A.g. Scott

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

Stories (19)

19 Stories

900 karma pts

?

“Spinning” by A.g. Scott

'How are you feeling now, Jodi?' I’m in the whirlpool until I am the whirlpool, spinning ever faster. Centripetal forces shred the bonds which have held my body together all these years. My limbs thrash in defiance, but soon they are no longer mine. I am reduced to a bloody mist which splatters outward, a crimson dye for the sea’s salty foam. Before long, the tide spreads me thin, until I am forgotten by the ocean, forgotten by time.Oh, never mind. The night of the dance is finally her...

27 comments 27
Read story

“Pride” by A.g. Scott

Ghastly tendrils of fog, like the greedy fingers of adoring acolytes, curled up from the moor to claw for purchase on the worn façade of the stoic Whitmore Manor. Within the manor's walls, a thin coat of dust gathered like the first snows of autumn, even on the surface of the table where dinner was served.Young Leo peered trepidatiously into his bowl, stirring rancid pork stew. He considered soldiering through a bite to appease his mother, but upon seeing the pork’s pink hue, he feared it might well bite back. The rolls,...

15 comments 15
Read story

“A Means to an End” by A.g. Scott

Adele Means enjoyed the sixth of October as if it were a reasonably swell day. In fact it was, despite the biting late autumn wind. Indeed, in retrospect, with all the facts of the subsequent week laid bare, her revelry brings one a chill—an urge to reach between the lines of her story and shake her free of fate.Adele had no way of knowing, but as reasonably swell days went, the sixth of October would be her last.What follows is the story of the carer and the ones for whom she cared.--...

24 comments 24
Read story

“Hell, Woman” by A.g. Scott

As I descended deeper into Hell, I tried to ignore the thin wisps of black smoke that whistled past me on their way to the mortal surface. I knew from failed early expeditions that they carried Satan’s wicked whispers. His was the most effective style of power: one which needn’t be physically enforced—to which fearful men giddily kneeled.The Dark One had my Elizabeth.I marched through winding tunnels for what might well have been months, with nobody to talk to but the angel Azrael, whose spirit I’d seal...

22 comments 22
Read story

“Asher's Choice” by A.g. Scott

“Tread carefully, boy,” Gams cautioned, with a level of nervous excitement uncommon for someone her age. “I can’t remember the last time I saw my Minerva so upset.”The boy, Asher, looked at his mother. She looked like a Minerva, sitting red-faced and knit-browed, rolling her skirts between her fingers beneath the dining table like a child. That she refused to return her son’s gaze produced in him an incredulous chuckle. “I’m sorry, grandma, but I’ve been ‘treading carefully’ for long enough. It’s f...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Pulling the Plug” by A.g. Scott

They had an old phrase back on Earth, ‘starving artist.’ Before I left the surface, neither term applied to me remotely. Now, I sit here at the ship’s bridge under flashlight, stewing in the knowledge that I’ll starve to death before week’s end. There’s no preventing it, barring a miracle, and miracles are scarce, especially when nobody knows you need one. I figure I might as well fill out the archetype. I’ve got a terrible eye for illustration and sculpture, so that leaves the written word. Just as well. I’...

9 comments 9
Read story

“On Reflection” by A.g. Scott

"Sling?" he asked, smirking. "No, I don't sling anymore."He leaned in and put a finger to his ear, waiting a few moments for a response. Then he looked down and feigned cool surprise, as if seeing his injury for the first time. “Oh, you mean my arm! I'd almost forgotten. No, no, I wouldn’t want to bore you with the story….”He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “What's that? You'll do what for me if I tell you? Well, you're very forward, but I am married. However, seeing as you want to know so bad, ...

13 comments 13
Read story

“Stable” by A.g. Scott

Between the inn tables, conversation was lively.The patrons were awash in the afterglow of the day’s independence celebration. It was a momentous occasion indeed: exactly three years previously, the rebels had successfully coordinated the simultaneous siege of several key imperial holdings. These attacks, known simply as “The Happening,” constituted the old regime’s fatal wound.Ansel sipped his ale in quiet stillness at the bar, enjoying the warm buzz that filled the room. He watched the old barkeep cur...

14 comments 14
Read story

“Pinned Wings” by A.g. Scott

Studback stands where the sidewalk ends in Little Little Rock, staring into the everlasting fog. Ash-flakes seem to appear out of thin air and float down all around him, sliding over the slopes of his broad back and coating the faux concrete. There is a cold, noble air about him, but this is put on. Somewhere beneath his thick shell sneaks a suspicion that he isn’t the leader his people need. It never made any sense - of all the roaches in this tabletop scale-model town, why him?Months have passed since the oathtaking. H...

14 comments 14
Read story

“The Endgame” by A.g. Scott

The view through the window wall at the study's rear is something sublime, something suffocating. There are two grown, well-educated men in the room, and neither can bear to look through the flaring glass for more than a few moments. In much the same way, they cannot bear to look at each other. Their gazes tend toward, and soften over, the intricately patterned maroon carpet beneath their feet. “Kafkaesque is the word,” says the younger man.“I’d say Lovecraftian,” offers the elder.

14 comments 14
Read story

“The Pitch” by A.g. Scott

Pitch:to try to persuade someone to do something; to erect and fix in place; the level of a feeling. The lobby of Whirlpool Publishing is a lofty, oblong room, the bones of which evoke a desolate cavern. Dark mock-stalactite fixtures strung with lights hang from the inner rim of the recessed ceiling, twinkling like fangs in the dark. Most of the lobby’s surfaces are a varnished black marble, reflecting light to furnish an even soft glow from the ti...

15 comments 15
Read story

“Sucker” by A.g. Scott

Doris introduced one Mr. Sangwine to her children as the last in a trilogy of step-fathers.It was the end of a summer which had seen Isabella’s turning nine and Zachary’s turning twelve. They were an extraordinarily independent pair of siblings: precocious Isabella’s nose was most commonly found wedged into the spine of a book, and uncontainable Zachary had built up callouses on the soles of his feet from all his outdoor adventuring. Neither paid much attention to the dull men their mother brought around. Not until the s...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Witness” by A.g. Scott

Three moments too late. Not in a row, but in dangerous proximity.The first moment had been out of the barkeep’s hands. He’d begun to close down the bar in the lonely hours of the morning, and was locking the door when two dismissively apologetic patrons arrived. They demanded cheap ale and pulled up stools across from each other at a round wooden table. The barkeep had already finished most of his little tasks: the drying of the dishes, the polishing of the liquor bottles, the inspection of the fermentin...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Not Even Close” by A.g. Scott

The 1st installment in the Don DeWhere series. A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT IN LOS ANGELES, 1948. THE TOP FLOOR:I was finally falling asleep when my assistant’s voice buzzed through the speaker. “Parcel for you, Mr. DeWhere,” said Wanda. I checked my watch. Still busted.The parcel man’s footsteps fell heavy down the long hallway between Wanda’s desk and my office. He hummed a jazzy tune all the way up to my office door and then fell silent. Even through the frosted glass, I could s...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Nevertheless” by A.g. Scott

An excerpt from the obituary section of the Portage County Gazette, Oct. 22, 1944:AMHERST, Wisc. (AP) - Adolph J. Bauer, 54, passed away suddenly at his home in Amherst Saturday evening of heart failure. Interment made in Greenwood cemetery. Deceased was a native of Germany being born at Dresden in 1890, and made that country his home until 1937 when he came to America, locating in New York. Two years later he came to Portage County, settling in Amherst. He is survived by his wife and six children, who h...

6 comments 6
Read story

Author bio

If you're a U.S. citizen, and you have the privilege to vote... would you mind? This almost feels like having friends.