Menu

Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Directory

Contests

Magazine

FAQ

Annalisa D.

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021

Stories (71)

Comments

Library

84 Followers

51 Following

71 Stories

2393 karma pts

?

The Swamp Queen

Annalisa D.

      Cayden pulled the hood of his black cloak over his head and slipped into the darkness of the forest. His movements were light and swift so that his approaching footsteps would not be heard. The haunting sound of a melancholy flute guided him towards the secret gathering that he wasn’t supposed to be in attendance for. In the darkness of the night, the twisted branches of the trees above him appeared to sway, stretch, and reach out for him. He assured himself what he saw must be an illusion due to the eerie...

7 likes

Rocky Shore

Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #114

      “You want to get out of here?” Hunter asks.           My head feels light and slightly hazy from the orange flavored beers I’ve been consuming. A part of me longs to stay because I know our friend, Chase, won’t come with us if we leave. It’s hard to tell sometimes how much Chase even likes us and there’s an odd comfort in that. It’s what I expect, and it keeps me in my familiar role of constantly seeking approval. A part of me also wants to leave. Part...

14 likes

Villain Prevention

Annalisa D.

The dream had me so preoccupied and shaken, I barely missed the bullet headed straight for my forehead. Fortunately, the speedster Scotty kept vigilance, and shoved me aside in time. “What’s up with you, man? Now’s time to focus,” Scotty yelled over the gunfire. I couldn’t really hear him so much as I knew he yelled from the intense expression on his face as I read his lips. My ears rang, all feeling faded, and images blurred together. I threw up my hands and stopped time. Shiny bullets suspended in the air and people, like statues, hel...

7 likes

Mushroom Monsters

Annalisa D.

      Most people were devasted by the drought and praying for rain, but I felt much safer in those months of dry weather. The lack of rain meant the death of the deadly mushroom demons, and therefore a period of relative security and calm in my life. I’m not foolish though. I knew those dehydrated and weakened mushroom monsters were releasing their spores, creating their water vapor, and struggling to bring about their life supply of rain so they could terrorize me again. Any day now they might be successful. T...

8 likes

Sunshine Springs

Annalisa D.

Everyone said love was blind, but nothing seemed more blinding than pride. Selena stomped through the woods with anger burning in her heart, desire for vengeance itching through her fingertips, and her vision blurred with tears. Today she took the brave step of speaking out against Clarissa’s reign of terror, and instantly became a town pariah. Clarissa was the town’s sweetheart. Being a descendant of the town’s founder and daughter of the CEO of the town’s beloved Sunshine Springs, made Clarissa untouchable. Admitting that something da...

6 likes

Sometimes You Never Get an Answer

Annalisa D.

      “You’re gonna be a janitor?” Allie asked with disgust curling on her upper lip. “Why?”           Delaying my answer, I shoved a handful of spicy, curly fries in my mouth and made a point to chew them down to total mush. The real answer would be something like I need things to be easy for a while, so I could get myself together. I needed something mindless. Something without any social interaction, because faking a smile felt close to impossible. What I...

8 likes

UFO Crashes Into House

Annalisa D.

      Jeremy had the worst kind of luck. Any small thing escalated into a catastrophe with him. So, when I looked up to see that plotting and scheming look on his face, as he dunked his Oreo into a jar of peanut butter, my stomach tangled into small knots. Wanting to avoid anything he might say, my gaze quickly dropped back to the pages of my book on how to be human and have normal conversations. Something I’d need to learn if I ever hoped to have more than Jeremy in my life.       ...

11 likes

Out of This World Peppers

Annalisa D.

      I get how suspicious it looked. Three people in my life disappeared in the same week, and I was the last person to see all of them. I had an idea of what was behind it, though I couldn’t really explain it, and no one would ever believe it. It all sounded absurd.           One thing you need to understand about me is that my friends and I enter our county’s chili festival each year. Our goal is always to make the hottest chili imaginable. We want to sco...

11 likes

Welcome Home

Annalisa D.

      Kieran would be there. That’s all I needed to hear to follow Skye down the sinuous path through the dark forest. Leafless dark oak trees with twisted trunks and tangled branches loomed above us. Vibrant orange mushrooms popped against the otherwise dreary backdrop. Loud caws from screechy crows pierced through the still, humid air.           “Are you sure this is the way?” I asked while flipping on my flashlight. The beautiful bright blue of twilight d...

9 likes

Wellness Plants

Annalisa D.

      The fact that management scheduled a mandatory meeting on improving employee mental health for 4pm on a Friday shows how out of touch they are with our mental health needs. I’d guess that most of us are already checked out come 12pm on Friday. The afternoon is reserved for daydreaming about weekend plans.            For the training, I sat between Kevin and Moonbeam. Not because I wanted to, but because I came in last due to a slight bathroom disaster...

17 likes

Perfect Timing

Annalisa D.

      While locking my backdoor, I groaned. Time for another monotonous workday. Despite my dread, a flicker of hope that today something fantastic would happen persisted. I'd come into some extra book money or get a nice compliment or maybe something really exciting like aliens visiting earth would happen. As I began my descent of the stairs, my foot caught on something and almost sent me flying down them. I grabbed the handrails desperately, and took quick, panicked breaths as I stabilized myself. My eyes...

12 likes

The Prince and the Dragon

Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #105

           I never wanted to be a thief, but I had no other choice. At the age of ten, I lost both my parents and ended up on my own. My parents barely had any money, but at least they had something. Without them, I had nothing. Therefore, I did what I needed to for money. It’s not a unique story, but this story isn’t about me anyway.           In desperate need of something to eat, I snatched the purse of a wealthy woman who careles...

28 likes

The Perks of Reality

Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #104

      On a balmy August day, I sat on a park bench under a maple tree with a book in my hands and fell madly in like with Joaquin. I won’t go as far as to say love, I didn’t know him and I’m not that crazy. Or so I hope. Anyway, the book was about aliens, I think. Usually, they were. After reading only one sentence, I looked up from the pages to the sound of his wheels rolling across the concrete in front of me. The way his gray t-shirt billowed around him from the speed at which he rode cause a butterfly flutte...

15 likes

The Night I met Bigfoot

Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #104

Are you coming tonight?            I stared at the message for a few moments. Then typed “no,” but my finger hovered over the send button. The buzzing noise I heard when things got too silent grew louder.           Why was Jaqueline asking me to hang out? I hadn’t talked to her much in like two years. Sure, we were kind of friends before that, but never super close friends. The kind of friends you’d play with at recess or grab ice cr...

16 likes

A Flash of Red

Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #103

      Keep your eyes to the starry sky           for one night you’ll see, a large blood red comet           hurling towards your planet at great speed.           You’ll want all the warning you can get.            This blazing fire will be the great destroyer      &...

24 likes