John Redken

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2024

Stories (3)

3 Stories

41 karma pts

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“So Long, Alexa” by John Redken

Submitted to Contest #250

It's Christmas morning, 2018. Mum and I are in our kitchen having french toast for breakfast, one of my favourites, and this time, seeing as it's Christmas, with the special thick bread and the good Canadian maple syrup, not the cheap stuff. Mum always buys nice things for the holidays. And she knows how to cook, so most things she makes come out scrummy.I'm on my fourth mouthful when Mum looks up from her plate at me and says “So what do you think you'll do tomorrow”Mum knows that I'll be celebrating a second Christmas on Boxing Day with Da...

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“Desperate Remedies” by John Redken

Submitted to Contest #248

“Owen, I'm sorry, but I cannot give you morphine or... oxycodone... for a simple headache.”Not “simple.” CHRONIC. Why does he have to minimise it. And why does he make oxycodone sound like it's heroin.What was the point in seeing a doctor if they couldn't give you what you asked for. He told me I would have to keep relying on the Co Codamol, which was about as effective as a few Smarties.He just wouldn't listen to reason. Meanwhile, my head is fucking pounding. The fact I'm holding my head with both hands as I sit in his office seems to make...

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“The Outing” by John Redken

Submitted to Contest #247

Fact. You could say that my mental health hasn't been spectacular, and you wouldn't be wrong. If I'm completely honest, I've struggled with it since I was a kid, and as I grew older, well, it just got worse.It wasn't deliberate, planned, or under my control. You can plan your life, to some extent anyway, but nobody plans on having poor mental health. You don't wake up one morning and decide "yeah, I think I'll make my mental health go tits up", do you. It just comes. Then it spreads. Like a kind of cancer.I did all the normal things with a s...

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