Andrew Sweet

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2021

Stories (16)

16 Stories

390 karma pts

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“Chalchiuhtlatonal” by Andrew Sweet

**** Trigger Warning: This story involves a terminal illness and may be unsuitable or triggering for some. **** A gentle breeze ebbs and flows, licking at my skin like the eternal ocean which laps at its sandy shores. Instead of deadwood, an invisible sea of pregnant air brings me aromas: damp earth and rotting wood are its gifts. I sense in it the painful desire for rain as the humidity cries out f...

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“Jack of the Wandering...” by Andrew Sweet

Janet sits two rows up and to the right atop a pink pillow with purple hearts, and a perfectly complementing zafu that’s purple with one giant pink heart currently hidden by her ample bottom. With any luck, she’ll be feeling much less zen in a few weeks when I get my revenge. She senses me and turns, flashing me a bright smile. I grin and nod and pretend everything’s fine, because that’s what I do. The instructor lights...

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“The End” by Andrew Sweet

Why do such nefarious things always happen when I’m supposed to be in bed? This was the thought that Tarina Persson considered, though nothing truly nefarious had yet occurred. Tarina was about as far from nefarious as she could be, still in her long-sleeve bamboo pajamas—her favorites, incidentally—black with white trim and vaguely reminiscent of a sailor’s uniform. However, Tarina was well aware that the wind outside, which had suddenly stopped, had, until then, whipped the coniferous trees by her back patio into a frenzy. And ...

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“The Specator” by Andrew Sweet

Warning: Contains some (minimal) gun violence. I was near enough to the door to catch the kiss of ice when it opened and to be reassured when the frigid blast shrunk proportionally to the width of the narrowing crack that the chill that still resided in my bones would eventually diminish. A family came through. I only dared to catch a glimpse from my station as I posed over the half-empt...

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“bad behavior and a white wedding” by Andrew Sweet

The snow had stopped, and for the first time all winter, the mountain peeked out with yards of white draped over its shoulders like a cloak. The hill itself huddled in protection against the unusually cold that winter had become. I stood against the wrought iron balcony rail with a mug of hot apple cider, ready for the sounds of children sledding nearby as I knew they would soon. My own protection against the el...

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“The Pumpkin King” by Andrew Sweet

Cherry apple dripped over his bottom lip and rolled as a drop of red-brown syrup down to Clay's chin. At twenty-four, he'd still not given up many of his childhood vices, including the least destructive of which was a penchant for hard candies that could only be found around Halloween time in his hometown of Libertyville, New York. He sucked the cherry-apple-flavored liquid up over his lip, enjoying the tart swe...

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“Harold Irresistible” by Andrew Sweet

Warning: Sexual theme (not explicit) and (brief) depictions of nudity. She wants me. The thought that went through Harold's mind as he shared the cramped elevator, surrounded on all sides with mirrors that couldn't hide the woman in the midriff-exposing halter-top that had been kind enough to hold the elevator door for him in the four-star hotel that tried so hard to prete...

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“Petr and the Monsters” by Andrew Sweet

This story is about the war in Ukraine, though sanitized somewhat. Many violent things are implied here because the nature of what is happening right now is violent and graphic and disturbing. To tell the story without this would be to tell a lie. I hope that you can forgive me for any mistakes and understand that this story comes from a place of compassion and an effort not to look away, whatever the cost. ...

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“I’m Going to Live with You Forever” by Andrew Sweet

Caution: This is not a love story. Well, it kind of is. But mostly, this is a story about losing a life without dying, but never losing hope.Scene IThin fingers shook the crochet needles, one against the other, as the man, thirty going on sixty, looped then pulled at the thick forest-green yarn with pink crochet needles. One was pink anyway. The other was missing some of its coating, giving it a blotchy pinkish-gray appearance as he circled it it deftly around and pulled another loop th...

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“The Moon Girl” by Andrew Sweet

Corpulent flakes defy gravity, swinging like obese dancers in pirouettes as blades of the winter winds slice through my tan army coat, coming to rest on a conspicuous gap between two trees, each of which seem nearly as old as New York City itself. I fish the watch out of my pocket, hidden there because the strap had fallen off before I found it in the autumn leaves months before. At least it still keeps time mostly....

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“Snakes and a Blue Dress” by Andrew Sweet

Trigger Warning: Smoking, Violence, Some Cursing, Mythical Creatures, Noirdefenestrate - to throw someone out of a window (Definitions from Oxford Languages)The darkness gets into everything here on the south side. Smoke from my cancer-stick winds its way up into my nose and I stifle the urge to sneeze, admiring my own reflection. A thirty-two year old with clean-cut hair left over from the Marine Corps, same place I got the habit, stares back at me. I’m going to pay some day for those ...

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“Call Your Mother” by Andrew Sweet

Muhammed's hands shook violently, threatening to spill the contents of his coffee mug. He wasn't even sure that he liked Mochas anymore, but here he was, ordering from habit. A frothy, foamy sip told him the truth. Caramel Macchiatos had displaced Mochas in his coffee hierarchy, but it was too late now. The light flickered, and the man looked up to catch a face peering through the window. He forced a smile and beckoned ...

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“The Ice Cream Truck” by Andrew Sweet

The man before me is gaunt, as though he hadn’t eaten for a week or more - not what I expected from an ice-cream truck operator. Sunken cheeks make his face seem long, but not taught. Skin hangs in folds like molten wax dripping down the sides of a candle. His teeth struggle to push apart those flaps as he exposes what must be a smile, showing the only part of him that seems consistent with the mental image I’d develope...

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“Ms. Barnett's Favorite” by Andrew Sweet

I expect nothing from you, and I want nothing from you.  I exist to serve, and I have been given my job - a respectable one cleaning halls and rooms. It's not much, but it's better than a model could usually expect. Mornings I wake and take a shower. It's probably not the same kind you take. The one I take involves stripping naked and standing before dazzling lights as the instant sanitization lasers st...

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“Blowing It” by Andrew Sweet

“He’s looking at us again.” I glance up from the tiny square table, past the aisles of books, and there he stands, glasses perched on the end of his nose, unflinching gaze penetrating through me. He’s clearly glowering now, and he brings his finger to his lips when he sees me make eye contact. I divert my gaze back toward the table, where three books lay, props whose purpose was solely to keep attention away ...

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Author bio

Andrew has published three novels and is working on a fourth in the Reality Gradient series. Andrew uses writing prompts to try out new writing styles, characters, or settings - and for general fun!