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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020
Submitted to Contest #74
The thin white metal of the wall shrieked as I scoured another tally mark into the wall with a jagged shard of steel broken off from one of the exterior plates on the ship. The last grains of sand in the hourglass trickled out. I watched them fall and then immediately flipped the hourglass over to the other side. Another twelve hours gone by. The colored sand slid down into the funnel, the seconds dribbling out once again. Earth seconds, earth minutes, earth hours, earth days. All our calculations written in numbers meaningless without these...
Submitted to Contest #70
The corridor is unnaturally quiet as I head out of the cafeteria back towards the lab for my shift, still picking out the remnants of the, frankly disappointing, sandwich from between my teeth. I hear the clank and creak of the metal floor beneath my boots and I even notice the ever present hum of the craft’s engines and electricity. It’s always there but indiscernible at most times, the way you don’t hear your heartbeat or your breathing unless something changes. I pause in the corridor, a creeping feeling crawling over me. There’s n...
Wind whipped through my hair, tangling it about my face even as I twisted it and tucked it back under my hat again. The height of the crow’s nest exaggerated everything. The sharp bite of the wind, the pitch and the sway of the ship. I wrapped one arm around the mast, even as I leaned out over the ocean. The sea is a temperamental creature, but she wears her heart on her sleeve. Some days she is a tame beast, glassy and clear. Other days she is exuberant, blue and white-capped, playing in the s...
The trees folded their hands above me, branches interlaced. There was nothing but the sound of my footfalls on the path, the snap of a twig beneath my shoe, the far off rustling of a bird amongst the leaves. The sky hung blank and aloof above me, not threatening rain but no bright vista, just a cloudy apathetic stare. Perhaps it would speckle me with mist later. Or perhaps not. It didn’t really matter. My feet walked this trail through the woods, but I wasn’t really. I was walking down another trail, down the side of a mountain in l...
Submitted to Contest #62
There are places where the world runs backwards. I am one of them. The world broke apart, again and again. The city lit up like noon, but in the middle of the night. The ground shivered and bucked and convulsed beneath my feet like a body wracked with pain. Silence roared around me and clamor followed in its wake. I tasted salt and iron, ash and smoke. Static danced across my tongue, buzzed in my ears. The distant city fell. I didn’t see the skyscrapers tumbling and burning, but I felt the collapse in my bones, in the violent trembli...
Submitted to Contest #59
The first time she dreamed of the golden city, she woke to the thin gray of morning. Light filtered through the strained gruel of cloud and smog to paw weakly at the whitewashed concrete walls of her apartment. She couldn’t recall anything of the dream, but a subtle, persistent yearning followed her like a lingering shadow as she went through her day. She felt as if she had heard the faint snippet of some familiar melody that she couldn’t quite place. Something ached just behind her breastbone as she gathered up her bag and her coffee and wa...
Space is not a void. The distant stars glitter in the black like jewels in ink, all the distant fierce, fiery giants and the promise of planets, whole other worlds spinning just like ours. The moon is a luminescent pearl when we catch a glimpse of it. The sun burns ravenously brilliant outside of the layers of atmosphere. But Earth is the true gem. I should be doing my tasks, since we are just hours away from docking at the International Space Station. But I can’t stop staring out the window at Earth. She is still so close, taking up the ent...
In the gloom of the covered truck bed, the faces of my coworkers are pale and grim. I think of the stories of the old world my mother used to tell me as the truck jostles me. She said that this time of year used to be gentle and misty and the trees turned to flames of color before the leaves fell away. I have a hard time imagining a gentle season. We call this time of year The Wrath. I hear the tires crunch against the gravel road that leads to one of the enormous stone cisterns. All but one of them will be closed for the season, and e...
Winner of Contest #56 🏆
Trigger warning: suicidal ideation The whole scene could have been a stock photo--the park grass was the kind of green and the sky the kind of blue that only came with late summer. There were kids out chasing a soccer ball around a boundless field. The smell of grilling hotdogs and burgers wafted from some charcoal grill. The laughter and chatter of carefree summer conversations were carried along by a pleasant, gentle breeze. I had brought chips to contribute. Everyone brought chips. It was that or the Oreos. “Meredith! So glad...
Submitted to Contest #54
Wasn’t the future supposed to be neon, bright and sharp? Not grimy concrete, cruddy wifi, and everything crumbling back to dust. But envisioning the future and preparing for it didn’t stop it from curving sideways. Everyone had learned that the hard way. My footsteps echoed back at me, but none of the prisoners stirred. Did they hold their breath as I passed by? Hope I wouldn’t turn my attention on their block tonight? Night shift was known to be brutal. Especially when it was assigned as a way to punish or shame a day guard. I had seen the...
Submitted to Contest #53
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, you must find this man guilty of murder!” Robert paced before the jury stand. “The evidence is clear. This man--Joshua Redford--was found in the kitchen where the crime happened. Popi’s blood still on his fingers, and staring down at her body.” “I told you, I just found it that way! I didn’t do it!” “Silence! The accused doesn’t get to speak. Isn’t that right, Your Honor?” The judge bobbed his head in agreement. “The weapon was in his hand, he was at the scene of the crime, the body was on t...
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