Anna Tishchenko

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2021

Stories (48)

48 Stories

968 karma pts

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“Mascot” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #93

            “How on Earth did they manage to get it all the way up there?” I asked, incredulous. A stuffed elephant doll was lodged in the ceiling fan going round and round and around. I closed my eyes and shook my head, clearing the vertigo.                “Vodka?” replied Suzie, before laughing and turning the switch off.               &nbsp...

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“Party Time” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #93

“Come on, its going to be fun! Paddle boards, hot tub, floating dock. Great people, food, drinks. You are definitely going to come, right?” She pleaded with me over the phone. I want to go but it was complicated. I chew my lower lip and take a deep breath. “Can we make it a 70% chance of a yes?” Always leave some wiggle room I think to myself and wonder if I’d actually go. 30% chance of a yes more like but I do not say this. Like the weather, I am not always so predictable. She sighs, I hear the resignation in her voice. “I gues...

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“Progress” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #93

The air was filled with the smell of cotton candy and popcorn. The gate was just a few more car lengths away and Clara could barely breathe for the excitement of it. It was the first time she was allowed to go to the carnival without any adults and she was so excited she could barely keep it together. She looked over at Mira, who was bouncing in the seat next to her. A song came on the radio that they knew the lyrics to and they sang along, pouring their excitement out into the world via sound waves and off key exclamations. Clara’s mother r...

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“In the Dark” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #92

        Gloria had always liked the darkness, it felt safe for her. For most others, the darkness meant terror and the unknown but for her it was cover and protection. When she was a little girl, her sister would wake her in the night, asking to go first down the long dark hallway to turn on the light, and she never minded. She had a secret that few suspected. She could feel the dark if not actually seeing into it. She trusted it, more than she ever had the light.       &n...

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“Water Bubbles ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #92

Arletta was made for the rain. Not for her the sunny bright cheerful days that her peers so enjoyed. Rain made her feel cozy and comforted even when she had to be out in it. For her, everything felt closer, within reach. She had discovered, when she was very young that if she sat quietly and closed her eyes, she could actually feel the water as it made its way from heaven to earth. As she got older, she would reach out with her thoughts to the highest peak of the thunder cloud. She would choose one individual drop and track it, feeling the r...

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“Reflections” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #92

               “Come to the beach, they said. It will be fun they said. Now look at me. I’m so tired of people thinking they know what’s best for me. I keep telling them that I’m fragile and that my skin can’t take the sun, but do they listen? No! Of course not. They just talk over me telling me I’m paranoid and that there is nothing wrong with me. Look at this!” She stretched the skin on her face, showing off the tiny bumps that had begun to form. The camera zoomed i...

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“The locket ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #92

    Samantha did not want to go the country for the weekend. It would mean an entire three days of no cell service and no contact. She was pretty sure that Grandma didn’t even have a phone out there in what she liked to call old bat country. This was not a kind thought, she knew, but Sam didn’t care much. She just wanted three things out of life. She wanted to be famous, adored and never bored. This had become her catch phrase and she would strike a pose, as if for a photo, snapping her fingers and making ‘the face’. Co...

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“Finding Home” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #92

It was dark here, in her glade. The moon hung high above in a sky the color of dark velvet. A tiny sliver of light suspended in a sea of tiny pin pricks, like a thousand candlelight vigils in the night. She lay on her back, stretched over one of the limbs of her tree. The branch was soft and comfortable, as if molded to her back. It was summer here, the days stretching into forever but for her it was always the nights that brought her comfort, reminded her of her past and her old home far away from here and unreachable. She missed it som...

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“Della's Library” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #91

        John stood high on the mountain surveying the land before him. He squinted in the evening light and managed to spot the trail he was looking for. The sun was just about to set, and a glorious red and purple vista greeted his eyes. He took in a deep lungful of the clean and pure mountain air before he came back to his campsite, and his dog. Charlie wagged his tail as John approached, but hardly bothered with more than that. He was tired after a long day of searching the mountain top for the elus...

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“The Duck” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #91

        Darren sat at his desk at precisely 6 AM, just as he had for the last 10 years. He booted up the old laptop, as the smell of the coffee maker began to waft around him. He took a deep inhale of the aromatic air and began to type.Awake: 5:30AM sharp.Shower: 5:33 AM until 5:40 AM.Chores: plants watered, fish fed, 5:41 AM to 5:49 AM.Coffee on: 5:55 AM.Journal entry: 6:00 AM sharp.Dreams: No memory.               Satisfied wi...

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“Panic! at the Library. ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #91

 Our school is not really like other schools. We have all kinds of things in the building other than the school which we pass every day but are not allowed to use. Imagine walking by a swimming pool every day knowing that you could not swim in it. To enter the building, you had to walk by security, and I had long since made friends with those guys. Then down the long hall past the restaurant and then the pool. Up on the second floor you could hear the exercise machines and the people using them. Luckily, the smell of the over chlorinate...

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“Magical and Medicinal, the seasonal plants of the Crovedia” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #91

     “Oh, you really don’t want that one.” I looked around but could not see who had said this. I put the book back, finding it of little interest and selected another one.            “Um, no, you wont like that one either.” I sighed and put that book back as well. I felt like I was in the wrong section, but this is where I had been directed so I tried again. “Nope, that’s three for three.” Exasperated I shoved the book back unceremoniously.  I “Well, what do you...

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“Smoke” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #91

“What did I just tell you about being quiet in the library? People are trying to read in peace and if you make that racket again, I will be forced to take stronger measures!” The stern librarian hissed at us. We had only been giggling but apparently this was a crime for the ages. When she hmphed and turned her back, Nicole and I made stern expressions at each other and waggled our fingers in a terrible parody of the woman. “She’s such a loony! “I scribbled on our shared notepad and Nicole rolled her eyes dramatically and nodded.  “...

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“Elephant Dreams” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #90

The great orb hung in the sky as I stomped through the jungle. There are fewer of us then there once was, but we make do. We have no other choice really. We wander, consume and when we return new life has sprouted among our leavings. Our task, as ever, has been to guard and replenish the jungle around us. We are the planters of seeds, the carriers of hope and the keepers of memory. Our kind has walked this earth for millions of sun turns. We are long lived, and our memory stretches even farther than our lives. We remember when the jungle was...

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“Moments” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #90

  When we arrived in the forest, we did not expect to see what we saw. The trees, burnt, mangled and twisted, were being pushed aside by enormous mushrooms. Here the air seemed less murky but the soil beneath our boots felt spongy and porous.                “Should we camp here?” Alex asked as he surveyed the scene before him. Mela, tired of walking, took off her sac and placed it gingerly on the ground.          ...

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Author bio

Until recently I couldn't finish a story to save my life. The idea of sharing those unfinished works was akin to a root canal while sky diving. In other words this is really hard for me. I set myself a challenge to finish one story a day and so far so good. This site has been a god send and I am so grateful. To those of you that read my stories, thank you.