Ashley Cullen

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2021

Stories (8)

8 Stories

176 karma pts

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“Music Therapy” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #149

He screams at her from the backseat, kicking his feet against the car seat bottom and flailing his arms in the air. He pushes his chest up against the restraints, eyes wide with worry. She cannot get the CD in the slot fast enough. I got I got I got I got, you got you got you got you got, we got we got we got loco legs, the band sings, harmonizing.His small, tense body immediately relaxes into the seat, his feet stop swinging, and his thumb goes right into his mouth. A stranger might mistake his slight grimace for a smile. She talks to him g...

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“The Keeper of Books” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #142

“This time, can you pick out a fictional book, one with chapters, please?” she says, prodding and impatient. Both boys stop short in front of the glass doors and look back at her, silently pleading. Their bodies instinctively turn toward the section filled with factoids, statistics, and world records. Their shoulders slump and they sigh, eyes rolling up in disgust, but stubbornly they move along.The automatic doors swish open, bringing a gust of air inside with them, a spill of summertime humidity thick as glue. The circulation desk sits emp...

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“A Backslider's Trip Back Down to Jesus Country” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #132

It’s been two days since they left North Carolina. They inch down, further south, running on fumes. The children stare out the window at nothing, exhausted. The adults hang on to a sliver of sanity, powered by the gas station coffee running through their veins. At last, the crunch of gravel wakes the backseat passengers, and the car slows to a stop. The silver-haired matron of the family runs out to greet them. She asks how the drive was and hugs the boys close to her body. Two big pots of pink and purple petunias stretch out around the smal...

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“Just See What's Out There” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #130

“I only read books about the Holocaust,” she said. He wondered if he’d heard her right, it was very loud inside the bustling restaurant after all. “You read what, now?” he asked half-heartedly and a little bit confused.“Ok, I wasn’t exactly accurate there, I just realized,” she said, laughing. “I mostly read books about the Holocaust, but I switch it up sometimes with ones about escaping religious cults.” She paused when she saw his face, his eyes blinking slowly. “It’s always some atrocity or another that reels me in,” she said, staring dow...

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“Stuck” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #122

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she says in disgust. Against her better judgment, she turns to face the mirror and sees it, magnified from all three sides. Her torso, a busted can of biscuits, her midsection gone awry. The overpriced black pleather pant legs are stuck, curled over just below her waist, her thighs blocking any attempt at an exit. She curses lightly and laughs at the absurdity, then shakes her head at the inevitability. Sweat pools inside her navel and starts to slide down her back into her underwear. She hopes it’ll act as som...

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“The Ungifting” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #121

The speakers below the brightly lit stage announce Happy Birthday, the animatronic mouse opening and closing his mouth as the little girl looks on. A medley of oldies songs streams forth from behind the robot band. She watches the empty eyes of the enormous gorilla flit unnaturally back and forth as his hands hover above the blinking neon keyboard. She smiles as the cheerleader backup singer moves her head in time with the jerky movements of her pom-pom hands.She sits at the head of a paper-covered rectangular table, filled to bursting with ...

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“Chrysalis” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #118

From the enclosure of my car and at a safe enough distance, I watch. I clutch the paper cup of coffee and blow across it, trying to cool the liquid down. I can feel my stomach tying itself in knots. Across the street, I see the parking lot starting to fill up. The faithful are arriving. Two men exit their cars and move toward each other, wives and children following along like ducklings. I can’t hear what they’re saying but I see their salt water taffy smiles. I witness their hearty handshakes and solid eye contact. They break away from each...

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“What a Short Strange Trip It's Been ” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #114

“You wanna do something fun?” she says and throws her hands up in a question. If absolutely anyone else was asking, I’d fire off an excuse to not have fun. Like, I need to study or I have to go home and organize my book shelves, or my hamster, Albert, is very lonely, he won’t know what to do if I’m not there. I start to offer one of the usual responses, the words pushing against my teeth, when she yanks me up by my wrists and starts dragging me toward her car, a beat-up old thing, faded yellow, cracking and in disrepair. Of course, she someh...

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