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Allan Bernal

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2023

Stories (21)
Comments
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28 Followers
23 Following

21 Stories

553 karma pts

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A Decently Modest Proposal

Shortlisted for Contest #235 ⭐️

Hey you! Yes you, reading this story! Don’t worry, this isn’t some piece of meta fiction, I’m dictating what I say to a gracious volunteer who’ll post it for me. I’ve got an offer for you – and no, not like a door to door salesman peddling dull kitchen knives or what have you. You see, my offer is as genuine as a baby’s first laugh. My name is Donald Basemore-Cooper – quite a mouthful I know, my friends call me Donnie, DB, Coop, Basement, and so on, take your pick, they're like paint samples. But the people I do business with? Oh, they cal...

22 likes 16 comments 16
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Remember When Books Were On Paper?

Shortlisted for Contest #234 ⭐️

>> Okay Jayson, what brings you to therapy today? And remember, if you want a text transcript of our meeting today, you can upgrade to our Premium- Um, no. I’m good. >> That’s fine Jayson! Whenever you’re ready, your forty minutes has begun. Though you’d get sixty with our Premi- Okay, just give me a second. I… don’t really know where to begin… I signed up and completed all the forms to start therapy last week, so you’d think I’d have planned this better. But… I guess something came up with work yesterday I wasn’t expecting...

34 likes 18 comments 18
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Help is On the Way

Submitted to Contest #234

“911, what’s the address of the emergency?” “4242 Decatur Boulevard, please hurry! I- she’s been shot! Oh god please-“ “Ma’am, who’s been shot? Are they still breathing?” “It’s my daughter, Ivy, she- she- there’s blood- oh god please send someone!” “Ma’am, if she’s still breathing, don’t move her. Try to stop the bleeding. Can you tell me who shot her?” “Y-you- you don’t understand. I- I-“ “Is the shooter still nearby? Are you safe?” “Oh god, please, Ivy, I’m-“ “Are you safe? Is she still breathing? Calm down, let me help you...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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All the Stars Went Out

Submitted to Contest #232

You never told me what to do if all the stars disappeared from the sky. You were the one who first took me camping, promising I’d love it as long as we were together. “We can’t see the stars clearly from the city, Paloma – remember I said that the night we met?” So we went, and despite the mosquitos and the damp mud and the loud campers drinking beer nearby, it was beautiful. “If we’re ever apart, just come back out here and look at the stars. We’ll be looking at the same sky no matter where we are.” It wasn’t the most original sentiment...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Holes in My Memory

Submitted to Contest #232

I finally understood the point of funerals. It’s the “moment of clarity” you wouldn’t expect to happen before dying. But I guess it helps that my death so far has been long and drawn out. Hours melted away like the wax on my candle, and the sun should’ve been beaming through the attic window by now. I’m still surrounded by darkness though, my legs painfully asleep, my eyes toasted from the light of my single candle, and my world cut down to just this small circle of salt around me. It’s just me and her now. Me and It. Almost ten years ag...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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Crashing Sun

Submitted to Contest #232

“What’s going to happen when the sun falls out of the sky Mommy?” Olivia asked as she walked hand in hand with her mother down a cotton candy pink road.            “Don’t think about that sweetie,” her mother replied calmly, eyes straight forward but still smiling. “Now didn’t you say you wanted to find a unicorn today?”            Olivia’s eyes went wide with excitement as she jumped up. “Yes! Do you think I could ride one too?”...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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For My Classroom

Submitted to Contest #230

#1 = More crayons #2 = More pencils too while you’re at it, they never return them #3 = Actually a new sharpener too since the classroom one is still broken. Probably a non-electric one. Kids like Dom will probably sharpen their pencils when you’re in the middle of a lesson #4 = A new little trash bin too. You have to remember to stay vigilant. Last thing you need is for Tommy to push Beth into the trash bin again and break the new one #5 = Little chair for the timeout table. Current one still wobbly, as Dom and Tommy so pleasantly r...

31 likes 11 comments 11
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Thirteenth Christmas

Submitted to Contest #229

The day Jesse was supposed to finish his novel just happened to be the day the power went out overnight, leaving his laptop at a measly seventeen percent power. With the power still out too, Jesse cursed under his breath, whispering despite living in an empty apartment. His editor, Mr. Kaplan, told him to give him an update after New Year’s, but Jesse took it upon himself to finish by Christmas. It had to be by Christmas, Jesse thought, gripping his laptop and remembering the last good Christmas he had. When he was twelve, his parents got...

10 likes 3 comments 3
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Cry for Wolf

Submitted to Contest #206

[Content warning: language, verbal abuse] “Mommy! Mommy! Where are you?” Annie shot up in her bed, pulling her puffy pink blanket around her, waiting for her mother to come through the door. The nightlight beside her was redundant now that the morning sun was illuminating the room. Annie looked around for Queenie, the stuffed unicorn, her trusted steed, but saw her on the other side of her room. She was too scared to go rescue her from the corner, much less question how she ended up there in the night. The sound of Annie’s racing heart...

11 likes 2 comments 2
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The Birth of Guilt

Submitted to Contest #205

I promised Brooke I knew what I was doing. Dad and I did seances all the time growing up so I could talk to Mom. The only difference this time, besides trading my childhood kitchen table for my college dorm room, was that I’d be talking to Dad. “So we don’t need a Ouija board or something?” Brooke asked with a morbid curiosity but still unsure of doing this. “No, that’s just a toy. All we need are a few candles and a dark room on a moonless night.” That was just to keep things simple. Really, it wouldn’t work without Dad’s Necronomicon a...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Why Do You Write?

Shortlisted for Contest #205 ⭐️

So, you went and said the word you shouldn’t have as a teacher. But that was the whole point of teaching morality and ethics – to educate on discrimination. And you thought since you live further up north, there’s no way the parents and school would react as harshly as they do in Florida, right?            Well, you were wrong.            Doesn’t matter if the students agreed with you in class. Doesn’t matter if some of them had reve...

25 likes 12 comments 12
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Through the Valley of the High School Parking Lot

Submitted to Contest #204

Sam knew he had to time his escape from last period gym class perfectly. Too early and he risked getting run over by reckless seniors desperate to flee St. Anthony’s. Too late and he’d get caught by Brett and his cronies, who took gym with him but loitered in the locker rooms afterwards. He only had one ally - the ice cream truck that occasionally pulled up in the student parking lot. With enough students flinging pocket change at the truck, they’d form a line and force the traffic to slow down. With enough luck, it’d distract Brett too… H...

14 likes 0 comments 0
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The Monsters are Due at High Noon

Submitted to Contest #204

A werewolf is a tricky thing to deal with; a violent murder or two once a month really doesn’t affect property values too badly. But on the other hand, once the town of Crimson Oaks fully catches on, I doubt we’d see much more growth. All my efforts to expand this town, to build it from the ground up and turn it into a tourist spot will become undone. All because a mangy mutt can’t control their monthly urges. At least I know how to temper my hunger. When I usually take my daily stroll through town, I’m hailed by a ceremony of smiles and...

5 likes 0 comments 0
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Schrödinger’s Baby

Submitted to Contest #203

The first time the Memory seeped through was in freshman year of high school, sitting in 4th period lunch across from my girlfriend of two weeks, Ruthie. We had just learned about genes with the Punnett square, and I could see her doodling those boxes in her notebook, fantasizing about her future family.        “Do you think our kids would have my curly hair, or your straight hair?” she asked innocently.        “I don’t want kids.” – I never realized that’s how I...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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The Uber from Hell

Submitted to Contest #203

This is the story of how George’s life changed forever.            He was standing in the dirty McDonald’s bathroom late at night, examining his thinning hair. George’s glasses were smudgy but cleaning them meant getting a clearer look at his balding head and aggressively average face.            “Hey, who was your favorite serial killer?” he asked out loud.            “You are m...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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