Brynn Helena

“Lillian” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #233

My father was an exorcist. And his father before him, and his father before him. My dad died when I was ten years old. That's when I decided I wouldn't end up like him. Never at home with his children, enraptured by the idea that he was a savior. A god. I thought it was a huge, steaming load of shit. An excuse for him to spend years hanging us out to dry, leaving our mother to scrounge for ways to feed us, always returning with a new perfume on his collar. So, when I graduated high school, I went straight to college...

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“Colors ” by Brynn Helena

"You love changing the subject," Mika commented, lying at the foot of the bed, her bareness covered only by a riskily placed ivory sheet. Her midnight blue hair fell around her face in flawless curls, catching the moonlight from the window and shining like a lake in early winter. Her eyes flickered back to me, one hazel, one blue, and I found it hard to hold her gaze. I didn't. She giggled softly and I knew she had caught my blush even in the low light."I wasn't changing the subject, I was just curious..." I defended wea...

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“Cole” by Brynn Helena

It was bliss.Fifty stage lights burning down onto the seven of us, and three hundred people looking on, waiting to see what we'd do. The biggest crowd we ever performed in front of, the anticipation palpable on both sides. We wore those baggy blue cargos and white button-ups topped with black suit jackets. You told me how stupid you thought we looked three minutes before we walked out, but secretly I bet you thought we looked cool. I blamed your dig on nerves. I don't know why you would have been nervous though,...

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“Graduating” by Brynn Helena

[A Continuation of 'When It Hits You']It's the things we fight tooth and nail for that always teach us the biggest lessons. I'll be honest, I'd never had a boyfriend before Jake. Exactly zero experience to speak of. So, when the reality that I had gotten my way really started to sink in, it came with some of the strongest self-doubt I'd ever felt.I remember sitting on his porch steps three weeks after our fight, dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a polo I'd borrowed from his closet, with my ...

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“When It Hits You ” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #203

He punched me in the face, my teeth rattling around in my mouth, my brain clanging against the side of my skull like the sharp crash of cymbals, and there I lay.It was raining, and the bell for first period was well in the past, a distant, hazy memory as I tried to recover from Niki's dizzying blow."You're such an asshole," Niki spat at me, running his injured hand back through his short brown hair, clinging to his temples from the downpour. My vision cleared just enough to reveal to me that he had tear...

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“How to Pop The Question” by Brynn Helena

[A Continuation of 'How to Slushy a Fuckboy' & 'How to Buy a Red Panda'] "What're you still doing up there?" Oliver asked, sitting in a steel folding chair within the row just in front of the stage. All of the screaming college students had cleared out, leaving behind a trail of discarded food wrappers and empty plastic cups strewn everywhere. Confetti speckled the stage as well as t...

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“Atta Boy” by Brynn Helena

It was often he found himself lost in thought. That afternoon he sat on the warm sidewalk chewing on a wooden popsicle stick, his lips stained red from the cherry ice pop he'd finished long ago. Early summer, the air was cool but the sun was hot, and the breeze perfectly punctuated each fleeting moment. When birds passed overhead, they seemed to glide on the wind, basking their iridescent wings in the plentiful sunlight....

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“Cut and Run” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #199

"Reckon I'll fold," Adelaide sighed, puffing one last breath out of her cigar before she stamped it out on the card table, leaving her hand behind, and stood to head toward the ladies washrooms. She could feel the eyes of all of the men at the card table watch her walk as she left, their gazes crawling along the curvatures of her body in her jeans. Luckily, the walk was short, and she escaped them as she swung the wooden washroom door open with one hand.The entire saloon was quiet, nothing but the sound of the workers pl...

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“Dr. Green (Trial #1348)” by Brynn Helena

The rain, sprinkling onto my face, was what eventually woke me up. As soon as I started to come to, I knew something was off. My body had never felt so light, and I could feel I was running hot. Upon opening my eyes, I was greeted by a huge shining sun, and cool rain misting everything around me. The sky was blue, speckled with off white clouds, bordered by a vibrant array of palm tree tops, swaying in the gentle wind. My eyes burned against the newfound light, and I felt a wave of dizziness, propping myself up on my elbows in the glitter...

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“How to Buy a Red Panda” by Brynn Helena

[A Continuation of 'How to Slushy a Fuckboy']"I realize he's shy... but it's been almost three months," Summer whispered under her breath, twirling a piece of her golden brown hair between her fingers. Karina nodded along with what she was saying, crossing her legs the other way where she sat on the rubber bus seat riddled with holes and pencil graffiti. She wore a pair of khaki shorts with a pink crop top that had a sweet rhinestoned heart on the chest. She never went anywhere without platforms, so she paired t...

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“How to Slushy a Fuckboy” by Brynn Helena

It was barely noon when things started to crumble around Oliver Hanson, a sixteen year old sophomore who did everything in his power to stay in his own lane. When Miss Andrews told him he was needed in the office, with a disapproving look on her over-blushed face, he felt his palms begin to sweat. As he walked down the hallway, tugging his ill-fitting zip-up sweatshirt over his shoulders he ran through every possible t...

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“FEVER” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #196

Maybe in another life. I shot up in bed, my back slick with sweat, and gulped for air, feeling as if I had been drowning. I clutched at my throat, my fingertips running along my adam's apple as I clawed for a breath. My heart rate slowly calmed and I relaxed... though not completely. I could feel him in the room with me, despite the space being empty. As I sat up in bed, rust colored light poured...

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“The Hanged Man” by Brynn Helena

They hated when people called them "friends." Any time they overheard someone referring to them as something so unbecoming of their relationship, they corrected them immediately. They'd snapped at me time and time again for it, until I learned to call them what they were: sisters. Nothing more, nothing less--their words, not mine. It was speculated around the school that there was something deeper going on, something sexual or romantic in nature, but they never commented on any of that. For the most part, the five girls kept themselves a ...

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“A Doll's Funeral” by Brynn Helena

Submitted to Contest #195

Whenever he found one that looked serene... he tried to savor it. Though, admittedly, it was hard to really stay in such a state once he started moving the body. Particularly, carrying the bodies was always the worst part. He'd noticed over the years that it never got any easier, not mentally or physically. Often he'd heard people speculate: the lighter the body the easier the work. But lighter, usually just meant younger...He didn't agree with their sentiment but he usually just nodded along. This...

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“You Mean Déjà Vu?” by Brynn Helena

She was wearing a pink bra, even in the dim lighting I caught a glimpse of it-just the strap peaking out from beneath the slouching shoulder of her blouse. But, I'd thought, no way. Yet, it really was her. She saw me before I could make a move myself. "Matty?" Her voice barely broke through the pulsating music, but because I was already aware she was walking over, it was hard to miss and she called again, "Matt!"I turned, eyes heavy and posture swaying from the alcohol. She was drunkish too, I coul...

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