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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023
Submitted to Contest #323
The parking lot was empty. Detective Claire Ross stood by her car, the cold ocean wind tugging at her coat as she looked across the quiet marina. The fading dusk cast long shadows over the town, and the hum of waves breaking against the shore was the only sound. This place—so peaceful, so ordinary—was a far cry from the chaos she’d left behind in the city. But something felt wrong. The stillness of the town held an uneasy weight, and Claire couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t just the ocean that hid secrets beneath the surface. Ethan M...
Submitted to Contest #316
The cool fog settled on Joe’s face as he stepped out the front door. He hastily wiped his hands on his jeans and fixed his bloodshot eyes forward. The sun had only just begun to rise above the misty blue mountains. He took in the sight with newborn eyes, though sixty years of hardship had set deep creases around them. The magic of the Blue Ridge Mountains never faded. If anything, the longer he allowed his roots to grow deep into the rocks, the more they captivated him. At night, this stretch of Appalachia came alive with terrible sounds tha...
Submitted to Contest #313
Jordan clacked away at his keyboard, each keystroke getting him one step closer to lunchtime. Someone knocked gently on the door. “Yoo-hoo!” Helen’s blonde bob peeked into the room. “How’s that report coming along?”“I’ll have it in your inbox by EOD. Some timelines had to get tightened up, but I’ve got it all sorted.” Jordan rubbed his eyes and managed a weak smile.“Sounds great. Please CC Dana too so she can keep the client in the loop.” She twirled one of the pearls dangling from her ears. “One more thing. We have a new intern that HQ sent...
Submitted to Contest #312
The equipment lining the wall hummed quietly underneath the crackling radio on the table. Victoria used her finger to scoop the last beans from the can into her mouth. Once the last calories were safe in her stomach, she tossed the rusted can into the bin across the room.“Vic scores a three-pointer to win the game, and the crowd goes wild. She’s a shoo-in for MVP this year, making her, uh—computer, how long ago did the world go down the toilet?”“Ecological collapse occurred in 2132 A.D. According to my calculations, that was eleven years ago...
Submitted to Contest #307
Gaslight flickered along the tiled walls and danced across the faces of the professors in the gallery above, perched like birds of prey. A portly man stood in the first row and stared gravely down at Thomas. Thomas kept his eyes fixed on the man’s waistcoat button, which was threatening to burst at any moment. The man cleared his throat. “Mr. Greaves, it is a pleasure to see you come this far in your medical education. This nation finds itself in no small want of capable young physicians. I took up the profession myself in the years followin...
Submitted to Contest #227
December 24 I just celebrated my 30th birthday last month. I spent it alone at home and blew out a candle I pressed into an exorbitantly priced cupcake that I picked up in town. My town has one grimy pub and I wouldn’t go there on a random Wednesday, much less on the one day of the year that belongs to me. I couldn’t afford to go out in Boston this year, and my family is — well, they’re a guaranteed migraine. I wanted to spend my birthday without a tension headache for once. It doesn’t bother me too much, because my money’s tied up in a pl...
Submitted to Contest #219
Part I. The Village Welcome to the Village, home to a steady population of 15,000 people within the Tower walls. Everything here was perfect: the food and water was always perfectly rationed, the labor was always guaranteed, and the access to information was kept scarce to allow villagers to focus on their life’s purpose, productivity. According to the state’s calculations, there had been no starvation or workplace incidents in hundreds of years thanks to careful planning and good citizens coming together to act as one unit in service of t...
Submitted to Contest #210
The ancient Pyramids of Giza are said to have been built over four thousand years ago. They tower over the Egyptian sands, the Great Pyramid taller than a thirty-floor building and nearly twice as wide. The pyramids are a massive necropolis where the old pharaohs were laid to eternal rest alongside their devotees with the expectation of becoming gods. They were constructed with great effort and care, each stone block weighing between two and thirty tons. Our best and brightest still haven’t been able to figure out how the ancient Egyptians w...
Submitted to Contest #208
The alarm sounds at 6:30 in the morning, just as it does every single day for Ella. She needs to put her costume on before showing her face in her office: a blush-colored blazer and skirt set, a crisp collared shirt, and low pumps with a pointed toe. Every piece was perfectly architectured to cause maximum discomfort to the wearer. This uniform keeps employees moderately unhappy at all times, united in their contract to experience no joy for a minimum of eight hours each day. She gets to her desk and her boss is standing over her before sh...
Submitted to Contest #207
Jen gets to the office early every day. She’s not an overachiever, quite far from it, in fact, but it’s the only way to make sure she gets the one good desk with the nice chair that doesn’t creak with every breath. All of the aspiring journalists with muddled titles that each boiled down to “associate copywriter” got to battle it out in a 30-way melee each day for the best spot, the most facetime with the senior editors, and the most cutting-edge story assignment. Today, Jen’s riveting story entails listing out the top ten reasons why millen...
Submitted to Contest #206
You know how it feels when someone is watching you? They’re just out of sight or maybe hiding in your peripherals, but you know they’re there. It feels like I’m being watched…but I feel this all around me. It feels like a million eyes staring at me from all angles. I can’t see them, but somehow I just know they can see me… and they know what I’m thinking, too. I shiver and this awful feeling courses through me. I look down to find that I’m covered in goosebumps while beads of sweat drip down my forehead. My hands feel impossibly cold...
Submitted to Contest #203
It was the best day of the year for now 11-year-old Sofia: her birthday. She was surrounded by her relatives and classmates singing “happy birthday” to her. She was the centerpiece, the star of the show today. She stood at her stage at the head of the dining table with her chin almost held up high. Father stood across the room, his glazed-over eyes aimed in the general direction of the table. As the small crowd wrapped up the song, the birthday girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly. Sofia cherished this moment when the world ...
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