C. Charles

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2021

Stories (24)

24 Stories

570 karma pts

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“December 19th, 1995” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #203

GREETING CARD FROM ANNETTE CARPENTER TO HER DAUGHTER ALLIE COOK Allie, Rob, and Danny, Congratulations on your first home! I hope this card is waiting for you in your mailbox the first time you check it! I just wanted to tell you all how proud I am of you! I can’t wait to come visit! I just wish your father was still here to bless the house for you, but I know he’s looking down and very proud. Miss you, All my love, Mom (Gramma) * * * July 18th RRRRRRING! RRRRRRING!...

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“Olivia” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #202

**Author’s note: Finished but not edited! Busy week and I didn’t get to edit this as much as I wanted. Hopefully I will be able to tweak it before it is approved!**It’s strange how well you can remember seemingly insignificant moments with crystal-clear recollection while big moments are a little fuzzy around the edges. Whenever I think about playing in my first concert, for example, it feels quiet and far away, like I’m watching it on one of those countertop TVs my grandparents had that never had very good reception.But then I think about a...

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“The Chevelle” by C. Charles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #201

The white lines flashed by in the headlights of the Chevelle as it rolled along the highway. The clock on the dash read a little after three; the road was empty. The morning commuters wouldn’t hit the road for another hour or so and the late shifters were already gone. The car was a ‘70, fully factory restored. Cole had done all the work he could himself and sent away for the work he couldn’t. Rewelded, repainted, rewired, and rebuilt. It even had the original radio. After the ranch, it was the first thing he had bought himself once the...

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“Justice” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #200

 Williams Daily Star May 29th, 1893Campbell Creek Saloon Robbed at Gunpoint, Two DeadBy Glenn JeffersonCampbell Creek, New MexicoThe Campbell Creek Saloon was robbed at gunpoint late Saturday night, leaving proprietor Wayne Duffy and an unidentified local dead.The perpetrators, numbering six, entered the near-empty bar with guns loaded and at the ready, instructing patrons to put their hands in the air.One patron testified to law enforcement that the aforementioned bartender attempted to draw a gun from behind the bar to thwart the...

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“Under the Moon” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #199

What a fucking asshole, Amber thought as she made her way down the stairs toward the deck overlooking the lake. Last summer we’re hot and heavy and then I come back to find him drooling over that bitch Vicky Baker. I thought he was gonna be around to punch my ticket this summer but I guess he’d rather work for it.Before Amber stepped onto the deck, she looked back up at Angel’s parent’s cottage. It was a large, wooden A-frame with lots of windows. She could hear an Eagles song being blasted over the sound system and the loud whoops and laugh...

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“The Spartan Gym” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #198

Luke’s pulse throbbed through his entire body. He could even hear it in his ears as he faced the battered green, double door. He had begged his parents for weeks and they finally relented. They were banking on this being a phase, a passing fancy. No way Luke thought.  Ever since the Saturday that his Dad let him stay up to watch the fight, he was hooked. The next day he had gone to the library and checked out as many books as they would let him take, but the grainy black and white pictures weren’t enough. They were like drops of rain t...

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“Time” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #197

The kitchen was lit by a single bulb underneath the range hood. The clock on the stove below displayed the time in a lonely, green liquid crystal font. It was 2:37 a.m. The open kitchen window let in a cool breeze and the summery song of crickets chirping while the tick of the clock above the doorway gently kept time.Pamela sat at her kitchen table with an untouched cup of peppermint tea sitting in front of her. She wished she had taken her mother’s offer to stay at her house for the night. “Thank you but I just want to be at home.” Pamela h...

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“Flare” by C. Charles

Submitted to Contest #196

Summer 1987Somewhere in the trees a cicada started to buzz and Lauren knew that they were in the heat of the day. The light from the sun beat down hot and bright, casting stark black shadows underneath brilliant highlights on the leaves of the trees around them. They were walking on a trail through a small meadow towards the next stand of trees where the trail continued.Jeff was walking through the tall grass ahead of her, a dark strip of sweat running down the back of his shirt behind his backpack, his sweat darkened hair hanging in curls d...

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“The Watch” by C. Charles

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #195

The faint buzz from the fluorescent lights overhead was vaguely grating, like when you’re about to drift into sleep on a hot summer night and you hear a mosquito fly by your head, not so close that you wake up fully, but close enough that it pulls you from the edge of sleep. The lights tinged the break room in a faint, stomach-churning green, made worse by how white the room was. The walls were white, the cupboards were white, the fridge, the tables, the chairs. White. The sickly green hue was made worse by the grey, shadowless light ...

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Author bio

Trying to write the best stories I can—I hope you like them. -On the long list for Quagmire magazine’s fiction contest Instagram: @c.charles.writer

Shortlisted 3 stories ⭐️

Contest #237
Cat – read story
Contest #201
The Chevelle – read story
Contest #195
The Watch – read story