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Christina Steele

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2019

Stories (15)
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170 Followers
27 Following

15 Stories

480 karma pts

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Unforgettable

Submitted to Contest #80

There are a few dates in my life that I hold tight within me. Dates that changed me in such a manner that they’re unforgettable. We all have those dates. But do you remember your first important date? Mine was November 22, 1963. It was late morning and mom sat on the sofa behind a heaping laundry basket of clothes fresh from the dryer. The news broke in and I, all of three, knew something big had happened. Why? Because Mom gasped and her crying caused her to hold me. We sat in silence as Grandpa Cronkite announced President Kennedy had be...

19 likes 1 comment 1
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Never Over the Moon

Submitted to Contest #62

The ground rumbled. A plume of moon dust rose in the distance near where Samantha was collecting samples. Ed dropped his instrumentation and headed toward the west ridge of the Sea of Serenity crater. He opened his comm to alert ground control.“Sam—Lieutenant Harris, check-in. Do you copy?”“Captain Seran, this is ground, we are showing sharp spikes in Harris’ vitals. She’s not responding. What’s going on up there?”“Samantha Harris, check-in. Do you copy?” Captain Ed Seran continued toward her last location.“Ground this is Seran. Harris was c...

26 likes 4 comments 4
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The Karma of Paris

Submitted to Contest #50

Esmeralda hurried her steps as the chimes from Notre Dame rang out. Late, again! The stone bridge, Pont Neuf, created a beautiful backdrop to her city of love. She waved both her arms spotting the one man in the world who held her attention captive every day. “Hey, Beautiful! You’re late,” Adam called out from the center of the bridge. “Surely, that doesn’t surprise you,” Esmeralda quipped. “No, but you owe me a twirl.” It was their way. Whenever she caused his ire to rise, he made her twirl, so she would unwind the behav...

44 likes 19 comments 19
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Death Seen

Submitted to Contest #50

Dear Reader, This story isn't about a car chase or a foot chase. It is about our chase toward death or death's chase of us. Just thought you should be prepared. Author Lingering near death, I’d grown threadbare, a damaged plastic sack swirling in the wind, devoid of use. Indeed, I’d become a problematic mechanism demanding repurposing. I expected death even welcomed death; although I’d not expected death to be a woman. Death floated through the wall of my hospice room. Her white hair was swept into a French-Twist secured with a diamond...

41 likes 8 comments 8
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Every Silver Lining has a Cloud

Submitted to Contest #40

                    “Five, please.” “Absolutely,” he said, as he pushed the elevator button. And there we were, rising in our silver lining box. Damn, he was hot. That two-button navy business suit barely hid his muscles and broad shoulders as he leaned against the railing. And the goatee with a soul patch, sweet green eyes, and sinful grin... I averted my eyes as he shot a glance my way. The elevator buttons showed floor five and floor six. B...

32 likes 12 comments 12
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Somewhere Out There

Submitted to Contest #39

The windows rattled. A too familiar sway of fixtures lifted the Grand Counselor’s eyes upward as the Historian Laureate’s walking-on-marbles stride stopped by at last reaching and grabbing the podium. ‘Please begin,” commanded Director Zo “Over time, the top scientist on Venus noted that decreased volcanic eruption patterns corresponded with a declined rotation speed of the planet. While we were busy exploring space, our molten core depleted. In response, the planet slowed, wobbled, then came to a standstill. Eighty percent of our populati...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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Somewhere Out There

Submitted to Contest #39

The windows rattled. A too familiar sway of fixtures lifted the Grand Counselor’s eyes upward as the Historian Laureate’s walking-on-marbles stride stopped by at last reaching and grabbing the podium. ‘Please begin,” commanded Director Zo “Over time, the top scientist on Venus noted that decreased volcanic eruption patterns corresponded with a declined rotation speed of the planet. While we were busy exploring space, our molten core depleted. In response, the planet slowed, wobbled, then came to a standstill. Eighty percent of our populati...

15 likes 0 comments 0
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Into the Wood

Submitted to Contest #37

April 17, 2020 - 5:00 AM Central Time - Day 48 of Pandemic - Journal entry 7Subject: Facebook post - The WoodNearing fifty days of lockdown and I now know things will never be the same. What worries me most is the shift in my attitude. My positive we can beat this mantra has disappeared. My prevailing mantras swing from the angry “those idiots” to the piercing loneliness of “I will die alone”.Touch, a simple hug, remains longed for, needed the way a newborn and mother seek bonding, the way a worn wooden deck absorbs sealer to keep it from fa...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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The Couloir

Submitted to Contest #34

Luminescent, the word struck me as I watched her sleeping next to me. Sophie’s skin in the moonlight was luminescent. Lovemaking always put her to sleep and left me restless of late. I’d grown envious of the moonbeams caressing her curves as I’d done in the hour before, yet, my heart wouldn’t allow me to wake my beauty. Instead, I pulled on my pajama bottoms, and let my slipper-ed feet shuffle me down the hallway to the study.Warm light bathed the room. Drawn to the bookshelf, I ran my hand across the spines, searching for a new adventure in...

11 likes 2 comments 2
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Etoile

Shortlisted for Contest #33 ⭐️

I dreaded today. All the reasons came flooding in as I lifted the warm blankets and placed my feet into new protective pink slippers. Barefoot had gone by the wayside. A soft panic grew and faded as I prepared myself to face the inevitable. Logically, this was the right decision. At seventeen, life wasn’t fair. In the scheme of events, today’s task was minor. Yet, it was a line of delineation, wasn’t it? A point of change, of no return. I changed into my jeans, red runners, and the last concert T-shirt with its Black Flag band logo. I p...

21 likes 10 comments 10
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Glimmers From a Gem by Christina Steele

Submitted to Contest #18

She kept a stone in her pocket. A black stone, cold to the touch, but it fit her palm as if moulded just for her. In times of indecision, she ran her thumb over the flat surface discerning the small crevices and bumps, angulations eyes could not see, but touch could memorise. Intuitively, the surface's rises and falls represented life’s journeys, the everyday ups-and-downs, and scars, and struggles. Touching was usually enough to soothe her worries, one large Zen bead, or single Rosary bead.  Occasionally, she needed to see the sto...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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Life Found on Mars

Submitted to Contest #17

The council had agreed. Euthanization of the immigrants would happen today at the high moon this 2052 MY (Mars Year) 549 Sol. Most were in poor health anyway, some would stay for continued scientific examination, and four of the youth who survived information intake showed educable promise would receive Partial Martian citizenship. Quatek had attended the meeting with her mother, Supreme Empress Quarmine.  Quatek practiced her self-teleportation and levitation. But the word euthanized sharpened her already pointed ears. As part of ...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Unmatched

Submitted to Contest #5

The agony always began at 10:45 PM for us runaway socks. That’s when Sara, the laundry attendant, wiped the exterior of every washer and removed lint from every dryer. But horror surfaced at the sight of the long-unfolded hanger. Sara scraped the floor under the machines running the long metal hanger along trying to drag out any dirt or “lost” clothing. We weren’t lost. We know why we ran. But humans never accepted sock-loss. Humans say dust to dust. Our equivalent is lint to lint, and our biggest fear is not a sickness, but a hole. Though t...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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HH-SGF-CM

Submitted to Contest #5

Tabitha slid one finger and opened an eye to see through her hands, covering her eyes. Mom sat in front of her assuring her that Dad did not turn into a monster.“Yes, he did,” Tabitha argued. “When I went to bed on Christmas Eve, he was fine. But this morning Dad is missing, and a monster is trying to look like him. Except the monster has bumps, and red eyes, and yells, and tried to swallow me whole.”“Tabitha, he did not try to swallow you whole. You were running through the house, and your dad picked you up, lifted you above his head and ov...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Porch Love

Submitted to Contest #5

Circled. Karen circled every fourth word of his last message. A code long ago crafted by those in espionage to convey secret messages. A simple have you read Persuasion by Jane Austen would inform the other to find the book, then using a count circle the words to reveal a secret message. Tim and Karen used their code to conceal a secret love affair. In their notes to each other, they would circle every fourth word; fourth as in forever. The last seven circles she received from him read, Wait, I’ll be yours, in seven years, I promise. Silly t...

11 likes 1 comment 1
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