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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2021
Submitted to Contest #297
The vintage Big Ben clanged the twin bells at 6:56 on a Thursday morning, like the continuous alarm at the railroad crossing before the arms descend. Mr. James T. Seiko rolled over and pushed the on/off lever down, like every morning for the past 50 years. His grandpa had given him the mighty Big Ben on his ninth birthday—one of his prized possessions. After grooming, he fastened his newest watch on his right wrist. Then double-checked the time on his iPhone, followed by tightly twisting the band of his father’s watch on his left....
Submitted to Contest #296
(Contains themes of dying) She lies on her left side, the skin of her right hip stretched over the protruding hip bone. Her legs are smaller than my 8-year-old’s. I touch her pale, clammy skin, feel the coolness, the lifelessness. I speak gently, just out of habit. The cloying antiseptic smell, with its undertones of earthiness, raw and slightly acidic, reveals the early stages of decay. “Hi, Annie. It’s Kerri. Another night together.” I brush her hair with my hand, away from her forehead, and tuck it behind her ears. When I finish, a clump ...
Submitted to Contest #295
She reached for the pair of glasses. What a strange thing. To put glasses in Goodwill. Ellie turned the plastic frames over, inspecting them closely. One streak of red ran along the right arm of the frame, a streak at sunset. The remainder of the frames were a unique palette of robin’s egg blue, egg yolk yellow, and a smattering of hunter green. The colors were haunting, tempting, and she caressed the glasses as if greeting an old friend. A very dear friend. She held them up to the buzzing fluorescent light. No scratches. No damage to the le...
Submitted to Contest #294
They’re Still Talking About This One “Wait, no I wasn’t blaming her for his death! I didn’t mean to say that. I’ve said too much!” I was embarrassed and appalled that what I thought of as innocent gossip had now erupted into a major scandal at work. Here’s how it started. There’s a nurse; let’s call her Rachel. She’s been working on our unit for almost a year. And sure, she didn’t quite fit in with all of us. But it was more than that. She didn’t take the best care of her patients. And we all knew it. “Did you see that Rachel’s patient has h...
Submitted to Contest #293
(This story contains grief and death.) Ava pounded her fists against the glass door of the bus, but they merely smudged the grimy surface. She continued punching at the door, knowing the bus driver was ignoring her. Her left hand, scarred and contracted, couldn’t feel the blows. “Please, please. Let me back in!” Her voice strained as tight as the E string on a violin stretched to its maximum. Her constricted throat muffled her screams, shrouded in pain. She saw the silent faces staring down at her from their window seats. The smell and vapor...
Submitted to Contest #129
Frigid air from the cloud-covered peaks whispered down the Rocky Mountains, swirling around tree trunks like the ice-cold eddies circling river stones. Majestic Blue Spruce crowded the mountain face as they branched out from their sparsity near the tree line. The Respite Inn sat nestled in a cove, guarded by 90-foot Douglas Firs. In a world of her own, shrouded in the quiet beauty, Emma was content. Emma sat by the fireplace, stilled by the silence at the end of the day. She in...
Submitted to Contest #128
Bev reached into the cupboard with one gnarled hand, misshapen by arthritis and spotted with new bruises. In spite of the fact that her auburn hair had faded to a lackluster, white-streaked brown, and that her face was now shrouded by a patchwork of intersecting creases, Bev still maintained her youthful countenance. Old age had snuck up on her like a winter blizzard arriving too early in the season. She was not prepared. Many times, she was silenced when her body let her down. Because inside, she never changed. She never grew old. While she...
Submitted to Contest #127
Claire knew all about helicopter moms. Luncheons with friends were filled with their parental exploits. These crazy women were SO involved with their children, even well past high school. Highly scheduled, highly praised, highly encouraged and highly dysfunctional child-adults. She even knew a mom that went with her 20-something college student to a job interview! Claire, on the other hand, found parenting to be easy. It took her several years to realize that she was very bl...
Submitted to Contest #126
The New Year’s Package by Alice Park Amy held tightly to the picture from last year’s New Year’s Eve celebration, as if her very grip could hold on to him. If you were to look through the window, you would notice her transfixed gaze as she traced her finger around Matt’s adoring face and her own worshipping visage as they toasted each other. A year, she thought. How could so much happen in one year? You would feel sorry for her and the grief she still held since her husban...
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