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Cade Holter

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2023

Stories (33)

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21 Followers

12 Following

33 Stories

648 karma pts

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Collateral Employee

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #221

My name was lost to me well before my death. It had been the case for he one before me, and the one after me, who I now observe. I don’t know if he had ever had a name. If he might have been a desperate vagrant or some other such person rejected for suffering a mental collapse. He might have been bred for this role, to be shackled with old, rust soaked chains in a man sized closet. Waiting. I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about how this line of work came about, just that I was here well before me, but I do know what is done to the ones l...

6 likes

A Dark, Seething Underworld

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #220

The sirens in the distance were growing louder as Malachi hurdled through the dense woods. The downpour spilling off of the canopy of autumn leaves above him was like ice spikes jabbing through his thick jacket. More than that, it moistened the dirt under his heavy boots into slick mud that, in his mad dash to freedom, had him sliding on almost every step he took. He could only keep himself upright by leaning against nearby trees, as his hands were full; a handgun in his right, a grocery bag of cash in his left. The bag gave Malachi all of t...

13 likes

Pulse

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #220

“Can you be a dear and check the pantry?” It was a regular request, innocent and naive to what she was sending him too. The kitchen was small, square thing. It’s counter top curved along the bottom of a dusty window that faced the front yard, it’s dirty glass producing only a few wayward strands of sunlight that, nevertheless, lit up the room and the little swirls of dust floating freely in the air. Facing that window, you would have the oven on your right side and the kitchen pantry on the left side. The sink was right below the window its...

17 likes

Steel Tomb

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #220

Marcus was going to be late. He couldn’t afford that, he would have to wait until sunset to get the picture he wanted. He didn’t have that long, the pilot told him to get back as soon as the sunrise ended or it’s an extra charge. Since he doesn’t make near enough money to warrant that, he runs. The desert is draped in thick, dull orange and the long shadows cast by cacti and boulders over sand smooth hills. The sun isn’t yet peaking over the horizon, but it will soon, and he needs to be in just the right spot. Dead centre of where it will ri...

15 likes

Graveyard Shift

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #219

The hospital was dead quiet from the moment he sat down. He hadn’t noticed it before now, not when he arrived at that cliff side monolith for the night, back from his vacation. Nobody had told him anything, or said two words to him, as he trudged along crunching gravel toward the base of the cracked stone steps. The hospital, named for some dead man named Wallace, loomed over him like an ancient cathedral of towering spires and grey concrete. When he went inside, save the familiar smell of medical waste and the chemicals sprayed and poured i...

8 likes

Dark Cell

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #219

It had been a week since the screaming had stopped. He was not grateful for that fact, as his neighbours ear piercing wails were the only thing helping him keep track of time down here. The walls of his cell were closed tightly around him so he could not move and, with the exception of what could struggle through the barred trap door sitting well above him, it was pitch black. He couldn’t see or move. He could smell just fine, but the only stench that penetrated the all encompassing wall of darkness around him was heavy rot and whatever bits...

8 likes

Mute Discussions of Government Intrustion

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #219

The clunky air conditioner churned behind his head as he took in the words he was reading. “I think someone is listening.” Scribbled out in shaky, thin lines, the words on that ragged scrap of paper made Gail quickly bring his gaze up to the man who had handed it to him. He was terrible to look at. He was pale white all over his naked torso and arms, the only article of clothing on his body was a pair of grey sweatpants. His face was skeletal, like some had tried to shrink wrap it. His eyes were sunk so far into his skull that the flickering...

21 likes

Special

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #218

Toronto has a population of 2.93 million people, and not a single one of them was making a sound. There were no horns honking or people shouting or sirens blaring out through the crowded streets. Not even the sound of footsteps on the sidewalks broke through the wall of silence that had descended. Marcus took note immediately and looked up from his phone at the throng of people surrounding him at the crosswalk. No voices. Nothing at all but eyes. Pair after pair of them was on Marcus. A man, tall and flabby in his business suit, had his cel...

9 likes

Rotten Eggs

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #218

The stench of rotten eggs filled the air and roused her out of her sleep. It was faint, distant, but it wafted through the open window with such an intensity that she felt no choice but to pull the covers off of herself and sit up, her body shivering against the sudden cold of the autumn night. She was still hardly awake, her vision bleary and her limbs heavy with the remaining fatigue of her workday, but she was up all the same, her brain already following the set routine of figuring what breakfast might be, and then about what she might do...

12 likes

Crumbling Heap

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #217

They stared up at the old mansion with apprehension. None of them could name when it had been built, nor who had built it, just that both had been well before their time and that time had changed it immensely. The sheer size alone was enough take them aback, but it was the condition at a glance that truly shocked them, down to the youngest who was just 11 months old and had no earthly concept of what a mansion even was.The paint was peeling and washed out, showing old brick walls that looked more like raw, weeping wounds than the dry, red cl...

8 likes

Something in the Way

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #217

This story contains graphic violence and references to sexual assault. Reader discretion advised. She was cornered now. It was her third week on campus and that oversized slob Chase had gotten her alone; backed her right up against a wall in one of the hallways with his arms braced on either side of her head. She was staring right at him in all his pale, shiny faced glory, with yellow teeth coloured in so deeply she could smell all of the residual grease that had been left behind. “Why’re you so cold to me?” He questioned, his to...

14 likes

The Public Eye

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #216

His penthouse was hardly anything she hadn’t seen already. A blocky modern design with windows for walls on their right as they entered, and flat boards for stairs on their left. The only noteworthy thing she could name was that the front door closed slowly, with a hollow whooshing noise as it nestled softly into the frame.“Is your front door hydraulic?” She asked.“Yes, I find it’s better for soundproofing.”“Why do you need soundproofing?”“Wouldn’t this be better answered during the interview.”She saw no real flaw in that argument, so she to...

13 likes

The Coil of Snakes

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #216

The road was absent of all life aside from her own. It had been as such for going on half an hour now, and, though she had her thumb stuck out in a bid to hitchhike, she was hardly looking at the road, instead taking in her surroundings again. The road she was on was cracked, and the yellow divider line was faded, and along the edges where the asphalt stopped and became gravel and dirt, there was a noticeable dip that led lower, if only slightly, onto the edge of the forest behind her. Her eyes could not adjust to the level of darkness in th...

17 likes

A Good Old Fashioned Ghost Story

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #215

The House on Bascom Avenue didn’t look haunted. Not by any stretch of the term. It was just another cookie cutter suburban home among its ilk, a drab and uninspiring two story home that was one of many built to dam the flood of people that had been moving to Noxbridge in the past few years. When we stared at the thing during the day, it was just a modern gray townhouse, built for maximizing space at the cost of being nestled into the centre of other homes. You couldn’t pick the thing out if you had wanted too. We weren’t there during the day...

13 likes

The Many Perks of Air Travel

Cade Holter

Submitted to Contest #215

One of the many perks of air travel is the in flight service. Even in coach, even when the flight is near empty like this one, there are the stewardesses, whose job is to provide some in flight drinks and snacks. I personally have taken to their drinks quite well, the wine is doing wonders to dull the wailing infant to my right. I look over at and I see it, still in its booster seat, facing the plane seat it’s been plopped into by the inattentive bitch sleeping beside it. Neck pillow, ear muffs, blindfold. What a jackass. How dare she leave ...

12 likes