Cari Rodriguez

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2021

Stories (6)

6 Stories

166 karma pts

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“The Pineapple Men” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #277

I’m on my elbows in a progressive muscle relaxation when my nervous system is ripped through by a frantic pounding on my front door. I rush to the window and see Taka leaning his head on my door, still banging his fist."Damn— Taka? What—shit," I start to motion at Taka but he's already stomping in. He smells pungent and sickly metallic. His clothes are soiled and there's a bloody balled up jacket around his lower arm. He appears as though he just survived close proximity to a bomb."Antibiotics! I know you didn't finish 'em. Where!?" Taka's s...

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“Before I Wake” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #275

If I hold my breath, I won't confuse the movements of my limbs with the expansion of my chest. My muscles aren't working right. I'm suspended slightly by the air, unable to get my footing and turning to stone as I wrestle an atmosphere rapidly thickening like caramel simmering in a pot. My suspension breaks. The air is gone, and a gravitational force rips me down and pins me to the ground. A glass tube encircles me. It feels like I'm being sucked into the 2nd dimension.Wasn't I running from something? The ground releases me as the air above ...

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“The Watchtower” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #272

The cabin stood, tall and crooked, like a spike in the throat of a kudzu monster. The local kids called it “The Watchtower” but Laurel wouldn’t regard it as such. There weren’t even windows on the top floor. Laurel’s family, the Matneys, owned over 400 acres spanning the northern peak of Mulberry Mountain down the eastern side to the foothills. Much of the land was used to farm spruce trees, but kudzu ran wild over the northeastern corner of the territory. It was there that two rivers crossed like the markings of a treasure map. No trea...

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“Umbrellicon” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #78

“Umbrellicon” “Umbrellicon..the country’s largest gathering of artisans, tradesmen and entrepreneurs marketing a unique and diverse selection of weather-protection equipment. And it all goes down right here: Seattle, Washington.” I said, being dramatic.“Ugh, we have to go in there? I never even use an umbrella... I actually like the rain.”“It’s not about what you buy. There are things in there that few people have ever seen. Last year, I heard that there was a lady selling umbrellas made entirely of fruit rinds. I didn’t see her booth, ...

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“Opaque” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #77

“Opaque” I knew it. I knew it as my nose slipped out of the covers, calling me to roll out of bed and reach for the curtains. The bedroom window overlooks a cobblestone fire pit and the threshold of a wispy forest pervading my backyard. I’m standing on the warm side of the glass, but I feel my body begin to numb. The room dissolves behind me. Then, it’s just the wind. The wind, the feathers. Clean, white feathers diving down into cloudy pools that grow, magnetically. I can’t believe it’s snowing, sticking everywhere, like popped, powdery, ...

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“Knives” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #75

“Knives” I have this recurring, 3-second long flash of a woman carrying me and guiding a child behind a door. The woman moves, blurry, in auburn swinging strands that wash across my visual field. I can make out a warm glow on the crest of the wall above the door frame. The light wipes in from the hall, as the door hinges open, leading to a black room. The child shifts in her lace-y white gown beneath wavy, copper hair that dances like springs in a communal hopping, toward the dark wall. Through the light, the woman’s wobbly voice grips to...

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Author bio

Visit @worksbycr on IG to see more of my creative works.