Alexis Araneta

“An Open Letter to a Lifelong Love” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #276

Dear You,Yes, I have always known that you were with me. How could I ever ignore that honey sweetness that coats every single inch of my mouth with a mellow warmth when I speak to you? How could I deny the rush inside me every time you sweep me in the powerful yet refreshing whirlpool of your majesty? Is there even a way to hide how a giggle bubbles up inside of me – minuscule at first, then, slowly encasing me in prismic wonder --- every single time I recall how I sometimes stumble and stutter, all because of your golden presence? No, ...

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“Love's Not an Alien Concept” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #274

CW: SwearingHer profile stated that she loves the colour periwinkle. I had no idea that she was talking about her latex-like skin. She said that she wants held softly, deftly --- as if she were the most delicate of hydrangea petals. I didn’t know it entailed caressing her nine protruding tentacles. She mentioned that she’s originally from far from London. Who knew that she hails from outside the Milky Way, from some dwarf planet called Lila Centauri?As I observed this non-Earthling twist the flounced sleeve of her watermelon maxi dress with ...

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“Afternoons with Martin” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #273

Okay, just so I don’t forget…His name is Doctor Martin Gatsby. He’s tall and a bit lanky, his gazelle-like legs took huge strides when he approached my bed this morning. His slightly loose navy-blue button-down shirt hung over his jeans in that effortless yet posh way, and when he sat down next to me, I was cocooned in the smell of the Woolacombe sea breeze I had to leave behind for university in London two years ago and petrichor. When he greeted me hello and extended a large hand, oh how his peridot eyes sparkled along with that half-moon ...

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“Haunting Me” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #272

Time doesn’t march; it dashes, kicking up the ever-shifting sands of memory onto an open soul’s eye. All you can do is watch as it zooms past you.It’s even truer when you’re a ghost, floating above everything you used to know --- the same halls you used to roam, the very smells that used to tickle you every time you breathe, the people you used to hold tightly by your bosom. And yes, it still stands even if the one living being you miss embracing, the only one that made you come back to Earth on a mission to let her know that you still think...

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“A Thousand First Meetings” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #271

12 October 2024Dear Natasha,Yes, it’s me. Again.Well, I can finally admit it, spill to you the secret I’ve kept buried like a chest of gold for, well, as long as my memory could trace seconds. I should tell you that I keep all the faces I put on to meet you in large, crystal jars of lapis lazuli and lush, brilliant greens, the collection stacked on shelves in an ivory-painted cupboard that almost reaches the ceiling. Each one of them, every perfectly moulded mask of flesh and keratin is labelled in thick crimson card and my chicken scratch p...

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“Sparkle” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #269

28 September 2024Dearest Peter,Just so you know, I have kept the ring you gave me fifteen years ago. Oh, and I…well, I guess by the end of this letter, I can finally let it out, spill out the very thoughts that have been swirling inside me like a tempest for a decade and a half. Trust me, it will be good.Oh yes, Peter. I’m still wearing that delicate, fuchsia plum blossom on a thin 18-karat yellow gold band, and in fact, I’ve never taken it off. Right now, as the sun shoots its arrows of light through the windows of The Bijou Café here in Br...

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“Do Me Write” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #266

Hey, Stephanie! I have a little request. If you’re going to keep changing me, reach those artificial nacho cheese-dusted hands onto the Wheel of My Fortune and spin it to figure out who I’d be this thirty-second time (Yes, I counted.) around, could you at least swap out…you know?Yes, I’m aware, all too much, in fact. You say that you’re a pantser, that you’re a flâneuse who would rather meander the winding alleys of your imagination rather than follow some preset road map. You balk at the idea of anything other than the thorny weeds of a plo...

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“A Ticket to Me” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #265

“Number 76, please proceed to the counter now,” a lilting voice, warm like clay, croons out of the loudspeakers.  A tiny smile as thin as a twig forms on my face. With that velvety announcement, adrenaline pumps from the base of my spine upwards, like a tree emerging from the smallest mustard seed. A slip of paper with the number 77 is trembling in my hand like an autumn leaf helplessly shaking in a gust.Perhaps, yes, in queue at the services counter of the only shopping centre in the small town of Lumangkahoy, three hours away fro...

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“To My Heart's Call” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #264

Author's Note: This story borrows lyrics from the 1968 Glen Campbell song "Wichita Lineman". I don't own rights to this song or its lyrics (That would be Jimmy Webb who does. He's brilliant.).**“Glenn, you may now say your vows to Lucy.”Lucy, my light….Oh gosh! I’m so nervous, I’m shaking like an overhead cable in the breeze. Sorry about that. Yes, my love, for all the brawn I use to climb up those thirty-five foot poles, for all the steel I inject into my nerves as I dangle on the flimsiest of wires above long and winding stretches of aspha...

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“The Fighter” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #261

CW: Mentions of suicidal ideation, mental health struggles, anorexia nervosa**First of all, I very much know how much it hurts. Quite literally, it does.You sit in your wheelchair as they push you bumpily and help you up the maroon leather-backed banquette at the very front of a coffee chain’s branch in the hospital’s lobby. You’re fully aware that the mobile chair is but standard operating procedure for leaving the medical centre, yet the mere idea of your willpower being excised along with that gangrene bit of your small intestine the surg...

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“Chez Moi” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #260

3 May 2024Mon très cher ange Jeremy,Well, first of all, oh my goodness! It’s happening!Next week, I will be picking you up at the Gare du Nord. Then, in a month’s time, you and I will be marching to city hall --- 11 a.m., on the dot, precise as a timetable – so the mayor could officially wed us. (I know. It’s not very romantic, but yes, that’s the way things are done chez moi.). Of course, just a fortnight after, I can finally walk down a tulip-lined aisle towards your joyfully tearful hazel eyes at the ceremony we’ve planned to the minutest...

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“Radio Romance” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #259

This is the Philippines’ most romantic station, Radio Romance 101.9, where love comes to you in a melody. It’s been a lovely three hours, but I’ve got to go. Don’t worry, though, Caroline is next to take care of the music. This is Henry. Catch you tomorrow.***5 January 2024Dearest Caroline,Gawd, every single time I close my show with that familiar spiel, I just feel my heart drum right out of my chest.The routine has been etched into my head like grooves on an LP. You would wave at me from behind the glass, your large cocoa eyes scintillatin...

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“Focused on You” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #258

13 July 2021Dear Lucas,Yes, I know. How did I find out your name?Look, I’m so sorry. I know this may sound a little strange. Part of me wonders if I should just leave this letter in the shadows, shutter off any attempts to approach you before I embarrass myself. I can’t help it, though. Like a moth drawn towards a beam of Klieg lights, I discovered that my entire being just has to hover around you. Ever since I saw your stunning hazel eyes in a post from 2017 on your blog “Frames”, they have been constantly playing in my mind like a slidesho...

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“The Untaming of the Shrew” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #257

CW: Gratuitous swearing (including Renaissance swear words)Let me set the record straight, first and foremost: No, contrary to what that doddypoll William Shakespeare wrote in his dramatic work, no, I have not been tamed. In fact, if I may clarify, I will never ever be tamed, not then and not now.(Oh, let me repeat that in a language, a bunch of lines, you understand.)That’s right. Good ol’ Willy Shakes all played you, shut off the spotlight of the truth about me and illuminated a fabrication in the brightest of ambers and deep cobalt blue. ...

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“A Shot at Happiness” by Alexis Araneta

And now, let’s give it up for your three-time NBA champions --- and trying for a fourth today --, your very own Dallas Riggers!The crowd of 21,000 hooting mouths rise to their feet, thumping their chests like a legion of Roman gladiators ready to fight to the death. Their hollers as the jersey-clad boys come out of the dressing rooms pierce my eardrums like the leaden bullets of a sport rifle. Keenan Murphy, the Riggers’ star player, extends his large, solid hand to the screaming spectators, who gamely give him a high five. As he and his boo...

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