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๐”Š๐”ฒ๐”ž๐”ก๐”ž๐”ฉ๐”ฒ๐”ญ๐”ข ๐”—๐”ข๐”ฉ๐” ๐”ฌ๐”ซ๐”ฑ๐”ž๐”ฏ

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2021

Stories (71)
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71 Stories

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Tales As Tall As the Trees

Submitted to Contest #294

A white quarter of the moon was shining down on the northwoods of the United States of America. Stars were faint overhead wherever the moonlight failed to wash them out. The towering white pines cast blue shadows on the snow. The square shapes of a few buildings squatted in a clearing, dark against the snowy ground. A single figure moved from the smallest, closet-size building toward one of the biggest. A pair of new boots crunched and squeaked along the well-trampled paths winding through the lumbercamp. The cold winter air bit at...

0 likes 1 comment 1
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Beastly Behavior

Submitted to Contest #278

Content warning: Brief violence Esau and Calvin are tearing around the chimp yard like furry black missiles. When one catches up with the other, he lashes out, punching, kicking, and slapping all at once. They race across the grass, scramble up the fake rock formations, and then fall off in a tangle of limbs as they scream. Every chimp in the enclosure is screaming, either in indignation or fear or anger. The females are running around, their lips pulled back in fear grins, trying to avoid the two big, angry males.Some visitors to the zoo ar...

8 likes 13 comments 13
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El Sacerdote y Los Peces

Submitted to Contest #274

Alboraya-Almรกcera, Spain, 1348  The muleโ€™s body was warm under the padre and between his legs. The sun was hot on his head, and burned through the black cloth of his cassock to draw sweat from his shoulders and back.  Gulls soared and flapped and cried overhead, skimming up from the sea, up the river before him that ran down to the sea.  The muleโ€™s hooves clattered and clunked over the wet stones on the brink of the river the padre had to cross. Water and foam and leaves and sticks swirled in the shallows. As the mule plodded ...

7 likes 8 comments 8
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The Step-Daughter

Submitted to Contest #270

Content warning: Blood, a severed body part The stone walls of the banquet hall echo laughter and loud, drunken voices down the passage to where I stand waiting. My motherโ€™s hands are warm against my bare shoulders. A server hurries out carrying an empty platter, and the breeze from his passing moves my clothing and cools my face.  The next server stops at my motherโ€™s word, and she enquires how drunk Herod is.  The serverโ€™s face is stiff as he answers. He would not answer this question if any other person asked it. But he will answ...

14 likes 10 comments 10
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A Box Without Hinges, Key, or Lid

Submitted to Contest #269

Content warning: Mentions of deathEggs were for eating back then. I mean when the little girl was small. The white or brown oblong balls her mother and father used for cooking were a fascination. She loved holding them new from the fridge, cradled in her hands like a snowball that did not melt. They would grow lukewarm after a time, and the egg would finally be taken away to go into pancakes or brownies or whatever was being made. When the shells were down in the garbage, it was funny to look in and see how the brown ones were white on the i...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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All but the Furnacemen: A Tale of the Wild Midwest

Submitted to Contest #268

Content warning: Kidnapping, brothels, human trafficking, abuse, forced prostitution, violence, murder. This is a true story. August 1880, Garden Peninsula, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States of America The steam train that ran on the Sac Bayโ€“Fayette track was chugging southward on a morning run when Louis Follo, the fireman, noticed a movement in the ditch outside. He leaned out of the train to see what kind of an animal was down there, and realized his mistake."Stop the engine!โ€ Follo shouted to Antone Beneshek, the engin...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Monkey Business

Submitted to Contest #267

Content warning: traumatic injury, non graphic With a clatter and squeal and rumble, the enormous black steam train and its carriages roll forward, exposing Uitenhage Station's unfortunate safety inspector.James, nicknamed Jumper, is known for his antics of jumping from one moving train car to another in the rail yard. This time, Jim has missed his jump. His lower legs have been crushed. Doctors amputate both crushed legs just below the knee. Without the ability to walk easily and crawl under the trains, Jumper Jim automatically loses h...

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To Atone

Submitted to Contest #265

Content warning: allusions to rape"Try this," Judah said, handing Jane a glass. She took a sip. "It tastes likeโ€ฆbacon?" Judah grinned. "Yep.""Wow." Jane took a swig. "I didn't know bacon whiskey existed." "I made it." "It's good." Jane's smile made her whole face glow. "But you should be careful. You'll be driving tomorrow.""Indeed I will, which is why I had my share earlier.""Your share?" "The rest here is for you. As a farewell present before I hit the road again. I already can't wait to get back, but I'll be going somewhere I've never bee...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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Hebron

Submitted to Contest #263

Content warning: A death, some bloodCicadas droned and flies buzzed in the stillness and heat. Caleb stared at the young man lying facedown on the ground. The sun gleamed on the terrible bloody dent in Shobabโ€™s head, and on the dark metal of the ax head lying loose on the ground. The wooden handle it belonged to felt light and empty in his hands, like his own head. โ€œRun, Caleb!โ€ The voices of the other young men broke into the profound silence of his mind. โ€œRun, now!โ€ Someone shoved him from behind, and Caleb stumbled for...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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Lift Up Your Head

Submitted to Contest #260

Content warning: Physical violence, not graphicThe metal pitcher trembles as I clutch the handle. Ripples spread on the surface of the yellow-green-hued wine inside. I want to close my eyes, but I must not, for one of the beloved might call for my service at any moment. The guestโ€”I do not even know his name, only that he is the son of the brother of the lord of the houseโ€”is standing over Odod, kicking him. The dull sound of the young manโ€™s foot striking Odod pounds in my ears like my heartbeat. I flinch with every thud, but I do no...

7 likes 6 comments 6
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Hell Holes, Hell Hounds, and Hell Fire: A Tale of the Wild Midwest

Submitted to Contest #259

Content warning: Discussion of kidnapping, abuse, slavery, rape, prostitution, and murder. The events in this story are true history. No graphic descriptions.The land along the Upper Michigan and Wisconsin state line was a wild place in the 1880s. All manner of unsavory characters came together there and made their homes in the woods and logging camps and little mining towns. A veritable hellhole of the wild midwest was Florence, Wisconsin. It was the base of operations for the Mudge Gang, so called because Louis Croin Mudge and his dau...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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The King's Man

Submitted to Contest #256

Watch fires blazed in the darkness of night. Stars glittered overhead in the heavens. The smell of water and mud hung in the air, wafting from the scattered pools that surrounded Rabba, the city of waters. Frog calls nearly drowned out the crackle and pop of flaming wood and the snoring of an army of Israelite warriors camped in the fields outside the city. Footsteps approached, and the walker was challenged by sentries. When he identified himself as a messenger from King David, who had sent him to General Joab, he was taken to the tent...

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Ask Yourself

Submitted to Contest #255

The gray metal of the freighter spacecraft's halls rumbled and vibrated with the activity of the engine. Fans whirred, pushing purified air into the living spaces and sucking out the stale. Heaters warmed the walls and floors. Lights glowed on the balding heads of some, and cast stark shadows on muscles pulled taut in many faces. The freighterโ€™s entire crew was assembled in a line with their backs against the wall, hands on their heads. Their safety suits and air tanks were on, but not their helmets. Those had been taken from them. The ...

6 likes 3 comments 3
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Unfortunate One

Submitted to Contest #254

The new fuserdu was resisting the man and woman pulling on the chains attached to his head harness. A thick, dark cloth covered his eyes, held in place by the head harness straps. When a man standing behind the animal jabbed him hard enough with a pole, he would take a single step forward. A long moan struggled from the animalโ€™s mouth, held shut by tight-drawn gape chains. Something brushed Oriala, and she turned from her observation to find Tucal standing too close. She took a step away, and he followed, ordering, โ€œStay where you ...

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Myotis lucifugus

Submitted to Contest #253

Inside a public building near a lake, on a wall built of vertical yellow pine boards, knots in the wood show dark. One spot near the ceiling is bigger and darker than all the rest. It is not a spot. It is a sleeping bat. A little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus. A female. Movement is just barely visible in the little bat's back as she breathes in and out. Her flat body is pressed against the wall, her pale belly hidden, her chocolate-brown back exposed to help her blend in. The brown on her ears and the fur surrounding her eyes, nose, ...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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