Alexis Araneta

“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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“The Homecoming” by Alexis Araneta

21 June 2024Dear Mr. Kettering,You were right, after all. Despite the soliloquy I declared in front of you after my graduation ceremony two decades ago, the one where I used such choice adverbs such as “never” and “begrudgingly”, your little bit of ribbing predicted me grabbing my suitcase and filling it with the most superlative of my clothing in my closet. It’s true: I, Nellie Perkins-Todd, am flying off from London for a two-week visit to Homer, Louisiana. Technically, you could say that I’m coming home, much like Odysseus did in the epic...

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“A Need to Dance” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #254

“I need to dance to this with you,” you demanded, your chartreuse eyes an inextinguishable flame that bored into my soul and burnt through my defences.Need! That’s not a need. A need is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as something requisite or necessary. Dancing to “I’ll Be Around” by The Detroit Spinners is certainly not something that one requires to live…Zoe, I can’t dance.My brain spun and sputtered out all its reasons as if they were drops falling down a plastic tube. However, even it knew that it was helpless in the face of yo...

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“Her Song” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #253

Author's Note (1) : This story uses the lyrics of Elton John's 1971 track "Your Song". I do not own the rights to this song or its lyrics. That would be him and the brilliant Bernie Taupin.“I feel my heart beat out of time,” Ryan Bernard whispered to himself whilst he blankly stared at the beat-up, black stereo system at the other end of the marketing office he worked in.He grasped at the juniper green silk tie that hung on his neck, as if his large, muscular hands were following a rhythm only he could hear. A shrill, pervasive tone rang in ...

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“The Purple Wave” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #252

CW: Abuse, swearing“Oh my God! It’s happening,” Melissa Alton sputtered out in a breathless whisper, her well-modulated television journalist voice drowning in a wine-dark sea of nerves inside her. As she sat on the stool of the cedar dresser set, painted her favourite lavender, she bought from a rummage sale seven years ago, she felt her entire body tremble like a purple maple leaf in an autumn breeze.She stared at the mirror and broke into a slight, polite grin, her facial muscles tightening as it settled into the familiar quiet little smi...

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“Star of the Stories” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #251

Speech for Harland Davenport Induction to UK Literary Society by Amanda Greenfield24 May 2024To the esteemed members of the UK Literary Society, – my fellow writers who create worlds out of words --- good evening. I would firstly like to say that I truly appreciate this opportunity to speak before you. I’m very happy to take to the podium for this momentous occasion. I’m equally ecstatic that this rather pricey bright pink silk Stella McCartney dress still fits my expanding belly.(Pause for laughs) As you all know, we are gathered here to in...

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“Golden Brown” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #249

Author's Note: This story is heavily-inspired by the 1981 song "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers. I don't own the rights to this song or its lyrics.CW: Allusions to drug use**11 May 2024Dearest Aurelia,Just so you know, I played our song at my bar tonight. Yes, “Golden Brown” by The Stranglers, that familiar refrain that makes you break into that certain smile that makes my heart ebb and flow like a diamantine river, permeated --- what else –-- The Golden Brown Bar. Even after six years, I could still clearly picture it: the almost-medieval h...

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“A Tale of Two Cities” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #248

May 12, 1984To the Parent-Teacher Association Moms of Alamo Elementary School:Yes, you may pick your jaws off the squeaky, dusty basketball court hardwood now. Oh, don’t think I didn’t see it all: the eyes flying over to me like a seagull when I opened my mouth to cheer for my lovely daughter singing onstage, the tide of confusion crashing upon your made-up faces, the gulp you had to stifle to paint an expression saltier than San Francisco Bay. Nevertheless, yes, you heard correctly indeed: contrary to what you had pre-conceived of a petite,...

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“The Man Who Walked on Water” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #247

No one remembers what it was like to learn to walk. No, in the vast seas of our memory, that formative year right after we are pushed out of our mother's womb is all but submerged, lost like an ill-fated ship at the very bottom where corals dwell. And yet, somehow, in the depths of our core, our muscles recall every single process, could always perfectly stretch out and strain in order to execute the routine of us standing up, lifting a leg, and advancing with one foot in front of the other. Meanwhile, to our conscious, the entire orchestrat...

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“When Love Swings Back” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #246

When I sat down on a golden-stained wood park bench, my once-usual one with the backing of wrought iron ivy branches intertwined like amorous bodies in the throes of passion, I never expected a single sight to sucker-punch me in the heart. No, I had no idea that settled down by this cheery playground, I'd observe the convex blooms of daffodil the colour of lemons in clumps on the grass suddenly leaving an acrid burn on my parched tongue, that I'd be powerless as a moment of relaxation in my hometown's pocket park transformed into my own soul...

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“Photographs and Memories” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #244

Saturday, 30 March 2024To: ericaclark-steele@gmail.comFrom: david.steele@gmail.comSUBJECT: Photos in Google DriveHi, Honey,I hope you’re doing all right there. Oh goodness I miss you already.I know; I know. You’re going to say I’m being sappy again. If you were here, you’d roll those beautiful sapphire eyes and shake your head at me sighing as I stare at the 20x24 shot mounted in our bedroom of our first dance as a married couple whilst Jim Croce’s “Photographs and Memories” --- the song you always love to hum whilst you work -- plays i...

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“Mother Knows Best” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #243

TW: Shades of abuse and control issues, swearingAuthor's note: Written after an eczema flare-up. Hahaha !**Tonight, my baby Allison had me blocked again. It has been exactly the ninth time in her thirty-four years of existence she has jumped in that beat-up cobalt blue Honda Accord (safety alert!) in the middle of the night (safety alert!) and drove almost at the speed limit (GAAAAH !) to the harshly-lit emergency room of her nearest hospital.Believe you me; I tried to stop her, to protest another instance of my girl distancing herself from ...

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“Letters to Margriet” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #242

14 February 2019Dear Margriet,Hello!Look, I know you might find this a bit creepy, see this bold action of mine as an enormous scarlet stroke haphazardly brushed onto the pristine white canvas of your consciousness. I’m very sorry, if so. However, I can’t deny what I feel anymore; as much as I try to let it fade, it always bubbles to the surface. Yes, the truth is that ever since I first saw you at the Mauritshuis museum today, took in the chiaroscuro of your soul in those steel grey eyes that sparkled like the most brilliant of jewelry, you...

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