Arch R

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

Stories (21)

21 Stories

283 karma pts

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“Phase two” by Arch R

“Well, for starters you would have to get rid of these terrible bootcut jeans, get a keratin treatment to tame that frizzball on your head and…,” she paused for emphasis, “...it goes without saying that your unibrow isn’t doing you any favors.” Lindsey flipped her golden strands that framed her delicate nose and ice blue eyes as a final flourish. Maya felt her face rise in temperature starting from the ea...

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“Surrender” by Arch R

“I know something is wrong but I am not ready to let go yet,” Anna searches the old man’s face with her eyes. He doesn’t give much away as he glances down at Phulka who was resting on his paws, his eyes closed yet exuding more than the old man’s. Anna places one palm in front of Phulka’s nose as she had done countless times over the last few weeks. She had been suspended somewhere between expecting the worst and refusing...

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“A war not fought” by Arch R

At the mouth of town, there is a sign that seems even larger because nothing surrounds it but dusty flatlands on either side of a dusty flat road. The sign is faded as if forgotten, but it seems equally plausible that the sign has fallen prey to the same fate befallen on the town itself, and the surrounding towns like it. Time has not been kind to this part of the world; it’s evident in the shuttered shops and the barren...

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“Sparkly dress” by Arch R

“I am not a chocolate person,” Delia declared before taking a sip of her dirty martini. The pungency of the olive brine hit the roof of her mouth and she felt the relief seep through to her head. It had been a long week and a stiff, extra dirty martini was the perfect antidote. “You don’t like any chocolate at all?!” Sahil seemed perturbed by the idea. “Well, I like white chocolate.” <...

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“Hungry Hippo” by Arch R

I stared out of the white window of our living room onto the front yard of our neighbors across the street. Not that we could call them neighbors since we haven’t met them yet. Well, we had, but just the mother, who, given she had two kids the same age as me and my brother, seemed very curious about the newcomers at her children’s school. She regarded us with the air of interlopers and seemed genuinely perplexed by our n...

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“White buds” by Arch R

Lucy looked at her watch for the third time in under a minute. It wasn’t midnight yet. She took another gulp from her glass of steaming liquid and paced toward the window. She peered out, her eyes catching the fullness of the moon. Her street was as still as a lake on a windless day. She could hear her own heartbeat in the silence. She glanced back down at her watch and sucked in sharply seeing the two hands pointing tow...

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“Paradise Bound” by Arch R

The bus clinked and moaned with the effort of taking on more people while fewer people got off. I shuffled myself to fit between the overweight, rudy man wearing a Cubs cap to my right and the woman with a gregarious hunch hauling a sack of what looked to be potatoes to my left. I suspected my Spanish wouldn’t suffice for a conversation with her, and the man to my right knew less than I did. So I looked in front of me at...

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“Chai time” by Arch R

“Here is your medium dirty chai tea latte, Sylvia,” the friendly barista squawks while a red-headed woman with yoga pants tucked into shearling boots scurries up to the counter. The intensity of the announcement reserved for early mornings only at highly caffeinated establishments makes Sanjana bristle involuntarily. The words chai tea latte hangs in the air penetrating her post-alarm-pre-coffee haze. You would ...

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“Along the way” by Arch R

Simmi pulled out the crumpled notes from my waist belt and eyeballed them quickly before shoving them back in. She wasn’t sure she had enough for the train ride but if needed she could fish into her backpack for the tidy notes that smelled fresh from the bank. She’d just have to find a way to do it inconspicuously. She looked out at the train platform, the fervor of activity belying the early morning time. But in India i...

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“Alcohol counseling” by Arch R

Anika slouched down further into the chair, focusing her eyes on the bookcase on the far end of the room near the door. The bookcase was so stereotypical - with the DSM-III, a few other medical textbooks, bookends that spelled the owners’ initials, a snow globe and a paperweight- that she almost laughed out loud. Unsurprisingly, the person who occupied this space day in and day out had no imagination. That person sat in ...

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“The telling mirror” by Arch R

The mirror had grey specks that had settled after swirling in the morning sun. And a few smudges of fingers that imprinted nothing but their desperation; the same desperation that stared back at her. The morning light was now long gone and along with it any premise that today might be different. The day was a monochrome of virtual meetings and emails. Everything had been accomplished by the taps of finger...

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“A Brazilian Stampede” by Arch R

“The plan, if you can believe it, is to sleep on Copacabana beach on New’s Year’s night,” Samy chuckled to the stranger. The stranger who might have been processing the words slowly because it wasn’t spoken in his native language furrowed his brows to form a teepee on his forehead. But when he responded it was clear he had understood, “That is not a good idea. It is quite crowded there, not safe to sleep.” Samy shrugged...

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“Anti-prodigal journey” by Arch R

I’ve left home. I am now six thousand miles away from my parent’s grasp. My parents and their overbearing love which felt less like a cocoon and more like a blade that sharpened a pencil to a point, chipping away at it to achieve a semblance of perfection. The anti-prodigal journey has been winding. First, the northern pilgrimage after living in the South for a few too many years. And what a Mecca at that...

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“Where the light doesn't go” by Arch R

When does truth stop being the truth and the truth you live is the only truth you see. Because the truth you live is what you wish it to be. The truth that covers up the ugliness around you and inside you. When all the choices you make yourself fuel the truth that is imagined, in myriads of moments that take you further and further away from the truth that once was. --...

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“The Photo” by Arch R

“Girls, shhhhh,” a voice admonished them. Claire and Diana sheepishly peered toward the librarian, instinctively reaching to cover the phone in their hand. “Sorry, Ms. Rose,” Claire responded first. Always a favorite of the teachers, she liked keeping it that way. “I can see the phone, girls. Do you really need that to complete your homework?” the librarian seemed to enjoy living up to her...

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Author bio

I am deciding if I have things to say