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Darlene Chaney

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2022

Stories (6)

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6 Stories

108 karma pts

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Safe Haven

Submitted to Contest #282

Trigger warning: Sexual/physical abuse Winter was underway in Milwaukee as fifteen- year-old Samantha Cunningham stared out of the attic window of the otherwise uninhabited, yet fully staged, two-story house on Mockingbird Trail. The 'model home' had not only become her sanctuary from the cold, but safe haven from the abuse at home. “Mom never believed me,” she said to herself, tears pooling in her sad, green eyes. In Samantha's lef...

2 likes

The Dearly Departed

Submitted to Contest #274

Trigger warnings: Grief, death, murder? It’s the day before Halloween as 31-year-old, single, attractive Andrea Hawthorne, dressed all in black, drives along the Connecticut Interstate in route to Sherwood, a quaint town outside of Riverside. As the traffic comes to a screeching halt, Andrea is forced to slam on her brakes, disengaging the cruise control. Ear piercing sirens zoom past her. She inches forward, shielding her eyes from...

4 likes

Coming Home

Submitted to Contest #202

Trigger Warnings: War/grief Catherine McKee stood outside the busy and nearly flooded train depot, anxiously waiting for the Rock Island Line to bring her husband home. Fortunately, her trench coat and matching hat kept her new Lane Bryant dress dry and her hairdo frizz-free; after all, she wanted to look her best for her soldier boy’s return home. It had been six long months since she last saw William and although the time they had spent together was cherished - it was short...

12 likes

Just One Click

Submitted to Contest #188

Just One Click Triggers: Narcissistic abuse, Mental illness, Language, abortion, suggestions of violence Lacy Carpenter sits at her computer desk/vanity eating a microwaved TV dinner. She takes the last bite, then dumps the empty cardboard tray into a nearby trashcan. She looks out of her Sedona apartment window and watches Spring’s new birth unfold. Too bad, there’s no sign of life in here, she sighs, looking at the dull dwellings and the shriveled-up cactus on the windowsill. &...

5 likes

The Confession

Submitted to Contest #155

Grief: Illness/Death; Language Maria Garcia sits at her mother's bedside anxiously watching her chest rise and fall. Maria’s eyes are drawn to a photograph taken just the year before. Before cancer destroyed their lives and especially, her mother’s body. “Unbelievable,” she whispers to herself, comparing the healthy-looking woman with full, rosy cheeks in the photograph to the shriveled body lying in the bed; her face, pale, gaunt, resembling plaster of Paris. “Damn this shitty ...

6 likes

Character Flaw

Submitted to Contest #147

(Content warnings: Swearing/Mental health issues) It was dark by the time she had regained consciousness. She pried her forehead from the steering wheel and wiped the coagulated substance off with the back of her hand. She cried out in agony as muscles spasmed in her neck. The only source of light was the faint glow from the full moon hovering over the car. She had no recollection of where she was, where she had been, where she was going, or even who she was. All she could tell was that she’d somehow collided with a tree and the old...

13 likes