Chris Wagner

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2020

Stories (57)

57 Stories

1159 karma pts

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“The Storage Unit” by Chris Wagner

You could easily drive past the Cloverleaf Storage parking lot. You had to do a sharp turn immediately after crossing the railroad tracks. Not exactly convenient, either. The morning he had to open the unit, the train kept going for what seemed like a good couple hours before he could at last get in. Pitiful property. Dirt and gravel for the most part, sunken muddy ditches, junker cars rusting along the f...

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“Osmifa” by Chris Wagner

A first kiss is a big deal, especially when you're in your forties and you're still a virgin.  The bizarre associated circumstances, though, I cannot easily erase from my mind. I'd been working for Bullseye for over a year.  Entry level job. Because of Covid. Got promoted to the front a few months in. We dug out all the Christmas shit the day after Halloween...

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“The Book With The Plus Sign” by Chris Wagner

I found a little black book in the jumpsuit pocket of an astronaut I killed. A bit hard to open with tentacles, but I had my three fingered claws busy holding the victim's severed femur to my mouth, and didn't want to get blood on the pages. A gold plus symbol glittered on the cover. I stared at the object until all eight eyes crossed each other. I turned it upside down and sideways, but it didn't have an...

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“The Laughing Bats” by Chris Wagner

I sat on a dented cabinet from the wreck, silently watching my alien girlfriend burn offerings to her god. She genuflected with whispered prayers. My gaze drifted to the sheer mountains surrounding our encampment, graced by foliage bearing colors I once thought only possible by industrial manufacture. Behind them, in the sky, hung a huge pink-purple marble of a planet. She beckoned to me with a five finge...

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“Rainbow Castle” by Chris Wagner

The Rainbow Warlock's castle stood along a rocky cliff. Ordinarily, I avoided touching its walls for fear of removing paint from the styrofoam, but recently things had become more lifelike. I ran my fingers over the cold, clammy stone, gazing upwards. Instead of terminating in a giant green foam compositing thing, a real tower...towered over me. An actual owl flitted through dead trees a...

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“Dog Fight” by Chris Wagner

Pedigree rattled in the green plastic dish as I filled it to overflowing, enough to feed three dogs. Trixie, my yellow lab, rushed out on the back porch, burying her face in the bowl. She growled when the cocker spaniel mongrel padded out, refusing to share.  Outside the dirty sliding door, Robin barked, baring her teeth. They jumped on each other, a hairy snarling ball, banging into the glass, rolling of...

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“Just A Weirdo” by Chris Wagner

Ping pong balls rained down from the dark storm clouds above my head. The orbs popped hollowly against the slimy rocks like laughter, adding to the jeering and mockery bubbling from the Depression Swamp. I wept uncontrollably, allowing the swamp to engulf my feet all the way to my ankles. A huge feathery puppet slogged up behind me, displaying an unusual resistance to felt destroying swamp...

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“King Malachi's Guest” by Chris Wagner

"Unhand me, you brute!" I smiled as two of my salamander-like underlings carried in a near hog tied figure in a pink dress to my banquet table, depositing her in the seat of honor. "Welcome, Princess Strawberry." When our eyes met, her face flushed red, all the way to the tips of her pointy ears. "What is the meaning of this, you, you scaly creep?" I waved to the feast my r...

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“Little Debbie” by Chris Wagner

Ever since I was little, I wanted to work for Barry Davis, the animation king responsible for cartoons like Dash Galaxy and the Heroes of Space, Ace Squirrel Detective Agency, Mortimer Moose Caboose and Monsters Battle. Last October, I finally got my chance. Not quite what I dreamed about. They wanted a housekeeper, not an artist or animator. That bein...

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“For Crying Out Loud” by Chris Wagner

Our minivan rolled down the freeway in the early morning hours. Outside the window, cows chewed cud by a lake beneath a dark blue sky. The driver had the A/C cranked up, but the summer heat hadn't struck for the day, making it kind of chilly to be wearing a t-shirt. The guys up front wore tuxedos like Jehovah's Witnesses, but our driver had Korean ancestry, and his companion came from India. I be...

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“Commander Weirdo” by Chris Wagner

The propeller slowly lost momentum as my Bird Chopper sank into the murky gray swamp. Just minutes ago, I'd been lacing my boots in the TV studio. The house lights dimmed as the low key farewell music played. A man in a feather and felt goose costume blew the cameras a kiss before taking the copilot's seat. The big propeller turned like a ceiling fan when you just pulled the chain to shut it off.  ...

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“Night Writer” by Chris Wagner

At midnight, I stared out the window of my attic room, watching cars roll by the street lamps.  Nobody prowled the streets. Even the neighborhood cats had chosen to go elsewhere. I frowned at the abandoned pink Power Wheels car on someone's lawn. Unable to sleep, I'd switched on my computer, hoping to get a start on a novel, some...thing worth publishing, but the tower hummed idle...

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“Sketches” by Chris Wagner

My superhero costume sent electric tingles through my body when I stepped through the secret door in Drew Kirby's closet. The tail piece of the spandex suit, ordinarily stiff and bulky, seemed lighter. Its fur stood on end like a child with his hands on a Van De Graaff generator. The squirrel ears on my head wiggled as if alive. The slight brush of by boyfriend's body against the tail, and the vibrations ...

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“Ashley” by Chris Wagner

Thin, chocolate skinned, thirty something. She came out of the apartment next door with a plump cairn terrier on a leash. My heart pounded as I came up the sidewalk, nervously raising my hand. "Hi." I thought I saw her smirk beneath her face mask when she waved back. "Hey." She kept walking. I opened my mouth to say something, but the words died in my throat...

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“The Kirby House” by Chris Wagner

A galaxy of superheroes silently greeted me as my flats clopped into the attic bedroom. A man-skunk statue roared at me from a sloping rear wall festooned with framed comic art. Space Rabbit aimed a blaster pistol at me from beneath a Kerpow Comics lampshade, a display of colorful action figures rotated behind glass like a Peewee's Playhouse set piece. My girlfriend's spandex squi...

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Author bio

See more of my fiction and artwork at: https://kayboksystem.wordpress.com/

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #61
They Talk Back To You – read story