Candela B

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2020

Stories (14)

14 Stories

351 karma pts

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“Pondscum” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #159

I knew his type. The type of lily-livered trickster who could trap someone with his tongue from a mile away. The type of slimeball whose oily charm served as lubricant to get away with whatever he pleased. The type of pondscum whose eyes were as dark and inscrutable as the bottom of a bog, opaque enough to hide behind. He was smartly dressed in a crisp brown suit, but I knew better than to be fooled by clean attire. His slick skin shone under the fluorescent lights as he smarmed his way up to the counter, and I made a mental note to mop...

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“Compulsory Extroversion/Involuntary Introversion” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #104

DEFINITIONSSimilar portmanteaus:“Comphet” (Compulsory Heterosexuality) is a term that speaks to the socialization of women in a heteronormative society, that conditions them to seek men out as partners, often overshadowing their actual sexual desires which may not align with this expectation.“Incel” (Involuntary Celibacy) is a term that describes the state of desiring a sexual partner but being unable to find one, often leading to frustration, resentment, and sometimes extreme violence.Portmanteaus coined by this piece:“Compex” (Compulsory E...

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“Anchor” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #103

Kai was walking up and down along the side of a cliff.It was not as precarious a situation as it seemed. For one thing, the path was paved, and separated from the roiling waves by a sturdy stone wall. Signs depicted a flailing stick figure diving off the cliff, with an X over it and the word CAUTION, dutifully pointing out the obvious.Still, Kai felt a little as though they were falling. Spiraling, perhaps, or scrabbling for purchase. But they had no handholds, no tethers, no solid ground, and every time they thought back to last night, it w...

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“De är Gjorda av Metall: Reflections on Friendship, Love, and the Lack Thereof” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #102

“Alla människor är på låtsas. De är gjorda av metall. Men jag tycker om dig. Och det är inte på låtsas, liksom.  All the people are fake. They’re made out of metal. But I like you, and that is not . . . it’s not fake.”-Young Royals, Episode 4All the people are fake.When one laments that “everyone’s fake”, or proclaims they are "done with fake friends”, “fake” has a particular meaning that is commonly understood. Insincere, disingenuous. A cheap, flimsy facade. Maybe the person in question is two-faced, a wearer of masks, of thinly ...

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“Faerest” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #101

Note: “Niamh” is an Irish name, pronounced “Neeve”, like “Eve”Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived with her father and stepmother in a sturdy wooden house in a town that was more brown than green. It was a coal town, where the ghosts of miners were said to haunt the corners of every empty street.Once she had asked the pastor if her birth mother, the one who had left the world just as Fiona entered it, also roamed the lands as a ghost. Of course not, she had been told. Women were angels, gentle spirits. They would never be ghosts. But...

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“Five Gold Rings” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #73

I find it amusing that, in this moment, I am an American girl in an English-style tea house owned by a Japanese woman listening to a Colombian man explain to me about French hens. For Adán Vargas, liking birds is practically a personality trait, but I can see why people put up with it, because his other personality traits are so pleasant. Right now, though, it’s difficult to pay attention to anything other than the thin band of gold encircling my fourth finger. So while Adán gushes on, my hands are in my pockets, busy twisting and turni...

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“October 30th” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #65

The sound of my phone’s alarm slices into my consciousness like a knife through jello. The brightness sears my vision, flashing the date, October 30th. As if I could afford to forget that tomorrow is Halloween. And not just any Halloween, but the kind that only comes around once in a blue moon.Groaning, I swipe my finger across the screen to shut it off. I really don’t want to get up. I don’t particularly want to be awake, either. It’s pitch dark, my muscles are throbbing, and the sheets smell like stale sweat. Fuck, that’s right--I wen...

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“Artistic Freedom” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #64

One month ago, there was percussion. An introduction.She honestly couldn’t tell if the doorbell had even made a sound, so she rapped the knocker four times for good measure.One month ago was when Lailah first stood on the Ardeleans’ doorstep, face to face with the mansion itself.She bobbed up and down on the balls of her feet while the February air gnawed on her bones. She fidgeted with the straps of her cello case. She waited patiently to be admitted.Finally, the doors opened, and she was greeted by a short middle aged woman with a serenely...

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“The B-Side” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #62

TAPE 1If you’re listening now, happy anniversary, my darling!I just discovered this in his room. He’s sleeping now, as I speak.I love you more and more each day.He apparently thinks that cassette tapes are romantic.Hopefully, this comes as a surprise!Regardless, this behaviour is highly unprecedented.I wanted to do something special.I should probably report it. There’s protocol, after all.A symbol of my undying affection for you.They would want to know of any side effects such as these.So I recorded my memories of our relationship milestones...

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“Underwater Whispers” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #60

Where we live, night is all-consuming. The darkness can be treacherous, which is why we are sure to sleep with tethers secured around our waists, attached to the poles that line the old streets, safe beneath the waves. According to my Great Aunt Sophie, in the Dry Ages there were ways of lighting up the dark. Every house was equipped with these lights, every room and car. The only cars I’d ever seen were rusted and far from magnificent. It was hard to imagine them moving at all, let alone fast and bright like she described. You can’t commu...

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“Before Inspiration Strikes” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #49

I stayed in the same worn-out space. I traveled across the country. Looking at my life, I often asked myself the question: Am I spending time searching until l find it, or killing time waiting until it finds me? I don’t know which it was--shoot, I don’t even know what “it” was. But when it did happen, it was unmistakable, and I cruised with it for miles until it ran its course and I had something beautiful to last me until the next one. I avoided human interaction at all costs. I did whatever it took, dipping down cul-de-sacs, speeding pas...

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“Karma's a Bitch” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #45

 For centuries now, Karma has been left in charge of humanity. Her expert canine senses feel the energy each one of them puts out and herds them to where they belong. A wound inflicted on a fellow human earns the perpetrator a sharp nip, sometimes a proper bite. Those who share the forest’s bounty-fruit are subtly led to more sweet and satisfying bounties for themselves, and those who tend to hog them often find their fruit vanished, or else drowned in a pool of urine. The unruly herds have flourished for years under her control. She w...

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“Monoceros” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #39

As soon as I took in a mouthful, I realized that it was poison. In the same instant, I knew it was also an intense panacea, bearing the wonders that had entranced me and now flowed within me. But it was laced with something I had not sensed, a venom of the sort I had never encountered in all of my star years. The substance lingered on my tongue, my organ of curiosity. It tasted of sweet joy and bitter sadness, bubbly laughter and despair-tinged tears. As I collapsed to my knees, I wondered with newfound horror about the small blue-and-green ...

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“Preciprocated” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #33

If your best friend jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?The age-old question, voiced innumerable times by generations of exasperated parents. I never thought I’d genuinely have to answer it.It’s not like her to spring such choices on me. Forget fight or flight, for me it’s either freeze or fret away all my sanity, and I am quite literally frozen in place. I am still not sure how our casual spelunking expedition suddenly turned into being faced with what seems like the most important decision of my life, but again, here I am, toeing the b...

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Author bio

"Life is a conundrum of esoterica." -Montgomery Montgomery