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Courtney Stuart

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2020

Stories (7)
Comments
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382 Followers
179 Following

7 Stories

1277 karma pts

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In The Weeds

Submitted to Contest #52

'One of the hardest things you will ever have to do, my dear, is to grieve the loss of a person who is still alive.’- Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle ☉I thought you were dead. This the first thought that crosses my mind when I catch sight of you crossing the street with your head bowed from an invisible weight of a gilded crown and a rubbery smile that stretches all the way from here to India. You’re supposed to be dead, aren’t you?I almost didn’t see you at first. It’s too dark out, and it’s easy for me to trap myself in the four cor...

94 likes 80 comments 80
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Atlas Takes a Breath

Submitted to Contest #51

i.    There are stars in the sky.    ii.    You don’t always have to see something to know that it exists.   Atlas of old knows this, for he carries the weight of the entire world and sky on his back.    It’s a groaning weight; the human heart is a heavy burden to bear alone, and he has to carry billions upon billions of them.    Alone.   Sometimes, he catches glimpses of the sky above him, and sometimes, like right now, he can see the stars.    Sometimes, it’s enough.&nbs...

63 likes 66 comments 66
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Ocean in the Sky

Submitted to Contest #50

When I think of him, I think of the ocean. Today, there is a woman. Yesterday, it had been Wyoming and wooden floors and rosary beads. Specks of dust caught in the weak slivers of sunlight pouring through a basement window. An old man who could not speak, and a girl who’d offered you a cup of coffee and a smile. A boy, who’d stood next to you and swore he knew the exact date for the end of the world. You had told him through the clouds of cigarette smoke that hung above each of you that you didn’t believe him; you knew that th...

82 likes 52 comments 52
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When The Northern Lights Finally Reach You

Winner of Contest #49 🏆

  I’m sorry, Noah, it reads on the back of the faded postcard he holds. It’s not safe here. Go home. I’ll catch you later.     There’s no signature, not that Noah needs one. Not when he can find that familiar lopsided scrawl etched onto the left side of his soul.    Not when he already knows he’s late.    I’m sorry, Noah.    It isn’t the first time he’s been left behind to deal with the aftermath of those words. They replay over and over in his mind, like a song that’s stuck in his head, one ...

309 likes 192 comments 192
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You're the Breeze in My Austin Nights

Submitted to Contest #48

The first time that Phoebe goes to see Jude play live in concert - four years since she’s last felt the warmth of the sun - she has to leave halfway through the second song while choking back on an echoing sob. I wish you would follow me here, Jude sings from onstage as Phoebe makes her exit, except she’s not really singing. It’s more of a confession she’s making, cut raw from the strings of the guitar she plays. A confession that’s easier for her to make to hundreds of strangers each night instead of the person who forced her to write ...

49 likes 26 comments 26
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The Road to Kyoto is Paved With Hope

Submitted to Contest #47

You are sixteen years-old when the weather forecast for the day is wrong. Before, you’ve never cared about if the local meteorologists get it wrong - they can’t always be right all the time, can they? - but you’ve never noticed how much you have to lose, either. In the end, it’s not that much, but it’s everything to you and your older brother. You still have a few days before the weather forecast is wrong though, a few more days to hold onto everything. Today, the weather forecast hadn’t been wrong, far from it, in fact. It’s perfe...

27 likes 9 comments 9
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Space Cadet

Submitted to Contest #44

The Earth is the only known planet that can support life, or at least, as far as humans know, and it is for that reason that the moon loves it so much. Things don't grow on the moon, after all. If only the humans were capable of loving the Earth just as much as the moon did. And yet, humans were still beautiful to the moon, despite all of their flaws and secrets, because of their capacity to grow.  And when humans come to visit, well, the moon can’t help but take a special interest in them. 20:34"It probably looks di...

30 likes 7 comments 7
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