, the conditions within the containment cube have actually stabilised this time and so far it appears to be holding this state indefinitely”, Dr Aaron Yang said this as he handed a vacuum sealed glass cube to Dr Peter Mitsko.“Well that is surprising indeed, the new experimental parameters I proposed were not really based on much more than a hunch.” replied Mitsko.“Well your hunch must’ve been correct. Using human DNA as the pairing mechanism, meant we’d find anothe...

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“Magenta” by Tobi Summers

Submitted to Contest #130

Saena Wilkee had, historically, had some trouble finding things with her name monogrammed on them. If by “some trouble,” she meant that she had never, not once in the entirety of her thirty-five years on Earth, looked at an object and seen her name printed on it, unless she had written it herself. This had bothered her as a child. Okay, this had bothered her last week when she’d tried to buy something off Etsy and found out they were upcharging for “custom monograms.” All this to say, when she came face-to-face with something that said SAE...

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“Change” by Marisa Vargas

Submitted to Contest #130

"Clarissa" was the name on the necklace she found while walking in the woods. How odd to think that she couldn't even find a bicyle license plate with her name on it! But here, her very own name appeared at the end of the delicate gold chain. It dangled between her fingers. She lovingly moved her fingers to trace each letter. She had always loved her name. Though obviously it was not common.This necklace piqued her curiousity. "What is she like?" She wondered to herself. "Is she like me?" A lover of nature, animals, and almost all humanity; ...

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“Tombstone” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #130

I was taking my evening constitutional through a well-kept graveyard when I saw, at a distance, the tombstone bearing my name. The Hamilton marker stood there, gaunt and gray, like a foul-smelling intruder loitering at the edge of a convivial garden party, an intruder keeping an eye on someone who owed an impossible debt. I was already in a somber mood, what with constant news of the pandemic, and my recent heart irregularities, which had led my cardiologist, Brent, to recommend this daily walk. So yes, the tombstone gave me pause. I asked ...

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“Little Touch of Heaven” by Sarah Lemke

Submitted to Contest #130

Thea Daniels. Thea didn’t think her mother had known her name, yet there it was, scrawled on the box of her mother’s belongings. It had taken Thea a while before she could even look at the box, let alone think about opening it. The mother who was in this box was a stranger to Thea, not her mom. No, Thea’s mom was downstairs reading in her favorite armchair, like she did every night after dinner. Thea knew none of the habits of the mother in this box, but she knew that would change as soon as she opened it. The box was packed neatly, though...

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“The Chambered Shepherd” by Francis Hill

Submitted to Contest #130

The shadow of Risteard’s cape cloaks me. ‘Lag Oscaid,’ freshly embroidered in Risteard’s black cape below the oxen family crest. I am to champion my crippled older brother. Accused of murdering and kidnapping a mariner’s daughter, Risteard rots shackled in a Pori labyrinth.Burly magistrate guards bust our hut and find blonde hairs in Risteard’s chamber. Hair of the missing girl. Chief Falltach’s wife shaves her own blonde hair to the scalp, days prior. A coincidence? Last summer scourge men cleave Risteard’s arms. A sacrifice defending Chief...

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“The Trunk” by Nikolle Mack

Submitted to Contest #130

Warnings: Mental health, Panic attack, loss of a loved one. -------- He’s in his brother’s rooms, eyes puffy and aching, throat raw, hair and robes an utter mess, when he finds the trunk. He’d been sitting on the bed, mindlessly turning the jade pendant that usually hung from his belt with it’s finely carved replica of Storm Breaker, his brother’s sword. A sword, his sword, it’s all they have, where was his body, where- Then he’d fumbled and the precious item had bounced under the bed, landing before a trunk he’d never seen ...

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“Headstone” by Jack Coey

Submitted to Contest #130

Josey was a boy about eight years old, whose name was Perkins, and he lived with his mom and dad in a small, New Hampshire town with a common and cemetery and Civil War statue. His dad worked at the car garage, and his mom worked as the nurse at the elementary school, and it was summertime now, and it was when people listened to Elvis sing, and not too many color TVs were around. Sunday nights people watched Ed Sullivan on TV to see and hear the latest acts. It was humid during the day, and people didn’t feel like doing much, but his mom wou...

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“The Compass” by R J Prins

Submitted to Contest #130

The Compass Gary Hugh spent that afternoon clearing the attic after his Grandfather passed away. It was all too real to him. The Hurst had his Grandfather a few hours later. His parents were talking with his Grandmother down stairs. He could care less about was being said. He was going through a box of miscellaneous junk. Some empty old time glass soda bottles, and useless papers with scribbling and old newspapers. Just then he found a green pouch with something heavy inside and pulled it out. It was a golden compass. It looked like a relic...

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“Invisible Girl” by Genevieve Willingham

Submitted to Contest #130

Invisible Girl LaDonna quickly found a miniature car tag for each of her children: Matthew, Diane, Michael, and Barbara. This was why she had given them such uncomplicated names. She paid for her purchases and left the shop. When LaDonna was a child, there was never anything with her name on it. Magnets, mugs, tee shirts, little car tags, keyrings – millions of small touristy items with hundreds of kids’ names o...

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“Mama's Lesson” by Hanae Livingston

Submitted to Contest #130

I uncovered the box, and the drive to declutter my parent’s basement evaporated. Tucked under the stairs of my parent’s home, the box’s white surface bore my name in English. HANAE Mama’s beautiful handwriting had changed very little since she had made this mark. Pulling it open, I was transported to another place and time, when my hands had lifted this lid and beheld the same treasures they did now. I marveled at the faded green sweater sitting at the top of the clothes inside, the first that Mama had ever made for me. We lived tucked...

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Start your story with someone finding an object labeled with their name.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 37 stories

“Order of the Cosmos” by Gini Swancy

“Macy Blue” by Jessica Reese

“jar.” by Vivian Garroway

“Intimate Objects” by Thomas Graham

“Taken from the other side” by Jarrod V

“Magenta” by Tobi Summers

“Change” by Marisa Vargas

“Tombstone” by VJ Hamilton

“Little Touch of Heaven” by Sarah Lemke

“The Chambered Shepherd” by Francis Hill

“The Trunk” by Nikolle Mack

“Headstone” by Jack Coey

“The Compass” by R J Prins

“Invisible Girl” by Genevieve Willingham

“Mama's Lesson” by Hanae Livingston

🌟 Similar prompts

Create a title with our Title Generator, then write a story inspired by it.

Write about a character whose name you got from our Character Name Generator.

Set your story in a nameless world.

Write a story titled ‘The Locked Door.’

Contest #130

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

284

Contest entries

179

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: