D'Spencer Luyao

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2023

Stories (12)

12 Stories

271 karma pts

?

“Sharp or Dead or Biting” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #246

Trigger warnings include: grief, implied past abuse.            The moon was a grin that night, and the wind was the sharp gnashing of its teeth. We stepped willingly into that bite anyway, Milo without a jacket. He would be fine for a while, and then he would fight against shivers for the rest of the night. I had on a long-sleeved shirt underneath my jacket, and that would be plenty for me when I inevitably handed the jacket over to Milo.         ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“Lucky” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #241

    Lucky crossed the street in a set of long, quick strides, glancing back and forth the whole way as if a car would come hurtling out of thin air. He’d heard stories of worse things happening to better people, and his name was all title—not at all a descriptor. He reached the other side, as if by miracle, and disappeared straight into the trees. Lucky had been doing a lot of disappearing for a long time.    He wanted to say he couldn’t believe he had tossed everything away for a man named Barney, lik...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Evie and the Earth” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #240

Trigger warnings include: death, car accidents, depictions of grief.    Earl sat against the wall opposite his sister’s bedroom. He wasn’t allowed in, so when he couldn’t sleep, he sat outside, staring at the door as if it might open from the inside. The sun was coming up, reaching its fingers in through the windows, and Earl had been in that spot since one in the morning, completely sleepless.

4 comments 4
Read story

“One Woman's Trash” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #239

         It was my job, as it had always been, to carry the scraps out to the curb and wait for them to be gathered. It was not my job to watch, but some things couldn’t be helped. I peeked in through the kitchen window as Miss M chopped things into bits and pushed aside the odd ends. She would give those to me, later, and I would give them to the truckmen on Tuesday or Friday, whichever was next. I watched her scrape the chopped bits into a bowl and scrape the odd bits...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Just a Thought” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #238

           I’d had “moving day” written on the calendar for months, but it turned out that moving was not a day but a weeks-long project. During the first few days, I took hardly a single phone call, and for good reason. After those initial days of chaos and sleep, when things slowed down and I would’ve killed for a phone call over all the unpacking, you still did not call. I think the reason was good enough then, too.            To ...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Just Like That” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #237

           When I was old enough to talk, but also old enough to know that I didn’t particularly want to, I bounced between different means of communicating until I found one that I actually enjoyed. Writing was tedious and complex, almost as much as talking was. I preferred simpler, more structured interactions.           My parents tried to get me to talk to professionals who could coax conversation out of me, and sometimes I humor...

4 comments 4
Read story

“I've Tried Before” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #236

Trigger Warnings include: Mental health issues, implied trauma, parental neglect, substance abuse (alcoholism), withdrawal, suicidal thoughts, mentions of implied suicide, mentioned parent/spouse death. Please read with caution.  This story is a continuation of I Don't Know What to Tell You and The Fucking Ugly Truth which are on my profile, but...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Turnaround” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #235

           We’re watching a show, and you keep turning the volume up and down and up again. When they’re whispering, the volume goes up, and when they’re fighting, it goes back down. I can tell exactly when you’re going to reach for the remote, and every time you do, the volume changes in twos. 20 to 22, 22 to 24. You double tap the volume button every time, as if it’s all one movement.            You didn’t alwa...

2 comments 2
Read story

“The Fucking Ugly Truth” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #233

Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism, substance abuse, implied child neglect, depression, implied trauma, and mental health issues, mention of implied suicide This story is a sequel to I Don't Know What to Tell You, which is on my profile, but can be read on its own :)            Evan ...

5 comments 5
Read story

“A Crying Shame” by D'Spencer Luyao

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

Trigger warnings: main character death, murder, implied suicide.            The sun was always there, and it was an unsung luxury to not have to think about it. I wish I knew enough about it to tell you why we started to. I wish I had known enough about it to do something. Maybe I did. Maybe we all did.            T...

10 comments 10
Read story

“The Harvest” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #228

Trigger warnings include: Child death, mild gore and violence, indirect cannibalism (?), explicit language. THE HARVEST     Bosie Howard looked into the rear-view mirror of his 1993 Mercedes for just about the millionth time since he’d wrestled it off of the highway. TJ (Tucker Jones, if you asked the state) was at that fine age wher...

5 comments 5
Read story

“I Don't Know What to Tell You” by D'Spencer Luyao

Submitted to Contest #228

Trigger Warnings include: Explicit mention of sexual violence, mental health issues, substance abuse (alcoholism), and neglect. I Don’t Know What to Tell You              When Evan was younger, dinner had been a grand family occasion. He had learned early that you always washed up before eating, you always helped set the table, and ...

2 comments 2
Read story

Author bio

Hi! I write stuff :) Happy to be here! Read more of my writing here: dspencerluyao.square.site

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #232
A Crying Shame – read story