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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2023
Submitted to Contest #307
Harold Pollock cradled a jewel in his dry, leathery palm. When he stared at it the rest of the second-hand store faded away. He could no longer hear the beeping registers, the polite exchanges at the checkout counter, or the jingling bell over the door. Instead he was lost in the jewel's deep marine color, falling into the abyss of its crystal clear, flawless volume. It had to be fake, possibly acrylic or glass. If it were a real gemstone it would be worth millions, but here it was on sale for eight ninety nine plus tax. Even the gold pendan...
Submitted to Contest #304
Balance.I stood with my feet spread, my right foot pointed toward my foe. My savior? We would see. My mind was calm, my muscles tense. I hefted the sword in my hand, its weight almost invisible as I turned and rotated it effortlessly around its center of gravity. My four sons stood at my sides brandishing clubs, axes, hammers, and knives. They growled, their deep voices echoing off the cavernous walls and ceiling of the castle's great hall.I remembered my first time entering the hall thirty years prior. I was covered in black demon blood, ju...
Submitted to Contest #266
Dan woke up to the first rays of sunshine poking through the cheep blinds in his bedroom. He stared at the kinked, worn plastic blinds and let his mind wander over his plans for the day. Maybe he would start by going out and challenging the Gym Leader in the neighboring town. But the lines of his blinds reminded him of the steps leading to the ancient shrine he'd found the day before. He yawned, still gazing at the blinds, then wondered aloud, "didn't I have curtains when I went to bed?" *** Dan's eyes flittered opened, a faint red light spi...
Submitted to Contest #265
Andy looked down at the letter in his hands and scanned it again. One part near the end stood out more than anything else. The moment I arrived, I knew that a part of me would always be here, on Proxima b, with my friends.He cleared his throat. "Computer, tell me more about the capsule sent back to earth by Joshua Davis.""The capsule arrived in low earth orbit around earth on May 18th, 2072. It was a single pill-shaped container made of a never before seen composite material. The capsule had no propulsion mechanism and was first discovered a...
Submitted to Contest #264
Victor looked out over the quietly waiting crowd, stole a glance at the bride, then looked back down at his feet. He didn't much care for weddings, he never had. They were chock full of unwritten rules, littered with faux pas landmines, and weighed down over the centuries with enough customs and unnecessary pomp to rival a coronation."So what's your name?" the woman next to him whispered. The officiating priest had started talking, but Victor could hardly pay any attention to the old man's droning. He glanced at the woman speaking to him and...
Submitted to Contest #263
A lead slug slams into the rocky ground by Hobart's feet and he recoils into the air. Stone shards spray up into his exposed shins, leaving them stinging and raw. Hobart takes frantic, clumsy steps back, his eyes fixed firmly on the gun in Haley's hands."Give me one good reason not to kill you," Haley yells.The gun's concussive report still echoes in Hobart's ears, so the yelling is more than justified. "Because that's not what you do," he calls out, stumbling back and glancing over his shoulder to check his surroundings. A lone tree stands ...
Submitted to Contest #262
My hip joints ached as though each leg had been ripped off and crudely reattached by Doctor Frankenstein. I peeled myself out of the driver's seat of the old 1992 Dodge minivan and ventured out into the blistering heat of New Mexico. I was fairly certain Albuquerque should be coming up soon, but my need to stretch outweighed my curiosity. New Mexico had always made me uneasy, with their elaborate, pretentious highway art, polished exteriors, and rundown, grungy insides. The whole package felt intentionally deceptive, like a gingerbread house...
Submitted to Contest #261
Darren glowered venomously and tossed the gratitude journal onto the small glass-topped side table. He sank deep into the office's large recliner and briefly considered the effort that would be required to lunge at Colette and strangle her. Just climbing out of the chair would be troublesome enough, and clearing the side table would give her plenty of time to react defensively. Of course, she had to be a good fifteen years older than him. Perhaps her reaction time would prove insufficient.Colette blinked, still wearing her professional, neut...
Submitted to Contest #260
Tammy's blank, featureless gaze perfectly matched the slip of paper before her. She stared at the whiteness and held the stubby number two pencil loosely as she considered a name to write down, a name that could be blotted from the town forever.Behind her, a long line of murmuring, gossiping townsfolk shifted around uneasily. The small voting booth, with its thick cotton curtain, felt stifling and cramped. She had spent several weeks pondering who she would vote for, and a few times she had even felt good about her selection, but this was he...
Submitted to Contest #259
Out of order. Of course the ATM would be out of order. Steve sighed and peered in through the bank's huge windows at the long line inside. A light, clean breeze danced around him and lifted the "out of order" sign, giving him a peek at the outdated keypad and sunbaked screen beneath. The machine had to be at least thirty years old.He glanced over his shoulder at the car. The car. He growled impatiently. He needed gas. The only gas station in town was cash-only. He wouldn't make it another mile up the mountain without filling up.Steve took a ...
Submitted to Contest #258
Evan spent a lot of time thinking about nothing. He learned that the mathematical concept of nothing, zero, hadn't existed from the beginning. Why would one need to account for zero cows or zero eggs? Yet he found that nothing could seize his mind with tremendous force, occupying his every thought for hours on end. As it would turn out, Evan found that a void wasn't nothing after all, and absence could be felt just as powerfully as any presence he'd ever experienced. Evan shuddered, letting the vibrations knock tears free from his trembling ...
Submitted to Contest #255
I found him sitting in his car out in the parking lot outside the bank where he worked. I stood beside the car for a minute, gazing inside, soaking in the way he stared off into space, trembled, sobbed, wiped his tears, rinsed, and repeated. The whole cycle made my ears burn red hot. I clenched my jaw and fists, imagining what it would feel like to bash his window in with a rock and dive inside to strangle him with my bare hands. Instead I took a deep breath, counted to five, and approached the car to let myself in.I ducked inside quickly. T...
Submitted to Contest #254
Richard cleared his throat in a futile attempt to restart his shocked heart. An itch nagged at his scalp as fresh sweat began trickling around his hair follicles. The space inside his top hat was quickly becoming a sauna. "Well?" Joanne pressed airily, her smiling eyes flittering with false innocence. "I presume you, a gentleman, can hardly do more than politely deny the accusations, but I'm afraid my husband absolutely insisted that it was true." "Madam," Richard began warmly, shifting his hat around to allow the steam to exit at the back o...
Submitted to Contest #253
I closed my eyes, pulling in a long, deep breath. Silent darkness encompassed me and a frigid stillness prickled my skin. I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a familiar, hollow face with sharp bony cheeks and deep, empty eyes set in ghostly pale skin. His long white beard trailed down his torso, flowing like his black robe with no hems and no edge. His clothing just flowed down forever into the blackness of the space, rippling and waving like the river which babbled by in perfect harmony through the featureless void. The water reflec...
Shortlisted for Contest #253 ⭐️
"Please do not enter the vehicle." "Excuse me?" A bolt of lightning shot through Shannon's heart as she climbed into the autonomous taxi and closed the door. Immediately the locks triggered and she felt a cold sweat explode onto her forehead. The taxi's smooth, friendly computer generated voice fired up again with the tenderness of a new mother. "What is your name?" it asked. "Shannon." She said it with the rising tone of a question while she pulled at the disabled door handle. Her heart began pounding wildly in her tightening chest. "What's...
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