Benja Catton

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2023

Stories (12)

12 Stories

261 karma pts

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“Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #213

I had her key. Living in the apartment next to hers, it was reasonable that she’d wanted me to check on the cat. But she had an absurd list of requests for a two day trip. She wanted me to come over almost hourly to check on the cat. I went over twice the first day, and just once the second day. Her place made me sad. Although it was full of plants, they all drooped. She said it was her husband who had the green thumb. She said everything he touched grew.  She left to go back to her hometown in the country to scatter her husband’s ash...

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“Spread Your Wings and Break Your Neck” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #209

TW: Suicidal themes.We crossed the state border right at sunrise. It was nearly the summer solstice. A rare crack of dawn thunderstorm was blowing across the bare mountains and high plains. We pulled over on the side of the interstate and got out to recharge our batteries in the static air. Huge dendrites of electricity spread from the sky to the ground lighting up the open landscape. We offered up high fives, hollers, and laughs to the lightning gods, then slammed the car doors, cranked the stereo, and zoomed on. Our 1 AM departur...

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“Learning to Mountaineer” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #206

He was jumpy. I was a mousetrap, about to snap on myself in total fatalistic defeat if I looked at the big picture. I wanted only to think of what was immediately necessary. Darkness took over. I was cold and the air felt moist on my stinging cheeks. I told him we should cool our pace, be methodical.We had wanted to touch the sky, to feel alive, to hang off the side of a mountain and feel our sphincters clench in thrilling terror, and to smile in cool, blue sunshine. We did these things. We made the summit, contrary to everyone’s expectation...

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“Lost to Phantom Buzz” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #202

“This book? I guess it’s alright. The guy stands up for something anyway. I probably look like I’m glued to it. You know, I didn’t realize that I haven’t read a book for years? I haven’t had my phone in hand these past few days; it’s like I have more time in the day. I’m almost forced to read to pass the time without it.  “The phantom buzz thing is obnoxious. I’m constantly feeling for my pockets, and then realizing they’re not there either. My wife thinks it’ll be good for me. She calls it my sidekick – like it’s always with me. And ...

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“Teacher Vision” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #198

Mrs. Emily Lennon was the first one to name it. I didn’t even know I could do it. It was the nineties and I was in fourth grade. “Look at it with your eyes out of focus. You can cross your eyes and then bring them uncrossed slowly. Or you can try to look past the poster. A new image should appear. Be patient and keep trying.” We were starting a unit about space. Mrs. Lennon hung a Magic Eye poster on the classroom door. The obvious, surface image was a cosmic swirl of stars over the partial horizon of a blue planet. As a class, we ...

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“The Solution” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #197

“This will not only be a day to remember, but a day to relive. We can remake the future. This is the beginning.”  William Howard had now heard that soundbite three times with his morning coffee, and the line was taking on a surreal tone as he heard it played again. William selected a different news source from the list of podcasts. He depressed the button on his coffee grinder and let the kitchen fill with noise while the intro music played. He liked to prepare tomorrow’s grounds while he enjoyed today’s drip. The two different aromas...

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“Choose Your Own Adventure” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #194

If you die, come back to square one:Section 1 As a ghostwriter for R.L. Stine, you expected less notoriety. Sure, you made it obvious, but you didn’t expect this town of artless ignoramuses to even get the reference. You were still sore that your mom made you move here for her new job. You were finally making friends in Napocaville, and then she came to your bedroom in the evening while you were reading your favorite spooky books, and she had that look. You knew before she said a word that you were moving again. “This is impor...

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“Blobfish Cannot Speak” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #193

Blobfish cannot speak. They blink and wink to communicate. We humans think of Blobfish as the ugliest creatures on the planet, having dubbed them such in an internet contest years ago. They’re not quite so ugly in their native habitat: bobbing like jello salad in the muck at the bottom of the ocean. They live under extreme pressure. At those depths, they’re nearly as dishy as your ordinary fish. Nonetheless, when they’re accidentally hauled up by fishermen to our atmospheric pressure, they become the gelatinous ooze we all recognized in...

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“El Cenote” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #192

“I feel stuck here,” Madison said with a shrug. He leaned his tailbone against the kitchen counter. Beside his hips, his hands gripped the blue and yellow Mexican tile. His shoulders hunched. Despite the kitchen’s whirling ceiling fan and his short pants and short sleeves, he was hot. Street vendor shouts, taxi honks, and engine noise intruded from the street beyond the barred windows. They were in the center of town, just off the plaza central. They had been enjoying the AirBnB apartment's creative, colonial flavor. Mexican folk art leapt o...

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“Mr. Stocker” by Benja Catton

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #190

The door drew the students towards it like the magnets grabbing up the iron tailings in the labs they’d just completed. Mr. Stocker shook his head in quiet bemusement. Most of these kids had expansive, icy personal bubbles more befitting of polar bears than humans, but when the lunch time bell was approaching, they’d crowd together like fans rushing Taylor Swift for an autograph. He wondered if they were even aware of their proximity, or if they were so singularly focused on getting away from each other as quickly as possible, that they didn...

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“The Kumiho, the Fox Bead, and the Garlic Teriyaki Tempeh with Broccoli ” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #189

*Some sensitive themes: violence, sexual overtones, alcohol use* Layers and highlights and lots of cleavage. The girl would probably have described her expression as “pouty” or “playful,” but to him it suggested lightly bearing down for a bowel movement. Ryan Huntsman swiped left. It’s definitely not her, he thought. He swiped left again. He hardly ever swiped right. His friends liked to tease him and ask why he even bothered browsing the options, but he thought there had to be at least one in this city. They thought the app was just eatin...

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“The Miller Reaction” by Benja Catton

Submitted to Contest #188

The Miller Reaction It was bread in the form of a shoe. He pondered it despondently. There was so much he didn’t know about bread, it turned out. He wondered if it was actually more of a cake. The word treacle came to mind, but then he remembered that that’s more of a syrupy, soupy thing, and he grimaced painfully. He could imagine a shoe shaped cake pan. He guessed a person would have to flip the cake after baking it. An upside down shoe cake. The crust would be on the bottom then? The sole? What a thoughtful way to say, “You’re a horribl...

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Author bio

I spend most of my free time outside. I am drawn to places where mountains influence daily life.

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #190
Mr. Stocker – read story