Deborah Landers

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019

Stories (16)

16 Stories

326 karma pts

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“Two Steps Away” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #186

This story contains references to self-harm and attempted suicide, as well as neglect. "What the hell are you doing?" "Oh. Hi, Scarlet. I didn't expect to see you here." "That's what you're going to say to me? Get away from the edge!" "Why?" "Because you'll fall!" "No, I won't. Besides, it wouldn't matter if I did. You know that." "I'm not talking about this with you standing there. Just please... take two steps back towards me, okay? Just two steps." "Why should it matter where I'm standing for this conversation? It's not like it's going ...

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“They're Calling Off The War” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #119

("Mars" by Sleeping At Last)*"Did you hear them say the war's supposed to be over now?" Private Rodriguez whispered.Gina Sullivan couldn't help but groan into her pillow. "They've always said that, kid," she muttered. "We're still here and about as front-line as they get. If it were actually over, I feel like we'd be the first to know.""But what if it is?" Apparently the kid couldn't take a hint. Not even an explicit one, like shoving her head under her pillow. "What if they reached an agreement and now we get to go home?"Gina actually felt ...

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“A Special Day” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #100

The easiest way to do this job, Rosa had discovered, was to not think about where the ingredients came from. She couldn't, after all, forget what they were, not when everything required so much processing from start to finish of meal preparations. But unlike Uthrik's previous cooks, she didn't say a word about it. She wouldn't eat the same fare, knowing what it was, and she wasn't even going to make her own food on the same kitchen utensils. She had been there to see the last three cooks become the meal they refused to make and knew that sil...

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“Ice Dreaming” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #62

"Are you afraid?" Aisling looked down at the little girl who asked the question, the top of her jumpsuit still hanging around her waist. "What?" "Are you afraid of going to sleep?" She looked over at the pods, then up at Aisling again. "What if you don't wake up?" "I'll wake up," Aisling promised, patting her head. "It's just a long nap." "But it'll be cold." "I happen to like the cold." The girl frowned up at her. "No one likes it that cold. It wouldn't put you to sleep if you liked it." Aisling sighed. There was no arguing with a kid like ...

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“Protector” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #62

They called her Protector from the moment she was born, told her the story of her miraculous and auspicious birth as though that was supposed to make her believe that she was destined for the greatness they wanted her to achieve. She did believe, at first. How could she not? It was what she had been raised in, the culture she had breathed every day. Protector was a promise they made every time they said her name, and so she had thrown herself into learning how to fight, how to be the protector they wanted her to be. She had endured the aches...

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“Sisters” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #60

"Do you remember one of the first Christmas presents you picked out for me?" Misha asked."Do we really have to do this now?" Esther moaned. "There are walkers in the area."They were holed up in a house for the night, waiting out the most dangerous hours in relative safety. Not that anything was particularly safe anymore.Misha picked at the loose threads around a hole in her jeans. "No, I know. I just—""We're still seven miles out from the checkpoint and we didn't manage to find much on this run. Surely there are better things to talk about r...

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“The Way to Eden” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #60

There was a tune always running through her head, but Blue could never remember the words. They were important somehow, a secret she was supposed to know, but every time she tried to focus on it, the burgeoning sensation on her tongue died away. It always happened near the surface, though. When she went up to the pontoon platform she'd managed to create for the scavenged solar panels she'd found, the tune would slip into her mind like a curious and cautious guppy. She thought maybe it had something to do with the brightness of the Sunlight Z...

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“Ten Minutes of Sunshine” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #58

Anziah checked her watch for the fourth time in ten minutes. "It's not going to happen any faster if you keep checking the time," her friend Hector muttered as he took the watch out of her hand and slipped it into his pocket. "Do you not trust your own work?" "It's not that I don't trust my work. I know I calibrated the device correctly; I know I placed it on the right relays. It's fine. I know it's fine." Anziah buried her fingers in her hair. "But you know how Sun Fox is." "Why would he show up? I didn't tell him anything. You didn't tell ...

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“Cat and Mouse” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #43

"Back again, I see," Wednesday murmured, cleaning her claws with her teeth. "Fourth time this week.""Oh, hush," Pinta said, waving a tiny paw at the black cat. "You say that like you don't go back to the best places for food."Wednesday purred. "Yes, but humans are usually happy to see me there."Pinta sighed. They had been running into each other for weeks now, dancing around the differences between them like they weren't hereditary enemies. She didn't know why Wednesday bothered, since she clearly had an appetite and the claws and teeth of a...

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“Dear Mom” by Deborah Landers

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #43

Deer mommai am riting to say i luv u.luv Alice (age 4)Dear mommaToday the teacher said we haf to rite a leter to r heros. Yur my hero becuz u reed to me and tell me stuf evin when yur bizy.Love yur dotter Alice (age 5)P.s. I drawed u a flowr.Dear mama,I know your always busy, so I wrote a letter to tell you about my day. You can read it at lunch. They let you not work at lunch, right? Mrs. Lenard is reading us a book called flat stanly. It is funny. I do not want to be flat becuz bad things happen to. I like being me.Love, Alice (age 7)Dear ...

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“The Reputation of Wolves” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #29

The trail through the forest was cold by the time Gregor found it. He had been expecting this, of course. It took time for the people of the village to find him, the only hunter in the area who traded on his reputation for dealing with troublesome wolves. The forest of Dorian was a quiet place, though full enough of smaller dangers that compounded with every league one traveled through it. This fact was hardly unknown to the people of the village, but until now it had been something they could manage. Until now, the wolf had not hunted human...

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“Choosing Serenity” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #29

My best friend’s name was, ironically, Serenity. The moment we met she looked up at me with wild eyes, daring me to say something about the clumps of cut grass she was gathering by the armload. I, the curious seven-year-old that I was, just asked, "So what are you making?" Her grin was blinding. * "Ren, what are you doing?" I shouted across our shared apartment. "Why do you ask?" she called back after a moment. That was what confirmed it. "Because it's quiet and you're home, so there has to be something going on." Ren appeared in the hall. T...

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“In A Mirror Darkly” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #27

Abel let out a long sigh. It kicked up the dust in his hiding place. Curled up as small as he could be, he had found the furthest corner of the large manor house and stuffed himself into the most unassuming cupboard he could find. Flirting with Death™ was a sort of open concept house of horrors that catered to thrill seekers looking for a real rush of adrenaline. Between remote neural links and specialized cloning technology, it was simple enough to place people within their own horror movie without the threat of death. At least, that's what...

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“The Eldest Sibling” by Deborah Landers

Submitted to Contest #26

Lucy was about to commit blasphemy. Or something near enough to it in the eyes of her family, though she wasn't doing anything wrong. Somehow, she still couldn't divorce herself of the idea that she was doing something illegal.The trombone wasn't stolen. It wasn't the then twenty-year-old instrument she had started playing fifteen years ago, but for how dirty she felt standing in front of a pawn shop with it, it might as well have been.That trombone had belonged to her father, and he had started her on it as soon as possible. She was the fir...

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“Failure to Thrive” by Deborah Landers

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #25

Winnie's list of New Year's Resolutions was a series of strikes, ranging from tight and controlled to desperate scribbling.Get more exercise. A thick, decisive line in black ink.There were too many people in the gym. The whole point of getting up so early in the morning was to avoid people at the gym. Instead, Winnie had apparently discovered the golden hour for the gym rats. It wasn't packed. She knew she could just as easily slide in next to these people, but there were more eyes than she'd been prepared to deal with.She gripped her gym ba...

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Author bio

Hello. I'm Deborah, a young woman living in the Pacific Northwest. Writing has always been a passion of mine, something I have been working at for the past 20 years. I am always looking to get better and greatly appreciate any feedback anyone is willing to give me on my work.

Shortlisted 2 stories ⭐️

Contest #43
Dear Mom – read story
Contest #25
Failure to Thrive – read story