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#133 Chocolate Box

Next Monday is Valentine’s Day, which means chocolate boxes are popping up in stores everywhere. The sweet association between cocoa and romance began with the Mayans and Aztecs, but it only became a hallmark of Valentine’s Day when British confectionery giant Cadbury introduced the first ever heart-shaped gift boxes in the 1860s. 


Today, chocolate is inseparable from this occasion in many parts of the world: in Japan, some give homemade chocolate to their loved ones; in Ghana, February 14th is National Chocolate Day. And we’re joining the fun with this week’s set of delicious chocolate-inspired prompts. Take your pick!

This week's prompts

Write about someone going on a search for a specific type (or brand) of chocolate.

– 24 stories

Start your story with a character finding an old heart-shaped box in their house.

– 77 stories

Set your story in a confectionery shop.

– 39 stories

Write a story about someone making a gift (chocolate or otherwise) for a loved one.

– 36 stories

Write about a character who finds Valentine’s Day sickly sweet.

– 26 stories

Stories

Dare to be happy

Weekly Contest #133

!This story contains some swear words!*****Everything's so hard. One more sleepless night and I go crazy. All I can think of now is why did I do that? Even though I'm always the one who ends my romantic relationships, I was clearly out of my head. I wish I could figure out yet why I'm afraid of commitment or what's wrong with me in my brain when this fear makes me split up with people over and over. People, who are utterly perfect by the way. Perfect in an unconventional and unique way that cannot be copied. Perfect like this ...

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Of Abby, Love and Butt-Shaped Pillows

Weekly Contest #133

Jeremy was sitting in his kitchen as suddenly, the room went dark. Great. Two months living here, and the house is already falling apart. That was just Jeremy’s luck, wasn’t it? He got up from one of his brand-new kitchen chairs and started making his way up the stairs to the attic, which is where he’d probably stored the light bulbs he brought from his old apartment. He didn’t actually remember, mind you, because Jeremy hardly ever remembered anything. Jeremy was a man of few words, and a man of few thoughts. Now standing on the wobbly ladd...

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A Faded Memory

Weekly Contest #133

Bessie sat staring toward the dense woods at the edge of the property. She focused on nothing, her macular eyes long useless. Sometimes rocking, sometimes not, her frail fingers tightly grasped the wooden armrests. It was chilly this time of year in Georgia, but Bessie loved fresh air, so one of the aides had wheeled her outside, helping her into the rocker and tucking a ratty, multi-tone pink afghan across her lap. Bessie once said she’d crocheted it when her daughters were small. In the parking lot of the nursing home, her great-granddaug...

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The Hidden Heart

Weekly Contest #133

Moving is never fun, especially when it comes to the home you grew up in. So many memories made through the years; I can almost hear them as the house regurgitates them into my mind. With every creek as the wind hit the house to every step I made brought a recollection to my mind and the great things that I lived through in a place filled with love. So many many memories. “Will this headache ever go away?” This is overwhelming. So much to do and so little time.  I really wish mom and dad were here to help me with this, but then again ...

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Te Amo, Mi Vida

Weekly Contest #133

The world seems to be a little bit darker nowadays. Even with the aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends that filled my childhood home, nothing could fix the void that had overtaken my heart. Everything was chaotic and quiet at the same time. Whispered condolences were shared throughout the afternoon. Distant relatives and friendly strangers patted my arms and gave me bony hugs. “I’m sorry for your loss.” “Let me know what I can do for you.” “They were both wonderful people.” The kitchen constantly poured out the beverages of a rush...

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Third Times the Charm

Weekly Contest #133

Warning: language The sweet air of my favorite candy shop, Charlotte’s Sweets, fills my lungs as I push open the glass door. “Good morning, Stella.” Charlotte calls from across the pink counter. “Morning Charlotte!” I smile back, as I gaze into the cases filled with countless types of chocolate in preparation for Valentine’s Day. “I think I’m going to go with two dozen milk chocolate hearts today.” “Sounds good! Your students are going to love these.” She smiles, as she starts prepping my order. Once a month I treat my students to some o...

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Sweet Shadows

Weekly Contest #133

The woman smiled, her expression warm and welcoming. She handed a small box to the young lady who stood across the counter. With a thank you and a grin, the customer left, clutching the matte brown package carefully so as not to disturb its bright red bow.The woman’s gaze followed her customer’s departure, her eyes settling beyond the threshold to the street just outside her shop window. Muted orange sunlight streamed sideways between buildings, casting long, lean shadows on the cobblestones and harkening nightfall.He’d be there soon.And so,...

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The Chocolate Coated Gun-Runner

Weekly Contest #133

My first question is why they let me hold onto my laptop once I was locked in my cell. How am I supposed to type when there is nothing in here on which to rest my laptop except my lap. The only flat surface in here is a concrete slab - my bed. I had been working in this highly computerized company as a specialist engineer for about a year when the boss called me in and said, “We are sending you to Belgium, where there are experts working in the same field. You will be a member of a very exclusive Cyber team. You will be away for some mont...

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Love, endurance, and a heart-shaped box of chocolates.

Weekly Contest #133

-„You will come to Asha’s birthday, won´t you?” Nia asked me a day before her daughter would turn one year old. “You have to take pictures of her first steps!” Asha learned to walk in the shelter for victims of domestic violence where I was working. I went shopping for a birthday present for the toddler: shoes with little pink birds embroidered on them. As I walked home from the mall, I thought about Asha and Nia, and how her daughter´s birthday would also be the last at the shelter. The day after they would have to move out, to an old, rund...

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She left me with a Bomber Jacket

Weekly Contest #133

She left me with a bomber jacket and a memory wiped A.I.  She bumped her forehead to mine and stared into my eyes. Her arms wrapped around me, and I could feel the cold wind of the spaceport blow right through me. I shuddered, and she pulled me closer. She pulled the jacket tight and zipped it up till it was right under my chin.  It was an oversized Jacket passed from the Captain of the Merry Charter and then to her; the jacket was a mantel, and it was mine now.   The Merry Charter was behind her at full sail with a hyper...

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DEATH BY CHOCOLATE (VALENTINE DAY SUPRISE)

Weekly Contest #133

I said to Laila " You don't really mean it. It is really difficult for me to understand what's really going on! We have been going out for nearly eight months. Valentine Day is in two weeks time. You are telling me I can't meet your parents. It does not make any sense at all," She was silent, suddenly said " How many times I told you, we come from different cultures, traditions. I can't tell my parents about our friendship. They won't accept it. As far as they are concerned I am at Oxford University to get a degree not for making friends. Th...

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A Thousand Lost Boys

Weekly Contest #133

CW: mentions of blood Too many people believe in the old gods. They give everything they have, just for the dream of a warm meal, a happy marriage. But the crops are too dry and the winters are too cold for such silly sacrifices of wine and cheese and firstborn sons. Mama says she can’t recall a time when there wasn’t fear of the old gods, their sensitivity and blood-soaked promises. And yet, the other towns talk of a time when there was no sacrifice, no Valentine’s Day… A time when there were no fights or robberies; when no one paid att...

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The Heartless and the Solitary

Weekly Contest #133

Thana let out a belch and slammed her empty tankard to the benchtop. A table of men at her right chuckled, then grew quiet at her pointed stare. Most knew better than to even cast a look her way, but drink made men brave. Thana didn't. Thana made men edgy and curious. Their instincts at war with their better judgment. Ordinarily, she enjoyed watching the battle play out behind their eyes. Enjoyed observing the slow death of sense and reason before they came to her like a fly to honey. But not today. Today, she was Nightshade. Poisonous. Fat...

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A Chocolate Tradition

Weekly Contest #133

Jackson Andrews looked down at his watch in alarm. Shit! How the hell was it already after six? He hurriedly grabbed his coat from the back of the chair and hastily pulled it on.“What’s the rush?” his co-worker, Steve Prescott, looked at him quizzically, holding up a half-full glass of beer. “He’s gotta get home in time for dinner or Sarina won’t give him any.” Scott Quinlan, another co-worker mocked.“Shut up.” Jackson scowled at him irritably. The three young men had stopped for a few drinks at O’Shea's, a quaint Irish-style pub locate...

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To the Ends of the Earth

Weekly Contest #133

“I must have the worst luck in the world,” the exasperated Steve Williams moans to himself. “How did I get myself into this mess?” he grumbles under his breath, continuing his conversation with himself, as he awaits the approaching officer that he spies in the side mirror of his 2013 red Honda Accord. He tries to think of some positive thought to comfort himself with, but he knows this doesn’t look good for him. “I’m not built for prison. I don’t think I can survive it,” he thinks, getting more worried with each step the motorcycle police of...

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