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Dan Coglianese

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2022

Stories (20)

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31 Followers

19 Following

20 Stories

519 karma pts

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The Quiet Words

Submitted to Contest #272

Dear Reader,Some of you are familiar with one or more of my stories. Many of them feature a character by the name of Samil. He’s a trickster of sorts. Sometimes he is mischievous, and sometimes he’s pure evil. Today, I want to tell you another Samil story. A true story. Hae verba legendo, ianuam obscuritatis aperisCurses are real, but so are counter-curses. By reading these words, you are protected from him. But he insists that you know him. This is the story of how Samil cursed me. A cautionary tale. I first met Samil when I was...

7 likes

La Mesa de Abuelita

Submitted to Contest #270

It was past 3am when Lucia awoke to a commotion in the kitchen. She went downstairs, drawn toward the sound of a wooden spoon scraping a pan. “Mateo, it’s after 3. What are you doing?” His dark hair hung in his eyes, and sweat beaded on his forehead. Mateo scraped the pan like he was angry. Drops of Madeira wine dappled the granite countertop next to the stove. Two tenderloin steaks sat on a plate next to a half dozen slices of foie gras on a paper towel. He added a cup of veal stock to the pan and said, “Come, darling. I want you to try t...

4 likes

Drawn and Quartered

Submitted to Contest #269

It was the first time in two years Mike had to walk alone to the gym after school. The walk was hard enough when Brad was with him, but now that Brad was lying unconscious in the hospital, it was close to torture. Mike wrinkled his nose at the familiar stench of stale adolescent sweat as he sat down on the bottom bleacher. In the half hour between the end of school and the beginning of cross-country practice, they used to hang out in the cafeteria with the other athletes. But as soon as other students found out about them, well... He ...

5 likes

Devil Always Collects

Submitted to Contest #268

Jareth’s heart swelled as his newborn son, Caius, wrapped his tiny little fingers around his pinkie. He gently caressed the soft hairs on his son’s head as Alessia held him in her arms. The nurse came in and asked, “How are we doing?” Alessia beamed as she looked up and said, “He’s perfect.” Grabbing his arm, the nurse asked Jareth, “And how about y...

14 likes

The Cage

Submitted to Contest #267

A faint orange glow hung low in the western sky as Samantha drank in the black and maroon exterior of the Blackthorne Lounge. A dark red awning hung over the front door. Lucius picked this place. But she picked Lucius. On Bumble. It was the app Samantha and her four sisters used to hunt for men. Samantha spotted him from across the room. He wore a tight black t-shirt and black jeans with a black leather coat. All black. She liked his style. Approaching him, she noted a silver necklace w...

8 likes

What Comes Around

Submitted to Contest #266

Monday, 9:15am. Simone slumped into her cubicle chair with a sigh. Closing her eyes as she lowered her head, Simone rubbed her temples with her fingers. Five minutes later, she stood behind two others in the break room waiting for the Keurig machine. There was only one, and there was no way she was going to settle for whatever slop was in the glass pot sitting on a round warming tin straight out of the 1980s. It...

7 likes

Quid Pro Quo: An Allegory

Submitted to Contest #188

Priscilla ignored her friends, Stacie, Charlotte, and Maya as they sat outside the most popular Starbucks in Mechant Lake. It was on the corner of Tullamoor and Elm, where the most foot traffic on a bright Saturday in June would pass. Scrolling through her most recent Tik Tok video uploads, Priscilla sighed in exasperation. Stacie rolled her eyes and said, “Ok, I’ll bite. What’s wrong, darling?” &...

8 likes

Felinious

Submitted to Contest #187

Ben took the same path to and from work every day. From the door to his trailer, he walked on the loose gravel parking lot to the bike path through Mechant Lake Forest Preserve. The path was a four mile loop, but Ben only used a mile long stretch along the east side. Once he got as far south on the path as he could, he trudged through some wild grass and low shrubs for about fifty feet until he emerged on the back lot of Cletus’ Auto Shop. Ben did oil changes and a few other basic services, but was not allowed to operate the hydraulic jacks....

23 likes

Hourglass

Submitted to Contest #186

The morning of his son’s 18th birthday, Bradley Gore stood outside the bedroom door with equal parts trepidation and pride. In the fleeting moments of his son’s childhood, he thought about the majestic home he had built, both figuratively and literally, around his son. Built for protection. Nestled safely inside a gated community, Bradley took every precaution to prepare for this day. The door squeaked as he pushed it open. William stirred and turned onto his stomach, snores returning. Echoes through generations reverberated through time,...

16 likes

An Irresistible Offer

Submitted to Contest #185

Unit B212. That’s where they sent us. My mother sent me because I’m 19 years old and “have the energy”. My cousin Naomi is here for the same reason. Although she’s 20. Her mom and my mom are sisters, and apparently they have the same ideas about youth, our unlimited energy, and naiveté when it comes to free physical labor. Our great-grandmother passed away at age 95 last week. This storage unit was hers, and had to be cleaned out by the end of the month or they would lock it ...

10 likes

And Then...

Submitted to Contest #185

These mornings elicited as much excitement and anxiety for Sasha as they did for Santos. Before breakfast, he checked his emails and saw he had one from Josie Caplan, one of the editors at the Blackberry Night Lit. As they sat at the kitchen table, a gentle breeze blew in from the window next to Santos’ writing desk. The best window in their tiny apartment. It was the first morning they were able to have the window open this year. The first hints of Spring in Chicago announce...

7 likes

Morphology of a Dyad

Submitted to Contest #184

On a cold Saturday night in February, Mike and Beth invited two couples over to spend the “night of darkness” with. In their new house for less than a year, they were worried about what was going to happen during the planned blackout. Inviting Brent and his girlfriend Indya was a way to have someone in the know. Brent worked at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, IL. The other couple, Marcus and his wife Julya had been the closest friends to the other four in the six years since they all graduated from University of Illinois. &...

10 likes

The Light Dies if I Close My Eyes

Shortlisted for Contest #184 ⭐️

Dear Reedsy community: my fellow writers and readers, You’re all in on it, aren’t you? The truth is, you’re all pretending, right? Believe me, if just one of you said you knew me, I might believe it. Do you know me? Frankly, this is the last place I still exist. I fear that soon this will be gone too. Wait, let me guess: You have no idea what I’m talking about? You think this is a joke? Maybe if you know what happened you’ll believe me. My name is Harlan Trembley. I am 52 years old and I work at Diamond Ridge Property Management dow...

33 likes

One Step at a Time

Submitted to Contest #181

Like a sunflower grazing his cheek, Isabel woke Will up with a whisper. “Time to get up, darling.” The scent of lavender and lilies flooded his senses, even before opening his eyes. Despite his reluctance to get out of bed, he smiled at his wife’s Spanish accent. The way she said “darling” always got him. And she knew it. Smiling, Will said, “Mm...

12 likes

Play the Card as She Lies

Submitted to Contest #180

You never hit on seventeen. Everybody knows that. Unless you’re me. For most people, the fun is in guessing right and beating the dealer. I know every card in the deck before she’s shown. I call the cards “she” because I can read them before they fall, and they never lie. I discovered my unusual talent at age 5. My 1st grade teacher held up flash cards with pictures of animals. I named the animal before she tu...

16 likes