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Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2020
Submitted to Contest #42
She remembers hiding under her bed when her mother reached for the bottle of whiskey. From a very young age, she knew that the amber contents of the bottle would soon result in an argument between her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, Arthur. So Ashley became familiar with the dark places in her house. She clung to the shadows, as one would to a life preserver. Shadows became her friend. The less the grown-ups saw her, the better. Ashley’s life mimicked the chaos at home, as neglected children’s lives often did. She often brawled ...
I died today.I know I am dead. I can see my body lying on the floor. My lips have turned blue and I have not moved for quite some time. If you were to put your finger in front of my nose, you would perceive no vapour of breath.The phone rings. A landline. It goes to voicemail.“Hi, Roger, it’s me, Alan. I just want to know what time you think you’d be in today? It’s just, the working day started an hour ago. Call me as soon as possible.”“End of message,” says a robotic voice.I shake my head. I have been a very reliable employee at Homez 4 Sal...
My day sucked less than usual today.These days all my days suck because I started a job I absolutely hate. Who really is passionate about being shouted at because the end-user doesn’t know how to operate a coffee machine properly? Yup, I answer telephones in a call centre, helping people figure out why their coffee machine isn’t making coffee. Usually, the answer is as simple as putting coffee grounds in the hopper.Pointing out the obvious doesn’t really ease the tension between yourself and the caller. They usually then just start shouting ...
The man stepped onto the plane. He was sweating, not profusely, but small beads of sweat were noticeable on his upper lip and forehead.The flight attendant took his flight ticket, inspected it, looked up, and smiled at him in an artificially saccharine way. Just like she was trained to do.“Welcome on board Flight 305,” she said, gesturing to the back of the plane. He nodded a terse thank you and moved to his seat. The flight attendant was already busy greeting the next passenger in the same rehearsed way. He had asked for a window seat,...
I can’t get his blood stains out of my shirt. It’s weird the things you remember as you watch someone die. Some parts of that day are forever lost to me. I don’t remember what time I woke up that morning. I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast. I don’t remember what song was playing on the radio as I was getting ready to leave the house. I don’t even remember whether the taxi hooted.But I do remember the dull thud as the taxi struck Rhys. I remember seeing his body sail through the air, limp like a ragdoll. I remember his eyes were w...
Submitted to Contest #41
Cats are more trouble than they're worth. Now, before you go branding me a cat hater, let me tell you a story of Mr. Tibbins. I work at the Brightwater Nuclear Facility. Never heard of it? Good. It is a top-secret facility that houses nuclear weapons for impoverished third world countries who decided to invest their country's dwindling financial resources in something a bit more Avante Garde than medicine and food reserves for the people. Let me tell you, it was all the rage in the 80s.Our job at Brightwater Nuclear Facility is to ...
I have a pet dinosaur. Except no one really knows that it is a dinosaur.You see, scientists have it all wrong about what dinosaurs looked like. You can’t really blame them because they only have the bones of dinosaurs to give them a rough idea of what they looked like. The only thing bones establish is the size.My dinosaur is about the size of a really large dog, but he doesn’t have scales or rough skin. He doesn’t even have feathers like scientists are now imagining. No. My dinosaur is big and fluffy, with big blotches of purple fur all ove...
Toffee had a big secret. Even though he looked like a simple brown and white dog you might find in any pet shop, Toffee was not simple. He was special. He could talk.All animals can talk in their own special way, but Toffee could speak like a human. It was a secret he never shared with anyone, not even his best friend, Ash. He thought that if humans knew he could talk, they’d be very upset.Toffee was adopted from an animal shelter by Ash when he was just a puppy. He was sad to leave behind his mom and brothers, but he was happy that he had f...
Isla recognised nothing around her. The terrain seemed familiar but at the same time wholly strange and foreign.The last thing Isla remember was the captain ordering warp speed, as they entered the wormhole, then everything went squiffy and now she was here. Alone. Looking around, Isla was baffled by the marked absence of debris and wreckage from the craft, that should have been present had the ship crashed. Maybe she was thrown from the ship during the descent.Checking that nothing was broken or dislocated, Isla stood upright. The atmospher...
Can we all just collectively, as a society, agree that as soon as you put a parrot in a cage, it becomes a hellspawn? I can’t even say I blame them. If humans commit crimes, we stick them in cages. Birds are stuffed into cages for no discernable reason.My mother loves birds, especially parrots. She has what she, very optimistically, calls a “menagerie.” It is in fact just a giant aviary with five parrots living in very close quarters. Did I mention this aviary is positioned very thoughtfully in our living room? It makes it near impossible to...
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