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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2021
Submitted to Contest #232
Adelyn Pepper didn’t open her curtains anymore. It was a cautious step, and one she had thought about carefully. Her ultimate goal in life, as in all our lives, was pure and total happiness. Things just kept getting in the way. She had left Vancouver because it was too wet. No one can be happy when the sky is grey. Salt Lake City was too busy. Santa Monica was too hot. She moved to Svalbard in the summer and the sun didn’t set for 99 days. It was perfectly dry and peaceful. Happiness was close, but the work was not done yet. ...
Submitted to Contest #170
The candles leave softly blooming imprints on the back of June’s eyelids. She had peeked as Mum was lighting them. “Don’t look, Junebug” Dad says, and her feet leave the ground as he quickly swings her into her chair. He smiles as he says it though, so she knows it’s really ok. It is her birthday and she is old enough now to feel the pure and bright excitement of her special day. A shiny mylar balloon is tied to her chair and she tugs at it, curious about the way it bounces and pulls away from her. Frustration quickly turns to ...
Submitted to Contest #153
When the glow at her fingertips finally guttered and went out, he told her it meant she had found peace. But, peace hurt more than she expected. He held her against him in the dark. He was warm and unyielding with arms like a cradle, or a cage. “You hurt me, Selene,” he said. “I love you, despite that.” She felt cold and guilty and turned her face away, towards the window where the moon glowed resolutely through thin clouds. She tilted her face to the dappled light and a playful shimmer rippled across her cheeks. He gripped her chin...
Submitted to Contest #137
Owen rubbed the hair pomade to a warm slickness between his fingers before touching up the style. This beeswax stuff smelled quite nice— a stark improvement from the fat and lard-based goop he’d been using last century. His hands were shaking a bit from the nerves. It was an important night, but mostly he was looking forward to seeing her. He wondered what she would be like. Would she be as chatty as the others? Would she like him? Would she like his hair this way? He picked up the images of his long life again, yellowing phot...
Submitted to Contest #116
The sign read No Trespassing.A tattered waif of a girl stood before the towering wrought iron gates, contemplating. She looked around furtively before twisting to slip between a gap in the cold iron. The hunger had thinned her until ribs pushed against skin like a delicate birdcage that gently cradled her persistent heartbeat. Her hands now resembled birch twigs, bundled in pocked wool, and the planes of her face cut with shadows in sharp relief.The place was brimming with people. Many who were loved and many who were loathed— ofte...
Shortlisted for Contest #115 ⭐️
“My time is almost up”I looked to the clock again. The numbers burned bottle green in the dark of my city cubicle. “Two minutes left.” Two minutes of life. Two minutes of breath. Two minutes of me. What to do with the time? I’ve known it was coming for a while now. My body was slowing, I missed the output quotas more often than not. They wouldn’t let me keep going like this, slowing down the entire system.“Mhm” came the staticky response from the other end of the line. I didn’t know what they looked like. I didn’t know what an...
Shortlisted for Contest #113 ⭐️
Liv was tired. Goddam bone-tired. Another day on the lines and her eyes were aching like sagging balloons, ready to burst from the strain required to just stay employed at that dump. She laced her fingers together and pushed her arms above her head as she came to the end of her daily slog to the bus stop. The movement rewarded her with a series of satisfying pops along her cramped joints. The bench at the bus stop was hard and damp, mildew curled around the edges. But, her aching legs demanded rest. She pictured a plump, squas...
Submitted to Contest #112
Annie Blithe stood in her doorway and squinted against the sharp light. The sun had reached that brief moment during sunset where it seemed to shine brightest. The moment right before it finally melted below the hills, extinguishing the day.She had been watching her husband Tom as he laboured. What had been a smouldering heap just days before, was beginning to resemble their barn again. She wished she could tell him how proud she was to have him, how constantly she thanked her god for sending her this man of strength and kindness in equal me...
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