Chris Buono

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2020

Stories (64)

64 Stories

1849 karma pts

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“Dances With Ghosts” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #65

       “Okay, so it’s a deal,” Anthony said in excitement, “We are spending the night in the cemetery.”        Mia smiled nervously, trying to front excitement as best she could. In all honesty, she would have rather spent Halloween watching cheesy old horror flicks in Molly’s basement with Anthony, Molly, and John. “What time should we head out there?” she asked.        “We’ll collect our supplies for the night and meet up in the woods b...

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“Thomas and the Oddity” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #64

Thomas felt all the blood in his body rush to his legs. The world went blurry there for a second until he was able to catch his breath again.        “Is- is that what I think it is?” he asked with a dry tongue.        Thomas jumped when Margret replied to him, “Yeah, that looks like the ghost of Elizabeth Thomas. Murdered in her bedroom forty-seven years ago on Halloween night.”        Thomas regained composure once again and averted his ...

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“Terror in the Manor” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #64

Eel Creek Manor. Supposedly the most haunted site in all of the town of Washer, Illinois. Positioned at the top of a hill, along Eel Creek, the dilapidated Gothic mansion has been the setting for many ghost stories and speculation. The most prevalent being the tale of Henry Mathers.        Henry Mathers was an English immigrant who built the mansion in 1864 after moving here from Europe. It was said that he made his wealth off of a booming farm, but the folklore will state that his riches came from the devi...

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“In the Orchard” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #63

I sit nervously in the passenger seat, shuffling my feet and twiddling my thumbs. I’m trying to think of something interesting to say, but every thought just sounds lame and boring.        “So what’s your favorite movie?” Penny Lakes asks after a few moments of silence.        I explain to her that my favorite movie is a drama about Italian-American gangsters and the family dynamic of their empire. Hers is a comedy about a sixteen-year-old boy in Whales who is trying to lo...

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“Pumpkin Coffee at Madame Toffee's” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #63

 New pumpkin flavors through October, the sign outside read. Next to an image of a woman in a witchy Halloween costume sipping a latte out of a tiny orange pumpkin. The little shop- decorated with autumnal squalor year-round- had a line of patrons out the door and down the sidewalk to try the new flavor while Madame Toffee tended to customers with a handful of employees.        The older woman wore her usual attire of some gypsy-pagan cross with rings and necklaces displaying different old-religio...

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“When We Met” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #61

Apples and cinnamon with the hint of vanilla and a touch of dead leaves. Matthew was instantly caught off guard. He fell to a sitting position on the old plaid couch and attempted to regain his breath.        The breathing became difficult as a lump formed in his throat and tears welled, threatening to spill from his eyes down his cheeks.        “Paw Paw,” the voice of Matthew’s granddaughter came from far off, “Paw Paw, are you okay?” The nine-year-old began to call for h...

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“Ghosts of the Past” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #61

The memories all rush in like water through a collapsed dam. Dylan felt his heart tighten as his vision blurred over. Breathing grew increasingly difficult as Dylan developed the sensation of his mind flying through space at light speed. Twenty-two years of questions now answered.        The now twenty-nine-year-old slammed the photo of himself at seven-years-old onto the old wooden table. It had been discovered in a stack of similar images that Dylan had never seen. The little boy was standing in front of ...

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“Traveling Caution” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #60

Crack! The gunshot went off, reverberating through the otherwise silent air. The walking corpse fell to the ground with a thud. Its head was now split in half and leaking dark red blood. “Good shot, kid,” Ace told me as I engaged the safe on my rifle. “Thanks,” I replied. It had been seven months since the “Walking” Plague had started, turning 90 percent of the world’s population into animated corpses that were constantly searching for fresh meat to consume, but I still hadn’t gotten used to the smell, look, or idea of zombies. “Let’s k...

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“Love in Rubble” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #60

I first saw her as she stalked out of the shambles of some old house with a torn-up backpack slung over her left shoulder. Noticing me and unsure of whether I was friend or foe, she paused, wide-eyed and ready to pounce like a lion in defense. I slowly raised my hands with open palms to show that I did not mean harm before she relaxed. The stranger must have been part of another tribe or I would have known her from my sanctuary of seventy people. Her dark brown hair was brushed but greasy as if she hadn’t washed in in at least a week, her fa...

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“The Clavius Club” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #59

       The rocket thrusters shut down slowly in a languid hush as the tripod gears extend and hit the ground with a gentle thud. The crowd of passengers in the main cabin all give secret sighs of relief to have finally made it and arrived with no issues. Even the regular visitors carried a look of apprehensiveness to again be traveling the new way. I look out my window, attempting to take in all that my eyes can on the darkened white surface.        The Clav...

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“Family Shame” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #57

Charlie Walthers lived in shame under his grandfather’s legacy for as long as he could remember. People would move to the other side of the street when approaching him on the sidewalk, old women would spit at his feet, and a priest even attempted to perform a curse on the poor young man one time. So despicable was this shame that Charlie’s father had to marry a woman from across the country- who promptly fled the family when she learned the truth. No one accepted the Walthers clan. All because of his stupid, dirty, no-good grandfather.  ...

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“Really? This Guy?” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #56

Of all the people he knew, Brandon had to bring this wimp into the group? The guy was a certified loser. Overweight, he wore big, coke bottle glasses, he stunk to high hell, and he was interested in the weirdest stuff. Honestly, who would say their favorite hobby is collecting worms to study? The kid- whose name was Tommy Doyle- was the worst to be around.        The kids sat on the busted couches and chairs of the meeting room. The meeting room was nothing more than one of the guy’s basement that “The Loon...

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“Secrets, Secrets” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #55

Paul shuffled his feet nervously. He did not want to tell his girlfriend this, but he loved her and there could be no secrets between them. He took a deep breath and asked the woman sitting on the couch with fearful interest in her big brown eyes, “Can you keep a secret?”        Marie let out a breath that she had been holding in for almost a minute, “Of course, hun,” she replied to him.        “Now, I love you and there’s nothing else I want in this world more than you, b...

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“Special Gathering” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #55

     The young man walked up the path to the massive mansion in the countryside. His real name was Peter Kowalski, but to the other members of his group, he was the Andromedas. This was his thirteenth meeting with the secret organization this year, The Astralists. Andromedas’ father had been a member and his father before him, allowing Peter to enter the brotherhood on his eighteenth birthday.       Wives, children, friends, and bosses were to be kept in the dark about the society. ...

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“Space Age Sorrows” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #54

Oct 22, 2087. “Losing control!” Lt. McCoy shouted as alarms and red lights went off around the interior, “Colonel Thompson, what do we do!”        “She won’t make much longer, sir, we are dangerously close to Io’s gravitational pull, if not in it yet,” Major Kane said.        “Everyone check to ensure their suits are tight and follow my lead out the hatch,” the Colonel ordered. He sounded calm but inside was a raging panic.        “All th...

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Author bio

Stay and have a drink, read a story maybe if you come across this page.