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Alex Marmalade

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2020

Stories (102)
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77 Followers
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102 Stories

1828 karma pts

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Mercy's Margin

Submitted to Contest #296

"I never meant to become a criminal." Eliza's fingertips left smudges on the reinforced glass as she withdrew her hand. The visiting room's fluorescent lights cast Margaret Winters' face in harsh angles, emphasizing the steel-gray bob and the carefully neutral expression of a woman who'd spent decades perfecting it.Behind Margaret, a clock on the wall ticked away seconds Eliza couldn't afford to lose. Every minute here was another her mother spent alone, withering beneath the cruel arithmetic of American healthcare: the cost of living divide...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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Hundi Flight

Submitted to Contest #295

Rajiv's fingers trembled as he adjusted the golden wings pinned to his crisp white shirt. Seven years of scrubbing airport floors had taught him exactly how authority looked—how it moved through the world. The epaulets felt heavier than they should, like small planets resting on his shoulders.In the cramped employee bathroom of Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3, he stared at his reflection. Not Rajiv Patel, floor cleaner from Dharavi. Not the man whose passport sat locked in his employer's safe alongside his iqama card. Not the man who...

11 likes 5 comments 5
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First Goodbye

Submitted to Contest #295

Devon adjusted his collar one last time, checking his reflection in the glass doors of Oakwood Crematorium. Not exactly the coffee shop she'd suggested for their first meeting, but his GPS insisted this was the address Leila had sent. Perhaps she worked here? An unusual profession for a twenty-two-year-old engineering student, but who was he to judge?He'd been chatting with Leila Al-Farsi for six weeks after matching on Kismet, the new "psychic dating app" his roommate had convinced him to download. "For people who believe connections transc...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Bayn Al-Alameen

Submitted to Contest #295

The headscarf slithered through Nora's fingers, gold threads catching the fluorescent light. Three days avoiding it, and now here she was at 2 AM, examining her grandmother's birthday "gift" like it might bite.Outside her window, Abu Dhabi's skyline glittered with hollow promises. Two months into her sentence here, and Nora Al-Masri was suffocating beneath the weight of being Sheikh Khalid's half-American daughter.A light knock interrupted her thoughts. Lakshmi, one of the Filipino housemaids, stood in the hallway with a silver tray."Miss No...

10 likes 3 comments 3
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Waking Ghosts

Submitted to Contest #295

The alarm clock screamed. Alan's eyes shot open, his body drenched in cold sweat. The digital display read 3:17 AM—the same time as always. He reached for Emma beside him, but found only twisted sheets."Emma?" he called out, voice hoarse.Light spilled from beneath the bathroom door. He exhaled. Just using the bathroom. The nightmare felt so real this time—Emma gone, their children never born, a life utterly different from this one they'd built together. A sterile apartment instead of their warm suburban home. Solitude instead of family chaos...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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Collector's Item

Submitted to Contest #295

Devon Harper thumbed through his LinkedIn messages, scanning for potential marks while his coffee went cold. Six new connection requests from middle-aged professionals with minimal digital footprints. Perfect.Margaret Pennington's profile showed a seventy-something woman with silver hair behind wire-rimmed glasses. Director of the Meadowbrook Heritage Foundation. Widowed. Limited technology skills. No two-factor authentication enabled.The algorithm had served her up like a gift.Devon took a screenshot and posted it to his private Telegram gr...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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Unspoken Orders

Winner of Contest #294 🏆

"I've said too much," Jack muttered, watching the maître d's smile fade like a dimmer switch. The restaurant fell silent, conversations halting as heads swiveled in his direction. Jack tugged at his waiter's collar. "Occupational hazard of being British. We're supposed to communicate exclusively through weather observations and apologizing."The woman at table seven stared, her Botoxed forehead struggling to register offense."Mr. Harmon, a word." Marcel, the maître d', beckoned him toward the kitchen with a manicured finger.Jack followed, sho...

14 likes 130 comments 130
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Muted Ovation

Submitted to Contest #294

The applause crashed like waves against the shore of Eliot Kaye's consciousness, but he couldn't ride them anymore. Not without his voice. Twenty years on stage had taught him that audiences were fickle creatures—they'd adore you until the moment they didn't. That moment, for Eliot, had arrived three weeks ago when his vocal cords betrayed him mid-performance at the Beacon Theatre. The doctors called it psychogenic aphonia. Stress-induced. Temporary, they promised, though the calendar pages kept turning without a single word escaping his lip...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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Seven-Letter Words

Submitted to Contest #294

October 3, 1978Dear Marcus,Your last letter arrived just as Dr. Winters finished my weekly assessment. My "decline progresses as anticipated," he informed me with that professional detachment they must teach in medical school. I wanted to tell him about your magnificent 72-point play—"QUIETED" across a triple word score!—but he wouldn't appreciate the victory like you would. Three years of correspondence, and still my greatest joys arrive in envelopes with prison inspection stamps.To answer your question, no, Daniel hasn't visited since Augu...

7 likes 4 comments 4
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Death of the Miniature Shih Tzu

Submitted to Contest #294

The rain pelted against the windows of Harker Veterinary Clinic with the persistence of a neglected house pet. Dr. Adrian Harker glanced outside, watching rivulets of water compete in their journey down the glass, a race with no winner. Just like his career."Dr. Harker, Mrs. Pemberton is here with Muffin. Again." Jenny, his receptionist, emphasized the last word with the exasperation of someone who had seen this scenario play out weekly."Muffin," Adrian muttered, rubbing his temples. "Let me guess—breathing problems?""She says he's been maki...

5 likes 5 comments 5
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Dumpster Epiphanies

Submitted to Contest #294

Jun-ho stood in the rain, compressing garbage into a bin bag, wondering if this was what freedom really looked like.The fluorescent lights of St. Barnabas Church Hall flickered as Jun-ho stacked empty cardboard boxes. Thursday evenings at the North London Community Food Bank meant waste management—lots of it."Jun-ho, darling! Still here?" Reverend Philip "Call-me-Phil" Henderson swept in, his dog collar shirt adorned with glittering autumn leaves. His TikTok channel—@VicarVibes—had recently surpassed fifty thousand followers."Someone has to ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Late Bloomer

Submitted to Contest #293

"Duckie, where the bloody hell are you?" Emma's voice echoed up the stairwell of their childhood home, bouncing off the faded William Morris wallpaper their mother had insisted was "timeless." "We're going to be spectacularly late!"In the upstairs bathroom, Sophie sat perched on the edge of the bathtub, staring at the sanitary pad in her hand with growing concern. Nothing. Not even a spot. She was never late—had prided herself on being able to predict her cycle down to the hour since she was fifteen. Her stomach lurched."I'm late," she whisp...

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Between Stations

Submitted to Contest #293

Maya pressed her forehead against the train window, letting the vibration rattle through her skull. The savanna stretched flat and golden beyond the glass, the occasional acacia tree standing lonely against the horizon. The train lurched, and she closed her eyes. Sixteen years old and utterly alone."Sit up straight," Auntie Eshe snapped without looking up from her phone. "Stop smudging the window with your oils."Maya's reflection stared back at her—pale face, dark circles under hazel eyes, hair pulled back so severely it made her temples ach...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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Whispers in Transit

Submitted to Contest #293

The gentle hum of the Airbus A380's engines provided a deceptive calm as Amara settled into seat 43C, her slender fingers tracing nervous patterns against the armrest. The oversized sweater she wore concealed the secret growing within her—a life that wasn't meant to be hers for much longer. She glanced at Hassan, her chaperone, his stern face fixed in permanent disapproval as he argued with the flight attendant."This is unacceptable," Hassan snapped, waving their boarding passes. "We must sit together."The flight attendant, a slender woman w...

10 likes 3 comments 3
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Swallow the Sun

Submitted to Contest #293

Morning arrived like an alarm clock with no snooze button. Sandra jolted upright, her eyes darting to the digital numbers glowing accusingly from her bedside table. 7:18. Eighteen minutes past when she should have been up. Eighteen minutes that would ripple through her entire morning routine. "Bugger," she muttered, throwing back the duvet. "Bugger, bugger, bugger." Pepper, her aging border collie, lifted his head from his dog bed in the corner, his cloudy eyes following her frantic movements as she pulled her uniform from the wardrobe. The ...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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