Wow, Esfandiar. You snuck that one in. I wasn't expecting another entry, so this was a pleasant surprise. So glad that I got to read one more story. :)
As for the story itself, very well done. You stuck to the prompt, and provided a beautifully written piece. I honestly couldn't find anything to really critique on this one. You told many different tales, but used the rock to tie them all together so that it wasn't just a random mush of stories. You clearly put some hard work into polishing this, which I am very appreciative of. Overall, just well done. Seriously. This was a good one. :)
Trust me Jay, I polished literally nothing, I was so busy these days that I forgot to submit contest entries which I was planning. I'm surprised that you find this piece a good one coz I only took like 1 hour and 45 minutes. AND OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY I FORGOT TO ADD TRIGGER WARNINGS. LEMME EDIT IT REAL QUICK!!
@Esfandiar C. Hale, You're good. I didn't think it was too bad. In regards to violence, I really was only asking for a warning if it was graphic in nature (explaining in graphic detail how someone was killed/dead). I don't feel like mentioning blood falls under that category. I am glad you put one up for the suicide, though. I feel kind of stupid for not thinking about that when I wrote the rules because that is something that can be quite a dark and serious topic, so thanks for doing that.
I'm impressed that you said you didn't do much polishing. That's not bad for a first draft done in such a short amount of time.
As for the story itself, very well done. You stuck to the prompt, and provided a beautifully written piece. I honestly couldn't find anything to really critique on this one. You told many different tales, but used the rock to tie them all together so that it wasn't just a random mush of stories. You clearly put some hard work into polishing this, which I am very appreciative of. Overall, just well done. Seriously. This was a good one. :)
I'm impressed that you said you didn't do much polishing. That's not bad for a first draft done in such a short amount of time.