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AnneMarie Miles

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2021

Stories (59)
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344 Followers
214 Following

59 Stories

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Monster Rules

Shortlisted for Contest #169 ⭐️

To the monster living under my bed, it’s time to set some rules. We can skip right past the interrogation, how long have you been living here?, what are you doing under there, and why? I don’t really need to know all that, or I’m too scared to ask after we locked eyes the other night when I came home past 2AM a little more drunk than usual. Your bumpy, spiked reptilian tail was enough to scare the living bageezus out of me, did you really have to turn around and stare like that? With those florescent, glow-in-the-dark, green eyes? ...

48 likes 46 comments 46
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G-R-A-N-D-M-A

Submitted to Contest #169

My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I know I see your shadow. In the moments when the light is right. Outside on a sunny day, or even inside amidst the dim lights we’ve set for our relaxing jazzy evenings. I know I told you not to leave me, but I meant, stay here, don’t die. I didn’t mean for you to haunt me like I’m living out some spooky, Halloween movie. The sun is shining through the window this morning. It’s warming up our dining area/living area – no, we haven’t found a bigger place yet – and leaving a great big sun-patch on our...

20 likes 9 comments 9
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One Day in October

Shortlisted for Contest #168 ⭐️

I’d like to think I would recognize an October sky without the Gregorian calendar telling me to expect one. There is an unmistakable ambience in the air, offered by its clouds and the clear blue sky and the aging leaves pointing their fingers up at the daylight moon. Especially here in California, where the seasons are subtle. We have to be more aware of the details, because that’s all we get. It is a slow shift. There’s no massive exodus of green leaves, and no snowstorm announcing Jack Frost’s pending arrival.There’s just October.And that ...

38 likes 39 comments 39
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Canceling The Thumbs Up Emoji

Shortlisted for Contest #167 ⭐️

I’d been fighting with my delete button for forty-five minutes, until I finally found the right arrangement of words.There! I think to myself. I’ve complimented his contribution; made my own contribution without making a slight towards his, and I’ve included my thoughts about how to progress for next quarter. All in less than three sentences! I mentally pat myself on the back for successfully compiling what I feel is personally an even better response to my boss than my last. I hit the send button.Closing my messages app, I eagerly open my P...

57 likes 58 comments 58
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The Institution

Submitted to Contest #167

“It’s 7:51,” Jim says to Dr. Kief.Checking his watch, Dr. Kief nods, “Yes, we can begin in a moment. The nurses are on their way.”Anxiously shoving his hands in his pockets just for the sake of having a place for them, Jim says, “I hope this works, Doc.”“Me, too. I have high hopes for your wife tonight. She made it through dinner just fine. Would it make you feel more comfortable if I began?”His gaze elsewhere, Jim shakes his head, “No, no. I’ll do it. If I was crazy and didn’t know it, I’d want her to tell me.”A hard knock comes from the do...

20 likes 14 comments 14
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A Mother Who Loves You Would Understand

Submitted to Contest #166

“I quit!” the mother yelled, slamming her bedroom door shut and pressing her back against it. She sobbed a moment, covering her face. There was no one in the room to hide from, but maybe her reflection. The mirrors were facing the other way, but still – she couldn’t risk it. Mothers must keep this part of themselves hidden, even from themselves.Anger, frustration, irritation, guilt, shame… what was the name for all of these emotions wrapped into one? No birthing class or doula meeting prepared her for this. Giving birth was easy. Breastfeedi...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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All Your Love Is Gone

Submitted to Contest #165

TW: Sex, violence, and strong language. We used to make love to The Doors. It wasn’t even my favorite band or my go-to music genre, but something about Jim Morrison’s voice in Riders on the Storm was insanely sexy when I climbed onto my husband’s lap and invited his mouth onto my breasts; We weren’t really the type of couple that had exotic, acrobatic, or porn-esque kind of sex, but having been together for nearly 15 years, the very fact that we could both still excite the other, laughing and moaning and biting, always made...

18 likes 23 comments 23
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Where the Rogue Waves Rage

I came home for one reason.They knew I hated it, at the beach, but it made sense why I would find them here. There was nowhere else for them to be today, and even though I really just wanted to be home with them, in our pinewood, A-frame cabin the forest, I met them at the shore break.I stood beside my grandmother as she placed a sunflower in the wet sand, and we watched as the waves softly waded in and out, tempting to steal what belongs to the land – or worse, leave it there, tormenting them with the unbearable “why” question (they’d been ...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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Gone Too Far

TW: Strong language.I’m really not a bad person.And truth be told, I think an argument could be made that I’m actually a better person than a lot of the people out there, but hey, I’m not going to make that call (though I would absolutely not disagree if someone else said it first).So, why am I being held by the security of a Better Foods grocery store while they determine if they need to call the real po-po, or perhaps a psychiatrist?It’s honestly not that big of a deal. But Jim, the security guard eyeing me like a mentally unstable lunatic...

12 likes 21 comments 21
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Newborn

Submitted to Contest #162

Trigger warning: This story uses strong and/or offensive language, and describes violence. “It’s impolite to talk with your mouth full. Didn’t anybody teach you that?” Erik said, smirking at his companion. Kirk was holding his meal’s elbow in one hand and their wrist in the other when he looked up. His eyes were like flames, ravenous and burning a glistening gold. His deep crimson chin filleted upwards as he smiled amusingly. “That’s a rule I left behind in a past life. But for your sake, I’ll repeat myself. What I said was, why do you a...

14 likes 19 comments 19
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Nerves

Submitted to Contest #161

Three couples sat in the Kanister’s living room. It was a relatively small party, but for the Kanisters, having more than one or two close friends over felt like a big deal. Mrs. Kanister, who had dissolved her nerves with several pre-party cocktails, was putting the finishing touches, a bowl of mixed roasted nuts, onto a charcuterie board while her husband was entertaining their guests in the living room.“I gotta get something off my chest,” said James Stuart.“Spill it,” Carl Mutton shot back quickly.“I never thought I’d end up at one of th...

25 likes 23 comments 23
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Dirt Cheap

Submitted to Contest #159

Trigger Warning: Discussions of death in a way that might be considered offensive.A large gavel vibrated the tall desk in front of me, and a voice boomed, “Payment accepted.”A glimmering blue transparent being whose shape resembled that of a tall cloaked nun titled its head downward in a bow before turning to the left and disappearing into the boundless darkness around me. If I were not entirely terrified, I might actually have attempted to make logical sense of the physics of wherever I was. Technically, I was standing upright, but beneath ...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Wouldn't Hurt A Fly

Submitted to Contest #158

He was circling the cigarette between his fingers, watching the embers that slowly drizzled onto the pavement. In one swift swipe, the cigarette was hovering vertically in his palm like a candle, the smoke rising upwards slowly. Just as quickly, Devi flipped his palm down, and the cigarette danced above his knuckles before landing perfectly between his index and middle fingers. Lifting it up to his mouth, he let the skinny tobacco stick part his lips. “You know you’ve got to leave town.” It wasn’t a question. He took a long drag off the ...

16 likes 5 comments 5
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Bear

Submitted to Contest #124

The map was impossible to read. Even if a snow storm hadn’t covered the entire valley last night, I wasn’t sure navigating our way through it would be enough to save Bear.  “What do you think, Bear? We keep heading down the mountain?” I shifted my head towards my shoulders so I could see his tired eyes. His only reply a slow blink and a wheezing exhale. I had been carrying Bear, slung across my shoulders, each pair of his legs bound in my hands on either side, for the better part of the morning, at least since the first light reached...

10 likes 7 comments 7
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