A.g. Scott

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

Stories (42)

42 Stories

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“Nevermore” by A.g. Scott

A storm came on the night Jacob Walker’s father tried to kill him.Lightning did not chase away the oppressive darkness. Thunder did not drown the barks and shrieks inside the farmhouse. The rain did not revitalize the wilting fields, nor did it loose the old man’s grip on his axe.By the grace of God, Jacob managed to wriggle free of his father’s shadow, of the smell of whiskey and sweat. He dashed across the land, vaulted the boundary fence, and disappeared into a lush wood. His father, a drowsy husk of...

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“Mr. Evermore” by A.g. Scott

Today was even gloomier than usual. Moody storm clouds loomed over the harbor, casting a nauseating haze over Boston. Watching darkness drift in from what seemed like the edge of the world, the boisterous city fell quiet.Moreover, a peculiar fog crept quietly through the maze of hilly streets. It swirled about, tonguing the outer walls of old brick buildings. In the thick of it, one could scarcely see across the street, and Old Boston's antique gas lamps were of little help.At the corner of a foggy mark...

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“About Time” by A.g. Scott

INT. CHINA WOK RESTAURANT - DAYMR. WONG, smirking, stocky, balding, counts the cash in the register. The golden cat on the counter waves at PAULO. Creeped, Paulo distracts himself by staring at the calendar on the wall. He notices that each date reads February 2nd, and starts to have a panic attack. What is the actual date? The date it's supposed to be? Before he can figure it out, a giant ethereal rift opens in the wall, splitting the calendar in two.Paulo jumps back and claws his...

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“Helmut's Heir” by A.g. Scott

Berlin, 1788.There was much hullabaloo at the hospital Charité on the night Helmut Herrmann welcomed his heir.Much had been written of proud General Herrmann and his many exploits as a soldier in the Prussian army, and how in his retirement, he had found new life as a textile tycoon. With his good name and riches he bought property, horses, and enough liquor to fill the Rhine. Perhaps his most treasured achievement was the full-scale remodeling of an ancient, ornate townhouse at the he...

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“Ship of Fools” by A.g. Scott

Cologne, 1815.   In the venerated opinion of the court, I was deranged.   It was my lawyer who encouraged me to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. I had to sit behind a desk and bite my tongue while he made his case. What bitter irony that I couldn’t defend myself as he insisted upon my lack of agency. His words, painful though they may have been, spared me the penalty of death. Of course, I didn’t think I was insane. Deep down, I wanted to believe that the court...

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“The Metanet” by A.g. Scott

Mom’s basement, 3 A.M.A wall of text raced through the terminal, blurring in Brandon’s strained eyes. He leaned back in his poor chair and took an asthmatic breath, hoping, praying that the code would finally work. His aching fingers rubbed the coarse patch of hair that ran from his chin down to his Adam’s apple. He felt gross. A lot had changed in the last few months. For one, he had been laid off from his big tech dream job. But perhaps that had been a blessing: somehow, somewhere deep in the pits of the ensuing depres...

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“Plenty of Fish” by A.g. Scott

I am never going on another first date.I don’t care much for dating in general, but I guess it beats drinking alone. On second thought, no, that’s a bald-faced lie. Drinking alone is kickass. But heed my warning: if you stay in hermit mode for too long, people will start coming up with all sorts of unfair assumptions, like he’s asocial, or he’s depressed. True, but unfair nonetheless.I’m not sure how Aaron got me to agree to join him on a double date. I’m not even sure how we ...

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“Carrying Light” by A.g. Scott

Lucy, my North Star,I got your letter through a messenger boy here in Cheyenne. You never were one to mince words, were you?Leaving you like that, all of a sudden, was wrong. I realize that now.If I expected it to take this long, maybe I never would have gone. But I wanted you to know, the job is done. The Jeffs brothers won’t be bothering nobody, not ever again. So, assuming y’all would have me, you and little Annabelle would sure be a sight for these so...

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“The Next Right Note” by A.g. Scott

Isaiah knows he is ‘black.’Nobody will let him forget it: not his mother, not his doctor, and certainly not his fair-skinned private school classmates. Rarely does he think of race when he is all alone, but everywhere he goes, from the time he makes his bed in the morning to the time he crawls back under the sheets at night, he faces sobering reminders. For reasons he doesn’t quite understand, this wears him down, little by little, until he is far more fatigued than a ten-year-old boy has any right to be. Mostly, it leav...

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“A Soldier” by A.g. Scott

Daniel Maron took the toy from a mound of rubble outside Berlin. He did not know which poor child it had belonged to previously, and he did not much care. The Führer, long may he rot, had already taken his coward’s exit. The Allies had won and, as dictated by the old saying, the victors had a right to collect their spoils.Other men had chosen their souvenirs: this man a red armband, that man an iron cross, that one an officer's tongue. Daniel did not seek anything so morbid. He did not seek anything at all, and ...

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“His Angel” by A.g. Scott

Little Andrew Locke sat cross-legged on the grass beside his parents’ caravan, pretending not to hear the terrible things they were shouting at each other. As was often the case, they were arguing about him, although not directly. They hollered ceaselessly about money, and schooling, and life on the road: things that would not be problems if Andrew wasn’t around, or had never been born. Father should be shouting at me, he thought. Everything would be so much simpler, he knew, if his parents would only admit...

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“Mountain of Silence” by A.g. Scott

If a man dies in a remote cabin, and nobody remembers he ever existed, does he really die? Martin Roth etches these words into the jacket of the last book left in his once expansive library. The rest of the lot are hollow bindings strewn about—frayed, leathery carcasses curling in the winter sun that pours through the window by the hearth. Mr. Roth cannot catch, even if he is looking very hard, the tiniest glimpse of the warped floorboards beneath his feet. His world is empty books and stacks of paper surroundin...

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“Curriculum Vitae” by A.g. Scott

“Shall we begin, Dr. Nakamura?”“What? Who are you? What are you doing here?”“There you go—we brought you some coffee. Sorry about the imposition. We’ve come for an interview.”“Christ, the application deadline was weeks ago. In any case, you’re not making a very good impression by sneaking into my home before the sun has risen. Hold on, what do you mean, ‘we?’ There’s more than one of you?”“Turn the light on, you’ll see.”“OH GOD! Uh… Pardon m...

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“Ghost Town” by A.g. Scott

Some men are themselves ghost towns, gathering dust, unspeaking and wooden-faced in the aching hollow of something long lost. Others boom, shiny and new, laughing often to stave off the aching hollow of something they have yet to find. The man who tended bar at Jebediah’s Hole, Rob Whitley, was this latter sort. Just twenty-one, he only worked at his uncle’s saloon for one hot summer between semesters at the University of Wisconsin. He expected, when his time was up, he would come back east with some hard-earned cash and a better understa...

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“The Heart of War” by A.g. Scott

1 // Andrei.There was nothing anyone could do to stop it: darkness was about to fall on the quiet village of Elinya.And so, as the last swells of light sank behind the Rhodope Mountains, the people made their preparations. Torches flickered to life along the main roads and at the gates. Clean smoke swirled up from chimneys and floated away with the westward wind. Quiet prayers went on behind closed doors, some to Christ, some to Allah. Every ordinary family had their ordinary routine, a...

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