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Courtney Hays

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2025

Stories (6)

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6 Stories

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The Clockflower Deadline

In the eastern quadrant of Wonderland, where the sky spirals in loops and the clouds speak in Morse code, there bloomed a meadow unlike any other: the Field of Clockflowers. Here, time wasn’t just kept—it was grown. The petals of each flower ticked like gears, blooming to the rhythm of seconds, minutes, and hours. And it was here that Elvie, a neurotic paper-sorter with an obsession for order, found herself bound to an impossible task.The Queen of Hearts had issued a royal decree:"Reorganize the entire Wonderland Census of Nonsense before th...

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Courtalise Thorn and the Choice of Shadows

Submitted to Contest #303

The palace gardens, once lush with life and laughter, had become a haunted maze of twisted thorns and faded blooms. The grandeur that had once drawn visitors like moths to a flame had wilted into something darker, something broken. The vibrant colors were now muted—petals dulled to ash-gray, leaves curled and brittle beneath the oppressive weight of neglect. Even the sweet scent that once perfumed the air had turned sour, heavy with decay and forgotten promises.Courtalise Thorn moved silently among the curling vines and black roses, their th...

4 likes

Courtalise and the Rule of Hearts

Submitted to Contest #303

Courtalise stood at the edge of the Queen’s Court, where the red roses bloomed fiercely beneath a sky of swirling colors that shifted between dawn and twilight in a constant dance. The air hummed with whispers and secrets, every petal a story and every shadow a warning. Here in Wonderland, rules were as sharp and unyielding as the Queen’s gaze—and breaking them was a perilous game.But Courtalise had never been one for careful playing. Especially not when the heart was involved.She tugged her cloak tighter, feeling the weight of the world—or ...

7 likes

Courtalise Thorn: The Villain of Another’s Tale

Submitted to Contest #303

The court of Wonderland is a place where stories bloom and twist like wild roses—beautiful, unpredictable, and sometimes full of thorns. I, Courtalise Thorn, grew up beneath those tangled vines, part of a world that spoke in riddles and hid truths beneath painted smiles. I never asked to be a villain. Yet, in someone else’s story, that’s the role I was cast to play. The thorn that pricked, the shadow that darkened their light, the disruption no one dared admit they feared.They say villains have no choice, that evil springs from desire or cru...

4 likes

Echoes Behind the Door

Submitted to Contest #303

The library clock chimed thirteen times—an impossible hour that only Wonderland would keep. I stood in the center of the reading room, the polished marble floor mirroring rows of leather-bound tomes. Somewhere beyond the arch of vines carved into the walls, teacups tinkled in a perpetual half-empty ritual, and card soldiers shuffled in restless formation. But here, in this quiet sanctuary of words, I felt the final weight of my decision settle onto my shoulders.On the writing desk before me lay a single sheet of parchment, its edges curling ...

5 likes

Wonderland Wasn't a Place-It Was Me

Submitted to Contest #303

Moonlight dripped through the hollow oak limbs overhead, pooling in silver puddles across the mossy floor of the Tulgey Wood. I sat cross-legged on a fallen log, flamingo mallet beside me and hedgehog ball half-buried in bracken, feeling the hush settle deep into my bones. All around, Wonderland’s hallmark chaos blinked and shimmered in the outskirts—teacups drifting on phantom breezes, card soldiers marching in tight formation, and the distant tinkle of the Mad Hatter’s off-key laughter.But tonight, I felt nothing of their whimsy.I wiped a ...

4 likes