Barbara Magic

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2020

Stories (5)

5 Stories

84 karma pts

?

“Noose” by Barbara Magic

Submitted to Contest #269

I found the rope in the attic last July when the heat was peaking and I needed to grab an extra fan for my room. Sweating in the dark up there, I tripped on the heavy tail even as I fumbled for the light-bulb cord. My parents didn’t know about it when I asked over dinner, and they still didn’t know when we all three stood under the thing watching it sway under its own weight or maybe a draft. The only thing they could figure, and what they decided to believe, was that I’d done it back in high school when Aubrey dumped me after junior prom. ...

Read story

“Return to Shore” by Barbara Magic

Submitted to Contest #238

Content Disclaimer: This work features the narrator living with suicidal ideation and depression. Return To Shore We rode your motorcycle along the coast as the wind whipped salt into our cheeks. My hair stung where it struck which only made the taste of the ocean sweeter. I would have asked where we were going if I didn’t know the answer. We weren’t. Do you remember how tight I held you through your jacket? Even now I’m gripping the pillow like I’ll fall off the bed without it. If I opened my mouth, the damp patch ...

Read story

“Hands In the Rusting Highlands” by Barbara Magic

Submitted to Contest #237

Content note: This story contains reference to financial entrapment, employer abuse, and mental control over another person's actions. References are also made to severe injury and murder, but the depictions are not graphic. Thank you! Hands In The Rusting HighlandsWe met because I needed a groom and you were available. You weren't impressive and didn't stand out particularly against the stable's other choices, but they were all busy.Running short on time necessitates compromise.I remember dismounting into a pile of leavings, I remem...

Read story

“Something of a Reversal” by Barbara Magic

Submitted to Contest #49

By half past eleven on pick-up day, it was clear that the most reasonable explanation for her mother’s absence was a horrific, deadly car crash. There was no word from counselors, no word of course via cellphone because she was not allowed to have one at camp. Being in backwoods Vermont, this had never been an issue before. There had been days where a call may have been nice. Her time in the infirmary might have been a little less lonely with a call from mom, but then the loneliness didn’t last long. Another camper had joined her in the next...

Read story

“What We Notice” by Barbara Magic

Submitted to Contest #40

If dogs have the ability to track snakes by scent, nobody passed the memo on to Baxter. We go walking in a wooded neighborhood daily, and, especially in the Fall, there’s always something of a chance we find a garter snake in the road. I can understand the appeal for a reptile sort of creature. I don’t think even your usual flat rocks get as warm as blacktop and the shit covers way more ground. If part of the road gets too shaded, the snakes can move a couple inches in any direction to find a warmer spot. The problem is until that spot cools...

Read story

Author bio

Barbara (She/her) enjoys writing character driven fiction that explores minds as self contained worlds. Magical realism and surrealism occasionally feature in her work.