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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023
Submitted to Contest #289
Hayley adjusted the too tight dress she was wearing and tried to avoid eye contact with everyone around her at the restaurant. She tried to tell herself that their looks of pity were all in her head, that there was no way they cared enough to notice the girl at the hostess stand or assume that she had gotten stood up. Her phone buzzed in her hand, and Hayley flipped it up to look at it. Too quickly, she admonished herself. She could feel how pathetic she was, and she hated it. “SO sorry babe,” the text read. “Ga...
Submitted to Contest #288
Dear Linda, I know you’ll be shocked to receive this letter because I never wrote to you while I was alive, but I met a guy who said he could get a message to the surface in case you ever, I don’t know, visit a medium or go to a séance or something. Knowing you, that’s highly unlikely because I know you’re too smart for all that mumbo jumbo kind of stuff. But I have to try. It’s horrible here. Linda, you have to believe me. You have to do anything in your power possible to avoid the fate that I am suffering right now. It’s hard b...
Submitted to Contest #285
“What is this?” Streak held a small cylindrical object up to the light, puzzling at its neon insides. “That’s a pen.” Streak rolled their eyes. “I know what a pen is. But look at it. Who writes in bright pink ink?” A wave of memories hit me so hard I felt dizzy. I almost swooned, so I sat down. “Grandma, are you okay?” Chat rushed over. “Do you need water?” I shook my head. “I’m fine.” I pointed at the tiny gel pen. “Do you know what this was used for?” The kids shook their heads. “Girls used it. On me. To communi...
Submitted to Contest #284
“I’ll give you a good deal for her,” Fluffy heard the farmer’s gruff voice say. He held her in his strong, calloused hands. These were the hands she had known ever since she was a chick. Fluffy felt safe in his arms. She trilled softly and bobbed her head to show her appreciation. Fluffy liked when her father held her. He was always gentle, unlike the bigger chickens in the coop who pecked and clawed at her when she tried to pick at the handfuls of grain that were tossed on the ground for all of them. Fluffy found herself facing two bright s...
When Karen Joy first heard rumors about a real, practicing necromancer in her city, she hadn’t realized it would be so difficult to book her services. Apparently, like most merchants, Ella Parker was busiest during the holiday season. Karen Joy was surprised to hear this. She assumed that Ella would be most in demand around Halloween. But Ella told her that was only the second busiest day of the year for her services. The veil was even thinner on the night of the winter solstice. Plus, it was easier for a necromancer to contact someone on th...
Submitted to Contest #281
The gift looked innocent enough, wrapped in shiny red paper with a gold bow. But Kyle had been working at the Bureau long enough to be alarmed by the sight of it when he stepped out of the elevator on Monday morning. “This office doesn’t happen to have a Secret Santa program, does it?” he joked hopefully to his desk mate Rose, who had happened to be walking into the building at the same time as him that day. “No,” she said. “And this place is on lockdown over the weekend. There’s no way someone could have gotten in to leave something l...
Submitted to Contest #243
“Amira?” the assistant in the office-appropriate pencil skirt beckoned with a smile. “Zoe’s ready for you. Come on in.” The nervous yet hopeful young woman sitting in the lobby stilled the impatient bouncing of her leg and hurriedly stood up—water bottle in one hand, Book of Shadows tucked in the other arm. “Great, thanks,” Amira said. The assistant led her up the sweeping marble stairs, out of the intentionally intimidating high-ceilinged lobby. Once in the main work area of the building, they wound past desks of busy assistants and coord...
Submitted to Contest #236
I knew this day would come. As a parent, you prepare for the inevitability. I just thought I had more time. One evening at the dinner table, she just drops it on you without any warning, and you have to respond in that moment, whether you’re ready or not. “No. Absolutely not,” I tell her. “Why does a ten-year-old need her own computer anyway?” I hold my breath, dreading the answer. And sure enough, “Because you won’t let me download new programs on yours, and I want to play Fortnite with my friends.” Boom goes the dynamite. I sneak...
Submitted to Contest #229
Hailey was determined to throw an “adult” Christmas party. A dinner party. With a menu and place settings and themed décor and everything. She and Steven had moved in together earlier that year, leaving apartments they had each shared with roommates behind.Though Hailey would never admit it to her mother—or anyone else for that matter—she had her own doubts about Steven and their future together. But she really did honestly love him and want to be with him. Even if he did always leave his shoes in the living room and never pick up after hims...
Submitted to Contest #228
Your eyes blink open, confused by the sunlight beaming in at an unfamiliar angle. Your brain does that startled moment where you don’t recognize the bedroom you’re in before it all comes rushing back: bar, bourbon on the rocks, truffle mac and cheese, laughing, a hand on your leg, getting the check, kissing on the sidewalk. A deep kiss—one with tongue and hands and arms. Your whole body. The release of tension. Years of tension. Friends to lovers kind of tension. The car. Pressed up against it. Pressed up against him. Hands. Begg...
Submitted to Contest #227
Winter separates the real addicts from the social smokers, Annabelle thought to herself bitterly as she attempted to flick the biting metal switch of the cheap Bic lighter in her hand. Her hot breath curled in winding, smoking waves in front of her face, mocking the activity she desired to perform that was so close yet so far away at the same time. She could see the icy crystals on the railing in front of her, but beyond that, nothing. The only streetlight for miles had gone out, leaving the block cloaked in the dangerous darkness of a winte...
Submitted to Contest #226
I never realized that becoming a parent would mean learning to hate Saturdays. If course I knew, intellectually, that I was signing up for at least a decade and a half of lugging lawn chairs and coolers out into the middle of a chilly, dew-covered grass field. I knew I was signing up for early morning extracurriculars that would make the weekday morning breakfast chaos feel like a welcome vacation by the time Monday rolled around again. I knew I was signing up to rotate in as the parent who would bring orange slices for half times and Capri ...
Shortlisted for Contest #224 ⭐️
These days as an adult, I cannot even convince myself to get out of bed unless I know there is coffee waiting for me. When I go on vacations, I set my alarm by the time the nearest coffee shop to me opens, and I still end up sleeping much later than that because it’s still so far away and how am I supposed to shower, get dressed, dry my hair, and do my makeup without caffeine? I can’t get out of bed without it. Despite all this, I still consider myself a Morning Person. The 5-9am hours are when I am the most productive—as long as that pro...
Submitted to Contest #223
My heavy eyelids drooped as I tried unsuccessfully to beat back the pounding of my head that rang incongruously against the caffeine buzz from pounding at least three Red Bulls during last night’s all nighter. No one said college was going to be easy, but exam week was kicking my ass. I had tried to find the center of the venn diagram that was “easy” versus “lucrative” and settled on a Marketing BA. But I had neglected to mentally prepare for the horrors that were the general education classes. I just wanted to get through this final exam an...
Submitted to Contest #222
The advertisement shining on the telephone pole sang to me. The bright, crisp pink paper had sharp, fresh edges, as if it had been placed there just for me. Other tattered, sad advertisements flittered around it, their slips with phone numbers waving impotently in the breeze. They didn’t seem fated, meant for her. The words Josephine didn’t realize she was seeking until they called out to her near her bus stop. Josephine called the number because she was tired. She had moved to Los Angeles with hopes of being a filmmaker. Everyone said you...
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